It is not explicitly spelled out in the D&D 3.x core books that play changes significantly through the various levels. The lack of this explicit statement has caused, for many people, a detachment between the levels of power and the styles of play appropriate to those levels of power. This is evident from the disparity of ability between classes of different types – spell casters gain power on a quadratic curve, while those who don’t use spells grow more linearly.
Or, to use a common complaint about D&D, “fighters can’t have nice stuff”.
On top of this, because ‘mundane’ characters, those who do not use magic, learn only ‘real’ things such as combat tricks or skill use, there is the perception that much of what these characters can do should be learnable by ‘anyone’. After all, it’s just a matter of training and skill, not magic.
The name ‘Echelon’ was chosen as a conscious reflection of how D&D, especially D&D 3.x editions, actually works. Just as échelon originally meant a rung of a ladder, Echelon has explicit tiers of ability, power, or incredibility. The abilities (called ‘Talents’) gained at each level are expected to be appropriate to the tier.
Echelon was also chosen because this game no longer uses classes, as all other editions of D&D (and most d20 games) have. Character differentiation is managed through their tiers (as indicated by level) and the talents chosen. A high-tier martial character is expected to be just as awesome and incredible as a spell caster of the same tier.
| Behind the Scenes: Managing Expectations |
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This was originally posted at kjd-imc.org, but I felt it worth repeating here because I think it does a good job of describing some design-driving philosophy.
In a recent thread in rec.games.frp.dnd, I saw a comment with regard to a matter of power balance in a focus-mojo-and-release idea that I thought I would follow up on. I think it does a fair bit to explain where I’m coming from in my game design and campaign expectations.
Keith has already been pounding into my head that at “heroic” and “legendary” levels, “realistic” isn’t a big deal. So getting many ‘focus’ points per round at high levels might make perfect sense.
– David Lamb
I think this is an important realization to make. Mid- to high-level D&D is not ‘realistic’. It can be quite playable as long as you keep this in mind while designing… something that was not done well in D&D 3.x.
Never mind that the fighter is just using a ‘normal sword’ or a ‘normal bow’. Remember, the wizard is using a ‘normal ball of bat guano’ to throw fireball spells, or a ‘normal piece of amber’ to throw lightning bolt spells.
So, after about fourth level you can stretch credibility, after about eighth level you should be in incredible territory… at which point your primary worry as far as power is concerned is that you are in line with whatever balance point you have chosen.
Yes, your fighter can use his sword to lay down a line of wind that cuts his enemies along a 100′ path (much as lightning bolt, but not electrical… it might even be considered a force effect and push ghosts around). Your monk doesn’t leap across a big hole in the floor, he can get to the other side of a chasm (why not? The wizard could fly… or cast dimension door or teleport). Accept that mid- to high-level characters are no longer on the same level of ability that we have to accept in our world.
It will make your games much better, I assure you. ’Believable in our world’ means ‘low level’; after that, ‘internally consistent’ is a better metric.
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Looking for a new RPG, and I stumbled on your site. I’m thinking about either going with this or Legend ( http://www.ruleofcool.com ) as my RPG of choice, so please sell me on this. Why should I choose this over Legend?
well, for one, Legend is a lot closer to publication
For what it’s worth, Legend is part of my research material. The ‘vertical structure’ of the class abilities is pretty similar to what I’m doing here, but on a different rate (every three levels rather than four).
I think we are philosophically similar, but following different paths. I’m certainly looking forward to getting my copy.
and I’m glad you like what you see. I’m still chugging away…