Re: Difficulty Balance

On Tue, 9 Jan 2007 19:22:23 +0000 (UTC),
mkkuhner@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (Mary K. Kuhner) wrote:

>One of my difficulties with _Age of Worms_ is that the encounters,
>both setpiece and random, go from PC-1 to PC+4, but never below
>that.  When the 5th level PCs go out on the road (in module #3) they
>literally never encounter anything less than CR4.  This means they
>will feel like they are just one step from the bottom of the totem
>pole, even though they are 5th level.

Nitpick: The 3.x CR system is suppose to set CR so that a CR5 monster
is one-quarter the strength of four 5th-level PCs, and a CR =
party-level+4 is suppose to be an even fight for a party of four PCs.
So they *ought* to feel as if they are at or near the *top* of the
totem pole if the toughest encounters they face are PC+4. 

The problem, I think, is that the encounters tend to be single
monsters or smaller groups than the PC party. *That* makes the PCs
feel like bottom-of-the-heap types who only survive because they
outnumber most of the things encountered. A single minotaur and a gang
of 8 orcs are both EL4 encounters, but the 8 orcs are much more
morale-boosting to win against. 
-- 
Erol K. Bayburt
ErolB1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]