Lanefan
Victoria Rules
Because the NPC has been recognized as a fighter and thus shouldn't be able to cast spells any more than my PC fighter can.The problem there is that a player never complains that, as a PC, he has powerful abilities that most NPCs will never have. So why should he complain that some NPCs have abilities that he will never have ? Why does he have a gift for magic or fighting or whatever that will make him a hero, and what gives him the right to think that he can have everything that happens in a vast fantasy world ?
By the way, it's fairly absurd to complain, because for example a fighter will never be able to cast spell like the wizard of the party. So why would he complain if an NPC can cast spell that he can't ?
A wizard should, if she can find them, be able to cast any spells of appropriate level that an NPC can, and vice-versa.And the same thing for the wizard, he will never be able to cast the cleric spells. So why would he be able to cast all the spells that an NPC can ?
Sauron has capabilities that the PCs will never want to have, but in theory could have if so desired; and that temptation fuels a a large part of the story.The world is not defined uniquely in PC-available axes of power, why should it ? Look at Lord of the Rings, Sauron has capabilities that the PCs will never have.
Voldemort is simply higher level than the PCs and has a different spell selection. Hermione could learn all those spells and abilities if she wanted, given time.Voldemort has access to powers that the PCs will never have. It's a core of the genre, that the PC with limited capabilities is still able to vanquish foes stronger than him and using forbidden powers.
Yes; and to me that's an innate ability of the monster, different and separate from a learned/prayed-for spell (for example, it can't be interrupted like a normal spell can) and thus not subject to the same rules.The genre is full of surprises like this. The Death Knight (my players fought one Friday evening, eventually running from him after turning him for a short while) has always been able to cast a Fireball, ever since AD&D FF. So it's now Hellfire and it's even worse than a fireball, actually, but he can do that, always could, while there is no special reason for it other than he is an infernal knight.
A real-world analogy would be a skunk's scent ability - it's an innate ability of the creature that it can do and many other creatures can't.
Indeed.So maybe the item above has been tempered using the NPC's blood, so that it can only work for him. Maybe it was a gift from his god/patron, and only that god/patron can create it because it's his portfolio, and he restricts it. All of that is part of the genre, but honestly I have no forbearance for players who have characters already very powerful and with abilities that incredibly surpass what most of the world offers and still whine because the boss has, in turn, abilities that make him powerful too, although in a different way. The PCs have their stories, the NPCs have their, and it's actually way more interesting that way.
I'm not whining that the boss has powers I don't. I'm saying there needs to be a consistent underlying rationale for how and why the boss has those powers; and if they're powers I can in theory access now or later I should be able to try to do so. For example, if the boss hits me with a Time Stop (a 9th-level spell in 1e) then sure, it's not something I can do yet (and will never be able to if I'm not a Wizard) but eventually, if I get big enough as a Wizard and learn the spell - or find it on a scroll and cast directly from that - I can. The underlying rationale is consistent.
That said, when things happen I want to be able to, in character, figure out how they happen.
One thing the Potterverse leans into much more than D&D is self-researched or self-taught magic, meaning that yes, many wizards and witches will have developed their own magics for their own needs or amusement (e.g. Arthur Weasley's flying car or the various things Fred and George develop for their joke shop). But even there, on seeing a new magic another witch or wizard can always reverse-engineer it and figure out how it was done, because it's all sitting on a consistent and predictable set of underlying principles.And it also prevents metagaming what an NPC could possibly do. It might work sometimes (he's known to be a wizards and have studied there, etc.), and sometimes it won't (e.g. Voldemort above, or actually most evil wizards of the genre).
It'd be cool if D&D could handle the same sort of thing but putting any sort of balancing framework around it would be hella hard.