Character Levels

Finn_Quill · December 2008

"I play DnD 4e, and I am not the type to give away NPC levels, but if there's going to be a section, I don't want it to be blank. I'm okay with mentioning a tier, maybe whether or not the NPC is elite or solo, but I can't list non-numbers. Can that field just be changed to accept numbers, seems like it wouldn't be difficult, and really, would it hurt the people that want to put only numbers?"

EpeeGnome · February 2009

I like this idea, because the system I'm playing in doesn't have levels, it just has xp. This way I could put "56 xp" or whatever in that field to make it clear. I'm guessing it can currently only accept a number because it is stored as an integer value to allow sorting by level or some such. However, my guy's xp count is not equatable to level, so it showing up in the same list doesn't really help anyone. Not sure if there's a practical solution if that is the problem, but that's my 2 coppers on the topic.

Nelph0nd · February 2009

On that note, the level field is pretty useless for multiclassed or dual classed characters. One of the main player characters in my campaign is a Cleric/Fighter 3/2, but I can't put "3/2" in the field, only "3" or "2"...

TheStray7 · February 2009

I third (fourth?) this. I prefer putting Tier for my NPCs instead of levels.

Finn_Quill · February 2009

"Yay! I can't imagine this would be hard to implement. I hope this gets some attention."

Finn_Quill · February 2009

"I'd like to bring this little idea to attention again, simply because it seems like a simple change to allow a little more freedom to those of us who might not want to disclose particular levels to our PCs."

FemmeLegion · March 2009

IIRC, the main reason for having that field is so that other GMs could search for characters to adopt into their campaigns. So in a level-based system it would be important to know if that character is level 10 or level 5 (and I would consider a 3/2 character a level 5 - adjustment for optimization can happen at the time of adoption).

Finn_Quill · March 2009

"Of note, if I have no interest in letting my players know the levels of my NPCs, I will not be filling that field out anyway. So, if I have the ability to put H, P, or E in that field, that would not effect DMs searching other people's campaigns. Not to mention I could sort my characters by tier."

darkbeto · March 2009

I would like that field to accept non-numbers too.

I'm using it now to show the total point value of the caracters x)

Lunatyk · March 2009

I would love it if I could write something in that field myself... or if it wouldn't appear on the page if left blank...

Figment · March 2009

How's this for a solution? Each character has three radio buttons: Searchable, Customizable, and None:

( ) Searchable
( ) Customizable
(*) None

Searchable is how it is now, Customizable is how people have been requesting in this thread, and None is where the character has no such field at all. You could make Searchable the default button, as most game systems have clear, numerical character levels.

Finn_Quill · April 2009

"This is a nice alternative, if nothing else, having it not show up if left blank (and having another field that is more customizable and also will not show up if left blank) works for me."

tinkeron · March 2010

Since more than dnd is supported on this site, it seems odd that levels must be numeric.

sandman · March 2010

I adhere to this request. It would be nice to be able to put in letters in the level field.

DiceMasterNick · March 2010

I concure. non numeric entries should be available

wsocrates · March 2010

I agree with everyone on this. Allowing text in this field is a better way of handling it. I know Earthdawn divides up levels in text terms.

Delcar · March 2010

Agreed. As a GURPS GM I'm going to put point totals in there for now. I do love the humor factor of people searching and finding a bunch of level 275 and higher characters on my campaign site though.