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Forgotten Realms 4e Changes: Good/Bad?
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<blockquote data-quote="Felon" data-source="post: 5159663" data-attributes="member: 8158"><p>"For a 43rd-level wizard, Elminster is kind of meh." <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/ponder.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":hmm:" title="Hmmm :hmm:" data-shortname=":hmm:" /></p><p></p><p>OK, let's come to consensus that if the party is level 40+, they should be able to operate in the realms without worrying about being overshadowed. I am big enough of a man to concede that. </p><p></p><p>But for a lot of folks, D&D's sweet spot is 6th-10th level. How about those guys?</p><p></p><p>Shaz, your posts are fixating on the notion of FR NPC's appearing on the scene and upstaging the characters. That doesn't really get to the heart of what I or others are trying to convey when we talk about the presence of all these epic characters overshadowing a party of characters trying to carve out their own legend. As I replied to Hawkeye, it has at least as much to do with the knowledge that whatever "level-appropriate" thing your PC's are doing, the really cool stuff is being handled by someone else. Your explanation that the big boys are preoccupied and delegate their light work to underlings (i.e. the PC's) is not a source of consolation, but consternation.</p><p></p><p>Sure Elminister is too preoccupied to help me kill kobolds. He's got bigger things to be doing, like preventing a demon lord from invading the mortal plane. But the kobolds hassling a few thatch huts full of muck farmers? They're all mine. Now, let's say those kobolds could amass sufficient numbers that they might hope to pose a threat to an entire region, including a place like Silverymoon or Waterdeep or Cormyr, then my party is now handling a major threat which is substantially cooler than bailing out muck farmers. But then the scenario has expanded to the point where it begs the question as to how the rather numerous and powerful protectorates the aforementioned places already have can be too preoccupied to intervene in the razing of their cities by a bunch of uppity kobolds. </p><p></p><p>Now one day, if my party puts our nose to the grindstone and spends a few years playing, we'll be epic-level. But that won't be a turning point for the realms. It's not like, say, Dark Sun, where the world is crying out for some heroes to get that powerful. We've been beaten to that punch. The ground is well-tread. We're late to the party, and at 21st-level, we're still scrubs.</p><p></p><p>All of that is what folks mean when they say playing FR felt like playing a minor character in Star Wars. We don't need to be physically shoved out of the way by Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader banging lightsabers together to be made aware that we are supporting cast in their universe. It feels that way without ever having to cross paths with them. As far as I'm hearing, the solution is to not take the big-picture view of the realms. Focus on what's placed before you, and be content with the little slice you're aiming to carve out.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Felon, post: 5159663, member: 8158"] "For a 43rd-level wizard, Elminster is kind of meh." :hmm: OK, let's come to consensus that if the party is level 40+, they should be able to operate in the realms without worrying about being overshadowed. I am big enough of a man to concede that. But for a lot of folks, D&D's sweet spot is 6th-10th level. How about those guys? Shaz, your posts are fixating on the notion of FR NPC's appearing on the scene and upstaging the characters. That doesn't really get to the heart of what I or others are trying to convey when we talk about the presence of all these epic characters overshadowing a party of characters trying to carve out their own legend. As I replied to Hawkeye, it has at least as much to do with the knowledge that whatever "level-appropriate" thing your PC's are doing, the really cool stuff is being handled by someone else. Your explanation that the big boys are preoccupied and delegate their light work to underlings (i.e. the PC's) is not a source of consolation, but consternation. Sure Elminister is too preoccupied to help me kill kobolds. He's got bigger things to be doing, like preventing a demon lord from invading the mortal plane. But the kobolds hassling a few thatch huts full of muck farmers? They're all mine. Now, let's say those kobolds could amass sufficient numbers that they might hope to pose a threat to an entire region, including a place like Silverymoon or Waterdeep or Cormyr, then my party is now handling a major threat which is substantially cooler than bailing out muck farmers. But then the scenario has expanded to the point where it begs the question as to how the rather numerous and powerful protectorates the aforementioned places already have can be too preoccupied to intervene in the razing of their cities by a bunch of uppity kobolds. Now one day, if my party puts our nose to the grindstone and spends a few years playing, we'll be epic-level. But that won't be a turning point for the realms. It's not like, say, Dark Sun, where the world is crying out for some heroes to get that powerful. We've been beaten to that punch. The ground is well-tread. We're late to the party, and at 21st-level, we're still scrubs. All of that is what folks mean when they say playing FR felt like playing a minor character in Star Wars. We don't need to be physically shoved out of the way by Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader banging lightsabers together to be made aware that we are supporting cast in their universe. It feels that way without ever having to cross paths with them. As far as I'm hearing, the solution is to not take the big-picture view of the realms. Focus on what's placed before you, and be content with the little slice you're aiming to carve out. [/QUOTE]
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