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<blockquote data-quote="kigmatzomat" data-source="post: 9609282" data-attributes="member: 9254">I've been pondering the various campaigns I've been in and realized that most of the parties get known as &quot;heroes&quot; but they almost never show their full power where other people see them.&nbsp; It's always on obscure mountains, hidden temples, or off the material plane.&nbsp; Most of them could easily be mistaken for 5-10 levels lower. Maybe we should think of how many high level PCs decide to fade into the background to avoid waves of ninjas and cultists popping out of their closets at night. Or are tired of the gunslinger-syndrome, where people out to make a name challenge them to duels. Yeah, a major city might have a 12th level wizard, but do they know if he's more than just some alchemist that sells a potion or two each month to make ends meet?&nbsp; Is that a 12th level bard, fighter and rogue or a minstrel, barkeep and locksmith?Clerics, Paladins and Warlocks probably don't get to retire, so maybe they wind up with a half dozen different personas to separate the ninjas from the cultists. Perhaps they pass on personas, like Dread Pirate Roberts or Zorro.&nbsp; Or they just constantly travel, like Indiana Jones, never staying anywhere too long so the cultists and nazis don't catch up.&nbsp; And they can contact a few innocuous alchemists, minstrels, barkeeps and locksmiths if the need arises.Maybe those high level NPCs can and do exist, but aside from &quot;saints&quot; and &quot;the Swords of God&quot;, nobody really knows who they are and you only know where a saint or sword was by the smoking crater or the heaps of unrighteous dead.And really, everyone is fine if they are somewhere far away, because it means where you are is less likely to be a smoking crater or have piles of unrighteous dead.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="kigmatzomat, post: 9609282, member: 9254"] I've been pondering the various campaigns I've been in and realized that most of the parties get known as "heroes" but they almost never show their full power where other people see them. It's always on obscure mountains, hidden temples, or off the material plane. Most of them could easily be mistaken for 5-10 levels lower. Maybe we should think of how many high level PCs decide to fade into the background to avoid waves of ninjas and cultists popping out of their closets at night. Or are tired of the gunslinger-syndrome, where people out to make a name challenge them to duels. Yeah, a major city might have a 12th level wizard, but do they know if he's more than just some alchemist that sells a potion or two each month to make ends meet? Is that a 12th level bard, fighter and rogue or a minstrel, barkeep and locksmith? Clerics, Paladins and Warlocks probably don't get to retire, so maybe they wind up with a half dozen different personas to separate the ninjas from the cultists. Perhaps they pass on personas, like Dread Pirate Roberts or Zorro. Or they just constantly travel, like Indiana Jones, never staying anywhere too long so the cultists and nazis don't catch up. And they can contact a few innocuous alchemists, minstrels, barkeeps and locksmiths if the need arises. Maybe those high level NPCs can and do exist, but aside from "saints" and "the Swords of God", nobody really knows who they are and you only know where a saint or sword was by the smoking crater or the heaps of unrighteous dead. And really, everyone is fine if they are somewhere far away, because it means where you are is less likely to be a smoking crater or have piles of unrighteous dead. [/QUOTE]

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