Will different core settings be geared toward a particular "tier" of play?

[AFGNCAAP]

Sorry if this has already been brought up in another thread, but I just thought I'd ask.

With Eberron originally intended for more lower-lever play (and, fewer high-level NPCs than other settings), I wondered if 4E may maintain this "feel" by having it more oriented for Heroic tier characters/adventurers on the whole, with fewer Paragon & Epic-oriented adventures.

OTOH, with the (original) power level of Forgotten Realms, would FR be more in line with Paragon and/or Epic levels of play, with a few Heroic-oriented adventures to "get the PCs to a 'good level'"? The reinvention of FR makes this a less likely scenario, though.

It does make me wonder, though: will the campaign settings be more or less geared toward a particular tier of play with 4E? Would this be a design approach in mind for any future campaign settings (whether original or "reinvented" familiar settings)?

What do y'all think about this?

 

[hong]

Highly unlikely. Grind is a core gameplay feature of D&D. Any setting that WotC creates will undoubtedly facilitate it, not hinder it.

 

[nothing to see here]

Well since we only know two "official" settings (Eberron and Forgotten Realms) this kind of conjecture is rather premature.

I'm sure that both settings well set up well for all three tiers being the D&D flagships. How they handle the unquitousness of magic items in Eberron is a different question

Quite frankly with a good DM and group, I suspect that the rules will allow all the tiers at most settings (I for one, believe the 'out of control' power curve of the epic tier that some of the previews have suggested will not be as extreme as some fear). I stand to be corrected.

As for other settings...well from the Wizards/TSR vault it's fair to say that Planescape would push towards higher level Parragon+ level play and Ravenloft would cap at parragon, if not heroic. Darksun would likely be a lower cap as well. Dragonlance would tilt lower, Spelljammer would tilt higher.

In the third parties -- I could see a Kalamar like setting having a low cap, while Oathbound or Dawnforge would invite campaigns to push into upper tiers.

 

[glenmunson]

Weren't there rules for Dark Sun about becoming uber-defiling dragons, glowing avatars of purification, or greater elementals? I think the epic tier fits right in for that setting.

 

[drjones]

I don't think so, limiting any setting to a tier will limit the number of people who buy the setting.

 

[Cam Banks]

Dragonlance campaigns would be about 65% Heroic and 35% Paragon. I don't imagine many Epic level Dragonlance campaigns, which is in some ways a nod to the fact that Krynn has very few epic-level characters (and in 1st edition, there was even a "heroes over 18th level leave the world" rule.)

Cheers,
Cam

 

[hong]

Dragonlance campaigns would be about 65% Heroic and 35% Paragon. I don't imagine many Epic level Dragonlance campaigns, which is in some ways a nod to the fact that Krynn has very few epic-level characters (and in 1st edition, there was even a "heroes over 18th level leave the world" rule.)

Cheers,
Cam

Oh, come on. Raistlin is the prototypical epic-aspirations character!

 

[DangerAbe]

Yes, Raistlin was epic; but at that point I'd say that he was a NPC, while the PCs were Caramon, Tasslehoff, and Crysania. .

Dragonlance and Ravenloft seem like they work best as heroic/paragon settings while Planescape and Spelljamer are paragon/epic settings.
Darksun is good for all three tiers.

But I doubt Wizards would divide the campaign worlds that way.

 

[interwyrm]

I'm sure that both settings well set up well for all three tiers being the D&D flagships. How they handle the unquitousness of magic items in Eberron is a different question

"You keep on using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Sorry for the quick derail. It's just that the word looked like a real one, and I just *had* to know what it meant. So I looked it up to find out.

Did you mean uniqueness? It's also sort of like 'ubiquitousness', which if I understand Eberron, is pretty much the opposite of the case.

Rerail: I really hope that they DO gear different settings to different tiers. Specifically, I'd like to see Forgotten Realms be primarily paragon and epic play. I think I'd like to see Dark Sun remade as mostly heroic.

 

[nothing to see here]

"You keep on using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Sorry for the quick derail. It's just that the word looked like a real one, and I just *had* to know what it meant. So I looked it up to find out.

Did you mean uniqueness? It's also sort of like 'ubiquitousness', which if I understand Eberron, is pretty much the opposite of the case.

Rerail: I really hope that they DO gear different settings to different tiers. Specifically, I'd like to see Forgotten Realms be primarily paragon and epic play. I think I'd like to see Dark Sun remade as mostly heroic.

Thanks for the catch. Ubiquitousness was what I meant. Proofread before posting etc, etc.