RangerWickett
Legend
Many people say that characters should not use the same terminology players use, referring to hit points and spell levels in absolute numbers. What do you think?
In the games I play in we've come to a consensus that people actually do understand the concept of hit points and spell levels in the world. A cleric knows that it takes a lot more of his healing power to get his veteran friend healed up than it does his rookie friend, and he knows that the veteran friend was able to survive most hostile encounters than the rookie. While a codified numerical system might be beyond the ken of the common person, I figure scholars, philosophers, and scientists would have done experiments to let you actually measure hit points.
Likewise, lesser globe of invulnerability stops some spells, globe stops more. That's one way to measure spell level. Spellcasters know that some powers are beyond them entirely, though as they perfect their knowledge entire reams of spells become available. They understand that, damn, this magic missile wand costs 750, while the scorching ray wand is 4500, and the lightning bolt wand is 11250. Along the way, some amateur mathematician would have figured out the weird geometric progression, and how it ties into concepts like the number of pages required to scribe a spell and how many multiples of 6 seconds your spells last.
You would have a highly codified system of spell levels, at least among wizards. The other classes perhaps not so much, though again, the magic item market and the creation costs should provide clear evidence to what level different spells are.
In the games I play in we've come to a consensus that people actually do understand the concept of hit points and spell levels in the world. A cleric knows that it takes a lot more of his healing power to get his veteran friend healed up than it does his rookie friend, and he knows that the veteran friend was able to survive most hostile encounters than the rookie. While a codified numerical system might be beyond the ken of the common person, I figure scholars, philosophers, and scientists would have done experiments to let you actually measure hit points.
Likewise, lesser globe of invulnerability stops some spells, globe stops more. That's one way to measure spell level. Spellcasters know that some powers are beyond them entirely, though as they perfect their knowledge entire reams of spells become available. They understand that, damn, this magic missile wand costs 750, while the scorching ray wand is 4500, and the lightning bolt wand is 11250. Along the way, some amateur mathematician would have figured out the weird geometric progression, and how it ties into concepts like the number of pages required to scribe a spell and how many multiples of 6 seconds your spells last.
You would have a highly codified system of spell levels, at least among wizards. The other classes perhaps not so much, though again, the magic item market and the creation costs should provide clear evidence to what level different spells are.
