Godbound

Does anyone else take great issue with how Godbound stats out its mortal NPCs? If the point of Godbound is that the player characters are demigods, then why is the author so obsessed with hypercompetent mortals?

>Major heroes are among the mightiest warriors of a nation
>A skilled mage represents a duke’s sorcerous vizier or one of the most powerful wizards of a city.

>Bandit Chief: Minor or Major Hero with a Skilled Mage lieutenant, a Large Mob of rabble and a Small Mob of veteran bandits
>Military Base: Minor or Major Hero with Vast Mob of soldiers, possibly other Hero lieutenants or Skilled Mage support
>Noble's Household: Minor or Major Hero with a Skilled Mage advisor, a Small Mob of guards, and possibly one or more other Heroes in their pay

Major heroes and skilled mages are not that uncommon. If you visit a bandit chief's fort, a military base, or a noble's household, you have a large chance of encountering a major hero and/or a skilled mage.

These NPCs are extremely competent. A major hero has AC 3, HD 8, saves 11+, Effort 4, move 40 feet, two actions each round, a double attack at +10 for 1d8+5 damage each hit, and three gifts. A skilled mage has AC 7, HD 6, saves 12+, Effort 6, move 30 feet, two actions each round, archmastery in a tradition, and three gifts. Both can spend Effort to auto-save.

Make the major hero's gifts All-Encompassing Presence, Fear No Steel, and Cutting the Crimson Road, and that major hero can slay armies with their fists (CtCR will apply even to "minor heroes"!) and fell frightening monsters with a bow better than any 100% combat-dedicated low-level Godbound. What is the point of being a 100% combat-dedicated demigod if some bandit chief can outshine you with this much ease?

The only thing a Godbound can do that NPC major heroes and skilled mages cannot is warp reality during downtime using Dominion. "I can do things well during downtime!" is not exactly what most people think of when they sign up to play a demigod though.

Mind you, Godbound's default assumptions present a completely crazy setting from a world-building perspective.

If half of all bandit chiefs, commissioned military officers, and martial nobles are "major heroes" who can swiftly massacre to the last man an army composed entirely of 3 HD "elite warriors" or 4 HD "minor heroes" (both valid for Cutting the Crimson Road), then why do conventional armies even exist at all?

Also, are Alacrity gifts essentially mandatory for any melee character? Since there is no "charge" action in this game, melee characters at a severe hindrance compared to ranged combatants in outdoors battles.

Unfortunately, Contempt of Distance from the Sword Word is still limited by movement range.

Everything in the opposition chapter is balanced to oppose a party of Godbound, not necessarily to make sense.

That said... I don't really have all that much trouble with the idea of a seriously experienced hero at the peak of his abilities being a significant threat to a demigod. That's a pretty solid starting adversary right there, and seems in theme for me. Two or three levels later they'll be fighting Angels and mega-liches and Uncreated.

>Also, are Alacrity gifts essentially mandatory for any melee character? Since there is no "charge" action in this game, melee characters at a severe hindrance compared to ranged combatants in outdoors battles.

You can do a double move but it eats your action. Makes kiting harder though.

Sapphire Wings is also good for closing the distance, btw.

>seriously experienced hero

>half of all bandit chiefs, commissioned military officers, and martial nobles

...

>Everything in the opposition chapter is balanced to oppose a party of Godbound, not necessarily to make sense.

Making sense is important though.

How is a 100% combat-dedicated level 3 Godbound supposed to feel like an engine of destruction who can reshape wars if a large percentage of bandit chiefs, commissioned officers, and martially-inclined nobles can achieve even *greater* feats of army-slaying and titanic beast-felling than that Godbound could ever hope to manage?

Is this not still a case of "if you are melee, then take a gift for mobility or go home"? Bow-users do not even need to bother with mobility for the most part... and if they do, then they are untouchable.

>Making sense is important though.
No, what you're talking about here isn't 'making sense'. It's being so obsessed with the 'simulationist' aspect of things that autism creeps in.

Do you also spend all day bitching about the way mobs in crpgs scale, to the point that wandering monsters outside later areas of the game should just lay waste to the town?

I would, in fact, complain about such a thing.

When this is what a typical bandit chief's encampment looks like:
>Bandit Chief: Minor or Major Hero with a Skilled Mage lieutenant, a Large Mob of rabble and a Small Mob of veteran bandits

And a "major hero" is perfectly capable of massacring elite armies and felling titanic beasts with minimal risk to themselves...

It truly calls into question just how much impact a 100% combat-dedicated Godbound has on the world.