fate is not a system, it was not created, fate just is

I would say that they were prepared for a fight with a “normal” named rank and a gold rank. They’ve got 7 gold ranks, a General, and a Wall Lord there, which would probably be overkill against two people, usually.

Unfortunately for them, both Venitra and Ijvani are probably effectively quite a bit stronger than a “normal” named rank adventurer. Ijvani also took both Zel and Ilvris out of the fight before they could really do much of anything.

As well, if Venitra had been a real gnoll, and hadn’t been just made completely of bone, Ulrien’s strike probably would have done a lot more. Even if it still only cut a couple inches into her leg, a real gnoll would still feel such a hit, and be somewhat crippled.

Essentially, they planned as well as they could, but that planning was for a completely different situation.

Again: If there is anything at all to Many Worlds, enjoy your chat with Brunkr and Ulrien. And Wilen; Tom may want to sit in on that one too… .

I “realize” that real horrors and tragedies are common, much of their tragedy frequently derives from their great evitability and only children innocently ignorant of that can believe stories without it — but do not read fiction of any kind to be reminded any of that. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy are respected for good reason, but appeal only to a particular bleak audience. Creating and developing realistic sympathetic characters solely to set up a traumatizing cut scene as a plot milestone is a cheap substitute for cohesively engineered narrative structure or delicately crafted prosaic architecture. And all usually just to rationalize the invulnerable protagonists subsequent ruthless vendetta anyway.

It is not Goodkinds Bad Philosophy As Bad Writing, but before you remind me all that is supposedly worth it to serve the ultimate goal of verisimilitude:

Why are we discussing it AT ALL?! Specifically, as it pertains to Brunkr. And Ulrien, albeit to a lesser extent, though your summation of his whole character here is thorough: He is Halrac with a greatsword but no backstory — because 1) no flower-drink and 2) he DIED before telling it. We debate the directions of character arcs constantly, but these HAD no “arc” since they were mere pots created TO destroy with as much enduring pain as possible, as if that were some kind of achievement.

Conflict is not pleasant, but it is necessary.

I agree with ivandead.
High lvl combat classes make the user tougher, stronger, and faster depending on their specialty.
High lvl innkeepers seem to get better intuition to help guests and know what is going on in their inn

Thing is, those class mergers are uncommon, else, levels 30 and above wouldn’t be so rare amongst the millions of people living on the continent.

Personaly, I’d prefer Erin to perhaps even gain a few level in warrior (which she could accept or decline) than a random merger. Or just to gain another combat skill with her Innkeeper class perhaps…

I just keep that [Magical innkeeper] and [Warrior] are not really classes that logicaly seem to merge. If the author goes for it, fine, but I’d feel it would be munchkiny… which is not Erin.

As for protagonist bias, I feel that one of the strongest point of this story is that there are no crazy asspulls to help the protagonist. The world doesn’t just give a handout to the main protagonists (well, there is Larken, but even him feels like an underdog).

Don’t forget it’s a story about an Innkeeper, not a warrior… Erin doesn’t need a ludicrous level to contribute she just needs to contribute the way an Innkeeper contributes… which hasn’t stopped her from being a badass in the past.

Every charcter in this fiction is flawed, a few level outside the main class is actually nothing…

Then again, if the author goes for it, fine, but I don’t think it’s needed or even that it would make for a better story (just like I liked Larken and Lyonette taking levels in other classes)…