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<blockquote data-quote="Immak Antunel" data-source="post: 2608035" data-attributes="member: 31171">Just to get the ball rolling, I'll say that I think that &quot;legendary&quot; characters should, primarily, be able to shape history and culture in their worlds for millenia to come. I'm not particularly familiar with the literary examples given (though I realize I should be), but mythology seems to be kinda what you're aiming for. Legendary characters steal the secret of fire from the gods, for example, or slay the midgard serpent at the end of time. Their stories should be passed down throuh the generations. I suppose this is too vague to really help...I suppose I want to say that, unless opposed by an appropriately powerful foe, a legendary character should be able to do anything. If it weren't for Achilles, Hektor would have been able to hold back the Greek armies all by himself. Ajax was simply indestructible... he may not have been able to defeat everyone, but no mortal could defeat him either. Beowulf, a fighter by any standard DnD reasoning, defeated a nigh invulnerable opponent by ripping its arm off, with his bare hands, an impressive display of unarmed combat prowess.I suppose that the issue here, mechanically, is levelling. It would kinda ruin the magic of the Gilgamesh epic if it described how he started his career brawling with two-bit thugs in back alleys, and worked his way up to the city guard, and then became king, and then fought Enkidu. Instead, he's just the king, and its within his duty and his capability to wrestle the divine monster from the forest. However, Conan at least, and probably others, have a very obvious levelling progression in the stories, so I might be coming at all this from the wrong angle.Five bucks says that at least one much more insightful reply has been posted in the time its taken me to write this.EDIT: wow, guess I owe myself five bucks.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Immak Antunel, post: 2608035, member: 31171"] Just to get the ball rolling, I'll say that I think that "legendary" characters should, primarily, be able to shape history and culture in their worlds for millenia to come. I'm not particularly familiar with the literary examples given (though I realize I should be), but mythology seems to be kinda what you're aiming for. Legendary characters steal the secret of fire from the gods, for example, or slay the midgard serpent at the end of time. Their stories should be passed down throuh the generations. I suppose this is too vague to really help... I suppose I want to say that, unless opposed by an appropriately powerful foe, a legendary character should be able to do anything. If it weren't for Achilles, Hektor would have been able to hold back the Greek armies all by himself. Ajax was simply indestructible... he may not have been able to defeat everyone, but no mortal could defeat him either. Beowulf, a fighter by any standard DnD reasoning, defeated a nigh invulnerable opponent by [I]ripping its arm off[/I], with his bare hands, an impressive display of unarmed combat prowess. I suppose that the issue here, mechanically, is levelling. It would kinda ruin the magic of the Gilgamesh epic if it described how he started his career brawling with two-bit thugs in back alleys, and worked his way up to the city guard, and then became king, and [U]then [/U]fought Enkidu. Instead, he's just the king, and its within his duty and his capability to wrestle the divine monster from the forest. However, Conan at least, and probably others, have a very obvious levelling progression in the stories, so I might be coming at all this from the wrong angle. Five bucks says that at least one much more insightful reply has been posted in the time its taken me to write this. EDIT: wow, guess I owe myself five bucks. [/QUOTE]

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