RPGs: The Glass Ceiling and Expectations

[sulleniguana]

Something I've encountered repeatedly in both tabletop gaming and LARPs is the glass ceiling of power level. This is the sort of thing that shows up most promimently with spellcasting, I think because the power of spellcasting is measured in a very literal, quantifiable way (spell levels, or circles, or whathaveyou). It exists in other aspects of

Comments

[shieldhaven]

On the point of 9th level spells in D&D, I've found it interesting when GMs or settings have explained that limit as part of their cosmology. And of course D&D did publish rules for spells beyond 9th; in 2e, there were 10th level spells and higher in some publications, while in 3e there are epic spells (even if the epic spellcasting system makes me bleed from the eyes).

On the point of five circles of spellcasting in LARPs, I think that players have some justification in wondering why the game is structured in such a way that they will have a hard time feeling significant within a school of magic. Now, you could potentially solve this by doing things to make 3rd circle spellcasters feel more significant, but my experience of SI and KG is that 3rd circle feels like you're less than halfway to significance. In SI in particular, reaching 5th circle felt to me like Joining The Club. I think it would be entirely fair to compare the concept of ceremonial magic in SI/KG to the concept (if not the implementation) of epic spells in 3e.

Now, as a newly-minted 5th circle caster, Balthasar may cast the same spells as his teacher Servius, but he likely has mana reserves I can only dream of having, as well as ceremonial lores that would make me weep.

I think it's customary and relatively reasonable to want to be able to say, "The student has surpassed the master." It's not realistic, but it does feel heroic. (You're comparing yourself to an NPC, who doesn't need to feel like a badass since he didn't earn it in actual play.) We also set the cap where we do so that PCs who have been around since Season One are only 280 xp (invested in that one school, anyway) above the PC who starts in Season Three but still wants to be a caster of some significance.