D&D 5E The Decrease in Desire for Magic in D&D

[Vaalingrade]

Right, but the Forgotten Realms isn't realistic. Dark Sun isn't realistic. Lankhmar isn't realistic.

None of the D&D universes are fundamentally any more realistic than the MCU.

Indeed, there is a reason a certain group of players abandoned 'realistic' and 'relaism' and developed 'verisimilitude' as the primary weapon in the ongoing war to remove the fantastic from this heroic fantasy game.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Ok, so, yes, it's possible to create a sentence that uses both "realism" and "imaginary".

But I asked, "in what universe is it realistic..." and people answered "Marvel! DC!" Those are not universes I would describe as realistic. But YMMV.

Yes. You asked "in what universe is it realistic"

Realism is internal to its context. If everyone in a fantasy universe is a merperson, it is realistic for people in that universe to breathe underwater.

The same is true of comic book universes and D&D universes.

 

[Voadam]

Yeah, Master Do'Urden often does stuff you'd expect MCU heroes to do.

I do remember a lot of high movement and leaping attacks in the Drizzt combat descriptions.

There is one particular plot point technique description in an early Drizzt book that my friends and I used to mock hard for its unrealistic nature.

It has been a number of years but my memory of it:

Crossing his blades into a downward X and forcing his opponent's weapon(s) down to the ground then when the opponent can't block or counter with their weapons, kick them straight in the chest/chin.

The anatomical physics of this secret sword fighting technique his father taught him and that he then used as a finishing move in climax fight cracked us up in discussing it.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Indeed, there is a reason a certain group of players abandoned 'realistic' and 'relaism' and developed 'verisimilitude' as the primary weapon in the ongoing war to remove the fantastic from this heroic fantasy game.

Sure, but I'd say that Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, and Lankhmar all have a similar level of verisimilitude to the MCU.

 

[Gammadoodler]

I do remember a lot of high movement and leaping attacks in the Drizzt combat descriptions.

There is one particular plot point technique description in an early Drizzt book that my friends and I used to mock hard for its unrealistic nature.

It has been a number of years but my memory of it:

Crossing his blades into a downward X and forcing his opponent's weapon(s) down to the ground then when the opponent can't block or counter with their weapons, kick them straight in the chest/chin.

The anatomical physics of this secret sword fighting technique his father taught him and that he then used as a finishing move in climax fight cracked us up in discussing it.

Drow, like most elves, have disproportionately long arms. If you ever see character art where their knuckles aren't dragging on the ground, the art is objectively incorrect.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Sure, but I'd say that Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, and Lankhmar all have a similar level of verisimilitude to the MCU.

But the magic of verisimilitude is that it's a feeling and an opinion and you can accept the magical things you like while still hedging out the fantastical things you don't.

It's the perfect rhetorical weapon!

 

[Fanaelialae]

Yeah, Master Do'Urden often does stuff you'd expect MCU heroes to do.

Sorry, I'm unclear about the intended tone (whether this statement was earnest or sarcastic).

That said, from what I remember of the Drizzt novels I read as a kid, I think he completely outclasses low-end Avengers like Hawkeye and Black Widow. IMO, he could easily prove an even match for someone like Captain America. And given the foes he's faced he could probably even give Thor a good fight (though he'd admittedly be outclassed).

 

[Vaalingrade]

Just pointing this out so no one can unsee it:

Drizzt has had a pokemon since before Pokemon existed.

 

[tetrasodium]

I do remember a lot of high movement and leaping attacks in the Drizzt combat descriptions.

There is one particular plot point technique description in an early Drizzt book that my friends and I used to mock hard for its unrealistic nature.

It has been a number of years but my memory of it:

Crossing his blades into a downward X and forcing his opponent's weapon(s) down to the ground then when the opponent can't block or counter with their weapons, kick them straight in the chest/chin.

The anatomical physics of this secret sword fighting technique his father taught him and that he then used as a finishing move in climax fight cracked us up in discussing it.

Well obviously he does it by nonmagically removing the bones from his leg before training the nonmagically grown nerves to control the brand new set of antimuscle nonmagical bone replacements that expand with force rather than contracting in order to nonmagically weave his leg over his crossed swords aren't all of your "humanoids" squid people & starfish alien in form since "it's a magical universe"?

Spoiler: That's the best I can do with the description given physics

 

[Micah Sweet]

Except mythic and legend ALSO doesn't mean superhero. It means mythical and legendary.

Also, the problem with the superhero label is it's so broad and encompasses so much ground that it's basically meaningless!

Superheroes are the modern expression of myths and legends. This is well established.