Post originally by nate at 2004-07-21 18:36:22
Converted from Phorums BB System

Null: I agree, up to a point. Presumably the leader of a (kingdom, House, what-have-you) IS going to be better at <i>something</i>: leadership. In game terms that comes down not to base attack bonus, but to a highish Charisma and good scores in a handful of skills, like Diplomacy and Sense Motive.

But here, level <i>does</i> play an important role, because a higher-level character is going to have a higher maximum rank for such skills.

Then again, anyone who has worked in a bureaucracy knows that the person best equipped to lead is rarely the person actually in charge . . .

And on a final note, it's possible to overemphasize the importance of NPC stats, especially when said NPCs aren't likely to have a <i>direct</i> role in a given game. D&D is a game designed to facilitate stories about adventurers, not rulers, so there's bound to be some problems in using the rules to represent people outside its scope.