D&D 5E What proportion of the population are adventurers?

Tony Vargas · May 27, 2019

Greenstone.Walker said:
The greater territory of Waterdeep has around 2 million people. How many of them are adventurers?

I think the question is more properly how many of them have access to economy-breaking magic.

And, yeah, since that's the Realms:
all of 'em.

Sacrosanct · May 27, 2019

I suppose the easy answer is to look up the 1e DMG since it explicitly tells you this info. However, I don’t have one handy or I’d do it for you.

Dausuul · May 27, 2019

Well, hang on here. Are we talking about the percentage of the population that has a PC class? Or are we talking about the percentage of the population that makes a living by going into dungeons, killing monsters, and taking their stuff?

If the question is PC classes... well, let's start with the percentage of professional soldiers in the population. I haven't found any solid stats on this for medieval society, but figures I've seen range from 1-5%. Let's say 2%.

Now, looking in the Monster Manual, the Guard is probably a good example of the typical professional soldier. Guards are reasonably effective in numbers, but one guard is not at all a match for a 1st-level PC, even if you boost the soldier's ability scores to PC levels. So martial PCs are evidently the elite among the professional fighting class; maybe 1 in 5, which is to say, 0.4%.

But that's specifically PCs who are professional warriors: Barbarians, fighters, rangers, and paladins. (I'm not sure whether monks belong on this list or not, but to simplify things I'll say not.) That's 4 classes. There are 12 classes total, so if we triple that figure, we'd be looking at 1.2%.

If the question is professional dungeon crawlers... that figure will depend on how many dungeons the world has, but no matter how you slice it, it's got to be super low. If only 2% of the population is under arms to begin with, what fraction of that armed population can be spared to go poking around in monster-infested ruins looking for gold?

Immortal Sun · May 27, 2019

About 10% on average. Less in small towns that need every member, more in large cities with excess population. Higher in places that are politically, economically or socially unstable. Less in places that politically, economically and socially stable.

77IM · May 27, 2019

There are enough adventurers to support a market for hiring adventurers.

The way I see it, the vast majority of adventurers are part-timers -- they have a "day job," but when somebody needs to pay 50 gp to drive off some orcs, rescue a missing lad, or investigate the old tower ruins, they might be tempted to step up and try their hand at some light mercenary work. Thug's gotta eat too.

There are relatively few full-time professional adventurers, but enough so that it doesn't raise eyebrows. In fact, often when the PCs tackle an adventure, the person or town paying them has already hired someone else to do the job, and they failed. A surprising number of adventure modules mention that the first people hired for the task are now missing, or have come running back with their tails between their legs.

ccs · May 27, 2019

Greenstone.Walker said:
The greater territory of Waterdeep has around 2 million people. How many of them are adventurers?

As many as I need plot wise.

Giltonio_Santos · May 27, 2019

If we consider that bail bondsman is a similar real-life occupation, Google tells us that there are about 15,500 of them in the US, for a population of less than 330 million. That would mean not a lot of adventurers running around, which is fine for my own standards.

Kurotowa · May 27, 2019

Dausuul said:
Well, hang on here. Are we talking about the percentage of the population that has a PC class? Or are we talking about the percentage of the population that makes a living by going into dungeons, killing monsters, and taking their stuff?

A good question, and surely one whose answer varies by setting. In one setting an adventurer might be anyone who specializes in digging through the tombs and ruins of the great fallen empires of past, risking their life to reclaim wonders impossible to replicate in the current age. In another they might be an international fighting force that belong to an official guild and are the front line in fighting monsters and other supernatural threats to civilization. In yet another an adventurer might be anyone in the loose community of mercenaries and explorers who populate the frontier, who either take missions on a contract basis or freelance in hopes of striking it rich.

Difference settings will have different demographics depending on how high the bar is set and what areas tolerate heavily armed murderhobos wandering around.

MechaPilot · May 27, 2019

It really depends on the kind of world you want to create, and the nature of that world. People will attempt dangerous things for wealth. I see adventurers much like people heading west as part of the gold rush. There might be a great many of them in a given region, especially of the classes and subclasses who don't require long-term study or devotion (as wizards or clerics typically do).

Shiroiken · May 27, 2019

In my Greyhawk campaigns, about 1% of the population attempts the life of an adventurer. Of those, less than 50% survive their first adventure, so there's a high turnover rate. Most who adventure tend to stop after a few levels, as the wealth they've gained is sufficient to live out a comfortable life. Only a scant handful have the drive or necessity to continue on to higher levels, usually not because of wealth but for some other reason. Often those higher level adventurers gain positions of power and authority.