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Message: <blockquote data-quote="N'raac" data-source="post: 6075936" data-attributes="member: 6681948">By definition, PC adventurers are pretty much the most reckless of wizards.  They're the ones running around the countryside putting themselves in harm's way.If we're applying evolutionary biology, it is noteworthy that some theories believe altruism is a survival trait.  If my death allows two siblings, or eight (IIRC) cousins to survive, my genetic material has the same chance of being passed on. Regardless, people do take risks in the real world, and do not paralyze themselves with maximum paranoid planning.Skill Focus to be so much better at those non-adventuring skills?  Or perhaps they don't invest a feat at all, so much as have a natural aptitude (feats such as Magical Aptitude or Alertness, say)?  Rope Trick is a convenient example.  But in a world where magic is universal, I would expect strategies for dealing with same have evolved.  Trip wires won't always be on the ground if Flight is easy to come by, and flour on the floor in a guard area makes Invisible sneaking a lot more difficult, for example.  Or just investing in a few (non-combatant) dogs.  "There goes the $&#* chihuahua AGAIN! - probably nothing, but the manual says we've got to sweep for Invisible Flying Wizards again."  And if the PC's are consistent with their adherence to PITA SOP's, would the villains not be similar?  A communal pot does not follow from "fighter upgrades rather than sell and replace".  If we stumble across a +2 Trident, I'd expect Fighter will swap in his +1 and take the 3,000 difference (6,000 value x 50% sale) as part of his share of the treasure.  If not, he takes his share of the total loot and puts it towards the 6,000 gold he needs to upgrade.  The communal pot would see all Warrior items go to the warrior types and all Arcane items to the Arcanist, etc., without regard to equitable division of treasure as a whole.Removal of Scroll Mart does go a long way to making specialization a much tougher choice, doesn't it?  Maybe there's something to be learned from that.But, once again, if the Wizard will always take his "paranoid combat suite of spells" approach, sending simulacra to do his shopping for example, why would others not similarly take paranoid measures to frustrate magic being their downfall?  Like 6 locks on every door (well, an odd number, I suppose, since Knock unlocks pairs) and manacles on the prisoner to boot.Again, magic is so common that Fly scrolls can be had in any thorpe.  Given that, the world should recognize flight as pretty common, shouldn't it?  This is a problem in every high magic setting (game and fiction) in that the world has not moved to react to the everyday availability of magic - it's hardly unique to 3rd Ed, or RPG's in general.How do non -adventurers gain experience?  Clearly they do.  Traps have CR's.  Isn't xp awarded for challenges overcome?  nb:  I usually post from work, with no books, and xp rules aren't part of the SRD.  Isn't it a Challenge to scribe a scroll, run a business, etc.?  The theory that NPC's gain levels only slowly over time seems challenged by the ready availability of masterwork items, as well as scrolls and other Crafted items.  They gain xp fast enough that there are L17 casters out there scribing L9 scrolls they sell for 3,825 gp (losing 153 xp for each one they scribe) that are available in a lot of settlements.If it takes 80 years to gain enough experience to scribe a 9th level scroll, where do all those 9th level scrolls come from?  How many 100+ yo human wizards are there?  5th level scrolls only cost 1,125 gp - they're on shelves everywhere.  But their scribes are all age 60+?  How does that work?The long-lived nonhuman issue is, of course, a broader issue.  Even with a small fraction of Elven adventurers, they should have a host of 20th level (or even epic level) protectors.  Dwarves aren't as long-lived, but their community mindset seems to lend itself to, say, 20 years of adventuring to return power to the community.  How do those short-lived Orcs and Goblins compete?  Some unwritten issue clearly allows them to.Of course, a lot of genre tropes (not just in games, and not just in fantasy) don't hold up well when we pull pack the curtain and shine a bright light on them!</blockquote>

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