Swordslinger wrote:shadzar wrote:what a very very low expectation from the game one would have for that.
you are HER hero maybe if she can remember who your PARTY is...if 5 on 3 is worthy of being heros.
just when you loot the goblins she views you as bandits as runs off.
Good to know that NPCs in your world are so metagame as to disregard the people who saved their lives (and possibly the lives of their children) simply because they're not high enough in level.
are you seriously that stupid?
1. the lady was saved, YAY! one small act in an insignificant place. you might as well have helped the old lady acros the street. you arent a hero but a boy scout.
2. adventurers loot their fallen enemies. an old lady seeing the goblins being looted can easily make her think the PCs are bandits also and trying to take what the goblins already had. so much for her thinking them a hero.
3. 5v3 isnt very heroic to anyone. maybe this party of 5 is her savior, but a hero? in a land of adventurers where this kind of shit happens ev'ry day?
a single act in a distant place where NOBODY sees it done by a group of people, NO MATTER THEIR LEVEL, will not be seen as a hero or group thereof. you have been watching to much anime and rading to many damn comics if you think so.
in my game, levels and such dont exist. those are not constructs the characters know about.
again you miss the point about XP and levels. you just have your characters here a ~DING~ when the time is right.
Some of the information and skills learned in the game can be applied directly in play. When a wizard toasts his friends with a badly cast fireball, the player learns to pay more attention to the area of effect of a fireball. Though the player made the mistake and his character only carried out the actions, the player's friends will also learn to keep their characters well away from his.
The reward for this type of learning is direct and immediate. The characters benefit because each of the players has a better understanding of what to do or where to go
However, a character also improves by increasing his power. Although the player can improve his play, he cannot arbitrarily give his character more hit points, more spells, or a better chance to hit with an attack. These gains are made by earning experience points (XP).
An experience point is a concrete measure of a character's improvement. It represents a host of abstract factors: increased confidence, physical exercise, insight, and on-the-job training. When a character earns enough experience points to advance to the next experience level, these abstract factors translate into a measurable improvement in the abilities of the character.
Copyright 1999 TSR Inc.
training existed in 1e, but i cant find it, and 2e only offers the mechanics, but as each edition moves onward, they neglect to offer WHY the mechanic exists. on reason is like the above bolded...the level gained is not due to going ~DING~, but rather acknowledgment form peers and others around you. likewise, you dont decide you are a hero...you must be declared as such by others.
level 1 or level 10 party helping a single old woman, that woman means little in the overall actions of the group. it may bolster existing actions done by the level 10 group, but for a level 1 group the distance such small act reaches will NOT make the group renowned in any way shape or form.
again Disney's Hercules touches on this as to why those little deeds, mucking out the stables, etc does not make him a hero, the self sacrifice does.
like the Hudson River pilot, was jsut doing his job "get passengers safely from point A to point B"...a firefighter putting out a fire and rushing out of the blaze saving someone's life. these are NOT heroic acts, just part of their job.
doing your job is being heroic? well in the world today where most people are lazy and half-as everything to look like they did their job maybe so. but a real world rather than the pile of shit the real world is today, a hero is measured by going ABOVE AND BEYOND, the call of duty.
the adventurers werent really going above and beyond if they were looking for goblin bandits...that WAS their duty. so not heroic, just doing their job. as adventurers killing bandits is par for the course.
you are too hung up on the level, and still dont understand what it means. i wish i knew where in the 1e DMG to find the name levels section to explain it to you. maybe you should get a copy and read it yourself?
that same party can walk into a tavern and claim themselves hero's and what would the response be?
the thing is you are thinking too focused with the old lady and her dead husband. to be a hero in the world, the WORLD must recognize you as such, not just a single person. you killed the rat eating your mothers flour and are her hero, so the world must view you as such?
again why the level helps measure the DEGREE of things, and when the scales are tipped by the increasing degree, then something happens.
you dont start as a hero, and a single act does not make you such either. it takes time, effort, and acknowledgment by others to make it so.
