Delta said:
I follow the core rules as closely as I can. If you look at several entries in the MM (dwarf, elf, orc, etc.) under "Organization" you'll see that they officially count Sergeants as level 3, Lieutenants as level 5, and Captains as level 7. I add a couple more in the same pattern, and assume something like this:
Sergeant -- 3rd level
Lieutenant -- 5th
Captain -- 7th
Major -- 9th
Colonel -- 11th
Major General -- 13th
General -- 15th
These ranks don't really make sense, however. Noblemen generally start at officer rank, regardless of level. A 2nd-level knight who just got his proper spurs might be called an "Ensign" (2nd Lieutenant) even though he's much less than 5th-level.
Furthermore, a 15th-level fighter with an Int score of 10 and Charisma of 8 isn't going to be a general, unless he's the king's eldest son or some such. Even the most incompetent generals (eg those who got their rank due to birth, bribery, or what not) have to have decent Charisma.
Medieval Organization
Better terms to use might be things like "bannerets". There's good book sources for these; alas, I haven't read any for a long time or I could say more about them
In brief, a knight with the rank of baronet might be put in charge of ten or so men, several of whom would be non-combatants and the rest would be conscripted peasants or basically mercenaries "of low brith", including archers, polearm users, etc. Depending on the strength of organization, these men might follow their knight into combat, or they might take a more appropriate place on the battlefield. (It hardly makes sense for an archer to follow a cavalry charge, right?)
A higher noble-ranked knight (regardless of actual experience, military or fighting ability) would have a larger warband, most of which consists of the smaller bands led by his vassal nobles. Hopefully the higher ranked noble has a decent Charisma, but being of noble birth doesn't actually give you a Charisma bonus, right? In many cases, the highest ranking noble might hire a "captain" to do the actual combat leading and/or strategizing, although this would diminish the respect others have for said noble. (Better to lose respect than men, I say.)
Note that the knight doesn't really need intelligence if he's only leading a small number of men, especially if the higher-ranked person is smarter. Charisma helps, but only the highest ranked noble (or "captain") really needs the Charisma.
In a campaign setting like Eberron, nobles (even minor nobles) and members of Dragonmarked Houses would probably be made into officers. They wouldn't advance if they were lacking in mental stats, of course, but you're still looking at lots of d'Marked second Lieutenants.
Regular soldiers got very little gear. The modern-day practice of giving (actually lending) weapons and armor to soldier didn't happen in most old armies. Peasants often went to war with no armor and maybe a long pointed farmer's tool. I don't know how English peasants afforded those longbows; those things were expensive. Various cultures occasionally gave basic weaponry to soldiers.
In Japan, conscripted peasants were lent a "loan sword" (a short sword). Anything else, such as armor or a polearm, you had to get on the battlefield from the corpses of your enemies. The term used for them was "ashigaru" and it meant "light feet", representing their lack of armor. (Contrary to popular belief, Japanese warrior monks wore armor, and wouldn't be mistaken for ashigaru. The non-religious monks (the majority of them) made their own arrows, and possibly everything else.) As guns became common in Japan, I don't know where the ashigaru gunners got them from. The daimyo Oda Nobunaga had his own gun factory; I find it hard to believe he could actually sell guns to the dismally poor peasants, however.
Rome's history actually underwent a huge change when it took the sensible step of paying for soldiers' equipment.
Organization worked slightly differently in China. I've seen translations of ranks, but we can't be 100% sure of them. Often there were "idiot officers" (sometimes literally) who would have a high rank due to their ability to kick butt in personal combat and loyalty to their ultimate commander, but who wouldn't lead troops. They were practically battlefield assassins. You might call them "champions" instead. If anyone has read Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lu Bu's role (before his father was murdered) was basically this, and same for when he served Lu Bu. Xiahou Dun filled this role, too. Xu Zhu was an even more special case; he only led troops in an emergency, as he didn't even have Lu Bu's charisma. Most of the time, he served his commander as bodyguard, but sometimes he would just charge out of a formation and kill several opponents' generals (he did that to Yuan Shao in Yuan Shao's last great battle) or sometimes would be expected to duel with an opposing champion.
Then there were the Tiger Generals, who were able to kick butt, lead and strategize, and would all be high level characters with high mental stats and decent physical stats - well, usually. (Note that there was still a lot of individual variations; Zhang He was much more of a strategist than a fighter.) They'd be multiclassed marshal (or White Raven warblades, or some such leader class)/fighters.
Roman Military Organization
The Roman military organization, IMO, is a better base for medieval armies than "modern" military terms, although you'll need to change the rank names. A lot of the modern terms didn't exist until the late 1700s or 1800s.
Roman legion organization
"Noble" ranks
Note there were several types of noble, but any could reach these ranks. Sometimes a plebian might even have more authority than a patrician!
Consul or Legate (the latter generally directly translated as "general"). A consul was a civilian leader, who often had no military experience, and was only supposed to serve for a year. Military governors were often consuls, "proconsuls" (someone who was a consul last year, but they were allowed to remain governor out of convenience) or sometimes praetor or propraetor.
Six military tribunes - these were generally young men of noble birth, who generally had no military ability. It was simply a career stepping stone. Many famous Roman military/political leaders performed well in this post. Julius Caesar, Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Titus Labienus are good examples.
The noble ranks underwent some big changes when the Republic was replaced by the Empire... I know very little about these changes. Unless you're running an Ancient Rome campaign though, the illustration is still valid, IMO.
"Enlisted" ranks
Decurion: a man put in charge of seven soldiers and two non-combatants. This was basically the Roman squad.
Optio and Centurion: A soldier put in charge of one hundred
or more people (there were higher ranking centurions). An optio was, in effect, a centurion in training and second-in-command of a "century". While they came up from the ranks, they were basically commissioned officers. Becoming a centurion is a bit like going through Officer Candidate School.
Primus Pilus (or Primpilus): A term meaning "first spear", this is the best professional soldier in a legion. When the nobleman in charge was weak (in terms of personality), the primus pilus really ran the show. Often a nobleman with a strong personality but weak military ability would ignore the primus pilus' advice, causing a number of Roman military disasters.
Camp Prefect: A "retired" Primus Pilus, he was put in charge of the camp. He was basically second-in-command of a legion, even though he was usually of quite low birth (especially after the Marian reforms).
Happily from a metagaming perspective, there's a good place to put high-level fighters who don't have leadership abilities, at least in the early Roman Republic.
Legionaries were put into three ranks:
1) Hastati. Youngest recruits.
2) Principes. Men of physical prime (late twenties, early thirties).
3) Triarii. Veterans.
You put your highest-level fighters in the second and third line. While the triarii could probably tell the hastati what to do, they didn't have to be commanders (most of them wouldn't be) and seemed to have their own decurions.
This organization may have vanished with the Marian reforms, which was probably good from a military perspective but not so great from a metagaming perspective.
In old Rome, before the Marian reforms, soldiers had to purchase their own equipment. Armor was especially expensive. In fact, the five citizenship classes were based around how much equipment a conscripted soldier could buy. (If you couldn't buy any, you were made part of the "Head Count" and while you wouldn't have to serve as a soldier, you couldn't
ever be a soldier. Unless you were shanghaied, which did sometimes happen.)
Marius's reforms involved the army buying equipment for the soldiers, so anyone could serve. However, this meant the soldiers became more loyal to their generals than to Rome. They even got a pension, actually a plot of land, which could be sold. Often a large number of still relatively young ex-soldiers would colonize a province and could basically form a well-organized ad hoc army if there was rebellion. Very handy for Rome! Unfortunately, if a general's army was taken from him, and he wanted revenge, he could pick up these guys and attack Rome. Marius himself did this (after his hastily assembled "army" of ex-slaves was defeated by a political rival).
After the Marian reforms, a high-level fighter with decent Charisma might become the "aquilifer" (standard bearer). However, there was only one per legion, so the other high-level fighters with only average mental stats... I don't know what was done with them.
More Modern Military Structure
Enlisted and officer ranks are quite separate. This might be a legacy of the British social class system, where generally only men of "high birth" could become officers. A man of low birth usually had to rise from the ranks, rather than simply starting as an "Ensign" (aka 2nd Lieutenant).
Nowadays an officer gets their position from having a university degree. Obviously they have to train and go through military college; a fresh university student who joins the military is a cadet, not a second lieutenant. Enlisted men who join Officer Candidate School can become an officer, but this is extremely rare. An enlisted man who becomes an officer, often referred to as a "mustang", are very respected. Note that in some countries, like Israel, you don't need to have a university degree to be an officer (but in Israel, ~90% of their officers do anyway). In many third world countries, an officer gets their position from birth and are often far higher ranked than they should be. (A third world Colonel might match an American Captain in training, if th at.)
There are generally ten enlisted and ten officer ranks, but no one expects you to memorize them all.
Enlisted ranks
E1: Recruit
E2-3: Private
E4: Corporal. In some militaries, a corporal is put in actualy charge of a small number of soldiers.
E5-E6: Sergeant (and Staff Sergeant). In modern times a sergeant is often put in charge of a squad of about nine to thirteen soldiers. You don't become a sergeant unless you've served several years in the military (about five years for the United States Army).
E7: Sergeant First Class or Gunnery Sergeant. In the US Army, an SFC is second-in-command of a platoon and much more experienced than the lieutenant in charge. You can't become an SFC without thirteen years of experience, and most have about eighteen years of experience (and are close to retiring).
E8-E10: Master/First Sergeant to Sergeant Major: This rank is mainly administrative in nature in a modern-day infantry force, but is
highly respected. Most enlisted men retire before reaching this rank; those that remain are often highly educated (have a university degree) but choose not to go through Officer Candidate School.
E10+: Sergeant Major of the Army/Marine Corps/Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy. This unique rank for each branch of service is mainly ceremonial. You don't get the rank unless you're already highly worthy of respect.
Note that many enlisted ranks just don't make sense in medieval warfare. A peasant who has been conscripted for a short campaign either doesn't have a rank or is given a rank that basically translates to "recruit". Most would return home once the campaign was over, assuming they survived, but some would continue if they liked the work and were any good at it. During the Hundred Years' War, large numbers of British peasants became archers and served in France for a long time. To the best of my knowledge, they held no real rank. Nonetheless, some archers (those with better command abilities, or failing that, those who were better shots) would be put in command of "lesser" archers.
One of the most annoying things I run into in a Modern campaign is what to do with a high-level soldier who doesn't have decent command ability. Even reaching the rank of E4 Corporal (in the Marines) and E5 Sergeant (in the Army) requires command ability, so you might literally have a 12th-level Private First Class running around. Worse, in real life, anyone who doesn't "keep up with the ranks" gets turned out after a decade or fifteen years, even if they were the world's greatest shot. Such a character might not be able to join the Special Forces if they didn't have a great Int, either, as the SF are looking for people with intelligence (although, in many cases, they don't care if you have any command ability or not). It's almost like every Ftr10+ you run into in a campaign is either a mercenary or an "officer" who doesn't actually lead troops. (There's actually no place for the "generic" 10th-level fighter outside of mercenary ranks, unless they become an "idiot officer" or befriend a high-ranking officer. *Sigh*)
Officer Ranks
O1-2: Lieutenant. A lieutenant is put in charge of a platoon (about 18-30 men). The second in command is a high-ranking enlisted man (eg Sergeant First Class) who usually has much more military experience. A lieutenant might have six years military experience while their highest-ranking sergeant might have
eighteen years military experience. In theory, the officer tells their 2-i-C what to do. In practice, a good officer at least listens to their sergeant. A combat officer needs good charisma; a non-combat officer generally just needs skills, but command ability is always useful.
O3: Captain. In charge of a company. In medieval Europe, this was a common mercenary leader title. (Often the captain did strategy and administrivia, while their lieutenants actually led troops, which goes against DnD's metagaming style; the highest ranking commander is basically hiding in his tent except for the final battle.)
04: Major. Second-in-command of a Battalion, they don't lead their own unit. As the XO of a battalion, they might actually lead troops in combat (while the battalion commander does the strategy work).
05: Lieutenant Colonel. Battalion commander. Most US officers retire at this rank (at about age forty to forty-two).
06: Colonel. In charge of a brigade. The rank of Brigadier General's name no longer makes sense. This rank is very respected in the US military.
07-010: Various general ranks. There is only one 010 (four star general, simply called General) per branch of service and during peacetime the rank might be unfilled.
Officers don't really work in core rules. Having a high Charisma gives no actual benefits, just "behind-the-scenes" benefits and a slightly higher Intimidate score. Having a high rank in Knowledge (tactics), a skill that doesn't even exist in DnD, doesn't do anything unless you're using some kind of mass combat system.
