Godzilla Wolves. A Conundrum Regarding Epic Animals and Epic Gameplay

[Certon]

Godzilla Wolves.

These are epic level wolves in some of the higher level areas that would easily destroy the entire population of the Korthos Village and a large area of the harbor. We're talking packs of these wolves. Just really mean. These creatures would destroy entire ecosystems by themselves.

I understand the need to use old art in new settings to save money or capitalize on previous work, but I must admit to finding the wolves a bit overdone. Where are the dire wolves? Where are the wolf spirits? Shadow wolves? These would be better than packs of roaming gray wolves and spotted brown wolves that have supernatural strength. You did it with bears. You made dire bears! But they too, are a bit overdone.

Epic content shouldn't be about animals unless they are specifically an animal that has been empowered by a druid, or is a leveled character with exceptional ability (and exceedingly rare.)

Epic content should be about epic opponents and huge masses of non-epic monsters, as the gallant Herm the Destroyer wades through the throngs of orcs to fight his way to the Dark Orc King for an ultimate showdown. Epic content is EPIC in scale, not just a ramped up version of the previous game. People with extraordinary ability doing the seemingly impossible. A rogue using a spiderweb as a tightrope, a wizard summoning a Baatezu Overlord to do his bidding in combat, a cleric channeling the avatar of his deity to lay waste to the Necromancers of Muluutu...

Epic is a big word. Epic is supposed to inspire stories. Epic is supposed to inspire awe and wonder.

Wolves are not epic.

[Worldcrafter]

Personally, I've come to the conclusion that Epic characters are only Epic in Eberron. In Eberron, we've fought our way from the isle of Korthos and skulking around the sewers, to running around the different houses, to traversing other parts of the continent. At the highest end, we've dared to travel to other planes, and faced the greatest dangers our little patch of Eberron has to throw at us.

And then we get to Faerun, where the local fauna was strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Eberron's mightiest heroes. Will-o-wisps, elementals, mud men, wolves, we've fought countless times already in Eberron, and only the most ancient of these things could stand up to us on our home world. But in Faerun? They're some of the first things we came across, and we did not just swat them away dismissively.

And then there's the whole drow army. Now, drow culture is a matriarchal one, where women are in charge and more likely to hold positions of power, prestige, and command - and most certainly exclusively so at the top ranks. This generally also leads them to being higher level. This would lead one to believe that the majority of shock troops or more important units would be comprised either mostly or exclusively of female warriors, and the lower level males make up the majority of the foot soldiers. What is it that we happen to fight?

And then we head to the drow city. Where we even get a glimpse at some drow commoners running around. Okay, anyone who played with the city building rules in the 3.5 DMG will probably point out that if a city's big enough, there will be even level 20 commoners running around. Still, it just kind of adds to the sting of "Faerun's better-then-you-ness."

There are a few discrepancies, of course. Dire bears, purple worms, the priestesses, and of course the big dragons. And then there's "Lolth," but that's a whole 'nother ranty topic to ranticate on. Even with them, it doesn't remove the feeling that Faerun is naturally "stronger" then Eberron.

And then came the Iconics. A new character that starts off at level 15. Is level 15 just Faerun's version of level 1? Are Eberron characters just that weak, comparatively? Is Eberron the nerdy kid of the D&D worlds that gets bullied and wedgied by more widely-known campaign settings?

Please devs. Help end Campaign Abuse. Make epic content feel more epic. If not for the players, then for Eberron's sake.

This message has been brought to you by the Foundation for Prevention of Campaign Abuse.