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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/35766
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I'm writing a storyline for a game where the forces of evil have humanity cornered. Truly everything seems lost, that is, until our main character decides to step in. Let's call him Bob. The Chosen.

Bob is extremely strong and has a special ability that's seemingly designed to counter the evil monsters. As a result he defeats enemy after enemy effortlessly, becoming humanity's last hope. He is stationed in a small village on the front lines where he gets to know the villagers and protects them from the monster assaults. Word spreads about his deeds and a second character is introduced: Sir Dave the Brave, the Virtuous, Vigilant Paragon of Hope, Knighted by the King, Slayer of Monsters.

Dave is currently the kingdom's greatest swordsman and leads the royal knights against the forces of evil. He's beloved by the citizens because of how many of them he has saved. He and his army set up camp in the village on order and from that point on Dave serves as the face of the kingdom.

The problem is that Dave is only human - he does not have the unique superpowers Chosen like Bob have. He is still very strong, but very strong for a human. After he set up camp the player isn't going to look at him anymore unless he decides to raise his affection level with Dave. Dave only has a single chance to prove himself as the competent knight he is. But I'm afraid that it doesn't matter how many mobs I let him defeat, the player will invariably compare those feats to his own. I can't have him be strong enough to defeat the bosses, the player is supposed to do that on his own.

When he tags along to scout for one of the bosses and he gets swatted aside it doesn't really give the wanted reaction of "Goodness, that monster is strong!", but rather something of an "Haha, silly Dave got defeated again." His competence as a swordsman has become an informed attribute. Even if I let him defeat a few monsters on his own he still feels weak because the great Bob kills those in his free time to farm xp.

I don't want Dave to be _strong_ strong, but I do want the player to acknowledge him. Is there a way to make Dave look like a competent knight without affecting his or Bob's power level?

Original score: 21