D&D 5E adventurers in your world: common or rare?

[Lanefan]

Chargen in 5e is simple enough most players can manage it (ie not 4e or high level 3e), not simple like 0e-2e.

Realistic injury rules - great idea for Game of Thrones RPG, terrible idea for D&D IMO. I can see we're in a different universe here. I really can't imagine why anyone would choose D&D for that kind of game.

BTW are you saying you're posting in this thread but you're not actually familiar with 5e D&D? Or am I misreading?

Whether adventurers are common or rare in a game world is a question by no means limited to 5e.

 

[Caliban]

Next campaign I run, adventurers are going to be as common as dirt. Every NPC the party encounters, I'll roll to determine their class, and then roll a D20 to determine their level.

The stable boy? Actually a 13th level assassin.

The bar wench? 16th level war cleric.

The king? 3rd level conjuration wizard.

 

[SkidAce]

Whether adventurers are common or rare in a game world is a question by no means limited to 5e.

To be fair, the thread is categorized under the 5E section.

But you are correct.

 

[steeldragons]

In my world? That's a tall order...with no real answer.

In the megapolis free-city of Andril, you'll find adventurers of all levels, person's of note and power, multiple temples, thieves' guilds, wizarding centers, mercenary companies, entertainers, trained nobles, and retired types who've settled down into some nice "safe" business venture like merchant or innkeeper.

Other places you'd be hard pressed to find someone with any specialized training. Some areas you could go your entire life without ever seeing a spell caster...others you'd be hard pressed not to see impressive magic used every day.

Just depends where you are and where you go.

Typically, where the PCs are is going to automatically have a few...even rural areas. But that's more to do with the PC's being "unique and special individuals who live a life of untold wonders and adventure." i.e. What the PCs encounter in the day-to-day of their lives, is not what Joe Everyguy is going to run into.

As a general rule, for population centers, I try to use the "classic" 1-in-100 individuals have some class experience rule of thumb. Divide by 2 for each successive level, rounded down, and throwing leftovers/odds in on the top end. Then (the most fun part) figuring out who/what everyone is.

So, as some others have explained/exampled already, let's take a "typical small town" of, say, 7,500 people.
So we're working with a "classed" populace, not counting the PCs, of 75.
35 1st level NPCs:
17 2nd level (1 leftover):
8 3rd level (1 leftover):
4 4th level
2 5th level
1 6th level

Taking my two leftovers I end up with something looking like:
35 1st: I'd say most of these guys will be your town guard/deputies. At least half. Let's say 20 of them. 5 acolyte clerics that serve at the local shrine. 5 pickpockets getting their feet in the door of the local (very small) chapter of the thieves' guild. Let's say there's 2 neophyte druids in the near woods. 1 ranger-in-training among the local woodsmen. 1 illusionist trying to get their start in the good graces of a powerful mentor.

17 2nd: Let's say another half (8) of these guys are also part of the guard. 3 clerics at the temple (1 is a cult member). 3 thieves. The town's apothecary is a fledgling mage. And 1 former adventuring [fighter] innkeeper and (her spouse) the town's foremost entertainer [bard].

8 3rd: 2 constables. 1 eldritch knight, 1 cleric (making pilgrimage to the local shrine), 1 thief who are an adventuring trio that landed in town last winter and are still contemplating their next move. 2 priests in the shrine. 1 warlock (the affluent merchant's wife and cult co-founder).

4 4th: The town's sheriff (fighter). 1 head of the local thief guild chapter house (who also happens to be a representative on the board of the town's ruling council). 1 is the shrine's 2nd in command/cleric. 1 old hermit [monk] who lives outside the town walls (seems to have a good relationship with the druid and the ranger).

2 5th: 1 right hand man/bodyguard (maybe a barbarian?) of the town's mayor. 1 druid lives outside of town guiding the 2 1st level novitiates

2 6th: 1 ranger-turned-local hunter/trapper (most of the town is unaware of his advanced adventuring past, but he is training the young woodsman...his son perhaps? Or a nephew?). 1 "high priest/abbot/curate" of the local shrine to <insert campaign relevant deity here>

...and let's make 1 7th (cuz, why not?): an affluent merchant who is also actually a powerful Warlock setting up/leading an evil cult following for his fiendish lord.

 

[Lanefan]

To be fair, the thread is categorized under the 5E section.

Most of the good ones are these days, even though the topic might go far beyond 5e's bounds.

I just bring a different perspective.

 

[clearstream]

As a general rule, for population centers, I try to use the "classic" 1-in-100 individuals have some class experience rule of thumb. Divide by 2 for each successive level, rounded down, and throwing leftovers/odds in on the top end. Then (the most fun part) figuring out who/what everyone is.

So, as some others have explained/exampled already, let's take a "typical small town" of, say, 7,500 people.
So we're working with a "classed" populace, not counting the PCs, of 75.
35 1st level NPCs:
17 2nd level (1 leftover):
8 3rd level (1 leftover):
4 4th level
2 5th level
1 6th level

I like your general principles, but halving per level feels like too aggressive a function here; it doesn't really emulate the baseline D&D world.

Waterdeep (pop 2,000,000)
L1 = 20,000
L2 = 10,000
L3 = 5000
L4 = 2500
L5 = 1250
L6 = 625
L7 = 312
L8 = 156
L9 = 78
L10 = 39
L11 = 20
L12 = 10
L13 = 5
L14 = 2
L15 = 1
Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun L28!?

Maybe tiers can work better, with an order of magnitude fewer per tier?

Waterdeep (pop 2,000,000
Tier 1 = 20,000
Tier 2 = 2,000
Tier 3 = 200
Tier 4 = 20
Epic = 2

Typical Small Town (pop 7500)
Tier 1 = 75
Tier 2 = 7-8
Tier 3 = 0-1

Our tier populations get distributed among levels however we like. Some ambiguity helps us as DMs

 

[Lanefan]

I like your general principles, but halving per level feels like too aggressive a function here; it doesn't really emulate the baseline D&D world.

Waterdeep (pop 2,000,000)
L1 = 20,000
L2 = 10,000
L3 = 5000
L4 = 2500
L5 = 1250
L6 = 625
L7 = 312
L8 = 156
L9 = 78
L10 = 39
L11 = 20
L12 = 10
L13 = 5
L14 = 2
L15 = 1
Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun L28!?

Maybe tiers can work better, with an order of magnitude fewer per tier?

Waterdeep (pop 2,000,000
Tier 1 = 20,000
Tier 2 = 2,000
Tier 3 = 200
Tier 4 = 20
Epic = 2

The tier model you present is even more aggressive a function. How about

Waterdeep (pop. 2M)

Tier 1 = 30,000
Tier 2 = 3,000
Tier 3 = 300
Tier 4+ = 30

This is a bit closer to your by-level model in terms of total numbers. If that's still too harsh, maybe 30,000 - 4000 - 500 - 60 for the four tiers?

Typical Small Town (pop 7500)
Tier 1 = 75
Tier 2 = 7-8
Tier 3 = 0-1

Typical town in a very peaceful area with no adventuring nearby, perhaps. Any port town, or anything near a border or adventuring area, I'd skew those numbers up particularly at the higher tiers.

Lan-"then again, in some game worlds a town of 7500 is a pretty big place"-efan

 

[S'mon]

To be fair, the thread is categorized under the 5E section.

But you are correct.

Yeah it's in 5e not General so I thought we were talking 5e here.
Reminds me of Dragonsfoot where people keep talking 1e in the General forum - drives me
crazy there too.

 

[clearstream]

How about

Waterdeep (pop. 2M)

Tier 1 = 30,000
Tier 2 = 3,000
Tier 3 = 300
Tier 4+ = 30

This is a bit closer to your by-level model in terms of total numbers. If that's still too harsh, maybe 30,000 - 4000 - 500 - 60 for the four tiers?

Yes, that produces decent results. I feel there is value in differentiating between tier 4 and Epic, as tier 4 covers 16-20 and epic has no cap. But... it can feel awkward to work in 1.5 per 100 so... how to fix that? As we go up the tiers we have an assumed survival rate of 1/10. How about we change that so that

Tier 1 = 1/100
Tier 2 = 2/1000
Tier 3 = 2/10,000
Tier 4 = 2/100,000
+Epic = 2/1,000,000

Waterdeep (pop 2,000,000)

Tier 1 = 20,000
Tier 2 = 4,000
Tier 3 = 400
Tier 4 = 40
+Epic = 4

Small Town (pop 7500)

Tier 1 = 75
Tier 2 = 15
Tier 3 = 1-2
Tier 4 = 0-1
+Epic = 0

We're starting with the same 1/100 people is tier 1 level in a character class, however instead of assuming a 9/10 attrition rate, we assume an 8/10 attrition rate. A group of five friends at 1st level sees four of their members dying or retiring before 5th level.

 

[LordNightwinter]

In my campaigns the only real adventurers are the characters themselves with a few select NPCs being the exception. I've actually used retired characters in the past as NPCs. So sometimes my players run across themselves or familiar faces (if someone steps away from the table for a while), if that counts. Other than that the characters don't usually encounter other people taking up the life.