"He's the greatest X" = level ?

[Quasqueton]

"He's a great swordsman."

"He's the greatest swordsman, ever."

"He's killed over a hundred men in personal duels."

"He's a powerful wizard."

"He's the most powerful mage in the world."

"He's an infamous thief, known throughout the kingdom."

"He's the most infamous thief, known all over the world."

"He's god's right hand on earth."


What level(s) comes to mind with the above descriptions?

Quasqueton

 

[Hand of Evil]

Charisma, leadership, bribes, diplomacy and the most bards to sing their praises, level can be anything.

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

What level(s) comes to mind with the above descriptions?

• "He's a great swordsman."
  • Greyhawk: 5th level
  • Forgotten Realms: 8th level
  • My games: 5th level
• "He's the greatest swordsman, ever."
  • Greyhawk: 20th level
  • Forgotten Realms: 30th level
  • My games: 17th level
• "He's killed over a hundred men in personal duels."
  • Any game: 15th+ level (figure it takes 3 duels to advance to 2nd level; 4 or 5 to advance to 3rd level; gradually takes more each level)
• "He's a powerful wizard."
  • Greyhawk: 7th level
  • Forgotten Realms: 10th level
  • My games: 7th level
• "He's the most powerful mage in the world."
  • Greyhawk: 20th level
  • Forgotten Realms: 30th level
  • My Games: 17th level
• "He's an infamous thief, known throughout the kingdom."
  • Greyhawk: 7th level
  • Forgotten Realms: 10th level
  • My games: 9th level
  • In theory a really good thief wouldn't be known by name, but by reputation only.
• "He's the most infamous thief, known all over the world."
  • Greyhawk: 15th level
  • Forgotten Realms: 20th level
  • My games: 17th level
• "He's god's right hand on earth."
  • Greyhawk: 9th level (able to cast Raise Dead)
  • Forgotten Realms: 17th level (able to cast Miracle)
  • My games: 9th level

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

"He's a great swordsman."
"He's a powerful wizard."

For these it's relative to the "level" of the person speaking and how they view the subject of the quote as to what level the subject might be. A 2nd level guard speaking of his 4th level captain and having never been much outside the area where he lives it's not saying much. If the speaker is a 7th level wizard a statement like that carries more significance.

"He's the greatest swordsman, ever."
"He's the most powerful mage in the world."
"He's an infamous thief, known throughout the kingdom."
"He's the most infamous thief, known all over the world."

Opinions vary, but statements like the above do tend to imply that the greatness of the subject is fairly evident and well-known (at least in SOME circles).

"He's god's right hand on earth."

Although this tends to imply the leader of the church (whose level can be set to anything the DM wants) who's to say from the characters perspective who a god may have chosen to BE his right hand on Earth and why? It implies more about influence regardless of level than it does about level itself.

"He's killed over a hundred men in personal duels."

Now THIS may have something to dictate about levels as it's somewhat quantifiable in game terms. Although there's still room for a lot of adjustment, if the statement is TRUE it shouldn't be too difficult to assume average difficulty for each such duelling encounter, and thus at 13.5 average encounters per level such an individual ought to be at least 7th level, maybe halfway to 8th. That further assumes that the subject hasn't done much of anything else. The greater the variety of activities and longer time that a character has performed them implies either greater levels, lesser challenges, or simply inaccurate information.

 

[diaglo]

Swordsman = lvl 3 fighting man

Wizard = lvl 11+ magic user

Mage = lvl 16+ magic user

 

[Turanil]

Quoted from Brent_Nall, but with my own values in yellow:

• "He's a great swordsman."
  • Greyhawk: 9th level level
  • Forgotten Realms: 12th level level
  • My games: 9th level level
• "He's the greatest swordsman, ever."
  • Greyhawk: 20th level
  • Forgotten Realms: 30th level
  • My games: 17th level
• "He's killed over a hundred men in personal duels."
  • Any game: 9th level+ level (I don't care the amount of XP it would provide for a NPC)
• "He's a powerful wizard."
  • Greyhawk: 11th level level
  • Forgotten Realms: 15th level level
  • My games: 11th level level
• "He's the most powerful mage in the world."
  • Greyhawk: 20th level
  • Forgotten Realms: 30th level
  • My Games: 36th level level
• "He's an infamous thief, known throughout the kingdom."
  • Greyhawk: 10th level level
  • Forgotten Realms: 15th level level
  • My games: 10th level level
  • In theory a really good thief wouldn't be known by name, but by reputation only.
• "He's the most infamous thief, known all over the world."
  • Greyhawk: 15th level
  • Forgotten Realms: 20th level
  • My games: 15th level level
• "He's god's right hand on earth."
  • Greyhawk: 17th level level (able to cast Raise Dead)
  • Forgotten Realms: 30th level level (able to cast Miracle)
  • My games: 20th level level

 

[Crothian]

epic

 

[the Jester]

The self-described 'greatest swordsman of his time' imc is a 24th level fighter iirc.

It really varies, though- depends on the campaign.

 

[Arnwyn]

For my personal campaign's demographics:


"He's a great swordsman." = Ftr10+
"He's the greatest swordsman, ever." = Epic
"He's killed over a hundred men in personal duels." = Ftr8+
"He's a powerful wizard." = Wiz10+
"He's the most powerful mage in the world." = Epic 30+
"He's an infamous thief, known throughout the kingdom." = Rog15+
"He's the most infamous thief, known all over the world." = Epic
"He's god's right hand on earth." = Epic

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey all!

In a population of 1000: 5th = Great, 10th = Greatest.
In a population of 10,000: 6th = Great, 13th = Greatest.
In a population of 100,000: 8th = Great, 16th = Greatest.
In a population of 1 million: 10th = Great, 20th = Greatest.
In a population of 10 million: 11th = Great, 23rd = Greatest.
In a population of 100 million: 13th = Great, 26th = Greatest.
In a population of 1 billion: 15th = Great, 30th = Greatest.
In a population of 10 billion: 16th = Great, 33rd = Greatest.
In a population of 100 billion: 18th = Great, 36th = Greatest.
In a population of 1 trillion: 20th = Great, 40th = Greatest.
etc.