On the rarity of PCs

[Asmor]

Something struck me while reading about Devas.

I've always had this assumption, I'm not entirely sure whether it was conscious or not, that core PC 'things' were relatively common. That is to say, if PCs were allowed to be elves, then elves are common, and if PCs are allowed to be wizards, than wizards are relatively common.

However, I simply cannot reconcile myself to the ideas that Devas are common, at least in the mortal plane.

And so this lead me to an epiphany... They don't have to be! They can be a core PC option and still be almost entirely unheard of in the world. Hell, maybe even the PC playing the Deva is the only Deva in the world (at the moment).

It goes beyond that, too. Avengers and Invokers in particular I think work a lot better in this paradigm. Neither one of them seems like the sort of thing every god should have in the first place, never mind that any god should have in any numbers for their existence to be noteworthy. Eladrin and Gnomes should be pretty damn rare in the mortal world, too. Oh, and warlocks also work a lot better for me when I drop the assumption that there are great numbers of them.

Maybe this is obvious to everyone else, but it's really been an enlightening discovery for me.

 

[Nymrohd]

I think that in everyone's homebrew, core options exist in varying numbers. For instance, if anyone plays in Al'Qadim, then there are tons of avengers around (there were like a dozen different holy slayer orders). Meanwhile in my campaign star pact warlocks are exceedingly rare.

 

[Piratecat]

I remember making the same realization. It's a neat concept, and lets you play around with the fact that the PCs really are special.

 

[pawsplay]

I was able to tame a lot of campaign design desicions in my 3.5 game when I decided that a 6th level wizard was pretty rare, a fireball-throwing terror who could possibly stop an army. I set the most powerful casters in the game at 10th-12th level for the most part, and I named five 20th level casters for the entire campaign world. With the PCs currently at 16th level, they are easily some of the most powerful individuals of their time.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Yeah this is a assumption that I have had for most of my gaming experience. I think it formed mainly from WoD where obviously if you are playing one of the monstrous beings in it you're gonna be quite a bit more rare then say humans. This is especially true with say Promethean (the estimated world number is around 1000). As such this concept has stuck with other games as well, such as D&D.

Along with my view of, "the PCs are special", so it isn't unusual in the context of the story for them to be/have something extraordinary.

 

[Crothian]

It can really make a setting interesting espewcially if you decide humans are no longer a common race.

 

[Cadfan]

Heh, I also let PCs be one of a kind. Its why I particularly love races that are sort of human-but-not, like devas and tieflings. Its easy to imagine that they're normal humans to whom something unusual has happened, catapulting them into the role of protagonist.

Races that generally work well with that:

1. Tiefling. A human or otherwise who was somehow tainted.
2. Deva. A human or otherwise who was blessed, or has been reincarnated.
3. Genasi. A human or otherwise with an inherent connection to a particular element.
4. Warforged. A magical creation, maybe the only of its kind.

There are probably others.

The ones who don't work particularly well this way are the classic dwarves, elves, etc. You can make them rare, but its kind of hard to declare that there's only one dwarf on the planet.

 

[Drowbane]

IMC: certain PC options have been uncommon/rare for along time.

Spellcasters past level 3 are extremely rare (PCs start at 3rd or 6th)... so any Spellcaster PCs are likely to be Rockstars already (this goes double for Bards ). Humans are the only truely common PHB race. (Elves are reclusive, Dwarves are dying out, Gnomes are extinct, Halflings are uncommon, 1/2 breeds are Tarrasque-rare...)

I suppose if I had 4e going, Devas would be extremely rare... myth in most places ("do angels really exist"?)

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Most of the writers, from back in the days onward, have pretty much said that powerful wizards were rare. BUT, when it came time to write modules, there they were, all over the landscape. Or at least their works. The same is at least partly true for other things that are supposed to be rare. Certain races should be, but how many modules have a line in them stating that if the party has a member of race x, it will be commented on? (There are some, but not nearly as many as there should be, IMO.)

Its something that's been with us from the beginning, I think. What is said about X, and what is put into modules is often not the same thing. Or gives the impression that it isn't.

 

[Xris Robin]

Doesn't the Deva flavor say that they are rare, and a Deva may never encounter another of his own race?