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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ferratus" data-source="post: 3925778" data-attributes="member: 55966">I got finished a Forgotten Realms campaign a little while ago.  In my 15th level adventure, I was featuring the sack of Saerloon in Sembia by the Cult of the Dragon leader Salvarad who the PC's had exposed and ruined his operations there.   He then decided to ressurect Moander and use the citizens of Saerloon as a blood sacrifice to fuel the god's rebirth, slipping something into the ritual to chain that god to his diety in service.  Now, the unfortunate thing about this scenerio, is how do you do a sack of Sembia with an 18th level Cleric of Cyric with high and epic level archmages and mage/priests in the city?So I constructed the scenerio where Salvarad summoned Pit Fiends (with multiple gate spells) and are riding wyrm dracoliches above the city, a threat too powerful for the PC's to confront.  Then I had the archmages exhausted and beseiged in the temple of Mystra, now unable to get rest to replenish their spells until the beseigers were dealt with.  So once the PC's destroyed the half-dragon forces besieging the Temple, the priests and mages were able to rest and get their spells back.Then we had a nice cinematic scene of meteor swarms filling the air while my PC's were air dropped onto Moander's body, to enter the complex beneath that hill of rotting organic waste.   The archmages dealt with the Pitfiends mounted on Dracoliches, while the PC's dealt with Salvarad.   Now this scenerio is forced and you can probably pick out several plot holes.  But if I was to have the PC's be the heroes of Saerloon, I had to neutralize the archmages.  I could have just killed them, but that would have probably made the PC's decide that a threat that could kill archmages was probably a threat they couldn't handle.So I am in the halfway point in this argument.  I don't agree with killing off all the famous high level NPC's, but why in bloody hell are there high and epic level archmages in Saerloon?  Can you name them without opening your FRCS?High level characters work well to make safe havens in the campaign world.   Shadowdale's high level characters are not a problem because Shadowdale is just a small farming community that should have been under Zhentish Hegemony long ago if Elminster the Sage didn't live there and the Knights of Myth Drannor didn't get drunk there.  However, as long as that is the case, you can't set mid to high level adventures in Shadowdale.   The lower level heroes in Metropolis can only tell little stories.  When the big trouble hits, the first question that will be asked is "Where's Superman?".There should also be enough room in which the PC's can exceed the good aligned NPC's.  For example, this is what the Magister role should be for, the highest level defender of the weave, who belongs to the PC wizard between levels 26 (Elminster's ideal level) and 30.  The Magister tends to die quickly, because he is overwhelmed by the numerous threats facing the world.  Throw in some perks to the position, and the PC wizards have something to shoot for.</blockquote>

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