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<blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 7289132" data-attributes="member: 6775031">That seems like an unlikely situation, for someone without specific knowledge to underestimate the power of a goblin. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but you'd need to really sell your setting as grim and gritty, with a level 1 barbarian being barely above a peasant with a pitchfork, and D&amp;D doesn't really do that.In this specific situation, it sounded to me as though the player thought the goblins would be chumps, and was surprised at their base power level, such that their overperformance was lethal. Had the player been better-informed, the barbarian would have raged. That the goblins got lucky does not make that assumption less correct; it only increased the consequences of failure.If it happened frequently, then tales of the sort would be widespread. Not every low-level adventurer goes on to become world-famous, but if more than half of them died to goblins, then the survivors of those battles would spread the word. Caution to not underestimate goblins would be common advice that higher-level adventurers offer to newbies.That would require a character to survive making a bad call in a hard fight, which doesn't seem likely. I mean, if they survived, then it must not have been that bad of a mistake.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Crimson Binome, post: 7289132, member: 6775031"] That seems like an unlikely situation, for someone [I]without[/I] specific knowledge to [I]under[/I]estimate the power of a [I]goblin[/I]. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but you'd need to really sell your setting as grim and gritty, with a level 1 barbarian being barely above a peasant with a pitchfork, and D&D doesn't really do that. In this specific situation, it sounded to me as though the player thought the goblins would be chumps, and was surprised at their base power level, such that their overperformance was lethal. Had the player been better-informed, the barbarian would have raged. That the goblins got lucky does not make that assumption less correct; it only increased the consequences of failure. If it happened frequently, then tales of the sort would be widespread. Not every low-level adventurer goes on to become world-famous, but if more than half of them died to goblins, then the survivors of those battles would spread the word. Caution to not underestimate goblins would be common advice that higher-level adventurers offer to newbies. That would require a character to survive making a bad call in a hard fight, which doesn't seem likely. I mean, if they survived, then it must not have been that bad of a mistake. [/QUOTE]

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