Quote:
Originally Posted by TippetsTX
That's true (both points), but I always felt there was a lot of value built into those stat boosts.
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There is. Take two equal high-level characters, give one of them one more adjDX than the other, and they can act first and possibly take the other one out before they can do anything, especially if they know a spell which does that, such as Sleep or Freeze.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TippetsTX
And character progression was also available in other forms besides XP and stat increases... I really enjoyed creating magic items (or earning funds to pay for custom items if I was a 'hero').
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Yes. Though we both enjoyed this and found it a bit much, even when there was a much flatter XP curve and no limit on attributes. That is, who can kill whom can start to be more about who has the better toys. Now there are no unlimited-power missile spells nor double-damage polearm charges, there are fewer ways to deal with people who stack armor with magic protection.
I like most of the
intentions of the character improvement changes, e.g.:
* Reduced "all my stats are great" characters.
* Reduced "I am superhuman" characters.
* Less difference in attributes between the most experienced characters and typical NPCs and starting characters.
* Improvement in talents/spells via XP rather than just attributes.
* Other things you could do with XP besides forever increasing attributes.
But I'm concerned with many of the details:
* Speeding through the fun/tense/challenging lower attribute ranges at 100-200 XP per point.
* XP awards not based on needing to take more risks to earn more XP, combined with the low XP costs for the first 3-4 attributes, offers a clear temptation to do as much danger avoidance as possible and advance to be 35-36 point characters anyway. It could almost seem foolish
and unnecessary to try to do anything particularly dangerous until you get to 35-36 points, since it will happen just by showing up for enough sessions.
* The doubling curve gets prohibitive at the high end... seems like a smoother curve that's a bit less ridiculous at the top but a bit more expensive lower would work better.
* The 500 XP fixed cost per talent point is no good as the only way anyone learns any talent, in a system where the supposed average point total is 30 points and attribute gains there cost only 100 XP.
* The 500 XP cost for talent points (and staff spell level upgrades) combined with no other way to learn talents AND free talents on creation gives a huge incentive to take as much IQ as you will want and can get away with at start, and a huge penalty for not doing so. This greatly messes with the previous balance of varied wizard creation choices.
* It no longer feels to me like the character improvement system is meant to be used as a guideline for NPCs and what populations are like.
* The XP system seems only tuned for 32-points and breaks down for giants, reptile men and gargoyles, and a bit for halflings or hobgoblins.