Yes, but in old school D&D, the heroic warrior type's power came not from his personal skill, but the fact that he ruled a kingdom and could call an army on his enemies.  Arm wrestling the dragon was a failure state.  Of course, this is 1st edition D&D, before AD&D where it all went to shit because people just HAD to face all the monsters in direct honorable combat.<br/><br/>On the other hand, back then, the biggest baddest demon lord had 150 hit points, and a 20th level wizard needed 6 months to prepare all of his spells.  (and good luck getting him out of his tower and interrupting his magic item creation ritual, which will take the next 5 years, but once he has that staff of power he'll be able to cast spells without a 6 month lead time)<br/><br/><br/>So really, trying to keep legacy stuff from old school D&D in is pretty stupid, but old school D&D was freaking awesome, even if the playstyle is essentially lost these days.  *grumble*<br/><br/><br/>(this is just what happens when your first rpgs are 1st edition D&D.  Please ignore my rather loud nostalgia!)