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WotC's Mearls Presents A New XP System For 5E In August's Unearthed Arcana
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<blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 7722890" data-attributes="member: 6787650"><p>Wow. Surviving to level 20 would <em>not</em> be my ideal choice of goal for a difficulty metric. Not only does it define success in such a way that it may take months or years to achieve, but it also sets the bar simultaneously so low that "winning" becomes theoretically commonplace because it's easy, but also rare because most campaigns will fizzle out of boredom long before success is reached. (And you also wind up with an implied game world that is as chock-full of high-level NPCs as the Forgotten Realms.)</p><p></p><p>If you must define success in per-level terms, take advantage of the fact that most campaigns stay at mid-levels. Make it a 50/50 shot of reaching 9th level, and maybe a 50% chance of surviving to each tier after that.</p><p></p><p>But personally I'd rather just define success in per-adventure terms. If you bring an Nth level PC on an adventure that's advertised for level N, I'd like there to be about a 50% chance of winning if you do everything in the straightforwardly obvious way, and a 100% chance of winning if you do things in a way that is smart or creative. To me that's an interesting game. E.g. if it's an adventure about being invited to take place in a gladiatorial combat, I'd like to stack you up against someone in your own weight class, or multiple someones in a lower weight class. If you do well in your own fight, you'll get invited to bonus rounds, and maybe get to challenge the champion. (There's a secondary game here where I as the DM am playing Mephistopheles to your Faust; I'm trying to tempt you with rewards that make you take on something out of your weight class, but to do it in such a way that when you inevitably overreach and you die, lose all your magic items, or wind up in slavery, you're left kicking <em>yourself</em> instead of <em>me</em>!)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="FormerlyHemlock, post: 7722890, member: 6787650"] Wow. Surviving to level 20 would [I]not[/I] be my ideal choice of goal for a difficulty metric. Not only does it define success in such a way that it may take months or years to achieve, but it also sets the bar simultaneously so low that "winning" becomes theoretically commonplace because it's easy, but also rare because most campaigns will fizzle out of boredom long before success is reached. (And you also wind up with an implied game world that is as chock-full of high-level NPCs as the Forgotten Realms.) If you must define success in per-level terms, take advantage of the fact that most campaigns stay at mid-levels. Make it a 50/50 shot of reaching 9th level, and maybe a 50% chance of surviving to each tier after that. But personally I'd rather just define success in per-adventure terms. If you bring an Nth level PC on an adventure that's advertised for level N, I'd like there to be about a 50% chance of winning if you do everything in the straightforwardly obvious way, and a 100% chance of winning if you do things in a way that is smart or creative. To me that's an interesting game. E.g. if it's an adventure about being invited to take place in a gladiatorial combat, I'd like to stack you up against someone in your own weight class, or multiple someones in a lower weight class. If you do well in your own fight, you'll get invited to bonus rounds, and maybe get to challenge the champion. (There's a secondary game here where I as the DM am playing Mephistopheles to your Faust; I'm trying to tempt you with rewards that make you take on something out of your weight class, but to do it in such a way that when you inevitably overreach and you die, lose all your magic items, or wind up in slavery, you're left kicking [I]yourself[/I] instead of [I]me[/I]!) [/QUOTE]
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WotC's Mearls Presents A New XP System For 5E In August's Unearthed Arcana
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