Low Magic Setting, High Magic Characters

I agree, this is more a campaign style/play style issue than anything.

In populous worlds with relatively large nations, there will be forces that exist to deal with things like that. In more "fractured" worlds, where most polities are local and low-population, though, this can totally work.

Ovarwa said:

Then things can get more complicated. If the PCs demonstrate that local authorities are impotent, what do they do when the weak villagers turn to them for help instead of the authorities to arbitrate disputes, dispense justice, defend their turf, effectively making them the authorities? (In a sense, isn't real feudalism pretty much about armored thugs on horses sometimes having to do a little more than despoil the people they have enslaved, pretending even to themselves that they are something better?)

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This, exactly. Like the older D&D concept where PCs were expected to become local rulers, have castles and so on, when they got to high levels....

mortwatcher said:

Force your way through? Find the standing army of the ruling party chasing you down like the bad dogs you turned out to be and roll new characters. It seems pretty simple to me.

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Well, it depends on the level of power involved, and the scale. If there are really large kingdoms and empires with large armies, sure.

If it's more Dark Ages scale kingdoms, and a low-magic world, where the army is likely to lack significant magical support... would common soldiers even obey orders to attack people who have demonstrated stuff like circle of death? They might be better off switching sides and hailing a new ruler...

If they want to go murderhobo, then murderhobo they go. I-as-DM am not going to stop them in the metagame: they can play their characters however they want.

Consequences in-game will (or won't) arise depending on the in-game situation - what was done, and-or to whom, and-or whether there were survivors and-or witnesses to tell the tale, and-or whether the PCs can be found, and-or whether anyone cares enough to bother.

That, and IME murderhobo play doesn't often last too long as either a) the key murderiest-hoboiest characters die off or retire or b) the players get bored with it and move on to a different style of play even while still in the same campaign and with the same characters.

I generally dislike games where the PCs are expected to be heroic all the time. I'd far prefer a more GoT-like setting where the main characters are all over the map ethics and alignment-wise and it's sometimes hard to tell who's a hero and who isn't.

ZenBear said:

how you deal with brazen murder hobo PCs?

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Easy - I only play with people who aren't idiots!

My Primeval Thule campaign is low magic setting/high magic PCs.

I think the main thing to realise is that 'low magic' does not mean 'low power'. In my Thule game there are very few Wizard type NPCs, but there are a LOT of 'elite mook' type NPCs with high double digit hit points. In Thule a typical elite soldier is a Legionary per the Campaign Setting book - AC 17, 52 hit points, and two attacks at +5/d8+3. A typical tribal village will have a bunch of Berserkers and such, not just Tribal Warriors. My standard 'experienced guard' stat block for city watch and such has 22 hp, ATT +4/d8+2. They can easily kill a careless 5th level wizard.