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<blockquote data-quote="Jay Verkuilen" data-source="post: 7742540" data-attributes="member: 6873517">Absolutely. AIME does a surprisingly good job of a Dark Ages feel but even so I think it has issues. Gandalf is a particularly difficult character in no small part because he really is an NPC. Some of the other characters in the Fellowship are PC-worthy but Gandalf really isn't. Much of his power is kept off-screen so you're right, we never really see what he does. In addition, Middle Earth is deeply magical but the magic is really quite different than D&amp;D's more utilitarian, game balanced, and often much more grandiose Vancian magic. For example, nobody really has fast travel. The closest are the Nazgul on their aerial mounts, Gandalf mounted on Shadowfax, and the giant eagles, but even they have to travel from Point A to Point B and all points in between. Only Gandalf seems to have any kind of direct damage and even he needs to make use of raw material such as pinecones to make that work. D&amp;D really wasn't built with this in mind so it's unsurprising it's not very good at it. If you want to read just how deeply magical the First Age was, check out this article about <a href="https://www.tor.com/2016/09/14/luthien-tolkiens-badass-elf-princess/" target="_blank">Luthien</a>, who is, IMO, a very powerful sorcerer or bard in 5E terms, with courage to spare and then some.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jay Verkuilen, post: 7742540, member: 6873517"] Absolutely. AIME does a surprisingly good job of a Dark Ages feel but even so I think it has issues. Gandalf is a particularly difficult character in no small part because he really is an NPC. Some of the other characters in the Fellowship are PC-worthy but Gandalf really isn't. Much of his power is kept off-screen so you're right, we never really see what he does. In addition, Middle Earth is deeply magical but the magic is really quite different than D&D's more utilitarian, game balanced, and often much more grandiose Vancian magic. For example, nobody really has fast travel. The closest are the Nazgul on their aerial mounts, Gandalf mounted on Shadowfax, and the giant eagles, but even they have to travel from Point A to Point B and all points in between. Only Gandalf seems to have any kind of direct damage and even he needs to make use of raw material such as pinecones to make that work. D&D really wasn't built with this in mind so it's unsurprising it's not very good at it. If you want to read just how deeply magical the First Age was, check out this article about [URL="https://www.tor.com/2016/09/14/luthien-tolkiens-badass-elf-princess/"]Luthien[/URL], who is, IMO, a very powerful sorcerer or bard in 5E terms, with courage to spare and then some. [/QUOTE]

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