No Big Deal
First Post
As for orcs? I'm of the belief that being stabbed in the face with a greatsword should be just as much of a problem for the king of the castle as it is for the lowly peasant. I'm also someone who prefers that heroes lead armies rather than heroes who fight armies.
I'm cool with a skilled hero (Conan) besting several foes in combat. I'm cool with using situational awareness and good tactics (300 Spartans) to defeat overwhelming odds. I'm even fine with stretching reality a little bit to allow what I suppose you could call a 'Hollywood sense of realism.' However, I'm not a huge fan of one lone swordsman single-handedly defeating an entire army using super uber cool wire-fu* moves, his Mr. T starter kit of magical jewelry, and his golf bag of magical weapons.
Here's the thing. Those aren't high level play. The king isn't "high level" he's an aristocrat. If your going to have "Go to Hell/The Abyss/Limbo to bargain for someone's soul" (which is totally a thing you should be able to do) your problems should not be orcs. Yes orcs are iconic, but so are brutal kingdom burning dragons, cunning demonic archdukes, and alien aboleth mage-princes.
Conan and 300 are (in 3.5 terms) E6 campaigns. Yes you should be able to play a game that starts at "one step above Joe the Dirt Farmer" and ends at "king of Sparta" but that should NOT be the core assumptions of the game. Even 4e doesn't assume that. If the new edition's goal is to be inclusive, why is one of its core assumptions that you don't reach a point where your starting enemies aren't a threat?
Because I'm an optimist and there are things to like about every edition of D&D, including (and, for me, at least, especially) 4e.
You know, I'm starting to think that if you hate any edition of D&D (and recognizing flaws is not the same as hate), then 5e will not be for you.
Here's the thing: I don't hate 4e. Do I think its not great? Yes. Do I think it has fundamental flaws? Yes. Do I think its boring? Sure. But I think those things about 3.5 too. I'm still playing that. Why? because for all its flaws, it starts at a better place than 4e does.