Points of Light - Help me make sense ?

[bramadan]

I think I understand the idea of the Points of Light concept. It gives a fairly strong structure for PC advancement and provides a meaningful world to adventure in. My problem however is to explain the origin and background of PCs - particularly dnd4 PCs in such a setting.

1st level characters in dnd4 as was explained many times are already hero material and their skills are fair bit above those of ordinary men. This automatically negates the idea of the plow-boy who picks up the sword when Orcs attack. (Not to mention that this hardly ever worked for Wizards, Clerics etc...) Over all it seems implied that PCs have had some sort of training or at least prior experience in what they are doing. With that question is raised - does every "Point of Light" come with military academy, seminary and at least one wizard-teacher. If not, where does initial PC experience come from.

I am sure I will come up with something myself in time but am curious what do people think is the iconic DnD answer to this question.

 

[Storminator]

With that question is raised - does every "Point of Light" come with military academy, seminary and at least one wizard-teacher. If not, where does initial PC experience come from.

No, not every PoL does. Just the one your PCs happen to be from...

PS

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

I don't think that PoL precludes any background story... it just keeps you from actually playing that backstory, since by the time you're level 1 you're pretty well-trained and ready to go.

Wanna play a farmer who picked up a sword when the orcs attacked? Go ahead! That point is now just a year or two in the past, and you've whacked enough orcs since than that you really know your business.

Cleric's even easier... why would you need a seminary to get the gods to like you?

 

[Voadam]

Rogue, ranger, fighter - heroes born from humble beginnings, perhaps hunters, militia trained, or bold bandits. Possibly trained by a mentor in certain martial arts.
Cleric, blessed by a god or inheritor of ancient church secrets
Wizard - apprenticed to the one wizard domiciled near the POL village
Warlord - No idea, I don't know their fluff
Warlock - pacting with fey or dark powers

Points of light implies past powers and traditions no longer widely available to people, but that does not rule out a few low number traditions that are the default for PCs.

Hand of God or empowered by dark spirits works fine for magic workers in a PoL setting.

 

[Pale Jackal]

Wanna play a farmer who picked up a sword when the orcs attacked? Go ahead! That point is now just a year or two in the past, and you've whacked enough orcs since than that you really know your business.

Good point.

'sides, I always played characters who had some degree of experience/training. Military academy? What the heck is that? You've been in a war or two, or helped hunt/defend the town against marauders/beasts etc.

You have practical experience, none of this fancy schmancy training in a PoL setting. Alternately, you can be someone who does. You're a PC, being an exception by having training isn't too big a deal unless the DM wants to force you to have lived in a small village your whole life.

The only problem I see here is if you want the "book-type" wizard... and he could've
been the apprentice of some mage.

 

[Surgoshan]

In any population that gets above hunter-gatherer population levels there's going to be specialization.

Medieval level farming centers were productive enough to support quite large population centers, meaning that there would be groups of natives dedicated to the tasks of accumulation of knowledge, of martial defense, of healing, of farming, and etc.

In fact, feudal structures often served to foster such, while at the same time hindering it by making status hereditary. For example, in England (arguably the one place where feudal structure led to strengthening of the central state rather than increasing fragmentation, as in France and Germany) military duties were parceled out based on land. Land-holders owning, say, 10X units of land would be required to equip and send forth 10 soldiers (later they were required to send out 10 soldiers-worth of money; taxation!), while peasants owning a fraction of X would be grouped together and the group would have to equip and send forth a single soldier. He would be trained and whatnot and would become the only individual to be sent forth on the many military expeditions because he already knew his crap and was less likely to die. In the end, such individuals became, effectively, very minor nobility.

If you expand that concept into the D&D realm, you can get a variety of backgrounds. Your character comes from a large enough community that they have that degree of specialization and, hence, he has a great deal of combat prowess and the like, but very little ability as a farmer. A youth manifesting magical talent could have been made part of the community's mage brigade or what have you. Or he spent most of his time hunting, which entailed a lot of fighting for his life because the woods in POL are damn dangerous. Or you could have your character come from a much smaller community where specialization didn't happen so much, and that explains why he was a farmer but also spent a lot of time fighting off goblin raids.

 

[Doug McCrae]

This automatically negates the idea of the plow-boy who picks up the sword when Orcs attack.

He could be a fast learner.

If not, where does initial PC experience come from.

Ben Kenobi.

 

[dekrass]

The only problem I see here is if you want the "book-type" wizard... and he could've
been the apprentice of some mage.

Perhaps the village scribe found a tome of lost knowledge.
I'm sure there are other explanations for learning without a teacher.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Over all it seems implied that PCs have had some sort of training or at least prior experience in what they are doing. With that question is raised - does every "Point of Light" come with military academy, seminary and at least one wizard-teacher. If not, where does initial PC experience come from.

I will point out that Points of Light does not automatically invalidate the presence of institutions in certain Light Points. There can be a monastery outside of town, or a big temple complex where novices are trained. These may exist in Dark Points, as well, or become them at one point ("So, when Cadderly died, the Cathedral of Spirit Soaring became a haven for vampires and their spawn, terrorizing the populace for leagues around!").

OTOH, there's likely to be a lot of individual apprenticeships, as well, like Doug's comment.

Brad

 

[BlackMoria]

I see another problem with 'points of light' - insular communities.

If you got the idea of pockets of bright civilization among a sea of dark uncivilized and dangerous lands, then you get insular communities in which the newcomers coming into the community are going to be treated with a certain level of caution because they are strangers, and respect and trust have to be earned.

Now consider the 'freak show' - a party with dragonborn, a few tiefling and eladrin come into your principally human village.

In a more cosmopolitian setting, the party will be viewed as oddities but generally accepted (unless campaign details dictate otherwise) since most people have heard of or have met such races before.

In a points of light, such individuals are going to be a source of concern to the village. Monsters and other bad stuff lurk just out of patrol range of the town mililtia. The freak show strolls into your town. You have never seen a eladrin, a dragonborn or a tiefling in your life. Maybe you have heard stories about such....maybe not.

As a villager, how are you going to react?

Sure, you can play it otherwise but points of light is about insular and isolated communities and such communities tend to cleave to their own and mistrust all others.