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[Eldritch_Lord]

Originally Posted by Hawken

The best in the world ARE the highest level. That's why they're the Best. No one else can match them.

The best in that world. The best people in this world rate around 5th-8th level in that world.

Using Star Wars (comes easiest to mind), Yoda and Palpatine are portrayed as 20th level characters because each is the best, the pinnacle of Jedi/Sith.

Again, they don't come from the real world, so that makes sense. Leaping hundreds of feet in the air in an instant, falling a few stories and being fine, frying someone to death with lightning, out-fighting dozens of mooks...that's a high-level D&D person, all right.

Back to D&D, Raistlin was around 20th or so before going back in time and he was the Best. After going back in time, he sucked out Fistandantilus' soul and gained even more levels from that and became even better (way Epic!). Zaknafein (Driz'zt's daddy) was the best swordsman in Menzoberranzan and was a 25th level fighter (back in the fun days of 1e/2e). Elminster is/was the best in the Realms, and he's been consistently portrayed as well over 20th level. Same with that Mordenkainen guy. Vecna, the lichiest lich of all liches has always been over 20th or so.

They're epic level; by definition they're over 20th level. You'll also notice that every single one of them is better than any given bunch of people in the real world.

Sure, if the level scale were based on the real world, Yo Yo Ma would be 20th level and a baby would be 1st. But it's not--you can't possible compare playing a cello really well and warping the universe to your will or charming the gods themselves with a tune.

Its not level inflation, its accuracy. The levels in D&D translate into raw power and ability to deal damage because its a game about killing bigger and badder monsters. In our world, levels would translate into skill and talent (since no one can call down flaming rocks out of the sky by waggling their fingers!). And those musicians are the best in their respective fields. They didn't do it overnight, they've been at it all their lives, so, yeah, they're Epic or right on the cusp. Ghandi may not have had 200hp, but he was epic--he liberated the second most populated country in the world! Elvis too! The Beatles! Hitler and Stalin were epic figures also--one single person responsible for the deaths they each caused, you cannot do those things and NOT be epic! Gen. McArthur (sp?) was the Supreme Commander of Allied forces in the Pacific during WWII--one man in charge of the armies and navies of multiple countries!--tell me that's not epic!

Okay--that's not epic. Epic in the sense of famous and awesome and epic in the sense of power are different entirely. The Beatles had talent with music, Ghandi was a very persuasive guy, and MacArthur was tactically adept, but none of them are on the scale of Gilgamesh, Beowulf, or Orpheus, who could move rivers by hitting them hard, manipulate the gods with music and perform literally superhuman feats. If it's within the normal human range of ability, it's not epic, or even high level.

If you want to compare levels to real life you have to drop game mechanics and consider skill and ability in relation to others. By RAW, no one can swim miles,

A swim check in calm water is DC 10, and avoiding fatigue is DC 20. A 5th level character with Str 18 and the Athletic and Endurance feats (which a trained swimmer would obviously have) a can literally swim forever without sinking by taking 10 and if he has max ranks in Swim has only a 5% chance to get tired after an hour of swimming (8 ranks + 4 Str + 2 Athletic + 4 endurance = +18 vs. DC 20, only failing on a 1), meaning that statistically speaking he can swim non-stop, without rest, for 19 hours straight. That's superhuman.

hold their breath for 5 minutes (or even 3),

A character with 20 Con (18 + human paragon) can hold his breath for 40 rounds, or 4 minutes. Then he needs to make a DC 10 (+1/round) Con check to keep doing so, meaning he can take 10 and hold his breath for an absolute minimum of 4.6 minutes. With Endurance (which, again, such a character would have) that's a minimum of 5 minutes.

run for miles without stopping (while heavily encumbered),

A character can run 6 miles in 1 hour (without stopping at all) under his maximum load before taking even a single point of subdual damage.

make death attacks on multiple targets without studying for 18 seconds,

The assassin class has a "death attack" inferior in almost every way to simply hitting someone. A regular 5th-level fighter can, with a crit and if focused on archery, make a single shot with a longbow to kill a Deinonychus dinosaur from 1200 feet away (1d8 + 4 Str + 4 Weapon Spec, x3 crit, max damage 48). That's superhuman.

No one in real life can swing a greatsword four or five times in the span of 6 seconds,

Putting aside the fact that each attack roll doesn't represent a single attack, yes they can. Not if you're swinging it wildly, of course, but if you're making short strikes or holding the blade you can do so. Search for some medieval reenactment videos or similar.

or make up to 9 attacks on nine different targets (whirlwind attack) in 6 seconds.

Swing it in a huge circle, hence Whirlwind Attack.

A midget (halfling) cannot win a grapple check against Triple H (an ogre) by random chance (d20 roll) or even skill.

You assume that one short and one tall creature of entirely mythological origin are nothing more than short and tall humans, and that the midget has no training while the ogre does.

There are things done all the time in real life that aren't allowed by RAW, just as the rules allow characters to do things that are impossible in real life. So, forget all the D&D mechanics that cannot apply to real life and look at levels as a measure of ability, skill, talent, proficiency, whatever.

However, levels measure your maximum skill ranks, ability scores, etc. You can look at the rules and very plainly see that a character of level X can jump Y feet, swim Z miles, earn W money performing, and so forth, and that at 5th level most of these abilities already outstrip world records.