Murphy is a great example! (also Marcone, for the same series)
I absolutely think of Vlad as a Badass Normal type, though you are of course right that after Issola he is not exactly underpowered! But, just, like, based on the company he keeps ("Morrolan carried Blackwand, which slew a thousand at the Wall of Barrit’s Tomb. Aliera carried Pathfinder, which they say served a power higher than the Empire. Sethra carried Iceflame, which embodied within it the power of the Dzur Mountain. I carried myself rather well, thank you.”), and the fact that he perceives himself that way, I think, as someone who is always squaring off against more powerful opponents.
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I absolutely think of Vlad as a Badass Normal type, though you are of course right that after Issola he is not exactly underpowered! But, just, like, based on the company he keeps ("Morrolan carried Blackwand, which slew a thousand at the Wall of Barrit’s Tomb. Aliera carried Pathfinder, which they say served a power higher than the Empire. Sethra carried Iceflame, which embodied within it the power of the Dzur Mountain. I carried myself rather well, thank you.”), and the fact that he perceives himself that way, I think, as someone who is always squaring off against more powerful opponents.