D&D General What Are Adventurers In Your World?

[Yaarel]

For me the term adventurer only appears in the setting if it's at a high enough level of organization to have adventurer guilds or companies.

I like that.

 

[overgeeked]

Members of the Adventurer’s Guild who take up jobs befitting their rank in the guild. Guild ranks are roughly equivalent to levels 1-5 in D&D 5E. The jobs can be anything someone’s willing to pay for that’s not illegal. Explore a dungeon, find a missing person, clear out a nest of rats, etc. Beyond that, a group of mercenaries and possibly heroes who wander around helping people.

 

[Maxperson]

I have to say that I have never really liked the term "adventurer." My PCs are explorers, treasure hunters, undead slayers, mercenaries, and so on. They go out and "adventure," but do so as their profession, not some generic adventurer.

 

[Yaarel]

The Adventurer tier, I call the "Professional" tier.

Levels 1 thru 4: Student (Apprentice, Page, Basic) (Common)
Levels 5 thru 8: Professional (Journeyer, Squire, Adventurer, Expert) (Uncommon)
Levels 9 thru 12: Master (Rare)
Levels 13 thru 16: Grandmaster
Levels 17 thru 20: Legend
Levels 21 thru 24: Epic


Right now, Epic level 21 is when heroes become "immortal".

I am starting to feel that Legend level 17 is when heroes should officially become "immortal" by some player-chosen means.

Some immortals will be Archfey, some Archfiends, or Archcelestials, or Archwizards or Archdruid hierophants. Some will become Liches, or Cyborgs, or whatever other form of immortality.

All of these and other forms of immortality make sense for the Legend tier starting at level 17.

 

[Voadam]

I generally think of Conan as the baseline iconic adventurer, a thief and mercenary and pirate and bandit who spills into adventures that often involve violence and are a mix of self motivated and outside stuff happening that sweeps him up.

Chosen backstory and campaign setup are generally the two big factors defining adventurers.

As D&D shifted away from dungeon adventuring to heroic questing in modules I tend to think more of heroes as the modern D&D base since about the 1e Dragonlance era.

I have a big dislike for a straight up adventurers guild or a dungeon delving guild.

 

[Minigiant]

I usually role play adventurers as small mercenary groups that political, financial, and government figures can hire to do jobs and disavow connection if they fail

Get my grandpa's sword. Don't make it look like I'm looking for it.

Kill X. Technically that vampire is a noble so I can't do it without a casual belli and declaring war.

 

[Yaarel]

The lowest tier in 5e is the "Apprentice" levels.

I assume the 5e reference to the "Adventurer" tier, is actually a nongender reference to the medieval "Journeyman", namely a Professional who is a member of a guild.

 

[Reynard]

The lowest tier in 5e is the "Apprentice" levels.

I assume the 5e reference to the "Adventurer" tier, is actually a nongender reference to the medieval "Journeyman", namely a Professional who is a member of a guild.

I don't think there is any reason to believe "adventurer" broadly is limited to Tier 1.

 

[Yaarel]

I don't think there is any reason to believe "adventurer" broadly is limited to Tier 1.

In the 5e 2014 Players Handbook, levels 1 thru 4 are "apprentice adventurers", and by implication the next higher tier is professional adventurers, or simply adventurers.

By the higher tiers, heroes are extraordinary, gaining "a level of power that sets them high above the ordinary population". These are "mighty adventurers".


A rhythm of 4-level tiers, defined by the Proficiency bonus, is the most useful description of advancement. There is defacto a middle tier, levels 9 thru 12, where the ceiling of reallife possibility blurs the floor of the superhero genre.


ORDINARY ≈ REALLIFE
Levels 1 thru 4: Common
Levels 5 thru 8: Uncommon

EXTRAORDINARY ≈ PEAK REALLIFE OR WIRE-FU ACTION HERO
Levels 9 thru 12: Rare

SUPERHERO
Levels 13 thru 16: Very Rare
Levels 17 thru 20: Legendary

EPIC
Levels 21 thru 24

 

[Shiroiken]

"Adventurers" has a very specific meaning in my Greyhawk. They're a tolerated nuisance that very much live up to the murder hobo stereotype. They're motivated by either greed or excitement, and while some of them might become "heroes," for the most part they're only interested in themselves. This lifestyle tends to attract those who hate their current lot in life, only to lose their life in their first adventure. The survivors tend to adventure just long enough to amass enough wealth to live out their lives in luxury, with only the insane adrenaline addicts continuing to higher levels.

Now, this does not include mercenaries and agents of various organizations/governments. Those professions are considered highly prized, as they constantly provide useful services (unlike adventurers who do so only occasionally). Unsurprisingly though, a large number of these start off their careers as adventurers, only to move beyond simple greed as their motivation. Many successful adventurers actually start their own organizations to achieve larger objectives/motivations, such as Mordenkainen's Circle of Eight.