"Realistic" Waterdeep adventuring with 9th-10th party

[DEFCON 1]

Realize that if having higher-level veterans, assassins, and gladiators for the party to face is going to make them unable to suspend disbelief... the problem is having 9th and 10th level PCs, not the idea of higher-level NPCs.

If you want a city with all normal-level guards in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd level range and have them be credible threats... then you can't have PCs that go higher than like 5th or 6th level. If you keep all your PCs in E6... then you can continue to use suspendibly-disbelieving commoners, adepts and guards all you want and have them still be able to take down and arrest the party should they get uppity.

But if you let the PCs get to 9th and 10th level and higher... then you either have to cede "reality" and get guards to match, or you accept the curb-stompings and let the PCs turn into psychopathic villains.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Realize that if having higher-level veterans, assassins, and gladiators for the party to face is going to make them unable to suspend disbelief... the problem is having 9th and 10th level PCs, not the idea of higher-level NPCs.

If you want a city with all normal-level guards in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd level range and have them be credible threats... then you can't have PCs that go higher than like 5th or 6th level. If you keep all your PCs in E6... then you can continue to use suspendibly-disbelieving commoners, adepts and guards all you want and have them still be able to take down and arrest the party should they get uppity.

But if you let the PCs get to 9th and 10th level and higher... then you either have to cede "reality" and get guards to match, or you accept the curb-stompings and let the PCs turn into psychopathic villains.

Problem is, the way the campaign is headed, that'll be their lvl when they get to Waterdeep. Hence my question.

Guess I could run it samurai-movie like, where the hordes are slaughtered and scared to death (almost literally) of even attacking heroes.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Problem is, the way the campaign is headed, that'll be their lvl when they get to Waterdeep. Hence my question.

Guess I could run it samurai-movie like, where the hordes are slaughtered and scared to death (almost literally) of even attacking heroes.

Heh... true. Although to be honest, the folks in Waterdeep are probably so used to high-level people attacking each other in the streets they've become inured to it like normals who live in a superhero universe. So all the guards have probably been told by their superiors "Look, you guys go after the pickpockets and the petty thieves... but if you see two mages throwing spells at each other, get the bystanders to safety but never engage! We don't pay you enough for you to risk your lives like that!

 

[bedir than]

If you have players that solve every problem through violence they will find that both the cult they are chasing and the entire apparatus of the city are against them, which seems like a rather big problem when we know that the city has 1000s of PC-quality NPCs