[@Haeo] The "horde" mechanic that you describe is pretty common in combat RPs that I've been in. If there's an army of demons, sure, go nuts on the fledglings and be as badass as you want (within reason). I honestly don't even consider them NPCs. My rule of thumb is that if the character has a name or a title (like, I might not name "The Judge" in a courtroom, but he's still mine to control) then you should follow standard combat rules. So, that seems fine to me.

One thing, though, is I'm not too keen on leveling systems in text based RP. I hold that combat should be based on logic rather then mechanics and numbers. If a farmer with a pickax pickaxes Lord Deathstruction in the skull... The Dark Lord is probably gonna die. A growth system is fine, but you're not gonna learn the Reverse Butterfly Slash by stabbing 50 goblins in the eye. If you have any suggestions for this, I'd be happy to hear it.

Also, I have a pretty complete guild system thought out, but I'll explain it more once everybody is on board with it.