Do your PCs lead a charmed life?

[MerakSpielman]

We all have different styles of playing, and that's cool, ya know? But I've been wondering how many of you like the same kind of game I like.

I like games where, from the perspective of the campaign world, the PCs are treated the same as NPCs.

Let me explain by counter-example:

There are campains - lots of them from what I read - in which the PCs are inherently superior to NPCs in some way. Essentially, if a PC were to meet an NPC of identical class and level, the PC would have some sort of advantage. Perhaps the PC has higher attributes. Perhaps he has greater funds from which to purchase equipment. Perhaps he can always fall back on Hero Points or something, or perhaps the DM will be lenient and allow more cinematic actions to have a greater chance of success. Perhaps the player knows the DM doesn't really want to hurt him, and will take silly chances to exploit that fact. Maybe the PCs are min-maxed a certain amount, and your average NPC isn't. Maybe bad guys don't fight as effectively as they could.

And there are aspects of "charmed life" that can show up outside of combat. Perhaps a necromancer is going to destroy the kingdom, and the PCs fail to uncover a vital clue. Is reality altered to give them another chance, or does the necromancer destroy the kingdom because they failed?

I'm sure you're getting a hint of the kind of game I like. I like to be paranoid. I like to know that, should I do something stupid, my ass is toast.

I like games where sometimes the bad guy wins becuase you couldn't figure out how to stop him. And you just have to deal with the new situation.

I like random encounter charts that include powerful, deadly monsters.

I want my actions to have consequences.

I want my character to EARN the title of "Hero" through determination, wits, and more than a little luck, not becuase PCs automatically get to be heroes.

I like knowing that the odds are not somehow stacked in my favor. I like to know that if I win, it's because I am THAT good of a player, not becuase the story would be cooler that way.


I get the feeling that this could be what people mean when they talk about grittey versus cinematic. If I must pidgeonhole my preferred style, I'd call it gritty.

So what do you all prefer?

 

[Snoweel]

I kind of agree with you, but for mine, I prefer it this way:

While NPCs can sometimes just die through regular bad luck, PCs only die through sheer stupidity or insanely unlucky dice rolls.

I run a low powered campaign, where characters (both PCs and NPCs) rarely, if ever, rise above 12th level, and most of their opponents throughout their careers are still 1st level.

So when they encounter something with a CR of 15 (for example), I make damn sure they know the risks and there's always the chance of survival, even if it's loss of all equipment and tearful begging for their lives after being stupid enough to hurl insults at the creature.

 

[BASHMAN]

I like random encounter charts that include powerful, deadly monsters.

Oh, YEAH! I even put monsters that need magic weapons to hit (like gargoyles) as a possible random encounter for new 1st level PCs! If they don't have magic weapons, they either have to run or use magic or something!

 

[dren]

Charmed...no. Sometimes they feel cursed. While it's not a scenario where they are in ever-present danger or evil, they are often abused and disliked. Prejudice, stereotypes, and racism are present, and sometimes it's hard not to use brute force to solve a delicate problem.

The heroes must struggle with force of evil, hiding in the world, coming up with master plans to destroy the world or just civilization. Theirs is not an easy lot, but somehow, through grit, determination or luck they somehow find a way to overcome.

 

[bweibeler]

The PCs are more powerful than a standard NPC of similar level and class (I use 32 Point Buy for PCs and 25 for NPCs; also PC's get full hp for the first 3 levels, NPCs only the first 1; in addition, PCs typically have more equipment). However, this does not hold true for the "end boss" NPC who I give all the benefits of PCs, not to mention they usually 2-3 levels higher as well.

 

[Aaron L]

Typically our characters lead cursed lives as well... if something's going to happen, it happens to US. Except the good things.


Would'nt have it any other way, actually.

 

[Gez]

Essentially, if a PC were to meet an NPC of identical class and level, the PC would have some sort of advantage. Perhaps he has greater funds from which to purchase equipment.

Well, that's in the rules. Except at level 1 (and maybe 2, don't remember, don't have the books with me), a NPC's wealth will be lower than a PC's one.

There's a simple reason for that, looting. If killing a NPC meant doubling (or more) your wealth... D&D's rules have been designed to accomodate to low-brow, kick-in-the-door style of campaigns. Not a criticism, by the way -- who can the most can the least, and subtler campaign styles can merely wing it entirely. Always easier to ignore than to recreate.

So yeah. That's the rule. One that rat-bastard DMs like to circonvene without breaking it, by letting players find lot of useless, but expensive, junk that no one will want to buy or exchange for something better.

 

[xenoflare]

charmed life

heya, just my 2 power points.

In my gaming group, we've got this term known as the "much-envied NPC life". We usually use it to refer to the carefree, feckless, joyful lifestyle of NPCs of equal/ lower level we meet, who don't always seem to be rushing off on some quest to save the world, or aren't being chased down by mobs seeking to enact some pogrom on them, or aren't being hunted by Singh Ragers and Inevitables seeking to bring them for some trial and extremely, extremely heavy corporal punishment. When a new character joins the group, we joke that "ah, he's got the much-envied NPC life - how long do you think that'll last?" - and we wait for RBDM's entropy to take its toll on the new guy

Typical conversation between Level 16 PC and Level 16 NPC:

NPC: "Hey, where're you rushing off to? Stay for dinner, take a break, have a nice slow swim in the lagoon, and come back to discuss some magical theory and trade some spells?"

PC: "Sorry, i can't stop. I've got a Slaadi Lord to take down, my former party members are now made up of liches and vampires who want to eat me, i owe the bank money, and there're 3 empires with a warrant out for my capture. About dinner, though, could i have it take-away?"

(of course, this is a recent development. It began only after we started rolling godly stats of 90-ish and above with the "roll 4 dice, drop lowest" method.. maybe superheroes need to deal with more crap.)

Yours,
shao

 

[Herpes Cineplex]

Meh. I have no overwhelming preference either way. It's fun to be the guy who's genuinely better than all the rest and shows up all the competition, and it's fun to be someone who's just average and has to try really hard just to keep his head above water. Neither type of game is better than the other. Sometimes I might be in the mood for one over the other, but that doesn't happen often enough for me to call it an actual preference.

I just hate it when the style of the upcoming game isn't made clear during character creation, or when the GM misidentifies the style (or maybe just lies about it); playing an average-joe character in a game where stunning, highly competent heroics are called for on a regular basis just blows.

And playing the greatest fill-in-the-blank in the world in a game where the GM wants everything to be hard all the time isn't all that much fun, either. I think it was someone here who once referred to the whole "Roll to eat...ooh, sorry, eating is a DC25 action: looks like you starve!" thing, which usually follows when a GM encourages characters to be really good at something and then tries a bait-and-switch because he wants the "gritty, hard-fought victory" to be the only kind of victory anyone ever achieves. Or, as is more common, when a character gets a cool new ability, suddenly every opponent in the game is immune to it because "it would make it too easy."

--
it's annoying and cheap and a good gm should never try pulling that crap anyway
ryan

 

[ThoughtBubble]

In my current game, oh boy, are they ever charmed. They're stronger, faster, more skilled and heal better than anyone else. Of course, three are fugitives, and the remaining one has memories from a past life slowly creeping in his mind. And they just pissed off a body hopping undead, who, while too weak to actually stand up to them in a fight, weill be more than happy to harry them any way he can. Just as soon as he gets back out of the underworld and finds a body...