Generic questions as a noob DM

[Mordante]

hello all,

Recently I've taken over as a DM in an existing party. The party is lvl 16 now.

1) What level is a good level to retire PCs or change them over to NPCs. My gut feeling would say around level 18.
2) How do you balance a party. Some players like to min/max make extremely good characters. Others create purely role-playing characters with stats all over the place.
3) Do any of you actually use XP? We normally just tell the group, that they gain a level.
3.1) How does a level adjustment buy off work if you use no XP.
4) How often do you let people level, we play every two weeks, except during summer holidays and around Christmas. I think we have combat one in every four sessions. Even then combat can trivial.
We have not been in a proper combat for 2 or 3 months. So far it took them 10 years or longer to level from 1 to 16.
5) Do you use character wealth by level. I would be inclined to give certain classes more items (fighter, rogue, bard maybe etc) more items then pure casters (sorc and wiz).
6) In the foreseeable future I'd like to start fresh with the party. Would level 1 or 3 be a good starting level?
7) Any other tips?

[Kayblis]

Welcome to the world of DMing!

I'll be honest, you'll have a hard time dealing with a team of level 16s, the game starts to break down at high levels and the sheer amount of options and abilities gets overwhelming fast. It would be best if you could share the party composition and maybe a little history so we can help you out with more specific issues.

1) Completely up to the story and players. Most people retire much before level 16. When a player thinks his character has 'done enough with his life', and maybe wants to change characters, that's the good time. If the question is instead about ending the campaign, I suggest ending it when you finish the story arc you want to end with, there's no hard rule.
2) This is an issue that plagues the system, and at high levels there's a very big divide between great builds and average characters. You can shift focus from the 'one size fits all' approach most people use and devise challenges that play to each character's strength. The big DPS charger can deal with big monsters, the suave bard can talk their way through issues between fights, and so on. Not everyone needs to shine all the time, but having a good moment for each character every session is a good focus to have when designing the adventure.
3) Personal preference. I use milestone leveling because it's simpler, and turn XP costs into material GP costs at a 5:1 ratio. I usually let them waive some LA at the start if they're high level enough to have it bought off, but they don't buyoff any more LA after game starts. You could do it by a ritual and GP cost, but that's your choice.
4) So it's a very long-running campaign, huh? By milestone leveling, the characters can gain a level after completing a big story arc. They defeated the evil Lich, they saved the country, they took down the evil god behind the cultists. Anything that could be considered the end of a fantasy book is usually enough to award a level. That's up to you, when you see fit to do so.
5) The game assumes you have a certain wealth at each level when designing monsters and encounters. You can balance the game with loot, giving the underachievers more loot while keeping the overall wealth average. Yes, this means less magic goodies for casters if they're dominating. No, it's not a bad thing by itself, and the players tend to not complain when the fighter that's falling behind gets a new sword or boots of flying.
6) A great starting level is 4. Everyone has enough HP to not be instakilled with a wild crit, the tanky classes are tanky and everyone has enough class features to be called an actual adventurer. I only start games at level 1 for groups that never played before.
7) We can provide more tips if we know more about the group. Are they following WBL? What classes are in play here? Are the optimizers playing low-tier classes or are they full-casters with PrCs? Are PrCs even used? Etc etc.

[pabelfly]

Kayblis posted some pretty good responses, I'll just add a few of my own personal opinions

2) Easiest way to balance a party is by gentleman's agreement. The more powerful players might min-max weaker concepts, impose handicaps while building their character, self-nerf during play, buff the party, that sort of thing. If you feel that some players/characters are extremely OP compared to other players, you might first talk to the more powerful players to see what they think and work from there.
3) I use XP. People like the reward of gaining XP after combat.
5) This is part of balancing a party, if the gentleman's agreement is not working/working well enough. If you feel some characters are underperforming, one of the ways you can balance the party is by giving the weaker characters better gear to help balance that gap.
6) Pick the starting level for whatever works for the campaign you want to do. Would second not starting with level 1.
7) As a newbie GM, I'd suggest starting with a pre-planned one shot. You might be lucky and have some of the old pamphlets lying around if you have the rulebooks, they were pretty cheap back in the day.
- Pick a low-level affair, level 6 or less (players are less likely to have the ability and resources to screw up the plans of the one-shot).
- Read through it a few times to familiarize yourself with the one-shot and what should happen. This will let you adjust on the fly if the players try to do something unexpected and help you run the adventure much more smoothly.
- Get a rough idea what players are going to come as. You don't need to go over their character, it's not a big deal for a one-shot. If players mention bringing a character that won't work for the adventure or the enemies they'll encounter, suggest that they make modifications or try a new character.
- When running the game, run the first encounter with the exact numbers of the book. Your players will be more powerful, the question is how much more powerful and how much you should bump enemy stats up for the next battle. Adjust HP, damage, BAB and possibly AC from there. Don't worry about the other stats, and don't add more enemies.

Lastly, no-one knows if you've made a mistake running the module as the DM unless you tell them.

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy DMing.

[Mordante]

Welcome to the world of DMing!

I'll be honest, you'll have a hard time dealing with a team of level 16s, the game starts to break down at high levels and the sheer amount of options and abilities gets overwhelming fast. It would be best if you could share the party composition and maybe a little history so we can help you out with more specific issues.

1) Completely up to the story and players. Most people retire much before level 16. When a player thinks his character has 'done enough with his life', and maybe wants to change characters, that's the good time. If the question is instead about ending the campaign, I suggest ending it when you finish the story arc you want to end with, there's no hard rule.
2) This is an issue that plagues the system, and at high levels there's a very big divide between great builds and average characters. You can shift focus from the 'one size fits all' approach most people use and devise challenges that play to each character's strength. The big DPS charger can deal with big monsters, the suave bard can talk their way through issues between fights, and so on. Not everyone needs to shine all the time, but having a good moment for each character every session is a good focus to have when designing the adventure.
3) Personal preference. I use milestone leveling because it's simpler, and turn XP costs into material GP costs at a 5:1 ratio. I usually let them waive some LA at the start if they're high level enough to have it bought off, but they don't buyoff any more LA after game starts. You could do it by a ritual and GP cost, but that's your choice.
4) So it's a very long-running campaign, huh? By milestone leveling, the characters can gain a level after completing a big story arc. They defeated the evil Lich, they saved the country, they took down the evil god behind the cultists. Anything that could be considered the end of a fantasy book is usually enough to award a level. That's up to you, when you see fit to do so.
5) The game assumes you have a certain wealth at each level when designing monsters and encounters. You can balance the game with loot, giving the underachievers more loot while keeping the overall wealth average. Yes, this means less magic goodies for casters if they're dominating. No, it's not a bad thing by itself, and the players tend to not complain when the fighter that's falling behind gets a new sword or boots of flying.
6) A great starting level is 4. Everyone has enough HP to not be instakilled with a wild crit, the tanky classes are tanky and everyone has enough class features to be called an actual adventurer. I only start games at level 1 for groups that never played before.
7) We can provide more tips if we know more about the group. Are they following WBL? What classes are in play here? Are the optimizers playing low-tier classes or are they full-casters with PrCs? Are PrCs even used? Etc etc.


Kayblis posted some pretty good responses, I'll just add a few of my own personal opinions

2) Easiest way to balance a party is by gentleman's agreement. The more powerful players might min-max weaker concepts, impose handicaps while building their character, self-nerf during play, buff the party, that sort of thing. If you feel that some players/characters are extremely OP compared to other players, you might first talk to the more powerful players to see what they think and work from there.
3) I use XP. People like the reward of gaining XP after combat.
5) This is part of balancing a party, if the gentleman's agreement is not working/working well enough. If you feel some characters are underperforming, one of the ways you can balance the party is by giving the weaker characters better gear to help balance that gap.
6) Pick the starting level for whatever works for the campaign you want to do. Would second not starting with level 1.
7) As a newbie GM, I'd suggest starting with a pre-planned one shot. You might be lucky and have some of the old pamphlets lying around if you have the rulebooks, they were pretty cheap back in the day.
- Pick a low-level affair, level 6 or less (players are less likely to have the ability and resources to screw up the plans of the one-shot).
- Read through it a few times to familiarize yourself with the one-shot and what should happen. This will let you adjust on the fly if the players try to do something unexpected and help you run the adventure much more smoothly.
- Get a rough idea what players are going to come as. You don't need to go over their character, it's not a big deal for a one-shot. If players mention bringing a character that won't work for the adventure or the enemies they'll encounter, suggest that they make modifications or try a new character.
- When running the game, run the first encounter with the exact numbers of the book. Your players will be more powerful, the question is how much more powerful and how much you should bump enemy stats up for the next battle. Adjust HP, damage, BAB and possibly AC from there. Don't worry about the other stats, and don't add more enemies.

Lastly, no-one knows if you've made a mistake running the module as the DM unless you tell them.

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy DMing.

The level 16 group I'm GMing atm is made up of:

Nambax 3 swordsage/3 mage/10 monk Illumian. He is mainly focused on gaining knowledge and has a secret interest in Necromancy so he can speak with his dead ancestress. Restoring their souls or so.

Mirinae rogue/sorc/shadow dancer Drow part of moondancing cult/followers of Eilstraee, not evil. Mainly focussed on trying to stay away from the evil drow and preventing het cult from being destroyed

Sheelana pure wizard specialization illusion human, pacifist but knows sometimes violence is a necessary evil. Would love to spend her days hugging bunnies. But too curious to not go on adventure

Gerald 7 wizard/8 master alchemist uses potions, powders, etc instead of direct spells. Used to live a long time alone on the woods helping the resistance, hopes to bring peace to the city where he grew up

Elhael Fighter, mostly ranged, noble son will inherent some crown. But now send away to have his adventures see the world and calm down before he takes the crown

(forgot his name) Divine oracle, becoming an avatar of a minor deity, sometimes sees future, past and present (mostly for Roleplay purposes). Help others to find the lost (persons, knowledge, items etc)

Ouroboros Fighter/Archblade, Deamon elf, when young was trying to do good, when he got older found out that good and evil are hardly that black and white. Now sort of looking for a purpose without wanting to get trapped in righteous cause. (My own character. plan to retire him as a knight of the unseelie court).

Then we have some people that seldom show up. A Duskblade who is scared of his own power so he mostly hides and looks what others are doing and a Bard that is pure support and love to get naked when performing he dance.

Last 2 sessions I send to group on a chase through the fey wild. Where they met a fey lord. She talked to them and they exchanged knowledge. Next they have to find some minor stronghold that has been providing the dictators with goodies. They have to stop that.

The party is currently in a huge jungle. My ultimate plan is to have them willingly destroy most of the human civilization in this part and let the jungle take over. But that depends a bit of the ideas of the previous DM who is now playing Gerald and how long I will be DM of this adventure.

The world is pure homebrew. The previous DM never knew WBL exists. I wil try to avoid combat for a while or any meaningful combat. I will throw in some jungle nasties that they should be able to defeat easily. Just to remind them they are long way from home. I prefer adventures based on wit and roleplaying over dungeon crawling and combat.