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Aron Times
2009-12-14, 07:21 PM
Having noticed that there is a very high demand for 4e games in the Playground, I decided to post a recruitment thread for a campaign looking for ten players. Surprisingly, not a single player has expressed interest in this game; I guess the demand has been sufficiently met by the large number of 4e games that popped up at the same time.

Anyway, this campaign, "The Cabinet of Faces", would not track XP. Instead, characters will level up after each adventure in the heroic tier, after every two in the paragon tier, and after every three in the epic tier. Thus, it takes ten adventures to get from level 1 to level 11, twenty adventures to get from level 11 to level 21, and twenty-seven adventures to get from level 21 to level 30 (since there is no level 31).

Assuming two weeks to complete an adventure, a character would get to level 30 in 114 weeks or 2 years, 2 months, and 2 weeks. This seems too long, considering how PbP groups tend to lose members the longer it goes on.

So what about leveling up based on real time? Characters would level up once a week in the heroic tier, once every two weeks in the paragon tier, and once every three weeks in the epic tier. This would cut down the journey to a more manageable 57 weeks or 1 year and 1 month. Afterwards, we can take our time on the party's destiny quest.

So, what do you think?

erikun
2009-12-14, 07:35 PM
Assuming two weeks to complete an adventure, a character would get to level 30 in 114 weeks or 2 years, 2 months, and 2 weeks. This seems too long, considering how PbP groups tend to lose members the longer it goes on.
That's long?! I've been playing a weekly 4e game for about a year, and we recently hit level 5.

Aside from that, I think your method works out pretty well. You'll need to decide how to distribute magical equipment, as the DMG assumes everyone has a +1 something by level 2, and full +1 gear by level 5. It honestly isn't that imperative, but you'll at least want to hand out +1 weaponry to everyone by level 3.

You might want to consider how to go about "upgrading" equipment. Are the players just going to keep finding new weapons? Will they be using the Transfer Enchantment ritual to get beneficial enchantments from random weapons onto the swords they want? Are you going to use "Transfer Enchantment Scrolls" as basically a shortcut to enchant their weaponry without the party stumbling over magic swords in every bandit stronghold?

greenknight
2009-12-14, 07:37 PM
Anyway, this campaign, "The Cabinet of Faces", would not track XP. Instead, characters will level up after each adventure in the heroic tier, after every two in the paragon tier, and after every three in the epic tier. Thus, it takes ten adventures to get from level 1 to level 11, twenty adventures to get from level 11 to level 21, and twenty-seven adventures to get from level 21 to level 30 (since there is no level 31).

Remember, as characters go up in level, the challenges they face give more XP. So if you were willing to have PCs gain 1 level per adventure in Heroic, you should probably do the same in Paragon and Epic. Which means the characters would hit Epic in about 60 weeks (a little over a year) if your other assumptions hold true.


So what about leveling up based on real time? Characters would level up once a week in the heroic tier, once every two weeks in the paragon tier, and once every three weeks in the epic tier. This would cut down the journey to a more manageable 57 weeks or 1 year and 1 month. Afterwards, we can take our time on the party's destiny quest.

So, what do you think?

I think just levelling on a per adventure basis should be fine. This alternative method might run into problems when it comes to giving the PCs the right amount of equipment for their level.