Back in the day, when we were teenagers and played D&D almost every day, my favourite games to play were those around levels 4-7. Reasonably beefy characters who had gathered a few magic items and could go up against a range of foes including dragons, hydras, giants, etc., and yet could be (and often were) brought to ruin by level-draining undead or a failed save versus poison.
Nowadays, I find the brutal, hardscrabble, survival horror of 1st-level adventures, in which a single spear-thrust can kill and resource management is key, to be strangely satisfying, and I have renewed respect for the triumphant achievement of a character gaining 2nd level. That said, I'm still pleased when the characters gain a couple of levels of "cushioning" and their tactical options begin to expand. At 5th level, magic-users can start casting spells like Dispel Magic, Fireball, Fly, or Water Breathing, all of which are (literally) game-changing. When I have ideas for adventures, they tend to be suitable for 3rd-5th level characters, say around the 10,000 XP mark.
What's your "sweet spot" for adventuring in terms of levels?
What level?
- ClawCarver
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Re: What level?
Back in the day, level 12+ was not uncommon, but not now. My recent WB campaign had PCs of 4th-5th level, which seemed a good balance of power and risk. Getting past that takes a lot longer anyway, due to the doubling XP requirements for most classes, so that seems like a good spot to hangout for a while. That said, I also love low-level play, both as a player and DM, and our group does mostly that lately.
- ClawCarver
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Wed May 18, 2016 8:26 pm
- Location: Musselburgh, Scotland
Re: What level?
I recall you saying in another thread that you award 100 XP per HD for monsters defeated, rather than the nonlinear scale introduced in Supplement I: Greyhawk (a variant of which is in every edition of S&W). That will have the effect of speeding play at low levels and slowing it at higher levels, which seems highly desirable to me, so I intend to use that system in future, at least when playing White Box.
Re: What level?
This reminds me of the E6 rules for low low fanasy. basically everyone max level is 6.
- ClawCarver
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- Location: Musselburgh, Scotland
Re: What level?
I hadn't heard of E6 before, thanks. For anyone else who's interested, here's a link to a document explaining the concept: http://esix.pbworks.com/f/E6v041.pdfmordrene wrote:This reminds me of the E6 rules for low low fanasy. basically everyone max level is 6.
Perhaps this was an influence on John Stater's Bloody Basic game, of which there are several variants, but maximum level is 6 in all of them. (In the "classic edition", a 6th-level fighter is a Grognard. I've mentioned elsewhere my dislike of level titles, but that one amuses me.)
Re: What level?
Going through some older threads, excuse the necromancy . I've seen a similar idea that uses Holmes basic as an entire game, so nothing past level 3. The idea being that the rulebook has the higher-level monsters and more powerful magic items already, so why complicate things by going outside of that?
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Re: What level?
For me... if it doesn't include high-level D&D it isn't really D&D. I didn't really play with my Rules Cyclopedia until I was grown, but the tantalizing hints of Immortalty-- in the Wrath of the Immortals set I never owned-- shaped my idea of what D&D was. I like it best around 15th-16th level, but the brass ring of the higher levels and the Quest has to be there for me.
Re: What level?
I think it would be interesting to play at higher levels, but the game has to support it as far as challenges for the PCs. I would like to try early D&D's end-game sometime where at 9th level you get the stronghold and followers. But I'd never get my players up that high nowadays unless we started there.
Re: What level?
Something I'd like to try is clearing out an area of wilderness and building a fortress.
Then, depending on how well you do, you could attract more people to the area and watch it grow.
Then, depending on how well you do, you could attract more people to the area and watch it grow.
Re: What level?
That reminded me of what was in OD&D volume III:
It would be a completely different game (at least in the original rules starting at 9th level for fighters) - but I see no reason why it couldn't be mid-level also, assuming the PC could accrue enough treasure and a force of mercenaries to help.