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<blockquote data-quote="MostlyDm" data-source="post: 6731607" data-attributes="member: 6788973">Yeah, I think this is a big point.&nbsp; As we sort of touched on in the conversation that spawned the &quot;solo AC-min/maxed fighter vs. an army&quot; scenario, due to Bounded Accuracy the relatively rapid level acceleration just doesn't feel that out of balance to me.&nbsp; High level characters are powerful, but they are far from gods.&nbsp; And there's no specific reason every high HD NPC is going to 1) have 100% of the class abilities that a PC gets, and more importantly 2) have the same amount of magic items, optimal feats, optimal spell choices, etc.For example: A 20th level NPC fighter with no magic gear who wields a brace of rapiers is intimidating as hell, and could tear up a couple of people in a duel.&nbsp; Certainly.&nbsp; But he's far from a universal problem-solver or PC-invalidator.&nbsp; Or, let's look at a 20th level magic-item-less sorcerer whose high level spell list is, let's say.... L6: True Seeing, Move Earth; L7: Plane Shift, Reverse Gravity; L8: Earthquake; L9: Time Stop.&nbsp; He's got plenty of power (and a fun earth/physics theme!), but again, he is hardly a show-stopper powerhouse that can solve every problem himself.It's all in how you build the NPCs, the world, and the encounters.But then, I probably would think that. Even when I played 3e in the early 2000s, I would challenge an 8th level party with heavily optimized over-geared 1st and 2nd level mercenaries, or 16th level badasses that lacked some key items or optimization in order to bring the AC or damage or whatever down to earth. 5e just makes stuff like that something closer to the default.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MostlyDm, post: 6731607, member: 6788973"] Yeah, I think this is a big point. As we sort of touched on in the conversation that spawned the "solo AC-min/maxed fighter vs. an army" scenario, due to Bounded Accuracy the relatively rapid level acceleration just doesn't feel that out of balance to me. High level characters are powerful, but they are far from gods. And there's no specific reason every high HD NPC is going to 1) have 100% of the class abilities that a PC gets, and more importantly 2) have the same amount of magic items, optimal feats, optimal spell choices, etc. For example: A 20th level NPC fighter with no magic gear who wields a brace of rapiers is intimidating as hell, and could tear up a couple of people in a duel. Certainly. But he's far from a universal problem-solver or PC-invalidator. Or, let's look at a 20th level magic-item-less sorcerer whose high level spell list is, let's say.... L6: True Seeing, Move Earth; L7: Plane Shift, Reverse Gravity; L8: Earthquake; L9: Time Stop. He's got plenty of power (and a fun earth/physics theme!), but again, he is hardly a show-stopper powerhouse that can solve every problem himself. It's all in how you build the NPCs, the world, and the encounters. But then, I probably would think that. Even when I played 3e in the early 2000s, I would challenge an 8th level party with heavily optimized over-geared 1st and 2nd level mercenaries, or 16th level badasses that lacked some key items or optimization in order to bring the AC or damage or whatever down to earth. 5e just makes stuff like that something closer to the default. [/QUOTE]

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