From: kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov
Subject: Re: Level limits
Originator: kjenks@gothamcity
Keywords: four-way balance
Organization: NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 06:15:31 GMT

Spurred on by a private e-mail discussion, I've decided to inflict
my arrogant, anthropocentric views on the rest of you....

The level limits on non-humans are there purely for game balance.  If
there are no limits, every player would choose a non-human character --
and the game designers wanted to have humans around to be consistent
with the genre of fantasy literature.

Almost every fantasy story you can think of deals with humans -- who
they are, why they do what they do, how they live, die and change.  The
minor characters may be non-human.  There are good reasons for this in
storytelling.  It's easier for the reader to relate to humans.  Even
the archetypal fantasy story which really inspired the whole resurgance
in the genre -- Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit -- is about the fall
of the non-human races and the beginning of human history and the Age
of Man.  (And the human characters, Boromir, Aragorn, Gandalf and
Saruman, are definitely the most interesting.  The rest of them are
defined mainly by their racial stereotypes and characteristics, whereas
the humans are characters first and humans second.  This reinforces my
experience in role-playing games that people with poor role-playing or
acting skills choose non-humans because it props up their limited
character concepts if they can always fall back on a racial
stereotype.)  Humans are central to all fantasies, and TSR built their
rules to keep humans central to their games as well.

In AD&D1, humans are unlimited in level, can be any class, and can
be psionic.  Most armor and weapons are sized for humans (see the
DMG1 tables).  Most cloaks and other worn apparel are geared toward
humans (note how magical rings malfunction 20% for dwarves).  There
are only a few magic items usable only by one race where that
race isn't human -- like the Dwarven Thrower.  Notice the height
and strength requirements for powerful items like the Hammer of
Thunderbolts.  Magic items are usable mainly by humans, with
a few items which also happen to fit non-humans.  (This is a side-
effect of the level-limit rules, since only humans get to be high
enough level to actually create magic items!)

Non-humans have large advantages over humans at low levels.  They have
infravision, more languages, and special racial abilities which humans
lack (finding secret doors, sloping passages, speaking with burrowing
mammals, etc.).  They have bonuses (and the occasional insignificant
penalty) on starting statistics.  The "racial limits" on stats are so
high that they only restrict an amazingly high roll (usually).  They
even have some small combat bonuses (halflings with slings, dwarves
vs.  giants, elves with longsword and longbows).  

Faced with these advantages, the only things which would make a player
choose a human character over a non-human one are (1) he wants to play
that race because it fits with his character concept, or (2) these
advantages are all more than counterbalanced when a non-human character
hits those level limits.  No matter how many minor racial advantages
there are, as the game progresses naturally into higher power levels,
non-humans are left in the dust.

The fact that non-humans tend to live longer than humans (with the
exception of half-orcs) is related to the level limits.  If an elf
lives for 200 years or more, one would think that he'd take a decade
somewhere and go adventuring, if only to make himself harder to kill,
more resistant to poison and disease, etc.  But if long-lived non-human
races are "allowed" to progress to unlimited levels, the process of
natural selection would quickly have them overrun the planet.  Face
it:  being an adventurer is a heck of an evolutionary advantage.  If
you can survive to 5th level or so, you are basically immune to every
single minor incident which normally kills people.  A house fire, a
farming accident, a knife in the back, a disabling disease -- none of
these will even slow down a 5th level Adventurer.  And with higher
levels come greater abilities.  Unless there's some other evolutionary
pressure at work, the race with higher level characters fills its
evolutionary niche better and thrives, while the race with lower level
characters loses in the long-term evolutionary competition and dies.
(Other pressures might include birth rate, which we assume is inversely
proportional to racial maximum age.)

I can't buy the story that "elves live longer, therefore they should be
unlimited in level."  Because the elven races live longer is precisely
the reason why they should NOT be allowed to progress to high (14+)
levels of clericism and magic use.  The really powerful spells (in
AD&D1), including Wish, Limited Wish, Alter Reality, Resurrection,
Gate, and Restoration, cause magical aging in the caster.  As a game
mechanism, this magical aging is a deterrant to spell-casters wanting
to cast these spells.  If any of these are used to excesss, they can
really screw up a campaign, so TSR basically put a restraint on their
casting.  However, if an elf (or half elf) gets to be high enough level
to cast one of these, particularly Wish or Limited Wish, the magical
aging is nowhere near as much a deterrant, and the campaign is in
danger of over-use of these spells (try to picture the implications).
Note that it's VERY difficult to stay young in AD&D.  Even a Potion of
Longevity -- one of the rarest of the potions -- can cause catastrophic
re-aging.  (One fix I've seen for this problem in campaigns with no
non-human level limits is proportional aging for non-humans who cast
these spells, based on a ratio of that race's maximum age to the
maximum age of a human.)

This whole mechanism of maximum ages for races, racial level limits,
magical aging, and the difficulty of regaining youth are really a
finely balanced set of tools for maintaining the campaign.  If you
change that balance without thinking carefully about the implications,
you endanger your campaign in the long run.  Just because Tommy is
whining that his elven PC should be as powerful as the Elder Forest
Race is not a sufficient justification to change your entire world.
Just because Jaqueline's dwarf has finally maxed out, and she pleads
with you, "I never thought she'd get that high.  Can't I PLEASE go up
to 11th?" doesn't mean you have to give in.  She knew the rules when
she started the character.  You, the DM, have to think about the
long-term effects of anything you do to change that four-way balance.
Like the precentage of magical items sized for or specific to non-human
races.  And the racial composition of the "human" encounters in the
wandering monster tables.  And the economic impact of 1,000-year-old
trade routes protected by elven archmagi.  And the previous race of
undead creatures.  ("The multiverse quakes in terror at the mere
mention of its hideous name, 'Wiggletoes, the Halfling Lich!'")  And
the political effects of multi-racial communities which make the former
Soviet Union look tame.

When I was young, I sometimes wanted to be a member of another race.
Humans can be, well, frustrating.  But as I've grown, I really started
to like being human.  Dwarves are good drinking buddies, and a pair of
elven maidens may be fun for a weekend.   Nobody throws a party like
gnomes and halflings, and a half-orc can't be beat in a dark alley.
But, believe me when I say it, there's no better race to be -- anywhere
in the multiverse -- than a human being.

-- Ken "124% Human" Jenks, NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
      kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov  (713) 483-4368

                  "HERE MEN FROM THE PLANET EARTH
                    FIRST SET FOOT UPON THE MOON
                           JULY 1969, A.D.
                  WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND."
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd