Stormborn
Explorer
I`m not sure if heroic=powerful as you seem to suggest, Hairfoot,
What he said.
I`m not sure if heroic=powerful as you seem to suggest, Hairfoot,
My Good Sirs,
In 1E, a swan has 1+2 HD. That's an average of 6.5 hp.
Most player characters averaged less beginning hps.
Anyone daring to set out and adventure in a world with such waterfowl is a hero in my book.
Healing surges and full heals overnight? You call these Heroes?! Ha!!![]()
A hero becomes a hero through his actions. He is the one that dares to rise above the common people and take the initiative to fight evil and protect the weak.
Question is - does he need the stats of a Commoner to "rise" over him? Or do better stats show his potential to rise above the common people in the first place? I mean, what's making him so different from them that he does what he does? Should this just be reflected in actions, or should it also be reflected in his stats?
Why do people always feel forced to use this "auto-scaling" - you're not forced to do this. The DMG just provides you a way to define what kind of challenges are manageable (and interesting) for a party of a certain level. If you wanted, you could put a "level 20" mountain in a 1st level adventure if that's what you like. Or put a level 15 monster close to the starting area of your first level characters. But you shouldn't expect the PCs to be able to deal with these challenges - and thus the PCs should only ever go there if they really want to, not because you want to set them up against a level 15 challenge.Much less.
The PCs should be world-beating badasses, but only after lots of hard work, determination, perseverance, and uphill battles. They shouldn't start the game that way.
And the world shouldn't automatically scale itself to fit the power level of the party. Certain mountains should be too dangerous to explore, certain seas should not be sailed until the party is strong enough, and certain lands should be avoided until the magical Sword of Xahaivaqvoeosgsga (or whatever) is found.
Maybe my DM Goggles are clouding my view here, but that's my two coppers.
And the world shouldn't automatically scale itself to fit the power level of the party. Certain mountains should be too dangerous to explore, certain seas should not be sailed until the party is strong enough, and certain lands should be avoided until the magical Sword of Xahaivaqvoeosgsga (or whatever) is found.
This is definitely true.While 4e PCs have explicit special abilities, relative PC power compared to monsters seems to have taken a huge hit. Reasonable starting characters compared to orcs or even kobolds seem a lot weaker than in previous editions.