OK, first keep in mind that HQ2 does not have these benchmarks since the new rules system resistences are always relative to the hero and determined by the needs of the story. That being said, difficulty can be Low, Moderate, High, Very High, and Nearly Impossible (and Impossible as well).
> Let's remember that w3 is heroic level. A capital H hero marches
> against a city, and he/she is totally outclassed by the guardian
> spirit/god of the city. This seems wrong, and I have no idea how that
> would manifest either.
Let's imagine my players have King Hofstaring Treeleaper (a capital H hero) and marches against Boldhome - which is defended by Sartar and his various helpers. I'd say it is Nearly Impossible for Hofstaring to defeat Sartar on his own.
But wait, maybe Hofstaring gathers all the tribes in Sartar to offer sacrifices to him and not Sartar (a big plot augment) which drops that magic resistance down to Very High or High. And maybe Hofstaring's Trickster gives Hofstaring an Assist by showing Hofstaring a path through Sartar's magical defenses, dropping that Resistance more. Pretty soon this becomes doable.
> In my thinking, enemies of Furthest will face much lover level magical
> problems, but those problems will not go away as long as the walls and
> the temple stand. Confronting the city god directly will pit you
> agaist that 10w4, if you have a way to directly contest the power of
> the god. Like my better half said, facing the city god definitely
> shouldn't be harder than actually militarily taking the city.
The city god protects the walls and the defenders. When Ethilrist's soldiers try to storm the walls, they are confronted not only by Native Tarshite Infantry, but by a host of spectral draconic things, eight-armed red horrors whose voices burn and whose touch kills. Those things are manifestations of the wyter of Furthest, summoned to protect the city.
Or to give a dark ages example, when Attila led his army of Huns onto the city of Mantua, the city was protected by St. Peter and St. Paul themselves and could not fall. When Pope Leo came out of the city to meet Attila, the great Hun was so impressed with Mantua's guardians that he withdrew and left.
Jeff
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