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<blockquote data-quote="kigmatzomat" data-source="post: 9608232" data-attributes="member: 9254">That last part describes LotR.&nbsp; Gandalf is the DM PC, who has a bunch of hirelings carry the cursed items, and be distractions or cannon fodder.&nbsp; The Balrog scene is just a way to show how powerful Gandalf is to the players and then bring him back in his &quot;ult&quot; form later, after the PCs leveled up.&nbsp; The Istari (incarnate Maia) were forbidden from direct conflict with Sauron and were to advise/counsel rather than be front-line blasters.&nbsp; Gandalf appeared to be the only one Istari who remained on Middle Earth who abided by that stricture. I suspect Gandalf was the &quot;rogue&quot; of the Istari, less wizard and more Arcane Trickster or maybe Bard.Saruman broke the rules on power, which seems to make it a choice rather than an inherent limitation.&nbsp; Meaning Istari are &quot;top tier&quot; creatures, pretending to be lower CR, rather than actually being lower CR creatures.&nbsp; Given that balrogs are a corrupted form of Maia, that CR seems pretty high.&nbsp; It's pretty clear that if Sauron's tower wasn't active, Gandalf and his hirelings could be zooming over the lands on the backs of giant eagles.&nbsp; As it is Gandalf has to schlep along on &quot;the king of horses&quot;.There are Ring Wraiths, that can only be killed after being injured by specifically enchanted blades, who can pop up anywhere.&nbsp; Unkillable threats seem pretty high level.&nbsp; Then there are semi-immortal elves who have fought in multiple wars and are capable of resisting the pull of the One Ring, and you've got a world with quite a lot of high level NPCs.&nbsp;&nbsp; And this is just one continent!&nbsp; The Elven lands are probably pretty epic.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="kigmatzomat, post: 9608232, member: 9254"] That last part describes LotR. Gandalf is the DM PC, who has a bunch of hirelings carry the cursed items, and be distractions or cannon fodder. The Balrog scene is just a way to show how powerful Gandalf is to the players and then bring him back in his "ult" form later, after the PCs leveled up. The Istari (incarnate Maia) were forbidden from direct conflict with Sauron and were to advise/counsel rather than be front-line blasters. Gandalf appeared to be the only one Istari who remained on Middle Earth who abided by that stricture. I suspect Gandalf was the "rogue" of the Istari, less wizard and more Arcane Trickster or maybe Bard. Saruman broke the rules on power, which seems to make it a choice rather than an inherent limitation. Meaning Istari are "top tier" creatures, [b]pretending[/b] to be lower CR, rather than actually being lower CR creatures. Given that balrogs are a corrupted form of Maia, that CR seems pretty high. It's pretty clear that if Sauron's tower wasn't active, Gandalf and his hirelings could be zooming over the lands on the backs of giant eagles. As it is Gandalf has to schlep along on "the king of horses". There are Ring Wraiths, that can only be killed after being injured by specifically enchanted blades, who can pop up anywhere. Unkillable threats seem pretty high level. Then there are semi-immortal elves who have fought in multiple wars and are capable of resisting the pull of the One Ring, and you've got a world with quite a lot of high level NPCs. And this is just one continent! The Elven lands are probably pretty epic. [/QUOTE]

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