How to rank adventurer.

[Thraben]

Re: The two guys talking about Overlord my beloved

TL;DR Overlord used video gamey adventurers as part of the tragedy inherent in the setting, because it deliberately doesn't make sense to someone who doesn't see what that tragedy is, like the MC. That's why the antagonists know that the MC is dangerous, he doesn't see what he's doing.

New World adventurers in Overlord are explicitly a construct of post-Yggdrasil players that wanted to make adventurers that could properly explore the world and such, but obviously hundreds of years after they've left and after using certain world item(s), with the world's original magic being dead and gone and the world being fundamentally hostile to humans leaves only Yggdrasil monsters and magic(minus exactly 6-7 dragons and dragon related people), the only thing left was for the uneducated adventurers to use Yggdrasil magic to fight unnatural Yggdrasil-based problems in a world that no longer has its own magic or its own wonders to explore for humanity (again, minus 6-7 dragon related things and whatever's beyond the bounds of the habitable areas of the map).

It's meant to mirror that Suzuki Satoru's real world only has systemically uneducated businessmen living in an unnatural cyberpunk dystopian hellscape left and the beautiful planet earth and all of nature are functionally gone. The setting is a silent tragedy, one that the antagonists think Ainz is going to repeat or make worse. The adventurers being startling not what 'adventurers' are and also being ranked in a very video-gamey way is world building to foreshadow this for a reader who hasn't noticed yet and to show that the silent tragedy and its consequences aren't token to a reader who has.

Sorry for not actually saying anything related to the actual post I've just not seen many people articulate why the Overlord's New World having Grindy Video Game Adventurers and not "Real Adventurers" is supposed to be like, 1/2 of the tragedy inherent to the New World's existence and not something you should model your fic's adventurers on unless you have a reason as tight lorewise as Overlord.

 

[NotaNuffian]

I have come into the conclusion of just making the god damn ranking in adventurer guild into something similar of an army. Because they are mercenaries for christ sake. Which is why there needs to be at least two distinct ranking system; one for on the field combat and one for misc.

The combat should be the main ranking system because sellswords fight, they rarely admin.

Also this is something that I shameless ripped from a chinese novel. Which also begs the question, which country would be in their right of mind to have a freelancing armed forces in the heart of their area?

Lowest (1): Scout/ Apprentice = New to the job, does most menial task, non-official adventurer.
2: Journeyman = Full fleged adventurer, capable of completing tasks all by themselves.
3: Squad Leader = Able to command and lead a group of up to four Journeyman in a group of five including themselves
4. Platoon Leader = Able to command and lead up to four groups of SL and their men.
5. Regional Chairperson = Able to command and lead their entire branch.

 

[Kenjona]

Just another take on everything, meaning nothing really. You could always wing it, like the real world does.

"Real World" Adventurers did not have "rank of adventurer" they had job titles+responsibilites and could go up in said titles+responsibilites or down, as their fortunes changed. You could be a privateer, turned into arrested pirate king soon to be hanged, then knighted as your fortunes and politics of the world changed.

Lots of different "Guild/Bureaucracies/Shops/Organizations" that supported adventurers locally as dictated by the government in control of the area. If you were doing a specific "job" you might get a charter to do said job.

And always: one set of adventures or "Merchants" is another nations Murderous Kidnappers, Bandits and Pirates.

Which also begs the question, which country would be in their right of mind to have a freelancing armed forces in the heart of their area?

Any that cannot enforce their borders or that need Political "shields". Name a year and I can name (or google it easily) a country in the world that had that issue. Modern 2020's Academi, CACI, Blackwater, Wagner and so on. Dozens of African Merc groups still operate.

 

[DaScoot]

The "Challengers Association" in my story assigns adventurers to 50 levels divided among five tiers:

• Initiate
• Advanced
• Expert
• Master
• Supreme

These are just the association's recognition of an adventurer's skill and power though and not their actual power. There's no theoretical upper limit, but at that point you go beyond their ability to provide training.

 

[Dark_Phoenix_Zaetyk]

I don't like overcomplicated rankings especially in adventure...the E to Sss rank or copper to mythril are concepts that are rooted deeply.... complicated rankings like E,E-,E+ etc are headache inducing....but when it comes to Cultivation i like seeing unique ranking considering the Qi, Foundation establishment, core realm etc are used to often in the beginning

 

[QuercusMalus]

I think I hate the alphabetical for its oversimplification AND sometimes authors going beyond the A rank.

I've seen S
I've seen SS
I've seen SSS

And I had even seen SSSS. Or X, or what ever alphabet the author plans to bolt on.

This always annoyed me. I would rather just see 'Unmeasurable' because at some point any difference is immaterial and are their really enough people at that level for it to matter? It always struck me as bad writing- they kept on giving the character more power to beat a threat, and then had to make another threat, on and on to infinity.

But what makes the transgression from D to C is also unclear most of the times.

What is a D ranked adventurer, what is a C ranked job, why do I for most of the times never see a down rank?

I did one short story based in a world where those with abilities were first grouped into types based on what they could do (so pyros can produce heat/flames, jumpers can teleport, ect). Then each type was broken down into classes from F to A depending on how much power they had. So for example, an F class Jumper can teleport themselves plus ~20lbs and are limited in range to within 100 ft, so are just used as delivery/mail couriers. With each class there was a measurable increase, up to A class (class A Jumpers are used as heavy Transport and can move multi-ton weighs several miles) which was just anything above B, as there weren't enough people at that level for further Classes as there are maybe half a dozen or less class A's for each type as it is. The highest person of each type is given a title to signify that. For Jumpers, it is Saltus, Pyros is Phoenix, Ears(surveillance) is Whisper, ect. It is even noted in story that most fall in the C/D range for a given type.

It was fun giving each type unique quirks, like pyros sleeping on floating mattresses in pools as otherwise they risk spontaneous fires, or Jumpers being called that because the first known case was a suicidal girl who jumped off a bridge, then thought better of it and teleported to shore on accident - it had never been found before as anything they touch counts as part of their weight, and none are strong enough to move the whole earth.

 

[Haku45]

I think I am always gobsmacked by how standards are standard.

Normally it is by alphabetical like school grades cuz Asian countries. F, D, C, B, A and then it is S, SS and SSS.

Or like how currently games rank their players. Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Mithril and Adamantium.

Isn't there any better version of grading system out there? Color code it like the chinese (天地玄黄)? Number based like levels? Level 1 to all the way to BS land?

Why is there a definite cap? I understand this is like nobility and royalty rule, where the head is established and then the bottom ranks get shit out.

I also understand why adventurers don't use army style because it is army style.

But have you seen an interesting version of adventurer ranking? I had seen odd looking cultivation styles and naming, but none of those efforts had been done to adventurer ranking.

I like the ranking in the library of ruins. There you are assessed by numbers at the beginning. But as soon as you become a threat exceeding this ranking, you are given a color. red mist, black silence, ext.

 

[Deleted member 1244]

I like the "what you can solo in combat" ranks.

Dirt
Wood
Beast
Human
Village
Town
City
Nation
Continental
World
Solar
Galaxy
Universe
Dimension
God
Pantheon

 

[NotaNuffian]

I like the "what you can solo in combat" ranks.

Dirt
Wood
Beast
Human
Village
Town
City
Nation
Continental
World
Solar
Galaxy
Universe
Dimension
God
Pantheon

Dirt?

Wood?

Wut?

 

[Deleted member 1244]

Dirt?

Wood?

Wut?

Dirt
can you clean a room on your own, can you dig a hole solo?
Tasks don't attack you, and hard to die from.

Wood
Can you cut down a tree, gather herbs, do tasks that don't fight back but call kill you, if you drop a log on your self 4 example.