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

[GMMichael]

Think about the "average adventure day" with 6-8 encounters??? No way.

I've survived 6 encounters in one day. It's possible. Just take a bus ride to try it.

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.

Two words: magic items.

Also, D&D campaigns don't need to end with a 20th level boss fight.

 

[ezo]

I've survived 6 encounters in one day. It's possible. Just take a bus ride to try it.

I doubt those were your typical D&D encounters, however?

 

[Chaosmancer]

Two words: magic items.

I missed that the limits of the premise do allow them to use magical items they find, but it does state "any magic items a regular party would find along the way"

For my games, until level 5 or a little beyond, you mostly get utility items. Bags of Holding, Soup Stones, Light Coins, things that would just be conveniences. But I don't think a normal person without modern military technology can survive an adventure deadly enough to earn the magical items that would help them survive.

Also, D&D campaigns don't need to end with a 20th level boss fight.

Oh, absolutely. But I think a straight port of a normal person into DnD won't even reach 3rd level.

A Red Dragon Wyrmling is about the size of a Mastiff, with skin as tough as stone, and double the hitpoints given to a motocycle. So, imagine a group of normal humans with spears and axes, facing an armored motorbike equipped with a flame thrower, that can also fly.

Could a group of normal people take it out? Maybe, it is certainly possible, but I will point to the multiple action movies with motorbikes carrying guns, and how many normal mooks are mowed down by those. So, if we stick with an assumption that even Navy Seals have 12 to 16 hp... They are going to lose a lot of people taking down a freshly hatched, CR 4 dragon. Which is about the difficulty I would expect before giving out a +1 dagger, or a wand of cure wounds.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I missed that the limits of the premise do allow them to use magical items they find, but it does state "any magic items a regular party would find along the way"

For my games, until level 5 or a little beyond, you mostly get utility items. Bags of Holding, Soup Stones, Light Coins, things that would just be conveniences. But I don't think a normal person without modern military technology can survive an adventure deadly enough to earn the magical items that would help them survive.



Oh, absolutely. But I think a straight port of a normal person into DnD won't even reach 3rd level.

A Red Dragon Wyrmling is about the size of a Mastiff, with skin as tough as stone, and double the hitpoints given to a motocycle. So, imagine a group of normal humans with spears and axes, facing an armored motorbike equipped with a flame thrower, that can also fly.

Could a group of normal people take it out? Maybe, it is certainly possible, but I will point to the multiple action movies with motorbikes carrying guns, and how many normal mooks are mowed down by those. So, if we stick with an assumption that even Navy Seals have 12 to 16 hp... They are going to lose a lot of people taking down a freshly hatched, CR 4 dragon. Which is about the difficulty I would expect before giving out a +1 dagger, or a wand of cure wounds.

What kind of gear are they allowed to have? Modern humans have a claim to modern gear. Certainly they have a claim to modern knowledge.

And hit points in D&D come from advancement in your chosen profession. Modern people should get them too.

 

[GMMichael]

I doubt those were your typical D&D encounters, however?

Well, this is where it gets murky. Typical for whom?

I don't have the 5e DMG, and by the way, the OP doesn't call for 5e. But I'll assume that "6-8 encounters per day" comes from a WotC face, sometime in the last 10 years (5e era), and that face was probably referring to combat encounters. My response was not referring to such, because there are other types of encounters. And let's note that WotC once produced a campaign book which could be surmounted without combat, so pacifism is possible.

What's more fun, though, is to imagine a normal human fighting some abnormal things. It makes for VERY interesting fight scenes, involving magic items, allies, vehicles, traps, plans, ballistae, Valerian steel, and more. So, atypical D&D combat is needed to survive typical D&D "encounters." But yeah, it's possible.

 

[Chaosmancer]

What kind of gear are they allowed to have? Modern humans have a claim to modern gear. Certainly they have a claim to modern knowledge.

Except that the OP explicitly said no modern gear or meta knowledge. Modern Knowledge is likely fine, but even if someone can dissassemble a rifle, the chances of them having the knowledge to make the tools to make the tools to build a gun are.... slim.

So, you are likely limited to the equipment of the setting. And since you showed up with no money most likely, you aren't buying top of the line gear.

And hit points in D&D come from advancement in your chosen profession. Modern people should get them too.

Hit points come from class advancement. OP specifically says "no class abilities, magic, luck, divine favor..." which arguably means no classes and therefore no Hit Points. So, actually, it is very hard to argue that modern people would be able to "level up" and gain hp.

 

[ezo]

Well, this is where it gets murky. Typical for whom?

Typical for the vast majority of tables, playstyles, published adventures, you name it.

I don't have the 5e DMG, and by the way, the OP doesn't call for 5e. But I'll assume that "6-8 encounters per day" comes from a WotC face, sometime in the last 10 years (5e era), and that face was probably referring to combat encounters. My response was not referring to such, because there are other types of encounters.

True, but 5E is what most people play nowadays, so I went with it. Survival in prior editions is less likely for "normal humans".

Right, so 6-8 combat encounters then...

And let's note that WotC once produced a campaign book which could be surmounted without combat, so pacifism is possible.

Sure, but let's not focus on the outliers and such, shall we?

I've already posted how normal humans could survive, and it would take running a game far from "typical" by most standards.

What's more fun, though, is to imagine a normal human fighting some abnormal things. It makes for VERY interesting fight scenes, involving magic items, allies, vehicles, traps, plans, ballistae, Valerian steel, and more. So, atypical D&D combat is needed to survive typical D&D "encounters." But yeah, it's possible.

Survive for a while, perhaps, but not for long. The odds are against it in the long term. Without the plot armor provided by hit points, save proficiencies, etc. a normal human would die eventually. I mean, change things too much, and at some point you have to question "is this really D&D anymore???"

 

[Micah Sweet]

Except that the OP explicitly said no modern gear or meta knowledge. Modern Knowledge is likely fine, but even if someone can dissassemble a rifle, the chances of them having the knowledge to make the tools to make the tools to build a gun are.... slim.

So, you are likely limited to the equipment of the setting. And since you showed up with no money most likely, you aren't buying top of the line gear.



Hit points come from class advancement. OP specifically says "no class abilities, magic, luck, divine favor..." which arguably means no classes and therefore no Hit Points. So, actually, it is very hard to argue that modern people would be able to "level up" and gain hp.

Ok, that just seems like a blatantly unfair and to my mind therefore meaningless discussion. Take away all possible source of advantage: can you survive? You're worse off than a villager from outside Neverwinter. What's the point?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Survive for a while, perhaps, but not for long. The odds are against it in the long term. Without the plot armor provided by hit points, save proficiencies, etc. a normal human would die eventually. I mean, change things too much, and at some point you have to question "is this really D&D anymore???"

And I'm saying there's no good reason for them not to have those things, if people already in the setting have them.

 

[Argyle King]

Honestly? Not a chance in hell. Virtually ALL D&D player characters are superhumanly resilient, particularly to the mental elements of trauma.

It may seem kind of weird to read about people wanting to adventure with characters with significant disabilities - even ones that aren't typically in the heroic literature (like blind swordsmen). But this is fantasy and the people really wanting to do it are probably looking to see someone like themselves with their own disabilities inserted into the adventuring setting. So my advice is to lean into their desires with some adaptations that will let them get by. People without disabilities wouldn't be any more likely to survive a typical adventure than the ones with disabilities.

Good points and very true.

The same goes for the antagonists. There's no reason why a kobold in a wheelchair should be treated any differently than the others. It's still the same amount of XP.