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

[Distracted DM]

Anything that puts them closer to an appropriately-leveled PC is worth looking at in my book.

Can you elaborate on that?

A principle I will fight as much as I need to in my own games.

Yeah it's a toughie when it's baked into the system like that. How do you fight it? Any examples? I very much appreciate your insights on the matter!

 

[DEFCON 1]

The entire Leveled Class System is Narrative Dissonance. PCs can go from Level 1 to Level 5 after like two modules that take place over like two weeks of in-game time... and now have 5 times the hit points and their abilities multiply five-fold. And THAT doesn't cause players to go "What a minute! What's going on here?!?" Let alone the comparison of a Level 1 character and a Level 20 character, which can be gained after merely like a couple years of adventuring.

At that point none of them should be complaining that their humanoid opponents seem out of whack "realistically" too.

People want the board game of D&D to be a fun board game in and of itself. And that means separating the board game from the story in most places because quality gaming and realistic narrative almost never align. Because no one wants to die from a single solid hit from a greataxe or a pistol, which is what most "realistic" combats would normally see.

 

[Stalker0]

I see where you're coming from, but that's assuming that PCs and NPCs are built with the same rules again- which they are not. And we touch on the "levels aren't a real thing in the world... but would I know that that gladiator is more powerful than that veteran? What separates them? What about my paladin as opposed to that knight?" Well there are some niche character features that can inform a PC of the target's AC, HP, CR, etc... but I'd prefer to make that some knowledge that can be attained by encountering the NPC in question, whether by fight, by demonstration, or by discussion ("can you tell he's a dangerous opponent by the way he holds himself?").

I think this is the crux of the matter, and it appears that my players (in two different groups no less) really look at "number of attacks" as a major signifier of a fighter's skill (and therefore power).

So when they see a fighter get 3 attacks in a round, that signals to them that this guy is a majorly skilled powerhouse fighter, a rare specimen, rather than "ye old fighter X"

I think its an interesting test if I just changed it to 2 attacks but upped the damage to keep the average the same, and see if I get the same kind of reaction.