D&D General Could a real human survive your D&D adventures?

[Blue]

Would a character from the modern real world genre survive in a heroic fantasy adventure?

Well, they can survie and thrive int he world, but that's not what the post asks. Could they survive on an adventure? Assuming that they can retreat and regroup, but will keep trying until they succeed or die. Well, let's look at their options.

If they attempted to pretend they were a heroic fantasy character without having any of the tropes supporting it, likely not. Maybe the 1st one, but when we get up to adventures need Big Darn Heroes, and well they don't level like D&D characters, then probably not.

If they broke the assumptions and tropes of the world, like somehow getting command of an army and using that to clear out dungeons for magical loot and then take those armies adventuring, sure, why not. At this point they aren't emulating a heroic character, but a questgiver. It's just always an escort quest since it includes them.

Now, anime has a common category called Isekai, with people from the real world ending up elsewhere. But in them the characters almost always assume the tropes of the place they are going to, so they no longer are a simulation of a real world human -- they are generally a lot more powerful. At that point, it's just a background that is no longer honored, and they are like any other character in the world so they can survive.

 

[Seramus]

Yes, because all the monsters have to wait for their turn in combat and real people do not. All their enemies are basically frozen in time!

 

[ezo]

A party with normal human limits, with no class abilities, magic, luck, divine favor or any game-granted ability that wouldn't be possible in real life.
...
Could they complete your adventurers, or at least survive all the challenges? If not, where do you think they'd fail?

It depends on how you want to run your D&D game...

Take a bunch of commoners. Give them "reasonably" better ability scores (maybe... a BIG maybe...), a background, some other proficiencies for "reasonable" armor and weapons.

Of course, no saves, not more hit points other than your single HD, no levels, so your proficiencies never improve, etc.

Then, make your game almost entirely about exploration and social interaction, so role-playing can have a greater impact and DCs stay in a range where you have a chance of making them. Keep traps, etc. very non-lethal, otherwise the damage will be too much of course, and finally make combat absolutely the last resort, because you will most likely have your PC die.

Then, sure, a PC with "normal human limits" could survive.

However, normal people --- while they can survive incredible things --- don't do so on any sort of regular basis. Eventually the law of averages says the normal human who tries an adventuring life will eventually die.

Think about the "average adventure day" with 6-8 encounters??? No way. A player would need an insane amount of (real-world) luck for their character to survive---a single day. Forget trying to make a career out of it.

 

[Tonguez]

Would a character from the modern real world genre survive in a heroic fantasy adventure?

Well, they can survie and thrive int he world, but that's not what the post asks. Could they survive on an adventure? Assuming that they can retreat and regroup, but will keep trying until they succeed or die. Well, let's look at their options.

If they attempted to pretend they were a heroic fantasy character without having any of the tropes supporting it, likely not. Maybe the 1st one, but when we get up to adventures need Big Darn Heroes, and well they don't level like D&D characters, then probably not.

If they broke the assumptions and tropes of the world, like somehow getting command of an army and using that to clear out dungeons for magical loot and then take those armies adventuring, sure, why not. At this point they aren't emulating a heroic character, but a questgiver. It's just always an escort quest since it includes them.

Now, anime has a common category called Isekai, with people from the real world ending up elsewhere. But in them the characters almost always assume the tropes of the place they are going to, so they no longer are a simulation of a real world human -- they are generally a lot more powerful. At that point, it's just a background that is no longer honored, and they are like any other character in the world so they can survive.

I use to enjoy DC comics Warlord: Travis Morgan a 'Hollow Earth' sword & scorcery tale about a US Airforce Pilot who crash lands into a World of Magic, Weird Tech and Dinosaurs where he uses his military training, natural charisma and his 'magic' .44 Magnum revolver to not only survive but thrive to become The Warlord of Shamballah. I like it because Morgan remains a 'standard' human using skills, grit and alliances .

Then you have John Carter of Barsoom who learns that despite remaining a normal human (though an experienced confederate soldier) that the lower gravity of Mars grants him enhanced physical ability. I thought that was a nice twist

anyway it is possible to do portal fantasy where humans remain normal humans but still get an edge where they thrive

 

[Deset Gled]

I've played 3e games with a more grim-and-gritty feel where real people could have survived, especially at low levels. I'm not a big Old School guy, but I'm pretty sure real humans could have survived some of the stuff I did with the Red Box as a kid. And I've played multiple sci-fi games (WEG d6, etc) where the humans were fairly real - it was the tech that was OTT.

But all the 5e stuff I'm currently involved in? Nope, real people wouldn't stand a chance. For better or worse, the current edition is much more high fantasy and much less simulationist.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Not a modern human, no. We are generally much too soft.

 

[GrimCo]

I've played 3e games with a more grim-and-gritty feel where real people could have survived, especially at low levels. I'm not a big Old School guy, but I'm pretty sure real humans could have survived some of the stuff I did with the Red Box as a kid. And I've played multiple sci-fi games (WEG d6, etc) where the humans were fairly real - it was the tech that was OTT.

Was it by chance using Grim-N-Gritty rules? We ran couple of campaigns back in HS with those, it was fun. Armor as DR, CON stat + class mod for HP (so your lv 1 fighter might have 15 hp, but lv 20 fighter might have 35-36 hp). Those games were much more realistic, characters were more cautious.

But all the 5e stuff I'm currently involved in? Nope, real people wouldn't stand a chance. For better or worse, the current edition is much more high fantasy and much less simulationist.

5e by default is very heroic even at level 1. On the other hand, real world human in 2ed ad&d game would be no worse than your average low level wizard or thief.

 

[Fifinjir]

Maybe…?

In my latest campaign one of the first encounters my players ran into was a shadow. I had implemented some house rules for conditions where ghostly creatures lose their resistance/immunity to mundane weapons (such as being in light for the shadow), but even then killing ghosts hardly seems like something a person would do and still feel like being in the limits of a real life human (ghost puncher green text aside ).

 

[Chaosmancer]

I use to enjoy DC comics Warlord: Travis Morgan a 'Hollow Earth' sword & scorcery tale about a US Airforce Pilot who crash lands into a World of Magic, Weird Tech and Dinosaurs where he uses his military training, natural charisma and his 'magic' .44 Magnum revolver to not only survive but thrive to become The Warlord of Shamballah. I like it because Morgan remains a 'standard' human using skills, grit and alliances .

Then you have John Carter of Barsoom who learns that despite remaining a normal human (though an experienced confederate soldier) that the lower gravity of Mars grants him enhanced physical ability. I thought that was a nice twist

anyway it is possible to do portal fantasy where humans remain normal humans but still get an edge where they thrive

To be clear, I do love those sorts of stories as well. They can be a lot of fun.

The issue with translating it to DnD is figuring out the scale. IF you aren't gaining supernatural health, luck or defenses, then you are likely stuck at 4 hp, maybe as much as 12 or 16 hp.

At 4 hp.... you just don't stand a chance. A CR 1 Horse-sized spider can hit you for 16 damage. A swarm of RATS deals 7 damage, and that is before getting into natural hazards. Brown Mold is very cold, and if someone is walking by with a torch, it will explode towards that heat source. It does 22 cold damage, 11 on a save. Stepping NEXT to this stuff is an instant freeze-dried mummy experience.

It is absolutely possible to do the story, but if you strip away the protections a DnD character has, and stick with low stats and low hp... it just isn't likely for them to survive a CR 1 dungeon, let alone anything deadlier.

 

[Clint_L]

A real person could survive my adventures, since 1) I don't limit the number of solutions to a problem, and 2) fleeing is (almost) always an option.

However, since some real people and some heroes are going to get eaten alive no matter what they do, there's a small but distinct chance of catastrophe no matter what the characters do. Like in real life.

Sure, fleeing is always an option but unless it becomes a campaign of "stay out of trouble and be a shopkeeper" or something, I don't see any way that a regular human survives a D&D campaign.