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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Andor" data-source="post: 5830232" data-attributes="member: 1879">Well that kind of depends how far back you go in western fantasy. Beowulf swan across a fjord in chainmail with a broadsword in his teeth and ripped off a trolls arm with his bare hands. Even the secret love child of Chuck Norris and Vladimir Putin would have trouble replicating those feats.<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/paranoid.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":uhoh:" title="Paranoid    :uhoh:" data-shortname=":uhoh:" />And it does kind of bring up a point of cognitive dissonance in design. D&D is almost always set in polytheistic worlds, but it's design is dominated by a mindset informed by a monotheistic worldview.What the hell am I talking about?<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/glasses.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt="B-)" title="Glasses    B-)" data-shortname="B-)" />In the creation myths of western monotheism God and man are utterly seperate. God created man from dirt and breathed life into him. In most pagan/polytheistic myths the gods usually create mankind from their own blood or lost body parts, or the left over bits of the same primal dragon that they created themselves and the world from, or men are the literal children of gods. In other words the difference between Gods and Mortals is one of degree, not kind. And great enough heros could ascend that scale and take their place amoung the gods. Now the BECMI edition did actually allow this to inform the design, and so did 4e with it's epic destinies some of which were the literal ascension to godhood.So, from our perspective, there is no such thing as a mundane person in these worlds. Merely low level people who have not awakened to their own power, and higher level ones who are coming into the full power of their legacy. Now, would it pass the "Is it still D&D" test if 5e made it explicit that when you level up you are awakening your divine nature? For most people I think that's a no, inspite of the BECMI/4e heritage of the notion. But if you can find a way to phrase it so that it doesn't fail the sniff test, this perspective is a great way to allow the design of fighter classes that hold their own against the more flashy mage classes.</blockquote>

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