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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sunseeker" data-source="post: 5369186">Mine isn't. But that's a difference in preferences. I want my players to feel like they're normal people who are moving up in the world. But I also don't want to end up with a "fighting the gods" scenario too soon. That, IMO, is something even max level characters should struggle with.   Who says they haven't? There may be 30 random lvl1-3 adventurers wandering around, but YOU(the party) are the ones the town picked. YOU are the ones who volunteered. Perhaps the problem is new, the town's resources stretched, maybe the guards aren't so tough and the town elder looks like he's two days short of being 6 feet under. Why did Frodo have to take the ring? Because he was 'special' in that he could resist it's power, and he was dumb/brave enough to take the job. The party is no different, you are either special enough to be the only one for the task, or you were dumb enough to sign up for it. The fact that the enemies will have loot from previous adventurers demonstrates that you're NOT the first one to try. Exactly! We have different ideas of how a world should be set up, and thus, this generates different ideas of how levels should work. And in mine, you do. Why? Partly because I like pirates. Also, these guys have been pirating their ENTIRE LIFE, just as you adventurers have been adventuring for the better part of your lives. They are skilled fighters, theives, and sailors. They have a lifetime of dirty deeds and nasty tricks up their sleeve, just as you have a lifetime of herioc deeds and saved princesses. Their Captains are their captains because they are stronger, smarter, and more skilled than any of their crew. They are the "generic pirates" who thought outside the "generic pirate" box, the ones who made deals with demon lords for great power. And as such, they have skills even a great adventurer should fear. Again, we have different ideas of how worlds should work and this is great! My heroes start off as slightly better than mundane. You are joe blow, outcast from your town, looking for a special weed to save your sister when you are swept up into a whirlwind of adventure. And yes, at first level, most other NPCs could probably kick your butt, even the fat old lady who seems to have one too few chairs for her bottom. By the time characters are 5th level, they are showing themselves to be quite heroic, but still fairly average. Oh, they're still heroes, but average heroes. By 10th level, they are quite skilled, and this is recognized by everyone around them. They're not Batman, but they're getting close to Boy Wonder. But to be honest, I don't tend to go much past there, why? We all tend to get bored and want to make new characters for new adventures. Perhaps after this thread I'll organize a new game and see how high everyone wants to go. I do not use this measurement of age to level. Some of the very skilled are very old, and some of the entirely unskilled are also, very old. I tend not to age characters as some races age quickly compared to others, by the time a game is over, Joe could be a wrinkled old man and Elfina the Elf could be well...exactly the same.  Of course I realize this, but I do a lot of things to make the mundane seem less mundane. It's hard to explain without seeing it in action.  I don't feel as the DM that I 'gave people powers'. They worked hard and learned those powers, but they must also learn that just because they have great powers, it doesn't mean you'll be able to use them all the time. I'm not taking them away, I'm making them think before they leap, it's not like they're NEVER going to be able to use those powers, it's just one instance where they need to rely on their basics rather than their awesomes.</blockquote>

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