Musing: Class/Level Limits

One of the comments from one of my loyal followers (I swear I don't know this man in real life nor is he a co-developer on Deminar) mentioned his disdain for class/level limits in the AEC (and presumably it's "inspiration" 1E AD&D). I, for one, wholly agree with him, artificially saying a certain species (or race) can't get higher then X level in a class or can't even pick a certain class does indeed seem silly and hard to justify within a "living world."

However, you have to remember to play to your audience, and if we're writing this for the AEC, potential buyers like the AEC (or its "inspiration") and are probably just peachy with Class/Level Limits. So, they're staying in our books.

They're mostly a matter of play balance, though the AEC has a looser sense of play balance then the strict mathematical consistency of the 3E and beyond editions. It's the same reason Ability Modifiers can be of the +1 or -1 variety, it's always an even number in 3E because that way you're guaranteed a bump to your modifier, where as in the AEC, the modifiers are more about fitting the strengths and weaknesses of the particular species.

Class/Level limits help iron out the massive advantages demi-humans (as they're called in the earlier editions) get over humans, they have tons of pluses just for being of that species but no real negatives (even the ability modifiers don't fix things that much). So, instead, there are just certain classes or certain levels of classes a certain species can't take. This, coupled with the variance in leveling between classes (something else 3E and beyond was scared to do so that everyone went up in level at the same time so they could all feel happy) adds some level of play balance throughout the species/classes. These certainly aren't as exacting and balanced across the board as the 3E+ crowd though, and you know that going in, some species/class combos are just better then others in certain things, some players will pick them just to have "the best" (be it in survival, combat, saving throws, etc.) and some will pick whatever species and class they feel like slipping into the role of, that's just how the game works.

For me, the challenge will be fitting these class/level limits into the actual setting itself. Why can a certain species only go to a certain level or why can't they be a particular class? Not in terms of balance and stats and numbers, but why within Deminar itself does that happen? For instance, the Lizard Folk don't have clerics and paladins, this is as much a "universe" choice as it is for balance. Lizard Folk don't worship the traditional gods of the outer planes, so they don't receive any powers because of it.

This will be a trend going forward into all class/level limits, and while it may not be mentioned in the text (certainly not in the Player's Guide, though it may show up in a "species" book), it will be thought of.

Because of that, look to see shake ups in the class/level limits of species that are already published, dwarves might not be limited the way they are in the AEC, but that's because dwarves in Deminar don't follow the same "racial presumptions" that they do in the AEC.