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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ruleslawyer" data-source="post: 3926200" data-attributes="member: 1757">Sums up my thoughts on the matter. My question is: "Since when *are* the novels "canon," anyway? I don't read them, and while I understand that some things that happen in the novels get mirrored in the game materials, I don't for the life of me understand how anyone can reasonably expect people playing a game to be required to consult novels for purposes of reference.This of course brings up the idea of "canon," which I find woefully inapplicable to gaming in general. D&D is a game of the imagination, and it has a Storyteller/DM role for several reasons. One of those reasons is to shape and flesh out the world through which the PCs journey, and that act is in itself about customizing prefab materials to fit the individual needs of the campaign.Finally, on the high-level NPC thing in general: I will say this. Eberron may have no NPCs above 7th level, but if it weren't for the unique scenario of Khorvaire just having undergone a massive war in which all the higher-level folk were presumably killed off, this would come off just as problematic as the FR high-level NPCs situation, IMO. Why haven't the Lords of Dust, or the servants of the daelkyr, or the Blood of Vol just steamrollered over the continent and obtained their objectives? Balance of power works both ways. (It's also worth noting that Eberron *does* in fact have "good" high-level NPCs: The Chamber.)The existence of high-level good NPCs in Faerun does serve to explain why the continent's nations, city-states, and so on were able to survive before the PCs arrived on the scene, and help preserve some notion of stability. The need for such NPCs is further bolstered by the fact that Faerun is also loaded with powerful evil NPCs. Assume for a second that the Chosen are busy with monitoring and warding against plots and incursions from:-The drow cities of the Underdark-The Red Wizards-The phaerimm of Anauroch-The alhoon, nagas, phaerimm, and devils of Myth Drannor-The dark powers of the Moonsea-The churches and allied forces of Bane, Cyric, and Shar, among others-The Shades-and, all those nasty, intelligent, powerful monsters!and you suddenly have a very overworked group of people.The real problem, IMO, is with the D&D mechanics that imply that a high-level wizard can be everywhere at once solving every problem. My guess is that Ed originally wrote in all these folks without considering the effects of ubiquitous teleportation and divination effects. If one reduced the availability of such effects (I'm lucky enough to use a magic system that does this, and 4e may end up doing this as well), then the implication of the presence of those NPCs changes.</blockquote>

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