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<blockquote data-quote="WizarDru" data-source="post: 194945" data-attributes="member: 151">It's a toss-up, I suppose.&nbsp; On the one hand, unless the town guards are extremely well organized, they're going to get roasted pretty badly.&nbsp; On the other hand, the players shouldn't be amoral, invulnerable killing machines.While this was most likely (based on one observation from a player) a sign of a bad trend, it's not impossible that the blacksmith was a retired adventurer.&nbsp; More than once in any town other than Hommlet, and it's getting a little silly. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />&nbsp; The issue is trying to prevent a 'Untouchable Trio'-like situation, where NPCs are seen as a source of XP, loot or just peons to be denigrated.&nbsp; After seeing a bunch of puffed up players suddenly deciding to act like jumped-up brown-shirts, a DM might get frustrated.&nbsp; It's not how I'd handle it, but I try not to second-guess other DMs without being there.&quot;I don't care if you saved my village or not...I'm the only blacksmith in town.&nbsp; You don't like my prices, you can leave.&nbsp; First you insult my skills; Now are you threatening me in my own home?&nbsp; Some hero!&quot;Regardless of this situation, some NPCs aren't going to act smart or in their best interest, regardless of HOW powerful the PCs are.&nbsp; That blacksmith might be radically overmatched (and depending on the player's abilities, usually should be), but that doesn't mean he KNOWS that, or cares.&nbsp; He may just be prideful or stubborn.&nbsp; But if he's grabbing a hammer and lobbing it at a 12th-level character and whupping the character's butt, one tends to wonder what he's doing making horseshoes in some backwater.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="WizarDru, post: 194945, member: 151"] It's a toss-up, I suppose. On the one hand, unless the town guards are extremely well organized, they're going to get roasted pretty badly. On the other hand, the players shouldn't be amoral, invulnerable killing machines. While this was most likely (based on one observation from a player) a sign of a bad trend, it's not impossible that the blacksmith was a retired adventurer. More than once in any town other than Hommlet, and it's getting a little silly. :) The issue is trying to prevent a 'Untouchable Trio'-like situation, where NPCs are seen as a source of XP, loot or just peons to be denigrated. After seeing a bunch of puffed up players suddenly deciding to act like jumped-up brown-shirts, a DM might get frustrated. It's not how I'd handle it, but I try not to second-guess other DMs without being there. [i]"I don't care if you saved my village or not...I'm the only blacksmith in town. You don't like my prices, you can leave. First you insult my skills; Now are you threatening me in my own home? Some hero!"[/i] Regardless of this situation, some NPCs aren't going to act smart or in their best interest, regardless of HOW powerful the PCs are. That blacksmith might be radically overmatched (and depending on the player's abilities, usually should be), but that doesn't mean he KNOWS that, or cares. He may just be prideful or stubborn. But if he's grabbing a hammer and lobbing it at a 12th-level character and whupping the character's butt, one tends to wonder what he's doing making horseshoes in some backwater. [/QUOTE]

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