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PCs that are too big for their britches...do they live or die?
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<blockquote data-quote="haakon1" data-source="post: 6376421" data-attributes="member: 25619"><p>Reality. Generals have never been chosen based on marksmanship, and kings are the luck of the genetic draw, modified by the best education money can buy. Some may have serious combat skills, others will not -- not a prerequisite for the job.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I agree. I go with what Gygax did in Greyhawk . . . a lot of rulers are in the 7th-10th level range, some higher.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I disagree. Bond villains don't do their own killing. A king isn't going to sink to the level of the PC's and engage in fisticuffs. He's got people to do that for him, and more importantly, he has the political power of his office to make the PC's fighting him suicidally foolish. The guards may be mid-level, and may be well equipped, and the court vizier may well be a powerful mage. But it doesn't matter -- if the PC's get into combat in the throne room, they are hunted outlaws, with a short time left before they are all hunted down and killed.</p><p></p><p>That lesson -- political power > character sheet power, and being an outlaw sucks -- is a lesson I've never had to teach my players. A word to the wise OOC should be sufficient: "Seriously? Do you really want to play John Wilkes Booth? Do you really want to test what the good people of Kingdomistan will do to you if you attack the man who symbolizes their country? If you try it, you'd better watch your backs for the rest of your short lives."</p><p></p><p>You don't need to up the character sheet power of the king to match the PC's . . . he always outclasses them, regardless of actual levels involved.</p><p></p><p>The point is to teach the players to respect a form of power other than their own.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="haakon1, post: 6376421, member: 25619"] Reality. Generals have never been chosen based on marksmanship, and kings are the luck of the genetic draw, modified by the best education money can buy. Some may have serious combat skills, others will not -- not a prerequisite for the job. I agree. I go with what Gygax did in Greyhawk . . . a lot of rulers are in the 7th-10th level range, some higher. I disagree. Bond villains don't do their own killing. A king isn't going to sink to the level of the PC's and engage in fisticuffs. He's got people to do that for him, and more importantly, he has the political power of his office to make the PC's fighting him suicidally foolish. The guards may be mid-level, and may be well equipped, and the court vizier may well be a powerful mage. But it doesn't matter -- if the PC's get into combat in the throne room, they are hunted outlaws, with a short time left before they are all hunted down and killed. That lesson -- political power > character sheet power, and being an outlaw sucks -- is a lesson I've never had to teach my players. A word to the wise OOC should be sufficient: "Seriously? Do you really want to play John Wilkes Booth? Do you really want to test what the good people of Kingdomistan will do to you if you attack the man who symbolizes their country? If you try it, you'd better watch your backs for the rest of your short lives." You don't need to up the character sheet power of the king to match the PC's . . . he always outclasses them, regardless of actual levels involved. The point is to teach the players to respect a form of power other than their own. [/QUOTE]
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PCs that are too big for their britches...do they live or die?
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