Talen said:
Generally, I mean "keep your new players separate from the rest of the NPC pool as much as possible". Don't even consider them part of your usual NPC pool, even if it means you're running a little short.
I understand that. However, we assign more experienced NPCs to work with the newer ones, so removing the new NPCs from the NPC pool means also removing the more experienced ones. I'd say we generally run about a 2:1 PC:NPC ratio, with around 30PCs. That means using 15 NPCs to entertain the 30. If even 1/3rd of those NPCs are new, that means using only 10 when it comes to bigger fights, plus the one or two vets that I have assigned to show them the ropes and work with them, and that doesn't count out the NPCs that are out because they're sleeping/eating/pooping/what have you. Honestly, our system has worked for what we have and how we use it. It's not a part of the game that is "broken" as far as what we deal with.
In an APL 10 game (about average for Oregon, low for Seattle), that suggests more than half of your PCs will be throwing spells > 5th level, definitely once you add scrolls into the mix. There simply is no functional method of running a combat of significant size in which you excise your NPC pool by a third because they're likely to encounter those spells. Adding numbers to the incants is simply a better fix for getting new players up to speed and ready to take part in the combat part of the game than trying to seclude them off on their own, imo.
It also seems like you expect all of the low-level PCs and high-level PCs to stick within some tight range of their own level. The Oregon game has a bit of that, though not entirely, and the Seattle game almost never has that. The last mod I went on in Seattle involved me at 3rd lvl, someone at 14th, and someone else at 29th,
and that was it. My impression is that they run a more intermixed game, level-wise, than perhaps other chapters might. My experience is that they go for something a bit more organic and freeform (there's a thing to do!) than codified (this is for characters X level or lower), and we have fun with it.
Don't get me wrong, I agree that some new players burn out from big numbers. Some players burn out from hearing calls that they don't know. When tenth level was nearer the high end of the spectrum than the low end, I'd agree with you that new players don't necessarily need to be exposed to those calls. But the game is much bigger than that, and reaching those big calls is much faster than I think you realize. In terms of streamlining the system for new player consumption, I think removing "flame bolt", "ice storm" and "stone blast" and replacing them with "Magic 20 Flame", "I call forth a storm of 30 ice", and "Activate Magic 45 Stone" go much further towards retaining new players than trying to artificially sequester them off in one corner and treat them as less valuable.