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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6320439" data-attributes="member: 42582">\ It seems to me that [MENTION=63747]The Hitcher[/MENTION] didn't assert that his/her proferred justification represents anything in the gameworld. I could be wrong, but I suspect that The Hitcher doesn't believe that every difference in the game mechanics must, of necessity, correlate to some meaningful difference of causal process in the gameworld.The NPC wizard's 6 hit points per level (for being artillery) represents the same in-game state of affairs as is represented by the PC wizards 4 hp per level (for being a wizard) + healing surges + accompanying friends who have the ability to unlock those surges for the wizard. In the case of the PC, for the reasons that The Hitcher gave, we break the resolution of the character's combat resilience down into these component parts because it's fun and interesting. In the case of the NPC we glom it all together into a simple 6 hp per level because we don't care about the same degree of detail. No one cares about whether the NPC wizard is on his/her last legs and then surges back, or goes down in a steady decline. Whereas for PCs this sort of stuff is what generates emotional responses from the game participants during the course of play.Similarly, a PC has magical weapons because we think it's fun to play characters who carry mighty artefacts (like Excalibur or Mjolnir or Captain America's shield or whatever). For the average NPC no one cares! But it certainly doesn't cause any inconsistency that, disarmed of his/her magical sword, PC A is not as powerful in combat as NPC B. This is equally true in any version of D&D, that there are some NPCs who will be more puissant in combat than the PCs unless the PCs are loaded out with magical gear. (There are also more interesting ways to look at it, too. The PCs loss of his/her treasured weapon might be a blow to morale, which explains the significant drop in performance. NPCs typically aren't as moved by passion as the PCs - passion is the special, thought not exclusive, province of protagonists.)</blockquote>

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