Ronan wrote:
I will defy the SSM and repeat myself: ALFA does not have the resources to support a full level range (1-20) of player groups. Because of this we economize and support the most common and most easily-DMed levels, which tends to be 5-10ish. This means the lowbies have a rough time surviving and the highbies get bored. I don't see any way to resolve this situation without altering PC level distribution (though a level cap, higher starting level, curved XP rewards, or whatever) or dramatically changing the ruleset to make levels closer in power. Allowing multiple PCs will certainly help this a lot, though you'll always get those people who would rather continue to gain power for their main than play with an alt.
This. 5-10 is the sweet spot, so why do we force people to spread out too much? A lvl10 PC is easily as strong as 3 lvl5s, that should be far more than enough marginal that it feels rewarding to advance. So start at 3 and put a soft cap at 10 or 12, and after that PCs gain a fixed wealth allowance for every 10'000xp, and a feat every 20'000xp. But no more BAB, hp, spell levels. So essentially let's play E10 or E12!
Sure there are "builds" that don't come to their own until epic levels. But if you thought about playing a ALFA PC that comes to her own at level 15, and then you're really going to have teh fun!, I got bad news for you. More importantly, ALFA is not for builds but for characters. As characters levels above 10-12 tend to get ignored anyway because they don't mix with the overall level range. That's the ultimate irony of our system: after great dedication and effort you get a high level character you're invested in, and end up being ignored in your all-powerful lonely corner. How demotivating is that! Or worse, your PC becomes more of a problem in making enjoyable roleplay happen within the community than an asset.
Even within the E# system, PCs don't entirely stop progressing, there is always some rewards. Their progress just slows down from the DnD geometrical curve to a slower linear one, determined by how much wealth per xp, and how much xp per extra feat. Builds that "don't come to their own by lvl# are hybrids of the baseline classes, and a couple of choice bonus feats could go a distance there to make PrCs and the associated stories viable. E# systems tend to have special feats when at cap.
I haven't really played around at MMOs or PW like the BGSSC, but my limited experience tells that level caps are essentially what allows people to play together there, too. It's just that the cap is at 20 or 30, and events are generally geared for these "real deal" players, with rewards that are low-power-boost, high-player-ego-boost like unique gear, houses, titles, etc. Below the cap you're just aspiring.
Still, I don't think we have that many 10+ PCs that level caps is a solve-all. But consider this: Dedicated veteran players of the community, those in the best position to hook in other players (especially new players) by making contact IG and playing together, are greatly hampered from doing so because of the huge level disparity of the PCs.
