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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 6657321" data-attributes="member: 996">Mythological figures are characters whose stories have long since been written.&nbsp; What they could do is what they were depicted as doing, or on the outside authoritatively described (no 'said to....')&nbsp; as able to do.&nbsp; Nothing more.&nbsp; &nbsp;As has so often been claimed on the other side of this argument, PCs aren't supposed to be actual Gods.&nbsp; (Circe was the daughter of Titans, though, and Titans and Greek gods, both, tended to have powers limited to a portfolio, like Domains).So is David Blaine.&nbsp;And, way back in the early days of Dragon Mag, it was pretty convincingly argued that a 5th level magic-user could have done those things.&nbsp; Of course, he had the excuse that he needed to 'hide from Sauron.'&nbsp;He knew hundreds of passwords used in spells to seal doors.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />&nbsp; In D&amp;D terms, he cast Hold Portal.&nbsp;Generally not.&nbsp; If a caster ally of the hero was reputed to have great power, like Gandalf, there'd be some plot-point keeping a damper on it.&nbsp; If the Hero himself, is the caster, he's either very limited in what he can do (or what he needs to do it), or the whole work is scaled to that power (like Lensmen throwing planets at eachother).&nbsp; Level, alone, easily takes care of that range without having to make casters supreme at every level.&nbsp;Again, you're mistaking rep for ability.&nbsp; Casters tend to have fearsome reputations, but they also tend to lose every time.&nbsp; In fiction, that's the author's power of plot, but in a game, it has to be reflected in stats.&nbsp; 1e, though it gave PC casters far to great a breadth of power, handled that last bit well at high level:&nbsp; the horrible uber-magical threat would hurls spells at the protective-item-festooned party, who would all save unless they rolled a 1.&nbsp;A lot of them /need/ to, because their magic isn't effective or can't be brought to bear in actual combat.&nbsp; &nbsp;They have that rep, they do some large-scale rituals, but they wouldn't be helping the hero if they could do what he could, they'd just wave their hands and solve the problem.&nbsp; They don't, because they can't.Gandalf desplayed casting ability that a 5th level wizard could duplicate.&nbsp; Merlin didn't do a lot better, depending on the story, maybe he cast a 5th level spell, once.&nbsp;Folks have gotten used to it, after decades, but in the early days of the game, it was a source of a lot of criticism, not just because it was mechanically broken, but because it was nothing like the magic in any fantasy genre source (Vance be sci-fi).&nbsp; It was used /in spite of/ being totally genre-contrary and unrelatable.&nbsp; Because it could be made to work, mechanically.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 6657321, member: 996"] Mythological figures are characters whose stories have long since been written. What they could do is what they were depicted as doing, or on the outside authoritatively described (no 'said to....') as able to do. Nothing more. As has so often been claimed on the other side of this argument, PCs aren't supposed to be actual Gods. (Circe was the daughter of Titans, though, and Titans and Greek gods, both, tended to have powers limited to a portfolio, like Domains). So is David Blaine. And, way back in the early days of Dragon Mag, it was pretty convincingly argued that a 5th level magic-user could have done those things. Of course, he had the excuse that he needed to 'hide from Sauron.' He knew hundreds of passwords used in spells to seal doors. ;) In D&D terms, he cast Hold Portal. Generally not. If a caster ally of the hero was reputed to have great power, like Gandalf, there'd be some plot-point keeping a damper on it. If the Hero himself, is the caster, he's either very limited in what he can do (or what he needs to do it), or the whole work is scaled to that power (like Lensmen throwing planets at eachother). Level, alone, easily takes care of that range without having to make casters supreme at every level. Again, you're mistaking rep for ability. Casters tend to have fearsome reputations, but they also tend to lose every time. In fiction, that's the author's power of plot, but in a game, it has to be reflected in stats. 1e, though it gave PC casters far to great a breadth of power, handled that last bit well at high level: the horrible uber-magical threat would hurls spells at the protective-item-festooned party, who would all save unless they rolled a 1. A lot of them /need/ to, because their magic isn't effective or can't be brought to bear in actual combat. They have that rep, they do some large-scale rituals, but they wouldn't be helping the hero if they could do what he could, they'd just wave their hands and solve the problem. They don't, because they can't. Gandalf desplayed casting ability that a 5th level wizard could duplicate. Merlin didn't do a lot better, depending on the story, maybe he cast a 5th level spell, once. Folks have gotten used to it, after decades, but in the early days of the game, it was a source of a lot of criticism, not just because it was mechanically broken, but because it was nothing like the magic in any fantasy genre source (Vance be sci-fi). It was used /in spite of/ being totally genre-contrary and unrelatable. Because it could be made to work, mechanically. [/QUOTE]

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