D&D 5E Peasant Revolts in 5e

[overgeeked]

A well trained and talented warrior vs a Wizard in a fairly small room, I’m betting on the warrior.

Especially if the warrior has 6 archers, 10 pikemen, 2 other knights, and assorted guards, to help her.

Cool. Now do a 5th-level wizard with fireball vs a squad of ordinary soldiers or peasants.

 

[MGibster]

If I had any interest in grim dark worlds…they wouldn’t be places ruled by spellcasters. They’d be places where a spellcaster can legally be stabbed in the neck for mouthing off to a peasant, much less a noble. Because if everyone is selfish and the world sucks (ie grimdark worlds), that seems vastly more likely to me than magocracies.

I'm not so sure I'd want to risk stabbing a dude in the neck knowing he could turn me into a newt or strike me with lightning.

If I had a peasant's revolt in D&D it'd be in the background. i.e. The PCs wouldn't be directly involved in prosecuting the war because I don't think D&D is the kind of game for that.

 

[AtomicPope]

In his backstory. But through the action of the story he was a pirate captain.

No one was afraid of the Dread Pirate Wesley.

 

[AtomicPope]

However, in dnd, magic doesn’t actually seem to care about wealth...

Wizard school, spell components, arcane focus... just because you're not buying full plate, warhorse w/barding, and an arsenal doesn't mean you're not spending money. There's still a high cost for turning a regular person into living artillery.

 

[Scars Unseen]

There's still a high cost for turning a regular person into living artillery.

How much does it cost to get a trebuchet?

 

[MGibster]

How much does it cost to get a trebuchet?

It might take about two weeks to make a trebuchet. How long does it take to make a new wizard?

 

[Scars Unseen]

It might take about two weeks to make a trebuchet. How long does it take to make a new wizard?

Hmm... good point. Using wizards as ammunition could have its downsides. Maybe if they use featherfall at the end of their trajectory?

 

[Baldurs_Underdark]

I think peasant revolts would be very much possible in a D&D world, for a number of reasons:

1. All my own PCs started off as peasants (or comparable). Why wouldn't (some) peasants level up while revolting?
2. The real power of peasants will never be individual hitpoints of any combat-related skills. It's sheer numbers. 50 peasants cannot revolt, but against 500,000 peasants, even a whole school of wizards will run out of fireballs before they make a real dent in the peasant army.
3. Peasants who revolt are desperate. They consider their lives worthless, and go "all-in" with the revolt. Historically, peasants knew their revolts were treason and they would risk death. I don't think that fireballs will make them reconsider. Any spellcaster in service of the rulers would just be a primary target.

Peasant revolt were huge in some cases (example: Yellow Turban revolt (wiki link)), and deaths were in the millions.
Also, revolts had exceptional fighters (example: Spartacus, (Admittedly, Spartacus was a trained fighter - and it was a slave revolt not a peasant revolt - minor difference)).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Why would the Peasants be evil/commit injustices if all they did was revolt against severe oppression almost identical to slavery? If you were a peasant at that time wouldn’t you have done the same?

Read the book (which is based on a real life revolt). The peasants are not evil (nor are they slaves), but they are very angry. Kett, the leader of the revolt, tries to keep them from taking it out the innocent as well as the guilty. The protagonist, a London lawyer (and hence identified as Rich and Posh), is nearly a victim, despite being sympathetic to the peasants. Kett twists his arm to use his legal knowledge to help ensure those captured by the rebels receive some semblance of justice.

This being historical, the end goes very Game of Thrones.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

The real Norfolk commotion ended with a battle when the lawful authorities took the threat seriously and sent, 3 weeks after the uprising officially started, an army roughly equal in number to the rebels. Sure, the first response (15,000 rebels vs 1,500 soldiers, fighting in the worst situation logistically) was a victory for the rebels (they took the city) as numbers are akin to the disparity mentionned in this thread (many peasants vs a handful of defenders) but as soon as the authorities could act, they sent an adequately sized response (15,000 soldiers vs 15,000 rebels) and it ended with 3,000 rebels killed and 250 soldiers killed. A few hanging happened and order was restored. The rebel's strategic goal of stopping enclosure in Britain wasn't met.

To succeed, a peasant uprising must not only make the local lord flee (and maybe turn the local spellcaster to their cause). They must become accepted by the rest of the kingdom, who as a clear interest in enforcing the social order and not letting revolts prosper.