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Message: <blockquote data-quote="rounser" data-source="post: 2869061" data-attributes="member: 1106">Okay, we've established that your hate of union know no limit, and that it fails in every aspect of game.How can an epic city work?I have one idea, and a few problems:An idea:  A Skullport-like monstrous city, where you don't visit unless you're tough enough to survive anyway.  More slave traders than fishmongers, but the fishmonger (a fifteenth level half-troll, say) charges a lot of coin because even slave traders need to eat.*  A place like this is less a city where people live than a point of commerce; no-one would be raising kids there.Problem 1: The only problem with this is that it requires a nigh-invincible police force (just like Skullport) to stop the place descending into chaos immediately.  If you do that, the place can't be treated like a dungeon, which is unfortunate.  It also leads to....Problem 2:  A problem with any epic level good (or even neutral or evil, given motivation) NPCs is that they create the metagame problem of being able to sort out any plot device that the PCs fail to handle.  I don't think WOTC has a solution to this problem else they wouldn't have written Eberron the way they did.  Again, this severely limits the usefulness of the city as an adventuring environment.* Problem 3:  An issue raised earlier in this thread: there's a limit to fish economics, even among hungry slave traders.  Selling fish for 100gp each is silly, but what else would a fifteenth level character see as worth his or her while to sell fish for?  Perhaps it's best to just bite the bullet, and assume that the fishmonger (and the baker, and the candlestick maker) is going to be low level, and probably die sooner or later....but that there are five others ready to replace him, because the money is so good.  This raises the question of what professions are lucrative enough to attract high level professionals....most of these are probably illicit, and magic-related....and because of problem 2 (and assuming we can find a solution to problem 1 and treat the place like a dungeon) almost exclusively involve evil NPCs.  Magical banks, magic item auctions, exotic monster trading and necromancy all suggest themselves as potential businesses suitable for high level NPCs.</blockquote>

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