D&D 5E (2024) 2024 Gladiator: The Narrative Dissonance

[Micah Sweet]

True! But it's also easy enough to say, "And seeking out that training is beyond the scope of this campaign". Heck, sometimes you CAN find a way to give them similar abilities, if and when it seems appropriate. Certainly a Gladiator's "Three Spear Attacks" is attainable for a Fighter - but they've got better options to focus their training on.

My campaigns don't really have that kind of "beyond the scope", but I read you.

 

[Micah Sweet]

For sure.

I’ve been leaning into LitRPG and progression fantasy tropes in my D&D games over the last 5 years or so. My overarching D&D multiverse has thousands of classes, most of which can be acquired through a combination of classes levels, feats, and special narrative achievements, which trigger class upgrades and consolidations.

Sounds amazing! That's the dream.

 

[Sorinth]

Ok, so in theory then anyone could learn any ability if they had the appropriate type of experience. Is that right? What if the NPC also got their experience from fighting monsters? What if the PC learns through training and study, at least in part?

Yes if you want your PC to retire from adventuring and spend the next 5 years training sure go ahead, in the meantime roll up a new character and let's continue the current campaign we are in. Or find or create a homebrew class/subclass/feat for whatever it is and if it's balanced it will be allowed.

And maybe it's just me but most of my adventurer-style NPCs are going to adhere much closer to the PC rules, especially the iconic class/subclass feature. If I was making a fighter for a rival adventuring group I probably would give them Action Surge, Second Wind, Weapon Masteries, etc... and not use the Gladiator stat block.

What's ironic about the whole if an NPC can do something the PC needs to have a way of doing the exact same thing is that it encourages providing Trap-options for PCs. As I mentioned earlier in the thread you can very easily match the HP bloat of these type of NPCs by allowing the Tough Feat to be taken multiple times, but frankly that's a trap option if made available to PCs. But for NPCs giving them trap options will often make sense.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yes if you want your PC to retire from adventuring and spend the next 5 years training sure go ahead, in the meantime roll up a new character and let's continue the current campaign we are in. Or find or create a homebrew class/subclass/feat for whatever it is and if it's balanced it will be allowed.

And maybe it's just me but most of my adventurer-style NPCs are going to adhere much closer to the PC rules, especially the iconic class/subclass feature. If I was making a fighter for a rival adventuring group I probably would give them Action Surge, Second Wind, Weapon Masteries, etc... and not use the Gladiator stat block.

What's ironic about the whole if an NPC can do something the PC needs to have a way of doing the exact same thing is that it encourages providing Trap-options for PCs. As I mentioned earlier in the thread you can very easily match the HP bloat of these type of NPCs by allowing the Tough Feat to be taken multiple times, but frankly that's a trap option if made available to PCs. But for NPCs giving them trap options will often make sense.

My concerns are always going to prioritize setting logic over mechanical balance.