In mostDungeons & Dragonsworlds, players take the role of adventurers who hunt powerful monsters, help citizens, and save the world from ultimate evil. It’s a simple concept to grasp, one that gives you the role of the protagonist of the story and allows you to do all sorts of quests your DM throws at you.
That said, regardless of whether adventurers are a full-on profession in the world with guilds or just one thing people choose to be, it’s a very odd concept to have. What would an adventurer be like in real life? How would they fit into the world? The worlds of D&D are built differently to accommodate such a profession.
10It’s A Weird Job
A Professional Do-It-All
So, what is an adventurer? We briefly addressed this topic at the beginning, but the title alone warrants further investigation. They could be simple monster hunters (though they would often just be addressed as such), but things such as dungeon exploration feel more like a job for scavengers, archaeologists or other professionals,depending on the type of dungeon.
In the end, they’re just people who, for whatever reason, are hired to do a job where some level of danger is expected - it’s almost like a private militia. After all, why would a rogue specialized in exploring dungeons be hired to escort a noble from one place to another, for example? Their main role is to protect others and retrieve valuable items.
9They’re Heavily Armed Strangers
Their Weapons Are Very Dangerous
Speaking of private militia, it’s also weird how adventurers can just casually stroll around a town while carrying dangerous weapons. That is understandable to an extent - it was an acceptable thing in many medieval cities, a core reference for D&D - but fantasy weapons are far more dangerous than carrying a regular sword.
When a small group of people are better equipped than your whole local army and have weapons that cost more than your castle, this is surely something worth worrying about? Not to mention the spellcasters, who can destroy a city with a wave of their hands and a few choice words.
8Taverns Working As An Adventurer’s Hub
A Good Place For Networking, Apparently
It’s also funny how taverns became the place for finding such adventurers. It makes sense in specific scenarios where adventurers' guilds don’t exist, and thus, they need a place to get jobs, but why taverns, exactly? Do only people who’ve had enough to drink that their judgment is compromised hire these people?
Starting games at taverns, listening to rumors, or talking to the locals is a staple of D&D. Some taverns may even have boards with a list of jobs already waiting for the adventurer who chooses to tackle such a job. The role of the tavern is adjusted to the presence of adventurers.
7People Just Trust Adventurers
Yes, Stranger, Come Into My House And Help Me
Bear with us: if your child gets sick, and a random stranger passing closer to your house says they can help and just need you to take them into your house to check on your child, what would you do?
Maybe you are that desperate for the sake of your child, but just trusting random people you’ve never seen before is weird, even if they say “don’t worry, we’re adventurers and that’s what we do.” Regardless, that’s valid in D&D. Adventurers seem to have inbuilt spotless background checks.
6Commoners Understand Monsters Surprisingly Well
‘Twasn’t A Dragon That Attacked Us, ‘Twas A Wyvern
Diving deeper into commoner life, they’re surprisingly knowledgeable about the type of creatures that roam the world. If they have constant problems with the same group, like a clan of goblins nearby, then sure, that makes sense.
Still, the average commoner can be very specific about the monsters they saw and pass a great deal of information to the party if asked. While knowing a lot of animals from memory makes sense to us, it’s hard to say how much they’d know without being schooled, especially when it comes to specific types of monster. It’s like everyone in our world being able to identify every different species of bird, cat, dog, etc. on sight.
5Odd Things Happen Extremely Often
The Adventurers Turned The Guy Into A Goose, Then Made It Levitate, Then It Exploded, Then…
If you’ve played D&D by now, you’re aware of how unhinged a game can be. Players can have the wildest stories about things that happened during one of their sessions, which is one of the most endearing aspects of the game as a whole.
But take a moment to think about where these wild moments happened in your games; did it happen in a public location, with witnesses? Can you imagine the nightmare material you may have given to the poor commoner who witnessed how you brutally defeated a monster? And don’t even get us started on mimics, we’d never trust our furniture again if they were a thing.
4Guards Are Somewhat Forgiving
Many players like to do certain things thatwouldn’t be considered legalin their games. While this is also part of the fun of the game, DMs are aware that if they’re too rigorous with law enforcement, there’s a good chance players will end up in prison.
Thus, many situations can end up with guards being somewhat incompetent or just giving the player characters a slap on the wrist for their actions. As long as it’s not that egregious, you won’t want to stop your narrative just for a prison break arc out of nowhere, would you? Job security is common in D&D, even for the most useless of guards.
3Powerful Magic Items Become Common
These People Are Wrecking Our Economy
We mentioned how adventurers can carry around powerful items and weapons. If you stop to see how much these things are worth, an adventurer could literally retire just from selling a legendary item they find. Not a fun plot, but a realistic one. Assuming, of course, you overlook the fact that the entire world operates on a finders-keepers economy.
Not to mention that if you start selling these items to commoners - who wouldn’t even have enough money to buy them, mind you - this will break the whole economy of the location, which is a detail that would make games very boring - unless you’re into that.
2Magic’s Rarity Becomes Questionable
How Common Is Spellcasting?
Now, how rare magic is in the world varies from setting to setting, but D&D usually deals with high magic, meaning most people are aware of it and may even be ableto cast a cantrip.Even magical items, as mentioned above, are part of it; someone needs to know how to forge a +1 sword, right?
That said, even if most people know what Mage Hand is, it’s surely scary to see anyone who’s capable of casting meteors, killing people with a word, making clones, or stopping time itself, among many other terrifying things.
1Dying Is Just A Setback
We Got Diamonds For That
D&D already has a very different way of tackling religion, where gods can literally pop up and greet you whenever. People tend to know exactly what happens when they die, and these areas can even be explorable.
Still, being able to go to heaven or hell and back is not a common thing for the average person. However, it may be for the average adventurer, especially tanks, who may die one or more times in a single fight and walk out of it alive. The idea of meeting someone who has died and was brought back to life is a wild concept that we’re already used to as players but would rarely find, or believe, in real life, especially if it occurred more than once.
