Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="robertliguori" data-source="post: 4161941" data-attributes="member: 47776">You know, in reality, many beat few.  That is to say, when you remove the nastier forms of force-multiplication (few beat many when the few have armor and close air support), when you put a small band of elites against a large band of almost elites, or a really large group of competents, numbers win.  The results of this is that in our world, people who large groups of people listen to are the ones with power.In D&D, in the realm of combat, this is laughably untrue.  Not only can the upper end of the elites massacre a wide swathe through the competents, they can also completely bypass them, hop over to their leader, give him a wedgie, and leave.  The mental equations of power we are used to are utterly different.  Suddenly, things like guest-hospitality become critically important; anything that makes an archmage decide, "Oh, damn, I killed a baron, now I have to slaughter the entire kingdom or I'll never get a moment's peace." is not a survival trait for a soceity.Imagine, for a moment, a news story about a bunch of bank robbers who were, as they left the bank, ambushed by a full SWAT team with police backup and sniper support.  Imagine that the robbers killed everyone and moved on, and are now at large.  Now imagine that this scene was repeated multiple times, with escalation up to the level of direct military force, and that said force had been met with overwhelming response each time.  Said robbers would be met with fear, disdain, and hatred, this is for certain.  But I don't think that, if they happened to be on barrista duties and the robbers strolled in and ordered a round of mochas, most people would do anything than quietly serve up the mochas and try to be invisible until they left.  In D&D, there exists the very strong possibility that the individual causing problems is in and of himself a greater force than the entirety of local law enforcement.  PCs, as pointed out, should best be considered armor battalions past a certain level; my own personal metaphor is dragons.  That is to say, if a hostile dragon shows up, the question is not "How much damage will it cause before it is slain?" but "Will any of us survive?"Now remember what happens when PCs and dragons fight, and adjust your mental scales accordingly.</blockquote>

Verification