Grinner
2012-05-02, 03:43 PM
Recently, I had an idea for a campaign setting, sort of. The catch was that I intended to write it using only OGL material or my own homebrew, and perhaps also set a time limit.
So, I started to compile a respectable library of SRDs, third-party sourcebooks, and DM tools(generators, design guides, etc.). As I was working, something occurred to me; D&D makes absolutely no sense. I had come across this voodoo prestige class capable of making poppets with which they could target enemies with spells at any distance. The cost of making a poppet was 1,000 gp per enemy hit die.
In contrast, many of the prices listed in the PHB and DMG are quite typical of a medieval society. The average laborer makes about one to three silver pieces a day, and a proper weapon costs more than they could ever afford.
I actually told myself, "It's just a game."
The reason for this discrepancy seems obvious: balance. The designers were following WoTC's lead and setting inane prices for great benefits. That's fine. But, on WoTC's part, also trying to maintain an air of verisimilitude causes everything to break down, especially where PCs are involved.
As one writer put it,"And while purely intellectual exercises in a universe that is essentially a giant lava lamp of crazy can be interesting, satisfying storytelling is impossible."
But! I am not writing merely to rant. Instead, I wish to make corrections. To me, the most obvious problem seems to be the overabundance of magic items and wealth-by-level, but I'm not prepared to tackle that. Instead, I would prefer to make smaller adjustments for my setting.
For starters, I remember that the accepted exchange rate of gold pieces to XP is about 5 gp to each XP point. With that in mind, I'd like to have players be rewarded solely in XP and handwave any accrual or expenditure of gold.
My question to you all is this: "What ramifications can you all see as a result of this change?"
The most obvious to me is the possible accelerated advancement of spellcasting PCs, resulting in an accelerated breaking of the game...On the other hand, PCs could end up purchasing a ton of suboptimal equipment with their XP and end up screwing themselves over.
tl;dr: D&D 3.5, and consequently PF, is poorly designed (Surprise!). Unfortunately, it's also quite popular, so it's the only game for which anything I write will stand a chance of being played by anyone other than myself. Plus, it has a ton of OGL content written for it.
So, I started to compile a respectable library of SRDs, third-party sourcebooks, and DM tools(generators, design guides, etc.). As I was working, something occurred to me; D&D makes absolutely no sense. I had come across this voodoo prestige class capable of making poppets with which they could target enemies with spells at any distance. The cost of making a poppet was 1,000 gp per enemy hit die.
In contrast, many of the prices listed in the PHB and DMG are quite typical of a medieval society. The average laborer makes about one to three silver pieces a day, and a proper weapon costs more than they could ever afford.
I actually told myself, "It's just a game."
The reason for this discrepancy seems obvious: balance. The designers were following WoTC's lead and setting inane prices for great benefits. That's fine. But, on WoTC's part, also trying to maintain an air of verisimilitude causes everything to break down, especially where PCs are involved.
As one writer put it,"And while purely intellectual exercises in a universe that is essentially a giant lava lamp of crazy can be interesting, satisfying storytelling is impossible."
But! I am not writing merely to rant. Instead, I wish to make corrections. To me, the most obvious problem seems to be the overabundance of magic items and wealth-by-level, but I'm not prepared to tackle that. Instead, I would prefer to make smaller adjustments for my setting.
For starters, I remember that the accepted exchange rate of gold pieces to XP is about 5 gp to each XP point. With that in mind, I'd like to have players be rewarded solely in XP and handwave any accrual or expenditure of gold.
My question to you all is this: "What ramifications can you all see as a result of this change?"
The most obvious to me is the possible accelerated advancement of spellcasting PCs, resulting in an accelerated breaking of the game...On the other hand, PCs could end up purchasing a ton of suboptimal equipment with their XP and end up screwing themselves over.
tl;dr: D&D 3.5, and consequently PF, is poorly designed (Surprise!). Unfortunately, it's also quite popular, so it's the only game for which anything I write will stand a chance of being played by anyone other than myself. Plus, it has a ton of OGL content written for it.