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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 7199666" data-attributes="member: 22779">But, again, reasonable and within the rules doesn't really matter.  The reason we keep it that way is because it makes it more believable and thus, more fun.  83 knights dying to some overly amorous deer would be unbelievably and no fun.  But, the presence of that small family of dragons (or, I believe the actual example was giants) is an entirely arbitrary decision.  At no point were any actual mechanics USED.  You say you will "level up" these NPC's?  You mean you will actually adventure these NPC's?  As in put them in an actual adventure, play through the levels required and get your NPC?  They have a chance of dying as they level up same as a PC?  Or, do you simply go through the motions of leveling up and grow the NPC without actually playing anything?I'm thinking the latter is far, far more common.  I'm pretty darn sure that your 15th level wizard NPC (unless he's an NPC from a previous campaign) has never actually done anything.  You might narrate that he's done X or Y, but, again, you're just narrating.  The mechanics have very little to do with it.  And, I'll bet dollars to donuts that your 15th level wizard NPC won't die and you start over with another 1st level NPC wizard.I look at it like a simple math equation.  X+Y=Z.  Y is DM narration, which will always impact world buildling (Z).  X is the mechanics.  If X=0 (as in the mechanics aren't actually used), then how can it be argued that they impact Z?And, rolling this back around, at what point have you used RANDOM ENCOUNTERS or ENCOUNTER BUILDING mechanics to impact your world building?  You certainly didn't use either of them to decide that a family of dragons ate 83 knights.</blockquote>

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