Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="kigmatzomat" data-source="post: 3079752" data-attributes="member: 9254">Heroes are the ones the common people look up to.  Heroes are the ones who "fight the good fight."  Which is not to say they are good.IMC the party started out as adventurers; a group of 1st level characters with dreams of riches and adventure.  They evolved into mercenaries; combat-capable individuals willing to go places that might involve beating up people in return for money/loot.  At some point they decided to stay on the "light" side of the law and only beat up people that are bad guys.  The goods were happier being heroes.  The neutral wasn't so sure he cared.  The evil decided that if he still got loot it was fine by him; better even, since people were nice to him.  The trick, as a DM, to cultivating heroes is to have NPCs treat PCs appropriate to their actions.  Just killed the pack of worgs plaguing the wood cutters?  Everyone should hail them as heroes and buy them a drink.   Killed the hydra in the swamp?  The local lord should give them horses & gold and write letters of introduction.  Fought off a corpse gatherer that threatened the city walls?  The City Council should offer up a small house as reward and offer them tax exemptions or free access to city resources for a year.  Why do the locals do this?  Because heroes are useful and if they don't feel appreciated they might become bandits.  Nobles & councilmen like heroes because they are generally cheaper than conventional means of dealing with problems and since it's generally reward on completion, it's no loss if they die.  My party likes being heroes.  They share a small manor in an elven village they were given for driving off demons.  After defeating a horde of undead a Duke gifted them with lands (~250 acres each).  A Senator gave them a ship & crew with a hold full of the Emperor's gifts.  They hold the rank of Colonel in one nation, are Imperial Champions on a different continent, and have been adopted into a high-ranking Clan.  They have purchased properties in two other cities and have public ties to several powerful mercantile organizations.  They might be as wealthy if they were mercenaries but they wouldn't have the prestige or the respect.  My NPCs volunteer to provide support for heroes, with the tacit understanding that the Heroes, as such, will in turn support the NPCs.  The NPCs don't bankrupt themselves, but the goods give what they can afford, the neutrals give what they feel they should, and the evils give to either avoid drawing attention to themselves by being stingy or to curry favor with the heroes.  Which is not to say that when the party rides into an town that's never heard of them (or at least doesn't recognize them) that the villagers don't react in a somewhat fearfully respectful fashion.  After all, the party is  wearing jewelry and exceptionally fine (masterwork) clothing so worthy of respect but also laden with weapons of all sorts that are, in some cases, obviously magical and therefore dangerous as all get-out.  But the locals will also try to gouge the prices a bit; after all, these wealthy travelers can afford it.</blockquote>

Verification