D&D 5E (2014) I hope 5th edition makes room for "Adventurers" and "Heroes".

[Shadeydm]

Oops, one other biggie that I forgot regarding the rest of the Fellowship. Frodo doesn't make to Mount Doom without the other characters drawing Sauron's eye to the Black Gate. Methinks you crossed a bridge too far by saying the other characters had no say in the outcome of the story.

Yep another key event was the heir of isuldur revealing himself to the enemy via the palantir baiting Sauron into action.

 

[B.T.]

Low-level PCs are adventurers. High-level PCs are heroes.

 

[ForeverSlayer]

To be honest, I hate gods and anything equivalent to have stats.

A demon lord is probably the most powerful thing I want to see stats for but other than that, no.

I absolutely hate the fact that beings such as primordials, who shaped the freaking cosmos by the way, are presented in such a "mortal" way that they can be defeated by people with weapons and spells. Those beings should be beyond all comprehension and just left to the imagination.

Heroes: World revolves around them.

Adventurers: They revolve around the world.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think the OP is mainly talking about what a 1st level character is capable of.

Is a 1st level character a beginner in his profession or is he already accomplished?

This is reflected in hit points, number of powers, etc...

I think I understand his point, but I disagree with the terminology.

A hero is someone that risks his lives for others and helps people. Whether he has 5 or 25 hit points at 1st level doesn't really matter. He may be out there out of necessity, because he wants to save someone, and whether he has 5 hit points or 25, he will have to do that.

An adventurer is something that goes out on adventures - he is not necessarily more likely to act heroic - he will face dangerous situations, but not necessarily for the sake of others - sometimes he's just after the thrill, knowledge or gold. But does that require him to have 5 or 25 hit points?

Ultimately, I think regardless of whether hero or advenutrer - there is a good argument that he should be able to take a bit more damage, because otherwise he won't have much opportunity to adventure or act heroic - he'll just die due to random happenstance.

 

[Li Shenron]

To be honest, I hate gods

Reported for breaking ENW rules on religious belief

and anything equivalent to have stats.

...oh, now I see. I totally agree with you on this, and I always just assume that those stats are for avatars or something similar (if someone in a game wanted to kill the God of War, I'd tell them that they would need to end all wars for good), but what can we do... there are gaming groups out there who like "immortal-levels" game so let's have them have their cake, hopefully in a supplement book however. Anyway such quest in my book is not simply "heroic", and even the term "epic" sounds like an understatement...

Heroes: World revolves around them.

Adventurers: They revolve around the world.

This could be a nice quick summary!

 

[Shadeydm]

To be honest, I hate gods and anything equivalent to have stats.

A demon lord is probably the most powerful thing I want to see stats for but other than that, no.

I absolutely hate the fact that beings such as primordials, who shaped the freaking cosmos by the way, are presented in such a "mortal" way that they can be defeated by people with weapons and spells. Those beings should be beyond all comprehension and just left to the imagination.

Green Ronin's Book of the Righteous forever changed how I handle religions/gods in D&D I can't say enough good things about it. Most of it is edition neutral too!

 

[Henry]

I've always previously heard the terms called "High Fantasy" and "Low Fantasy." Low fantasy is more Grey Mouser and Conan in his early career, while High fantasy is Dragonlance and LotR. If the characters feel more like soldiers of fortune (with or without conscience) then it's low fantasy. As someone earlier mentioned, it's possible for the same campaign to be both. Conan starts out stealing loot from towers and attempted rape on frost giant daughters, but ends up a freakin' king of a nation taking down powerful wizards. (people often forget Conan was a barbarian...) I'm trying to think of some stories that went in the other direction (from grand quester to merc) and failing, but I'm sure there are some.

 

[Steely_Dan]

while High fantasy is Dragonlance and LotR.

I consider LotR low fantasy, no ones's slinging meteor swarms around there; Dragonlance, definitely high fantasy.

 

[ForeverSlayer]

I consider LotR low fantasy, no ones's slinging meteor swarms around there; Dragonlance, definitely high fantasy.

I would say that Dragonlance is standard fantasy while Forgotten Realms is high fantasy.

Not everyone and their mother is slinging spells in Dragonlance and everyone doesn't walk around with a magic sword.

 

[Steely_Dan]

I would say that Dragonlance is standard fantasy while Forgotten Realms is high fantasy.

Not everyone and their mother is slinging spells in Dragonlance and everyone doesn't walk around with a magic sword.

I can see what you mean, but the bottom (cheeky) line is, you can sling a fireball in Dragonlance.