D&D 5E Is 5e Heroic, or SUPER-heroic?

[MarkB]

Warlocks are the closest to fitting the superhero mould in structural terms. They have a strong at-will supernatural attack, a smattering of other at-will or always-on superpowers, and a couple of powerful capabilities that they can only bust out once or twice before they have to take a breather. They even get a dark, angsty origin story built in.

 

[DND_Reborn]

It made me realize that D&D characters, especially at level 5 and above, are not heroes. They are super-heroes. And perhaps a big bold style is best suited for the game?

While D&D can be either heroic or superheroic, my preference is heroic.

Even run as default without gritty rules, the game does not need to be thought of as superheroic, it is a world of magic, after all.

If I broke it down, I would say levels 1-10 are heroic, 11-20 are best for superheroic, and 20+ for demi-godlike play.

 

[Scott Christian]

The Witcher is every inch a superhero - he is even is a mutant with an origin story. His superpowers aren't as strong as Superman, but he could go toe-to-toe with Captain America, who has a similar origin.

And so is Ciri.

? A Witcher gets killed all the time. In the books, Geralt was almost killed by farmers. He was knocked unconscious by six warriors. He was beaten by a small handful of elves. And he is the greatest Witcher of all time. He is no where near superhero status.
The Continent is about as low level fantasy/no superhero as you can get. The RPG book doesn't really do it justice in my opinion. But the world is not full of crazy strong people (except Ciri who is an anomoly and hunted by all because of it), only incredibly strong monsters.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

? A Witcher gets killed all the time. In the books, Geralt was almost killed by farmers. He was knocked unconscious by six warriors. He was beaten by a small handful of elves. And he is the greatest Witcher of all time. He is no where near superhero status.
The Continent is about as low level fantasy/no superhero as you can get. The RPG book doesn't really do it justice in my opinion. But the world is not full of crazy strong people (except Ciri who is an anomoly and hunted by all because of it), only incredibly strong monsters.

So do superheroes. They just keep coming back from death - just like Geralt. Geralt's powers are far beyond anything possessed by Batman or Black Widow.

Lets rephrase what you said - "It took six warriors to knock him unconscious!" Six to one is well beyond a normal human.

 

[Oofta]

In my campaign low level magic is pretty ubiquitous, but my current campaign is relatively low level magic for what they have. I think each PC has 1 uncommon magic item, one of them may have 2. They're 8th level. In addition, I regularly throw 5-10 encounters between long rests.

Powerful? Yes. Superheroes along the lines of Thor, Superman, The Hulk or The Flash*? No. More street-level fighters. Then again, they aren't facing down Doomsday, Thanos or other galactic threats either.

But in another campaign they could be glowing with all the magic they have and facing down Tharizdun.

While D&D doesn't exactly fit the "gritty" checklist, it doesn't have to fit the upper tiers of superhero checklist either. Which is awesome. Give that paladin a cape of flying, armor of invulnerability and girdle of storm giant strength along with a holy avenger if you want. Won't happen in my game, but everybody has a preferred style of play.

*Depending on version of course. There's incredible power differences between powers of even individual superheroes.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Six to one is well beyond a normal human.

Sure, it is heroic.

60 to 1 is more superheroic.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Sure, it is heroic.

60 to 1 is more superheroic.

Anything beyond normal human is, by definition, superhuman.

 

[Oofta]

So do superheroes. They just keep coming back from death - just like Geralt. Geralt's powers are far beyond anything possessed by Batman or Black Widow.

Lets rephrase what you said - "It took six warriors to knock him unconscious!" Six to one is well beyond a normal human.

That's the odds that Jason Bourne faces all the time. Is Bourne a superhero? Action hero? Absolutely. Superhero? Nah.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Anything beyond normal human is, by definition, superhuman.

6 to 1 is not beyond normal humans. Many trained martial artists can deal with six attackers at once. Are the exceptional and well trained? Certainly! But hardly superhuman.

Your argument would be akin to saying a commoner can't handle six other commoners attacking him, so a level 3 fighter who can deal with 6 commoners must be superheroic. The 3rd level fighter is simply much better trained and skilled than the normal commoner.

 

[Krachek]

Pc are superheroes because they face budget wise XP encounters.