Should artificial aging hurt elves?

[garhkal]

Its not just the # of xp, its the "encounters must present a challenge for a character to EARN Xp, so if say a 7th level hunts down a lone orc, its not worth anything" thing i am on about.

Sure, orcs, goblins etc breed like crazy.. BUT by a certain level, that mage is going to be so powerful, those orcs, hobgoblins, bugbears etc are going to be 'not worth any' xp.. Cause there is no longer the challenge..

[Halaster-Blackcloak]

Large groups of even low level monsters will always be a threat. Plus, powerful monsters are worth a hell of a lot of xp. Look at demons and devils in 2E. Super high xp. But again, that's not what you said. I'm talking specifically about this claim:

the 100 level elf wizard (or any other class) is an impossibility. THere's just not enough XP in the world to get to that level.

Unless I misunderstood, you were being very clear and specific. I've seen this debated at DF too, with the same premise - there aren't enough xp in the world. But there are enough xp in the world - far, far more than enough for hundreds of 100th level characters.

This newly injected aspect...

Its not just the # of xp, its the "encounters must present a challenge for a character to EARN Xp, so if say a 7th level hunts down a lone orc, its not worth anything" thing i am on about.

...is a different, though related, issue. And I agree. As the wizard (or other class) gains levels, he can't just to slay an orc and gain xp. But a wizard of say 20th level, alone and surrounded by 100 orcs, is definitely in danger. Granted, he can teleport away, but what if he's the high wizard of the land and has been ordered to protect the realm from those orcs? It's stand and fight time, hence danger, hence xp. He can also gain xp by designing new spells, creating new magic items, casting spells to solve problems, etc. If he creates a 3E-style "mass petrification" spell and turns all those 100 orcs to stone, he gains xp for creating the spell and for defeating the orcs.

High level characters go on high level adventures. A party of 20th level characters does not get called on to handle an infestation of kobolds in the village. They go deal with the lich in the mountains who is raising an army of undead, or the great wyrm red dragon (and its guardians/slaves/followers) threatening the kingdom. So the risk is there, and therefore the xp are there. Other-planar adventures inject a whole new level of danger and challenge. And so on and so forth.

Also, remember that each level the character goes up does not make him that much more powerful. As they explained in the intro to H4 Throne of Bloodstone, a 100th level character is not all that much tougher than a 20th level character. After 10th level, the wizard gains only 1 hp/level, for example. Assuming you're using the 2E rules, the 100th level wizard's fireball is going to do the same max damage as the 10th level wizard's fireball - 10d6 (with a saving throw for half). Hardly a game changer for the sort of enemies the higher level wizard will face. A 100th level wizard can only cast up to 9th level spells - same as an 18th level wizard. And while the 100th level wizard can memorize more total spells at any given time, look at how long it's going to take him to do so. The 100th level wizard has to sleep just as long and study for each spell just as long as the 10th level wizard does. And so on and so forth. Again, the challenges (and therefore the xp) are there.

So yeah, any game world has more than enough xp to allow for an almost unlimited number of high level characters.