I've struggled with power level inflation in the past, so I thought I'd share my tool for controlling it, in case someone could use some help too. You guys can also share your own tools for controlling power inflation in this thread. :)
Let's get to it!
Power level inflation means that you have too many, too powerful individuals in the world. As inflation grows, you are soon to realize that with everyone being super high level, characters comparable to for example level 10 feel like toddlers stuck in snow. This can lead to players not feeling badass even at level 10+ and the world might begin to feel like a playground for anime superheroes where only power level over 9000 feels like anything - until next session someone comes up and says "My power level was 9000 years ago. Now I'm 10 000!"
Enough babbling...
When creating a campaign or a setting, I use the Wizards as a Power Scale, because their magic is based on years and years of practice and understanding of the magical world and they have access to spells that really set the tone for the setting in general.
My usual Wizard scale is the following (you can customize it for your own setting, but I'll explain my reasoning behind this particular scale)
Title/position - Approximate Spellcaster level (detailed description of place in the world)
Novice - Level 1-2 (Students of Magic with some experience. Have already spent years studying. Often assist more experienced Mages in field work)
Mage/Journeyman - Level 3-4 (Proper Mages who have passed the possible tests and been accepted as full members of their order. Often work in the field, studying magic on their own, serving in the army, advising local leaders etc.)
Master/Senior Master - Level 5-10 (seeing a Master wizard is a sight to behold for the common folk. They are amazingly gifted and well-learnt individuals capable of great feats. They have a very clear role in the world. They serve as high advisors and court wizards, professors, military commanders, and lead dangerous expeditions to recover ancient artifacts. Stronger Masters or "Senior Masters" often serve as Headmasters in Mage Colleges. My advice is to think very carefully about going past level 10 Spellcaster with an NPC Mage. You can use other things to make them interesting and special. Level 5 spells are quite remarkable already and 99% of students will never get this far, so a level 9 Headmaster probably won't run into the problem of not having anything left to teach. I want a player of any level to have respect for a Senior Master, even if they could blast them to death in one round. A Senior Master could still be a helpful advisor and ally to level 17 players if done right.
Grandmaster - Level 11-16 (There are maybe a dozen of these in my typical setting. They are advisors to the highest kings, headmasters of the most renowned schools, masters/keepers of ancient and highly magical mage towers, members of the highest mage councils and also Archmages. This is where power inflation often happens, so this is very important. You don't need to be lvl 17-20 to be an Archmage, although they are often one of the most capable wizards in the world. An NPC could be an Archmage at spellcaster level 14, but they are strong leaders and their understanding and wisdom in for example Transmutation is unmatched. I suggest adding other kinds of non-player flavor to such a character, like the ability to send someone back in time with the use of powerful tools and rituals that they have studied for decades.
Grandmaster - Level 17-20 (These are just Grandmasters too in my own scale, but I made a separate rank to make it simpler to understand. There are maybe 1-3 of these in the world. The ability to understand level 9 spells is usually beyond reach for even the most experienced wizards and Archmages. These are legendary individuals whose mere names send shivers down the spines of even the most hardened hero. I wouldn't be surprised if an individual like this wasn't really interested in the affairs of mere Kings and Queens, when they have cosmic mysteries to solve. )
One of the biggest reasons for controlling power inflation is consistency and controlling causation. A level 17-20 spellcaster could take over almost any kingdom with very little effort. So if you have many characters of this kind of power level, you may end up having to make more and more of them just to keep the world in order. But a handful of these across all "classes/archetypes" can be controlled rather easily.
In my opinion, the power scale of the world is alright if a group of top level (15+) players could forcefully conquer a normal city with very little effort. They could just march in and the city guard could do nothing to stop them. Of course there are always bigger fish, so the players shouldn't be surprised if this kind of an action attracts the attention of someone who then sends a battalion of supernatural assassins and high ranking mages and warriors to kill you.
Monsters and villains don't fall into this scale. Ancient Dragons live their own lives, Beholders live in the darkest corners of the world etc. A villain might be more powerful than an Archmage and might in fact take over a kingdom rather easily, which is why the player heroes are needed in the first place.
You can also make a great scale with clerics. Higher level cleric spells like resurrect are world changing spells, so not many individuals should have access to them. So following the same logic, the highest priests and leaders of entire religions could be 11+
These are interesting comments and I think they reflect one way of building a fantasy world.
However, you make the comment "A level 17-20 spellcaster could take over almost any kingdom with very little effort." and in 5e that isn't true. A level 17-20 spellcaster is very powerful but unless the DM lets Wish do all the heavy lifting then a level 17-20 spellcaster needs an army and followers to take over anything. There are ways a high level caster might be able to impersonate someone effectively and try to take over by replacing them but brute force or just taking over any kingdom with very little effort isn't a simple thing in 5e. (Personally, I think this is good).
Magic is detectable most of the time so it would require a plan and subterfuge and ideally a changeling spellcaster to be able to reliably accomplish an impersonation and even then they would not have all of the memories or knowledge of their target.
Force of arms or using spells to subjugate a kingdom by brute force? Not happening in 5e. Spells are powerful but they don't affect thousands, or 10's of thousands or more. An army of a several hundred trained soldiers could usually defeat any wizard or dragon for that matter in 5e (though an army would require a way to mitigate the Dragon's fear ability in order to be effective). Especially in a world where the power of magic is known to everyone. Armies would include magical support designed to suppress enemy magic if it became an issue.
Basically, bounded accuracy in 5e and an automatic hit on a 20 makes large groups dangerous to even high level characters.
On the other hand, earlier versions of D&D could be fitted to the described concept much more easily since the power curve scaled much more steeply and kept going past level 20.
I have to disagree for some parts. Although the party of high level players could forcefully take over a major city, I do agree that taking an entire kingdom by force isn't going to happen. But such a character has so many options for manipulating, assassination with power word kill, impersonating and even forcing people to do what they want that it wouldn't be very difficult to come up with a plan that allows one to take over a kingdom. Maybe not visibly, but behind the curtains - and then eventually become the legitimate ruler.
Some great nations may have very strong magical protection in place, but even those can be circumvented with patience and planning. For example easily manipulating less protected individuals, forging invitations and documents etc., bribing (even with the resurrection of a loved one for example) to create a weakness in the system and get a chance to manipulate and control the key people. And even resurrecting certain people like the previous king to create internal problems. Of course this might take years, but still it would be quite easy.
Of course if the Kingdom has a super strong character of their own, that changes things. But I'm thinking more of a normal kingdom and not the Ancient Elven kingdom of Endless Might and Magic. :D
Picture a Kingdom like Gondor or Rohan. Doing what Saruman did would not be difficult. DnD has more protective measures, but stronger spells too. Not all Kingdoms in high magic settings are highly magical or magically powerful.
And when talking about taking over a city by force. Sure the players would have a hard time against an army of soldiers. But they wouldn't be up against an army of soldiers. The soldiers would probably be patrolling all around the city, most sleeping in their quarters. A few well coordinated attacks and the city's defenses are crippled.
High level characters can take out a squad of soldiers without using any resources, just attacks and cantrips. And when they do get wounded bit by bit, they have ways to heal themselves. Then they have ways to disappear and leave the town shaken and broken, only to return with another devastating attack.
Earthquaking the barracks, assassinating key officers, numerous ways to get past gates and doors, turning into a dragon and destroying everything, meteor swarming the highest elite guards in one shot. A lot of spells that can be used many times during its duration like telekinesis. Also Geas, Teleport. A high level fighter with a strong magic weapon would just hack through soldiers like they were nothing while a cleric heals their wounds. While the mage and the druid unleash hell all over the city until the succumb.
And while it is true that an army most definitely has anti-magic measures, they can be quite lacking. Unless you have access to lvl 8 effects like Antimagic field, then it doesn't take much for a high level character to get past them. Also, it's hard to see how a single person would be forced to go against hundreds of soldiers if they have any skill for planning.
Even worse, if the high level character or party doesn't plan to take anything over, but instead just destroy a nation. It would be all too easy to bring a nation to its knees by killing key individuals such as military command and ruling families, destroying the infrastructure with guerilla attacks, causing widespread chaos and unrest among the people, creating an uprising etc.
And I may have exaggerated a bit with "very little effort". I'll rephrase it to "some effort" . ;)
But that was to point out how a setting shouldn't have too many of those kind of people, because things are so easy for them that the only people who can realistically stop them from getting what they want are other people of the same caliber or a group of individuals of almost the same caliber -> which easily leads to only these super powerful individuals making a difference and there being very little room for ordinary nobility and royalty, normal generals etc.
So to get back on track. I don't think the discussion about city conquering tactics is very fruitful, because we probably see the worlds from the perspective of our own campaigns.
But like I said, that scale is just an example based on my own preferences. I like a world where the majority of power is in the hands or ordinary people like Kings or less ordinary, but not lvl 20 people, like High Priests and High Mages.
The point was the scale itself. Sort of to set your own scale to serve as your guideline for creating powerful characters and keeping the power level and magic level where you want it to be. :)
Hey!
I've struggled with power level inflation in the past, so I thought I'd share my tool for controlling it, in case someone could use some help too. You guys can also share your own tools for controlling power inflation in this thread. :)
Let's get to it!
Power level inflation means that you have too many, too powerful individuals in the world. As inflation grows, you are soon to realize that with everyone being super high level, characters comparable to for example level 10 feel like toddlers stuck in snow. This can lead to players not feeling badass even at level 10+ and the world might begin to feel like a playground for anime superheroes where only power level over 9000 feels like anything - until next session someone comes up and says "My power level was 9000 years ago. Now I'm 10 000!"
Enough babbling...
When creating a campaign or a setting, I use the Wizards as a Power Scale, because their magic is based on years and years of practice and understanding of the magical world and they have access to spells that really set the tone for the setting in general.
My usual Wizard scale is the following (you can customize it for your own setting, but I'll explain my reasoning behind this particular scale)
Title/position - Approximate Spellcaster level (detailed description of place in the world)
Novice - Level 1-2 (Students of Magic with some experience. Have already spent years studying. Often assist more experienced Mages in field work)
Mage/Journeyman - Level 3-4 (Proper Mages who have passed the possible tests and been accepted as full members of their order. Often work in the field, studying magic on their own, serving in the army, advising local leaders etc.)
Master/Senior Master - Level 5-10 (seeing a Master wizard is a sight to behold for the common folk. They are amazingly gifted and well-learnt individuals capable of great feats. They have a very clear role in the world. They serve as high advisors and court wizards, professors, military commanders, and lead dangerous expeditions to recover ancient artifacts. Stronger Masters or "Senior Masters" often serve as Headmasters in Mage Colleges. My advice is to think very carefully about going past level 10 Spellcaster with an NPC Mage. You can use other things to make them interesting and special. Level 5 spells are quite remarkable already and 99% of students will never get this far, so a level 9 Headmaster probably won't run into the problem of not having anything left to teach. I want a player of any level to have respect for a Senior Master, even if they could blast them to death in one round. A Senior Master could still be a helpful advisor and ally to level 17 players if done right.
Grandmaster - Level 11-16 (There are maybe a dozen of these in my typical setting. They are advisors to the highest kings, headmasters of the most renowned schools, masters/keepers of ancient and highly magical mage towers, members of the highest mage councils and also Archmages. This is where power inflation often happens, so this is very important. You don't need to be lvl 17-20 to be an Archmage, although they are often one of the most capable wizards in the world. An NPC could be an Archmage at spellcaster level 14, but they are strong leaders and their understanding and wisdom in for example Transmutation is unmatched. I suggest adding other kinds of non-player flavor to such a character, like the ability to send someone back in time with the use of powerful tools and rituals that they have studied for decades.
Grandmaster - Level 17-20 (These are just Grandmasters too in my own scale, but I made a separate rank to make it simpler to understand. There are maybe 1-3 of these in the world. The ability to understand level 9 spells is usually beyond reach for even the most experienced wizards and Archmages. These are legendary individuals whose mere names send shivers down the spines of even the most hardened hero. I wouldn't be surprised if an individual like this wasn't really interested in the affairs of mere Kings and Queens, when they have cosmic mysteries to solve. )
One of the biggest reasons for controlling power inflation is consistency and controlling causation. A level 17-20 spellcaster could take over almost any kingdom with very little effort. So if you have many characters of this kind of power level, you may end up having to make more and more of them just to keep the world in order. But a handful of these across all "classes/archetypes" can be controlled rather easily.
In my opinion, the power scale of the world is alright if a group of top level (15+) players could forcefully conquer a normal city with very little effort. They could just march in and the city guard could do nothing to stop them. Of course there are always bigger fish, so the players shouldn't be surprised if this kind of an action attracts the attention of someone who then sends a battalion of supernatural assassins and high ranking mages and warriors to kill you.
Monsters and villains don't fall into this scale. Ancient Dragons live their own lives, Beholders live in the darkest corners of the world etc. A villain might be more powerful than an Archmage and might in fact take over a kingdom rather easily, which is why the player heroes are needed in the first place.
You can also make a great scale with clerics. Higher level cleric spells like resurrect are world changing spells, so not many individuals should have access to them. So following the same logic, the highest priests and leaders of entire religions could be 11+
Cheers!
I hope this was useful. :)
Finland GMT/UTC +2
These are interesting comments and I think they reflect one way of building a fantasy world.
However, you make the comment "A level 17-20 spellcaster could take over almost any kingdom with very little effort." and in 5e that isn't true. A level 17-20 spellcaster is very powerful but unless the DM lets Wish do all the heavy lifting then a level 17-20 spellcaster needs an army and followers to take over anything. There are ways a high level caster might be able to impersonate someone effectively and try to take over by replacing them but brute force or just taking over any kingdom with very little effort isn't a simple thing in 5e. (Personally, I think this is good).
Magic is detectable most of the time so it would require a plan and subterfuge and ideally a changeling spellcaster to be able to reliably accomplish an impersonation and even then they would not have all of the memories or knowledge of their target.
Force of arms or using spells to subjugate a kingdom by brute force? Not happening in 5e. Spells are powerful but they don't affect thousands, or 10's of thousands or more. An army of a several hundred trained soldiers could usually defeat any wizard or dragon for that matter in 5e (though an army would require a way to mitigate the Dragon's fear ability in order to be effective). Especially in a world where the power of magic is known to everyone. Armies would include magical support designed to suppress enemy magic if it became an issue.
Basically, bounded accuracy in 5e and an automatic hit on a 20 makes large groups dangerous to even high level characters.
On the other hand, earlier versions of D&D could be fitted to the described concept much more easily since the power curve scaled much more steeply and kept going past level 20.
Hey,
Thanks for comment!
I have to disagree for some parts. Although the party of high level players could forcefully take over a major city, I do agree that taking an entire kingdom by force isn't going to happen. But such a character has so many options for manipulating, assassination with power word kill, impersonating and even forcing people to do what they want that it wouldn't be very difficult to come up with a plan that allows one to take over a kingdom. Maybe not visibly, but behind the curtains - and then eventually become the legitimate ruler.
Some great nations may have very strong magical protection in place, but even those can be circumvented with patience and planning. For example easily manipulating less protected individuals, forging invitations and documents etc., bribing (even with the resurrection of a loved one for example) to create a weakness in the system and get a chance to manipulate and control the key people. And even resurrecting certain people like the previous king to create internal problems. Of course this might take years, but still it would be quite easy.
Of course if the Kingdom has a super strong character of their own, that changes things. But I'm thinking more of a normal kingdom and not the Ancient Elven kingdom of Endless Might and Magic. :D
Picture a Kingdom like Gondor or Rohan. Doing what Saruman did would not be difficult. DnD has more protective measures, but stronger spells too. Not all Kingdoms in high magic settings are highly magical or magically powerful.
And when talking about taking over a city by force. Sure the players would have a hard time against an army of soldiers. But they wouldn't be up against an army of soldiers. The soldiers would probably be patrolling all around the city, most sleeping in their quarters. A few well coordinated attacks and the city's defenses are crippled.
High level characters can take out a squad of soldiers without using any resources, just attacks and cantrips. And when they do get wounded bit by bit, they have ways to heal themselves. Then they have ways to disappear and leave the town shaken and broken, only to return with another devastating attack.
Earthquaking the barracks, assassinating key officers, numerous ways to get past gates and doors, turning into a dragon and destroying everything, meteor swarming the highest elite guards in one shot. A lot of spells that can be used many times during its duration like telekinesis. Also Geas, Teleport. A high level fighter with a strong magic weapon would just hack through soldiers like they were nothing while a cleric heals their wounds. While the mage and the druid unleash hell all over the city until the succumb.
And while it is true that an army most definitely has anti-magic measures, they can be quite lacking. Unless you have access to lvl 8 effects like Antimagic field, then it doesn't take much for a high level character to get past them. Also, it's hard to see how a single person would be forced to go against hundreds of soldiers if they have any skill for planning.
Even worse, if the high level character or party doesn't plan to take anything over, but instead just destroy a nation. It would be all too easy to bring a nation to its knees by killing key individuals such as military command and ruling families, destroying the infrastructure with guerilla attacks, causing widespread chaos and unrest among the people, creating an uprising etc.
Finland GMT/UTC +2
And I may have exaggerated a bit with "very little effort". I'll rephrase it to "some effort" . ;)
But that was to point out how a setting shouldn't have too many of those kind of people, because things are so easy for them that the only people who can realistically stop them from getting what they want are other people of the same caliber or a group of individuals of almost the same caliber -> which easily leads to only these super powerful individuals making a difference and there being very little room for ordinary nobility and royalty, normal generals etc.
So to get back on track. I don't think the discussion about city conquering tactics is very fruitful, because we probably see the worlds from the perspective of our own campaigns.
But like I said, that scale is just an example based on my own preferences. I like a world where the majority of power is in the hands or ordinary people like Kings or less ordinary, but not lvl 20 people, like High Priests and High Mages.
The point was the scale itself. Sort of to set your own scale to serve as your guideline for creating powerful characters and keeping the power level and magic level where you want it to be. :)
Finland GMT/UTC +2