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<blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 4817052" data-attributes="member: 80487">Keefe the Thief: That NPCs were not bound by the same rules was understood. See the DMG section on expert hirelings, for example, or humanoid spell-casters, or the NPC-only clerics. Going back to OD&amp;D, druids were presented first as &quot;monsters&quot;. The rules for PCs were designed to produce the effects they did. Read that bit by Gygax about the composition of high-level adventuring parties; it was clearly the intended result.Of course, it is not necessary for your game world to be so. The guidelines in the books are more descriptive than prescriptive. The reasoning behind them -- and behind the urge to conformity in major systems -- is laid out. As Dungeon Master, you are the final arbiter of your campaign.Absent any evidence, I cannot take seriously claims that Gygax did not understand what he was doing, that he really had quite different goals but could not think of how to attain them. That you or I might have other goals is not relevant to the question. (I would note that Gygax went on to design two other RPGs distinctively different both from each other and from AD&amp;D.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ariosto, post: 4817052, member: 80487"] Keefe the Thief: That NPCs were not bound by the same rules was understood. See the DMG section on expert hirelings, for example, or humanoid spell-casters, or the NPC-only clerics. Going back to OD&D, druids were presented first as "monsters". The rules for PCs were designed to produce the effects they did. Read that bit by Gygax about the composition of high-level adventuring parties; it was clearly the intended result. Of course, it is not necessary for your game world to be so. The guidelines in the books are more descriptive than prescriptive. The reasoning behind them -- and behind the urge to conformity in major systems -- is laid out. As Dungeon Master, [B]you[/B] are the final arbiter of your campaign. Absent any evidence, I cannot take seriously claims that Gygax did not understand what he was doing, that he really had quite different goals but could not think of how to attain them. That you or I might have other goals is not relevant to the question. (I would note that Gygax went on to design two other RPGs distinctively different both from each other and from AD&D.) [/QUOTE]

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