D&D 5E Merlin and Arthur or Batman and zatana

[Krachek]

There is another solution.

Allow the "normal" guy to have super strength and attempt to break the barrier. Just like they can do the wall of stone.

There is no reason that Wall of Force has to be completely unbreakable

Indeed Wall of force is a complete designer choice and can be make with hit points.
With a complete game revision, I think that we can completely dissolve all magic into balanced game effects.

 

[Krachek]

My explanation is the background radiation of magic in the DnD universe.

Why can a fighter slice boulders with his sword and leap to the roof of a two-story building in a single jump? The same reason that a Giant can exist and a Dragon can Fly, the world is magic. You have trained to the extent that your muscles are magically charged, your skin is magically hardened, the same way that if you came from a world of high-gravity to a world of low-gravity, you could do the same things.

Ki also works, but since it was tied explicitly into Monks, it is harder to justfy as ALSO being used by rogues and fighters and barbarians.

Who set the DC to slice boulders with a sword?

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Who set the DC to slice boulders with a sword?

I don't know but I had a friend who dropped a loaf of Italian bread and forgot about it over a summer and pulled out a green/blue rock that an M80 would not break open...

 

[Krachek]

I don't know but I had a friend who dropped a loaf of Italian bread and forgot about it over a summer and pulled out a green/blue rock that an M80 would not break open...

So I will use the same wording as the DM guide.
What if in the world, fighters are slicing boulder with a DC 20 strength (Athletic)?

 

[Zubatcarteira]

For 5e, since the bonuses don't get too crazy, it'd prob be hard to make a proper system of doing superhuman stuff via skill checks. A DC 20 is easy at level 20, but it's achievable at level 1 as well, and if you make it unreachable at level 1, then it'd be quite hard at level 20 as well if you're not buffing yourself with some other abilities besides stats plus proficiency.

 

[Voadam]

Looks like the source is the Mabinogion. Link here for the text:
It says "Then Arthur took the golden chessmen that were upon the board, and crushed them until they became as dust"

This reddit page lists all the various feats of his pulling from Le Mort D'Arthur, History of the Kings of Britain, the Mabinogion, and the Welsh Triads

Thanks for the list.

Most of those seem like badass action hero warrior accomplishments, Not really mythic superhero levels like Marvel Thor though. These mostly seem like things that fighters in most editions of D&D can do.

Hit really hard.

Take heavy blows.

Cutting through one guy into his horse sounds like D&D cleave.

Cutting down lots of enemies seems like OD&D/AD&D fighters attacking one 1HD/less than 1 HD opponents per level per round. Running around in magical plate mail against 0 level men at arms you can fight a long time against a lot of them.

Hitting a dragon with a blow that "He could have knocked down walls with a blow like that" sounds like doing lots of damage. 3e D&D fighters can do that with enough damage, the hp of walls was defined.

The gold dust crushing is the most superheroic thing here that you probably do not expect a D&D fighter without magic strength to accomplish.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Thanks for the list.

Most of those seem like badass action hero warrior accomplishments, Not really mythic superhero levels like Marvel Thor though. These mostly seem like things that fighters in most editions of D&D can do.

Hit really hard.

Take heavy blows.

Cutting through one guy into his horse sounds like D&D cleave.

Cutting down lots of enemies seems like OD&D/AD&D fighters attacking one 1HD/less than 1 HD opponents per level per round. Running around in magical plate mail against 0 level men at arms you can fight a long time against a lot of them.

Hitting a dragon with a blow that "He could have knocked down walls with a blow like that" sounds like doing lots of damage. 3e D&D fighters can do that with enough damage, the hp of walls was defined.

The gold dust crushing is the most superheroic thing here that you probably do not expect a D&D fighter without magic strength to accomplish.

I think that you absolutely could design a fighter to do all of those things.

I don't think there's been any edition where a fighter actually could do all of those things, except perhaps 4e.

I mean, just for starters, you have several instances of Arthur killing someone with a single, powerful blow. Presumably, the target wasn't some 4 HP peasant, as that isn't exactly the stuff of legend. You could argue that he chipped away at a stronger opponent's HP until he struck them down with a "single" blow, but that doesn't have quite the same feel to it. Fighters generally haven't had the ability to do a single powerful attack that could fell a mighty adversary.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

For 5e, since the bonuses don't get too crazy, it'd prob be hard to make a proper system of doing superhuman stuff via skill checks. A DC 20 is easy at level 20, but it's achievable at level 1 as well, and if you make it unreachable at level 1, then it'd be quite hard at level 20 as well if you're not buffing yourself with some other abilities besides stats plus proficiency.

I once on a lark let a character try to climb clouds... I said that DC30 is 'almost impossible' so a DC 31-35 would be do the impossible, and let the character roll for it... They had a +15 or 16 and ended up getting a 32 and I said "okay, you climb the cloud"

 

[Chaosmancer]

And if any book actually used that explanation for fighter-types being more than human, I would be on board. But...they don't.

I know, but it doesn't stop me from advocating for it.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Who set the DC to slice boulders with a sword?

I don't understand the question, but it is a common "super swordsman" trope