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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 3945887" data-attributes="member: 2067">Most of human history would disagree with you.The John McCains (from Die Hard) of the world are a pretty recent invention. Mythology is filled with god-children, chosen scions, noble-blooded kings, magical leaders, mystical warriors, and other very, very special people.Now, in the real world, especially today, yes, people considered "heroes" will tell you that they are no one special. And, in D&D terms, they aren't really special. They're commoners, they're Everybodies, they're 0-levels. Even the US Marine, even the President, even the firefighters and police officers and simple noble people AREN'T anything special, and that's what makes them REAL heroes -- they face things that most of us really can't. Their heroics isn't in their stats, it's in their character.But I'm not playing D&D to be a firefighter or a Marine. I'm playing D&D to be an epic hero of legend. In fact, thinking about it using the Die Hard analogy might be pretty useful. John McCain in that series is just "some guy." He's not supposed to be anything special. In the first film, he's not doing anything other than being brave, by and large. That's something an NPC can do, something one of us could do, the heroism in a firefighter or a police officer. By the time the most recent movie rolled around and he was dodging missiles from jets. That's D&D style heroics, mythological heroics, heroics that make good summer blockbuster fare. It's incredibly difficult to the point of near-impossibility to play a believeable first-film John McCain in D&D. When wizards sling bolts of flame and rogues are nearly invisible and fighters cut orcs in twain, the guy who's just "Ed The Gardener" doesn't warrant a place, no matter how heroic he may be. He can't cleave goblins, he can't weave magic...if he could grow turnips in 3 minutes from any soil imaginable, we might be talking, but "Ed the Gardener" can't contribute in a world of high magic and mythic might.In a more realistic setting, a more (dare I use the cliche?) grim-n-gritty setting, Ed the Gardner and Bob the Town Watchman and Evilina the gypsy huckster might all make for very compelling and interesting heroes in the "we are the same as anyone, we just CHOOSE differently!" sense. But in D&D, they aren't the same as anyone. They're demonstrably WEAKER than this rare group that calls themselves Adventurers. And for that, a more old-school, mythic, "be something special" motif is demanded.In short, in order to make the everyman a hero, the whole campaign has to support it.D&D's ruleset and implied setting don't. They support a more mythic, magical feel.They always have.</blockquote>

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