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<blockquote data-quote="hendrake69" data-source="post: 5437677" data-attributes="member: 61420"><p>This has been a facinating read. Thank you.</p><p> </p><p>I had a few thoughts on the XP reward...</p><p> </p><p>Since, "Monsters or traps more than four levels below the party's level or seven levels above the party's level don't make good challenges" I would reduce the XP reward by half for every level below four and above seven.</p><p> </p><p>So if your party of four 8th level PCs dispose of a 500 XP encounter (a 2nd encounter level encounter for 4 PCs), instead of 500 XP they would get 500 / 2 = 250 / 2 = 125 XP.</p><p> </p><p>To clarify, I divided by two twice since the 2nd level encounter was two levels beyond the "cut-off" for full XP for an 8th level group (cut off @ 4th level).</p><p> </p><p>If that's still too much XP, you could always start halving the reward at three levels below the party's "standard" encounter level.</p><p> </p><p>Too, I would also start halving the XP for extremely HIGH level encounters that the party manages to defeat somehow (or perhaps achieve something truly unusual, like completing a particularly easy quest, finding a high-powered artifact or exploring the moon). My reasoning is that the PC (not the player) may not be able to process exactly what happened to 'pull him through' the nightmare. Alternatively, one could look at it as there's just so much one can learn from being incredibly lucky.</p><p> </p><p>I'd do the "half XP for every level above seven (or maybe five)" with a minimum of 10% or something, just to throw 'em a bone.</p><p> </p><p>So I guess once an encounter goes beyond 10 levels higher than what's "standard" for that group, they only get 10% of the potential XP, which would, with a 8th level party defeating a 19th level encounter, be 960 XP.</p><p> </p><p>"We're so lucky to be alive!"</p><p> </p><p>Alternatively, I suppose that rather than 10%, you could just say that if the party defeats an encounter more than 9 levels higher than them, they only get the "standard" XP reward for their level.</p><p> </p><p>I don't see many 8th level parties defeating 8,000 XP worth of bad guys in one go anyway. I certainly could be wrong, of course. Maybe you could playtest a fight against an Elder White Dragon and see how it goes?</p><p> </p><p>Now, I have questions, I hope that's alright.</p><p> </p><p>Your hexes are 5 miles across, right?</p><p> </p><p>Do the players see their characters as "good?" Are you bothering with alignments at all or is it a purely "character motivation" game? From my perspective, what with the deals with Asmodeus, the sentient being-sacrifices and the executions without trial ("Well, the paladin said he was evil, so we cut his head off in the street") and so on, I've come to view your PCs as, at best, "opportunistic pragmatists" and at worst, "Damn, that's one evil SOB!").</p><p> </p><p>Not that there's anything wrong with that, I was just curious if your players see themselves as, "The Good Guys."</p><p> </p><p>I assume you're operating under the premise that the farmers of this world are remarkably competent (having sussed out the potential of fertilizer, iron plows, irrigation systems and crop rotation) since the "three farmers support one non-farmer" is a very efficient ratio. My question is, how much have you fleshed out your communities? Most of them seem pretty tiny and the moment the PCs arrive they fairly quickly meet whoever's in charge and start interacting with him so I'm curious if that's what you're going for.</p><p> </p><p>Your play style reminds me of my youth when the best DM I ever had created nearly everything on the fly and had us regularly running for our lives, getting our hapless followers killed more often than not and generally having a great time.</p><p> </p><p>I'm starting a new (1st level 4e) group next month and I'd love to see my players want to interact with the environment more. You've given me some ideas and so for that, and the dedication you've shown posting these write ups, again, I thank you.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="hendrake69, post: 5437677, member: 61420"] This has been a facinating read. Thank you. I had a few thoughts on the XP reward... Since, "Monsters or traps more than four levels below the party's level or seven levels above the party's level don't make good challenges" I would reduce the XP reward by half for every level below four and above seven. So if your party of four 8th level PCs dispose of a 500 XP encounter (a 2nd encounter level encounter for 4 PCs), instead of 500 XP they would get 500 / 2 = 250 / 2 = 125 XP. To clarify, I divided by two twice since the 2nd level encounter was two levels beyond the "cut-off" for full XP for an 8th level group (cut off @ 4th level). If that's still too much XP, you could always start halving the reward at three levels below the party's "standard" encounter level. Too, I would also start halving the XP for extremely HIGH level encounters that the party manages to defeat somehow (or perhaps achieve something truly unusual, like completing a particularly easy quest, finding a high-powered artifact or exploring the moon). My reasoning is that the PC (not the player) may not be able to process exactly what happened to 'pull him through' the nightmare. Alternatively, one could look at it as there's just so much one can learn from being incredibly lucky. I'd do the "half XP for every level above seven (or maybe five)" with a minimum of 10% or something, just to throw 'em a bone. So I guess once an encounter goes beyond 10 levels higher than what's "standard" for that group, they only get 10% of the potential XP, which would, with a 8th level party defeating a 19th level encounter, be 960 XP. "We're so lucky to be alive!" Alternatively, I suppose that rather than 10%, you could just say that if the party defeats an encounter more than 9 levels higher than them, they only get the "standard" XP reward for their level. I don't see many 8th level parties defeating 8,000 XP worth of bad guys in one go anyway. I certainly could be wrong, of course. Maybe you could playtest a fight against an Elder White Dragon and see how it goes? Now, I have questions, I hope that's alright. Your hexes are 5 miles across, right? Do the players see their characters as "good?" Are you bothering with alignments at all or is it a purely "character motivation" game? From my perspective, what with the deals with Asmodeus, the sentient being-sacrifices and the executions without trial ("Well, the paladin said he was evil, so we cut his head off in the street") and so on, I've come to view your PCs as, at best, "opportunistic pragmatists" and at worst, "Damn, that's one evil SOB!"). Not that there's anything wrong with that, I was just curious if your players see themselves as, "The Good Guys." I assume you're operating under the premise that the farmers of this world are remarkably competent (having sussed out the potential of fertilizer, iron plows, irrigation systems and crop rotation) since the "three farmers support one non-farmer" is a very efficient ratio. My question is, how much have you fleshed out your communities? Most of them seem pretty tiny and the moment the PCs arrive they fairly quickly meet whoever's in charge and start interacting with him so I'm curious if that's what you're going for. Your play style reminds me of my youth when the best DM I ever had created nearly everything on the fly and had us regularly running for our lives, getting our hapless followers killed more often than not and generally having a great time. I'm starting a new (1st level 4e) group next month and I'd love to see my players want to interact with the environment more. You've given me some ideas and so for that, and the dedication you've shown posting these write ups, again, I thank you. [/QUOTE]
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