What if… you made modified the game where the ‘level 1′ was potentially effective against the ‘level 30′. In most heroic fiction that isn’t based on a gaming system, the heroes at the top end simply aren’t as effective as they are in gaming systems like Dungeons and Dragons.
Conan wasn’t a god. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser couldn’t kick Orcus’ ass. Â Elric, Doc Savage, Robin Hood, Arthur, none of these were demi-gods. They were good, no arguing that. But they still had something to fear from a village full of farmers and pitchforks. A level 30 currently could take down a good sized city solo.
It’s been ‘threaded’ a few times off and on and I’ve probably linked it here somewhere but I thought I’d think about this -
What about removing the plus per level/half level? If the +to hit and -to hit (aka defenses) both go up at the same rate does it really matter what that rate is? If the player needs a 13 or better to hit at level 1 and a 13 or better to hit at level 30 has anything really changed at all? What if we segmented attacks and defenses, skills by every 5 levels with some variance obviously.
Additionally this let’s us do away with +’s on weapons and armour and instead just add +1 to hit to the players directly every 5 levels and +1 to their defenses that these items grant? This allows a character to keep that Flaming Longsword they found at level 2 and it’ll be relevant for the entirety of their characters life if they wish.   But if they for some reason lose their heirloom sword right before the fight against orcus they’ll be able to pick up something else because that +6 bonus is inherent in their skills, not their gear.  I do know you can use rituals to power up gear but that just rarely if ever happens in fiction.
Anyway, just a random idle thought on flattening the curve for myself. Â DND is probably not the best system to promote such a radical shift and it’s definitely not for every player or group.
2 comments
Anonymous
August 18, 2009 at 8:32 pm (UTC -5)
I love that idea. The inability for a level 1 char to even touch a level 10 character is one of my gripes about level based systems. Could you expand on this a bit more? maybe post some of the threads you mentioned?
Dennis
August 19, 2009 at 12:58 pm (UTC -5)
I’ll see if I can dig them up. To put it at it’s most basic, for 4th edition you get rid of the +1/2 level bonus that players get and the +1 per level bonus that monsters get to attacks and defenses. This applies to attacks, defenses and skills. There are other things that need touching upon but I’ll see if I can find some time to elaborate on those.