How can you rp when everything is more powerful then you

[Eegxeta]

I have been wonder about this. The leveling is slow and people keep saying it isn't about the levels, but the problem I'm having is I can't properly rp when everything when everything is more powerful then me. I found that it is not about the levels once you get to a higher level and everything isn't more powerful then you. I don't like having to grind for exp but if I want to be able to rp with people I need to at least be about to hold my own in a fight so I'm not a burden on the people I'm rping with.

The layo world is not very kind to low level characters and it takes forever to get to the point where you can actually start doing things. So how can you properly rp when you can't really do anything.

[Guardian 452]

First off.... What do you consider proper rp?

RP or Role Playing IMO doesn't have to have anything to do with fighting or your characters level vs. anyone elses character level. No you can't go blow for blow while in a fight with a high level character. But clicking buttons on your hotbar is not role playing at all. That sounds more like... "knowing your role" as in not having the wizard try to tank, or the plate tank with 6 CHA trying to negotiate your release from prison.

[Alatriel]

Well, for starters... you need to build up who your character is, who his story is, etc.  I have characters that are low level and one that would fall over dead if you breathed on her too hard, and yet, she is starting to make a name for herself through rp, through going on quests.  There are many ways to do things, and it doesn't always mean you have to go out and grind for xp.   In fact, it usually doesn't mean that.  Being able to rp doesn't mean you have to be able to kill everything.  Sometimes the rp is in not being as strong yet, in having to struggle to learn things, to change as you grow.  It is about the story.  And sometimes patience is key.  There are plenty of low level quests and other things that are geared specifically for low level characters.  Saying that Layo is unkind to low level characters is a bit unfair, especially if this is regarding the quest that was specifically disclaimered to be dangerous to levels below 21.

[Alazira]

Roleplaying isn't about level.  In my past I've had great rp with people twenty levels below me or twenty levels above me.  What matters is getting to know your characters and how to interact with them.  Get in the head of your character, make a history, a past, a personality for them.  If you are stuck on it, sit around a campfire and listen to others tell their stories and let that inspire you.  You'll quickly find that as you interact with others, you don't have to make up a past because you are writing your history just by interacting with others and that will give you something to talk about with the next person you rp with.

Bashing for xp (which is what you sounded like you were talking about and not saying you can't do it in addition to rp) is totally different than rp.  

Just my two cents.

Katie

[Pen N Popper]

Absolutely! Grind away!

Clearly it's possible to gain super high levels, but only if you learn how to do it!

The number one way, I'm guessing here, is to grind with others. Find yourself a group of players that play when you do and get hooked into their group. A single group trip will yield more XP than a dozen quests.

The number two way, I'm guessing here too, is to participate in quests! It takes about 25 quest hours to level. GM quests can be very interesting and rewarding from an RP point of view. Do them!

The number three way is, you guessed it, grind! I do not recommend this, but to each their own. Find some foe that yield decent XP. Kill them. Rinse and repeat ad nauseam!

The number four way is by the far most difficult: Just play. RP is not its own reward, as some will try to beat you down with, but fun is. Set your own goals outside of levels. Make them relevant to your PC's growth. Most of all, don't expect anyone to reward you for your IC efforts except other players. You'll find that your IC work is most recognized not with XP but with RP. Which is its own reward!

My name is PnP and I'm an XPaholic.

[Jilseponie Wyndon]

You don't have to be low level to get your arse handed to you, my character Jil gets that alot. She is lvl 33, a ranger/wiz/AA, can only use medium armor and her ac is low.  In quests or in groups she stays to the back, avoids melee confrontation.  She uses hide and move silent alot. Sure, It doesn't work all the time, but what does? Role play your weakness and others will help you along the way telling you how to assist or stay out of the way.  Rp what your learning from what you see.  You keep putting yourself in the line of fire and your Soul Strands will go out with the tide (that and after a death, before you rest you can't get xp).  Know your limitations ... like Alatriel said, the disclaimer said lvl 21 and up.  If you still want to go along, expect to sit on the rear lines.

Layonara to me, isn't about the levels (though it is nice to lvl) but about the camaraderie between players.  Not only the players but their characters too, some of which are hilarious to play with or harass (Lance still hears hoofbeats in his dreams).  Its building your character, taking them in one direction only to find that somehow you got sidetracked in another. And you enjoy it no matter what happens.  Think of being as a low lvl character as being a teenager learning to become an adult.  There will be trouble, fun times, learning times ... and those will be the years you never forget the rest of your life. So kick back, play it up to the max and enjoy the show! Guaranteed you'll have a great time!

[Eegxeta]

This isn't about that quest. I'm talking about going out and adventuring with other people none Dm stuff. The DM quest adventuring I don't have a problem with. That level 21+ adventure I went on was fun I don't care about the fact that I got killed I had fun rping dealing with the crowd and such, though the meeting at the beginning was quite boring because I really didn't have much to add. But then all the stuff we did really didn't do much die rolling. Someone told me they got 30000 exp from that and I was wondering why I only got 4500 I know I couldn't be given 30000 exp becuase of level difference but then why would the exp gain be 100% proportional to how much you need to gain a level? I'm a lower level so wouldn't I learn more from doing harder stuff then the higher level people would?

The problem I have found with finding a group is level difference changes the exp so I'll get like 20 and everyone else will get like 10 times that amount even if they weren't getting kills.

The best Rping I've had was in an adventure with a couple other characters but I felt like I was a third leg to the group because I really couldn't do anything useful and got killed easy.

I really have generally only found who were higher levels then me by more then a few. That is really the big thing. It wouldn't be bad to go adventure with a bunch of people the same level because then you can contribute to the party when they are in a fight or the like instead of having them have to worry about you getting killed.

I don't like focusing on the levels but when everyone is a higher level then you it makes a noticeable difference in how people treat your character. My Ranger character I was found a group to hang with but when it came to doing anything they kind of babied me whether it was done purposely or not it was still done.

I would just like to say again the DM stuff is cool, no problem there, it is the none DM stuff.

I change my posts a lot before I fianally get down what I actually want to say. Just throwing that out there. Ok now I think I'm happy with it. Think is the important word there. I swear I'm going to add like another dozen things before I'm done. Over extensive use of the edit button.

[Guardian 452]

Post on the forums that you are looking for groups. (LFG). Say your characters level...etc. Your play times. Etc. I promise you will get results.

[Eegxeta]

Where would I put that on the forms?

[miltonyorkcastle]

EDIT: General foums works easiest, usually. And for all the stuff I said below, it sounds like the whole time you just wanted a 'peer' group for exploring the world, not necessarily feeling that you can't affect 'the world', as it were, so yeah, LFG it, and you can even say what level range you're hoping for. A lot of us have lower level alts.

The layo world is not very kind to low level characters and it takes forever to get to the point where you can actually start doing things. So how can you properly rp when you can't really do anything.

It's a legitimate question. You want to have influence, make a difference, be something of story, maybe even of legend. Well, believe it or not, you can do that without ever hitting 'epic' levels. How, you ask? Relationships. Just like in real life, it's all about who you know, and how much they like/don't like you. Befriend a local lord, and you have an inside track to a whole region. Do a favor for the poor man who got robbed, and you might discover that the man is actually a very important messenger for a king, and saving him and the message he had to bring just earned you the goodwill of a kingdom. Yeah, levels help when it comes to fighting monsters, like trolls. But the levels won't be so useful for cutting a deal with the right source that helps you get your hands on the perfect troll-killing axe. And if you don't make good with the bards, well, you could kill a thousand giants in a day, and if no one saw it or sang about it, who's to say it even happened?

I have many times seen characters with single-digit levels affect the outcome of a world-altering situations, and all because they developed relationships with the folks that were pulling at the world's strings. And then one day, after a hundred stories and adventures, you realize that your character now pulls a few of those strings.

[Guardian 452]

Id just post in the General Discussion section that you are looking for groups, but the GM crew can say if they advise a better place to put such requests.

If you really want to make it look good. I would put it in the "Rumor Has It" section. Make you post "in character" and that right there will help people see your RolePlay style etc.

[Guardian 452]

Also just plain don't expect to fly thru the levels. Especially once you get to 8 or 9. Unless you find yourself able to get into a group for hours of traveling. Or hours of questing. Its just not going to happen here. Like was said earlier 25 Hours of GM questing and you will level..... if you only play a couple hours a day thats a lot!

[Eegxeta]

I never quite expected to fly through the levels I just want to not feel like I have to.

Ok from now on I'm going to hit the edit button and add the reason because I can to all my posts because I can.

[Guardian 452]

As far as level ranges, my highest in the low 30's and my lowest is 9. Lots of others have a spectrum of levels like that too. Just make a post of when you can play, what class you are, level you are and all that fun stuff and see what comes of it.
.

[Nehetsrev]

There are plenty of ways to RP with other characters no matter your level or combat prowess.  In fact, being a lower level than another character of the same of similar class can lead to an RP relationship of mentoring.  Also, with the right attitude it can be fun to RP just how much less experienced your character is than the epic characters they may run into and socialize with.
 
If your focus is to be the toughest, and the hero, then sure, you're going to have to work hard to get there (and likely no matter how hard you work there'll still be plenty of folks who're further developed and you'll always feel inadequate).  On the other hand, if you don't mind being the side-kick, or the comic relief, you may find that to be very rewarding in the way of RP, and in the process pick up tips on how to be more effective in a tight situation as well.  All this works together so that one day, you can mentor a lower level character (or group) yourself and add to their fun as well as your own.
 
Everything is tough for the reason that Layonara was designed for Parties of characters, not for soloists who occasionally hook up during a quest.  Trust me when I say, it only gets harder as you get up in levels (at least in my experience and opinion).
 
Just because you may be playing the lowest level character in group or on a quest, it doesn't mean you can't still make your voice heard if you have a good idea (or a bad one as the case may be).  You just have to RP.  Sure, often you might get blown off, but wait for that time when your idea turns out to have been the better one, and when the higher level characters all get their butts kicked, you can stand there telling them "I told ya so!" and they may start listening to you more often.  You never know.
 
Regardless, the main point here is that level should never be a true hinderance to the -ability- to RP.  RP is short for Role Play, which means to play a role.  So, if you're playing the less experienced character, play the role and show some of that inexperience (in comparisson).  You'll (almost) never see a level 1 fighter NPC with the rank of general and leading an army, after all.  Those positions are usually filled by epic, or near epic NPC's ay the least, and quite rightfully so.  You don't just start out at the top.  You, just like everyone else, have to start at the bottom and work your way up by earning the right to be there.  Even a crown prince had to first endure near-constant training throughout their childhood before they could be made ready and deemed worthy to take the thrown.
 
I'm rambling now, so I guess I'll stop here.  Hopefully this post has been a help and an encouragement.

[Eegxeta]

You should see me when I get rolling on something. I can go on forever if I know the topic well.

[Script Wrecked]

I have been wonder about this. The leveling is slow and people keep saying it isn't about the levels, but the problem I'm having is I can't properly rp when everything when everything is more powerful then me. I found that it is not about the levels once you get to a higher level and everything isn't more powerful then you. I don't like having to grind for exp but if I want to be able to rp with people I need to at least be about to hold my own in a fight so I'm not a burden on the people I'm rping with.

Of all the classes, "Paladin" probably has the most expectation of what it is to be the class: standing at the fore; vanquishing the foes; being the champion. Even at first level.

Then, low-and-behold, you step out into the big wide world, and its not at all like that: kobolds are kicking sand in your face; bandits are bailing you up; critters are chasing you out of the woods.

The layo world is not very kind to low level characters and it takes forever to get to the point where you can actually start doing things. So how can you properly rp when you can't really do anything.

I suggest transferring your real world expectation of what a Paladin is to your character's expectation of what a Paladin is, and then RP his (your) reactions to how tough it actually is for him (you) to be a Paladin in such a harsh world.

Perhaps he will come to have a greater appreciation of what it is to be a Paladin, and have a greater respect for all those other Paladins who struggled through the difficult time when they didn't have the actual power to live up to these Paladin expectations, but eventually managed to push through nonetheless.

[RollinsCat]

Ex, it's been suggested before but if you want to get into the world and get a good feel for your character, and to make connections, find another Toranite (doesn't have to be a paladin) and ask for mentoring.  There are a lot in game right now ranging from lower level (mine is seven I think?) to epic.  Look for Daniella Stormhaven, Lance Stargazer, Argos Stargazer, Jillian Stuart, Will Lenox, Raelyn Blair, Aarcus, Riley Alexander...I'm missing a few I'm sure.

Toranites band together as brothers and sisters.  you'll be invited to groups, to quests, to roleplay.  you'll also be corrected when you're dead wrong, and expected to follow chain of command - and commands, when given - but isn't that what a maritally inclined character in a martially inclined church dedicated to protection of the innocent and squashing of evil should do?   Even the epics started life saying "yes, sir" and "yes, ma'am, right away" - and it hasn't stopped for them yet.  This is a GM run world.  There is ALWAYS a bigger fish.

so meet some Toranites, make some ig associations, pm them if you can't catch them online to arrange a time.  always good to have another brother in the fold!

[Dorganath]

Someone told me they got 30000 exp from that and I was wondering why I only got 4500 I know I couldn't be given 30000 exp becuase of level difference but then why would the exp gain be 100% proportional to how much you need to gain a level? I'm a lower level so wouldn't I learn more from doing harder stuff then the higher level people would?

Just like XP for kills, the amount of XP one gets on a quest has to do with their current level, not with how much they could have learned or whatever. If you look here, you can see that lower levels require relatively few XP to go up a level when compared to higher levels. A level 3 character needs 20000 XP to reach level 6, but a level 30 character needs well over a million XP to reach level 31.  

By a similar token, we GMs have a table (which is also implemented in a tool) that tells how much XP to hand out per hour of a quest based on a character's level. For a vast stretch of our levels, it is true that about 25 hours of questing are needed for a single level.  However, lower-level characters can actually gain a level with fewer than 25 quest hours, because the amount of XP a lower-level character gets is proportionately higher than what mid- and high-level characters get per hour of XP.  

Trust me on this.  Don't worry about the numbers. There's likely to be someone who is getting more or has more than you already.  If you chase numbers and chase stuff, it will not be as fulfilling of an experience as it will be if you pursue less quantifiable goals.  Just a thought though...everyone has their own definition of fun.

[Pen N Popper]

Is ECL ignored when calculating quest XP? My 7th level brownie (ECL 2) gets 3000xp / quest hour. This works out to be 26.6 quest hours. The comment of "lower-level characters can actually gain a level with fewer than 25 quest hours" applies just to 6th and below?

(Sorry for tangent question! I hope that ECL is not a consideration when calculating RP XP.)