Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Renshai" data-source="post: 18808" data-attributes="member: 1061">You see, there is the problem inherent in your argument. Realism.This is fantasy, and the cultures of the Realms ( a fantasy setting ) were created and came into being because of fantasical reason. A perfect example were the millions of slaves that were once servants of the Djinns and Efreets of Calimshan. These people went on to overthrow their oppressors, creating a diverse culture. Things like this happened all over the Realms, and the reasoning behind it was stepped in fantasical cause and effect.  Making a statement that a “fantasy” setting isn’t a good option because it isn’t “real” enough just seems comical to me.  You know its funny, in ten years of running my players never once looked at the map and were upset at their setting because the geography just didn’t live up to their expectations. Two of these players were geologists, and one was a science graduate. Players who focus on the story and epic nature of adventuring should really have no time to wonder why this mountain range is situated just so, or why this culture is so different, yet so close to another. Perhaps that is the problem of a player, no? My players don’t seem to have an problem grasping the deities of Faerunian Pantheon…. The Faiths and Avatars books are readily available to them, and they make use of them. But I digress, different groups vary in taste.I have something of the like in my current game. An Elemental Savant/Sorcerer with Bloodline of Fire, Spellcasting Prodigy…. His spells are very hard to resist, yes. But not to the point so the game suffers because of it. He has, in the past met casters of similar caliber, and those encounters were very balanced. I am happy to say my players don’t min/max, but neither do they blindly put their characters together. I’ve run just about all the Core Modules for Realms characters, and there is no balance problem. I’ve wiped out parties, and had parties wipe out dungeons in return. There is no “blame to lay” anywhere for a need of 21+ gaming. Since the inception of D&D their has always been a wonder of what was next… The basic and rules encyclopedia sets expanded character advancement up to godhood status. Those games expanded to level 36 prior to that. The Realms was hardly to blame for that. Stopping at 20 (or 18) makes no sense. That is unless the player decides to retire at that point. I always thought it was silly that Dragonlance made you stop at that level.  Does your character simply stop learning? Does he never pick up a new skill? There is no reason someone of that caliber would end their pursuit of power. Untrue. Their were always powerful characters and NPCs that were out there, and beyond the normal spectrum. Zagyg (sp?) and others of that nature were always beyond the mortal ken of normal characters. They were the people that made artifacts and had their names in the everyday spells of common mages. Saying that players can’t attain that status really isn’t fair. By the way, Mordenkainen has Epic Levels as well… so would Phillidor (sp?). Vecna and Kas would be considered to have Epic Levels before their disappearance.  Powerful NPCs did not originate in the Realms, and rules for Epic Level Characters are not being created because the Realms has high level NPCs, they are being created because there is a demand for them. Just because spells can be researched by a 17th Level Character, why would he  not want to further his power. Further enhance his power with metamagic feats, gain more experience to fuel those spells that require a sacrifice? It all had to happen for the D&D world to exist in its current paradigm.  Ren</blockquote>

Verification