On NPCs and power levels
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In some instances, it can depend on your status too. I know on my dwarf captain of the dwarven army I had managed to survive a three way duel with an archfae and a balor lord, more because of my fame as the PC for being an incredible warrior, as opposed to mechanical aspects.
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I will say though, when random hooded men or random forest rangers show up, talk shit to my level 11+ chars and then stomp them into the ground it's completely immersion breaking and just makes me want to log out.
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Basically from what I am reading, the playerbase is fine with strong NPC's. We just want a REASON for them to be that strong, as well as some Leeway in terms of Mechanics. Like Dobby said, if the character is Known to be a great warrior/mage/rogue allow them to show off a bit. Even if it's just roleplaying it out instead of relying on the Mechanical Rolls.
I would suggest, unless the NPC is known to be powerful, their mechanics should reflect that, BUT the PC's should be given some leeway since we can't reach lvl 20+
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I feel like NPCs should fit their "rank". By that I mean, the basic militia guard should be no stronger than a level 3-5 character. Militia sergeants 6-7, the warden himself level 10 or 11, and super special NPCs like Kanthea, the King, the head of the war wizards, etc to be like level 15.
That said, I also don't mind DMs coming up with BS reasons for X named NPC to survive any encounter because the players involved with the encounter did not earn the NPCs death.
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Militia NPCs will always be strong due to the fact that they will get 'back up' and representing this in game can be a PITA.
Penal Legionnaire's are all hardened criminals who probably have killed a lot of people. Thus, they are trained killers.
Otherwise- yes.
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Spiffy explains it right. Militia are about level 6 or 7 fighters by default, but a dm often buffs one to represent several, because it's really tough to effectively control multiples and represent what should happen in the situation otherwise.