seasong
First Post
EDIT: Check out Core Classes In My Setting, my post of the classes these guidelines are intended for use with!
EDIT: Check out NPC Guard over a lifetime, MavrickWeirdo's related thread. It's very cool.
EDIT: Included CR 1/2 and CR 1 to the Age->Level chart below. I've taken CR 1/2 back out. It's useful, but results in screwed up margins on the message board
.
EDIT: Took in many suggestions and comments from the kind folks responding to this post!
I'm working on an epic low fantasy campaign setting, and I thought I'd share some of my work with you all. The guidelines below are my way of determining levels by age and experience. I follow that with a short section explaining what I'm trying to achieve with it.
Any feedback is also appreciated, of course!
*****
All characters (PC or NPC) receive XP per scenario. A scenario is roughly defined as:
XP for scenarios is not divided by party members. That's why the XP is per scenario rather than per "encounter". If you prefer to use encounter XP, divide between the party and give it out more often. A full year of a difficult job such as farming will be about 12-24 encounters, but will divide that number between the 12-24 peasants who helped out.
Assuming a reasonably challenging life, a "year at a difficult job" is treated as CR 2. Time of trouble may shift that up to CR 3 (or even CR 4), and leading a sheltered life would only be worth CR 1 (or even CR 1/2). Most commonfolk lead CR 2 lives. The following chart shows CRs 2-4 tracked over a lifetime:
The bulk of the population will be level 3-5, with levels 1-2 representing youth. The higher levels are about as common as the Description column indicates - they are few enough to be reknown in their region. Troubled times typically result in more heroes, and this is reflected rather well in the above.
Adventurers: The typical adventurer in my campaign will be getting involved in 3-4 scenarios per year, of a CR equal to their level. This will tend to translate into 1 level per year!
Soldiers: Soldiers will tend to be slightly higher level for their age than the bulk of the populace. A veteran is 2nd-3rd level, but still young by modern (20th century) standards, and will form the hard-kernelled core of any military force. A green soldier can expect to fight three or four times on the front lines, over the course of a month, before being considered a veteran and moved to easier duty. It is a tragedy of warfare that the young and green are usually the orc fodder used to soften the foe for veterans.
Aging: With levels taking years to achieve, the effects of age become important. The rules below cover aging for humans, and are harsher than the normal D&D3E rules (a human can expect to live to about 45-60).
For every 5 years over 25, lose -1 DEX and -1 CON, and gain +1 INT and +1 WIS. If any attribute reaches 0 because of this, the character dies.
For each 1 year over 30, make a CON Check vs. DC 10. Every time this check is failed (a natural 1 always fails), roll (or choose in my campaign) for one of the following Aging Effects:
1d20
1-3. STR -2 (muscle atrophy, bad back, weak legs, etc.)
4-6. DEX -2 (shaky hands, stroke, broken hip, etc.)
7-10. CON -2 (bad heart, weakened immune system, fragile bones, etc.)
11-12. INT -2 (memory loss, perception disorder, etc.)
13-14. WIS -2 (childhood regression, wandering mind, etc.)
15-16. CHR -2 (irascible, heightened fears, etc.)
17-18. Attack of Age! (permanent -5 hp; heart attack, ill winter, etc.)
19. Worsening Vision (-5 on all Spot and vision-related checks; taken twice results in blindness)
20. Hard of Hearing (-5 on all Listen and hearing-related checks; taken twice results in deafness)
Optional Aging Rule: Aging is harder on farmers than on nobles. Add the following bonus/penalties based on social class and environment.
Upper Class: +1 to CON for aging rolls.
Middle Class: no effect (merchants, sages, craftsmen).
Lower Class: -1 to CON for aging rolls.
Urban Setting: no effect.
Rural/Wilderness Setting: -1 to CON for aging rolls.
Malnutrition: Each season of a year you spend malnourished counts as a full extra year of aging.
Nonhumans: Elves and similar other races live much longer than humans, and consequently may reach unusually high levels. One suggested way of handling this (thanks MaverickWeirdo) is to not allow them to start gaining experience until they reach adulthood (110 for elves). Another way is to increase the years of a difficult life required to qualify as a scenario (elves might be measured in decades rather than years, for example).
In my campaign, the sidhe are higher level than humans on average... but they also live in their own little worlds around unseen corners or underhill. Defeating one of the sidhe in personal combat is worthy of legends! (Sidhe are NPCs).
In general, long-lived races will either be slow learners, or (on average) far more skilled than the average human. Which one is up to your campaign.
*****
How Thomas will run this setting:
PCs possess a greater measure of fortune and misfortune in their lives, and (like Odysseus, Beowulf or Lancelot) tend to suffer or seek adventures on a regular basis. Sessions will alternate between daring doings ("our heroes have discovered papers indicating an infernalist who dwells in the Frankish king's court, but does not reveal his identity") and the passage of time ("after vanquishing the infernalist hidden in the King's court, the intrepid heroes spend three months near Paris, wenching and ladding their way across the countryside"). Over time, about one year will pass per level gained (per the guidelines above) with the occasional exceptional years.
Around level 8-9 (as the PCs hit age 22-23), they will come into their own as heroes, their exploits familiar to most of the people of France, and some of their tales trickling even into other countries. Their skills will be such that even a group of veteran soldiers would find them a difficult foe, and monsters would fear their arrival.
Over the next several years, then, they would become true heroes of their generation, until finally Dame Age began to take her toll from them. Then, in the twilight years, they will have a last grand adventure, on which the fate of the world rests, before retiring to the calm life or dying gloriously.
EDIT: Check out NPC Guard over a lifetime, MavrickWeirdo's related thread. It's very cool.
EDIT: Included CR 1/2 and CR 1 to the Age->Level chart below. I've taken CR 1/2 back out. It's useful, but results in screwed up margins on the message board
.EDIT: Took in many suggestions and comments from the kind folks responding to this post!
I'm working on an epic low fantasy campaign setting, and I thought I'd share some of my work with you all. The guidelines below are my way of determining levels by age and experience. I follow that with a short section explaining what I'm trying to achieve with it.
Any feedback is also appreciated, of course!
*****
All characters (PC or NPC) receive XP per scenario. A scenario is roughly defined as:
- An adventurous event that we roleplay out (such as "The Delving of the Lost Castle of Carne").
- A major subplot of the story arc (foiling the King's assassins).
- A year at a difficult job (farming, coastal fishing).
- A month at an exceptionally dangerous job (deep sea fishing, participating in a month-long battle).
- A full day of an insanely dangerous job (fighting on the front lines of a battle, delving the Paris sewers to clear out a goblinoid infestation).
XP for scenarios is not divided by party members. That's why the XP is per scenario rather than per "encounter". If you prefer to use encounter XP, divide between the party and give it out more often. A full year of a difficult job such as farming will be about 12-24 encounters, but will divide that number between the 12-24 peasants who helped out.
Assuming a reasonably challenging life, a "year at a difficult job" is treated as CR 2. Time of trouble may shift that up to CR 3 (or even CR 4), and leading a sheltered life would only be worth CR 1 (or even CR 1/2). Most commonfolk lead CR 2 lives. The following chart shows CRs 2-4 tracked over a lifetime:
Code:
[COLOR=sky blue]
CR 1 CR 2 CR 3 CR 4
Attain Years Age Years Age Years Age Years Age Description
Lvl 2 +3 18 +2 17 +2 17 +1 16 somewhat experienced
Lvl 3 +7 25 +3 20 +2 19 +2 18 experienced
Lvl 4 +10 35 +5 25 +3 22 +3 21 full professional
Lvl 5 +13 48 +7 32 +5 27 +4 25 master of the trade
Lvl 6 +17 65 +10 42 +7 34 +4 29 locally reknown
Lvl 7 +20 85 +13 55 +10 44 +7 36 regionally reknown
Lvl 8 +26 111 +18 73 +13 57 +10 46 nationally reknown
Lvl 9 +40 151 +27 100 +18 75 +13 59 "name" level
Lvl 10 - - +39 139 +26 101 +18 77 semi-legendary
[/COLOR]The bulk of the population will be level 3-5, with levels 1-2 representing youth. The higher levels are about as common as the Description column indicates - they are few enough to be reknown in their region. Troubled times typically result in more heroes, and this is reflected rather well in the above.
Adventurers: The typical adventurer in my campaign will be getting involved in 3-4 scenarios per year, of a CR equal to their level. This will tend to translate into 1 level per year!
Soldiers: Soldiers will tend to be slightly higher level for their age than the bulk of the populace. A veteran is 2nd-3rd level, but still young by modern (20th century) standards, and will form the hard-kernelled core of any military force. A green soldier can expect to fight three or four times on the front lines, over the course of a month, before being considered a veteran and moved to easier duty. It is a tragedy of warfare that the young and green are usually the orc fodder used to soften the foe for veterans.
Aging: With levels taking years to achieve, the effects of age become important. The rules below cover aging for humans, and are harsher than the normal D&D3E rules (a human can expect to live to about 45-60).
For every 5 years over 25, lose -1 DEX and -1 CON, and gain +1 INT and +1 WIS. If any attribute reaches 0 because of this, the character dies.
For each 1 year over 30, make a CON Check vs. DC 10. Every time this check is failed (a natural 1 always fails), roll (or choose in my campaign) for one of the following Aging Effects:
1d20
1-3. STR -2 (muscle atrophy, bad back, weak legs, etc.)
4-6. DEX -2 (shaky hands, stroke, broken hip, etc.)
7-10. CON -2 (bad heart, weakened immune system, fragile bones, etc.)
11-12. INT -2 (memory loss, perception disorder, etc.)
13-14. WIS -2 (childhood regression, wandering mind, etc.)
15-16. CHR -2 (irascible, heightened fears, etc.)
17-18. Attack of Age! (permanent -5 hp; heart attack, ill winter, etc.)
19. Worsening Vision (-5 on all Spot and vision-related checks; taken twice results in blindness)
20. Hard of Hearing (-5 on all Listen and hearing-related checks; taken twice results in deafness)
Optional Aging Rule: Aging is harder on farmers than on nobles. Add the following bonus/penalties based on social class and environment.
Upper Class: +1 to CON for aging rolls.
Middle Class: no effect (merchants, sages, craftsmen).
Lower Class: -1 to CON for aging rolls.
Urban Setting: no effect.
Rural/Wilderness Setting: -1 to CON for aging rolls.
Malnutrition: Each season of a year you spend malnourished counts as a full extra year of aging.
Nonhumans: Elves and similar other races live much longer than humans, and consequently may reach unusually high levels. One suggested way of handling this (thanks MaverickWeirdo) is to not allow them to start gaining experience until they reach adulthood (110 for elves). Another way is to increase the years of a difficult life required to qualify as a scenario (elves might be measured in decades rather than years, for example).
In my campaign, the sidhe are higher level than humans on average... but they also live in their own little worlds around unseen corners or underhill. Defeating one of the sidhe in personal combat is worthy of legends! (Sidhe are NPCs).
In general, long-lived races will either be slow learners, or (on average) far more skilled than the average human. Which one is up to your campaign.
*****
How Thomas will run this setting:
PCs possess a greater measure of fortune and misfortune in their lives, and (like Odysseus, Beowulf or Lancelot) tend to suffer or seek adventures on a regular basis. Sessions will alternate between daring doings ("our heroes have discovered papers indicating an infernalist who dwells in the Frankish king's court, but does not reveal his identity") and the passage of time ("after vanquishing the infernalist hidden in the King's court, the intrepid heroes spend three months near Paris, wenching and ladding their way across the countryside"). Over time, about one year will pass per level gained (per the guidelines above) with the occasional exceptional years.
Around level 8-9 (as the PCs hit age 22-23), they will come into their own as heroes, their exploits familiar to most of the people of France, and some of their tales trickling even into other countries. Their skills will be such that even a group of veteran soldiers would find them a difficult foe, and monsters would fear their arrival.
Over the next several years, then, they would become true heroes of their generation, until finally Dame Age began to take her toll from them. Then, in the twilight years, they will have a last grand adventure, on which the fate of the world rests, before retiring to the calm life or dying gloriously.
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