[Steve Plambeck]

The furthest I ever got a hero was 42 points, and one wizard got to 42 points as well. (These two PCs never met face to face, being in separate campaigns simultaneously occurring in different regions of the World -- I'm sure they would have made quite a pair fighting side by side).

And I believe I did about the best of anyone in my group except for one other PC, during the course of two decades continuous play. A few other characters did get as far, but died. My two best were still alive and kicking when the group retired.

So when people speak of 46+ characters and even 55+ characters, developed in just 5 years of play, I just kinda shake my head in wonder. Was my group's World that tough? Our parties did go through the ringer, someone dying almost every day of play, even advanced characters that had lived 10+ years of play time. And that was fun!

At least we never had to worry about attribute bloat or forced retirement. Those concepts seem alien!