Barbaric Commoner?

[Water Bob]

I pose this question for my fellow Conan RPG players, but this topic can easily be discussed among normal D&D players--just the names of the barbarians need be changed....





Is there such a thing as a Pict Commoner? A Commoner who is also a member of a Cimmerian clan? A Commoner of the Black Kingdoms?

Or, is the Commoner class restricted to NPCs of "civilized" cultures?

 

[Greenfield]

Did the Picts have farmers? Shepherds? Butchers, bakers, candlestick makers?

If so, they'd be classed as "commoners".

If, on the other hand, they're all Conan-esque raiders and warriors...

 

[frankthedm]

Commoner class represents a decidedly non combatant that exist primarily to be workers / fodder. Warrior with just simple weapons, shields and light armor but with expanded skill options would be a better NPC class for more 'barbaric' folk.

 

[Water Bob]

Did the Picts have farmers? Shepherds? Butchers, bakers, candlestick makers?

If so, they'd be classed as "commoners".

If, on the other hand, they're all Conan-esque raiders and warriors...

A good answer would be another question: Did the Apache Indians have anything that would be considered a Commoner class?

Commoner class represents a decidedly non combatant that exist primarily to be workers / fodder. Warrior with just simple weapons, shields and light armor but with expanded skill options would be a better NPC class for more 'barbaric' folk.

That's an interesting idea. Take the Commoner class and make something akin to it for the Barbarians.

But...isn't that just about a 1st level Barbarian?

 

[GreyLord]

I pose this question for my fellow Conan RPG players, but this topic can easily be discussed among normal D&D players--just the names of the barbarians need be changed....





Is there such a thing as a Pict Commoner? A Commoner who is also a member of a Cimmerian clan? A Commoner of the Black Kingdoms?

Or, is the Commoner class restricted to NPCs of "civilized" cultures?

Barbarians have a commoner class...

It is called...

The Barbarian.

 

[Water Bob]

Barbarians have a commoner class...

It is called...

The Barbarian.

That's what I'm thinking. All Barbarians are classed characters. Commoners exist only among the civilized lands.

 

[Rampant]

Not quite

While true that a viking-esque type society is unlikely to produce as many commoners per capita as say a roman-esque township, they still have servants, slaves, and, if not particularly enlightened, females that are likely members of the commoner NPC class.

 

[Water Bob]

While true that a viking-esque type society is unlikely to produce as many commoners per capita as say a roman-esque township, they still have servants, slaves, and, if not particularly enlightened, females that are likely members of the commoner NPC class.

Servants and slaves are not quite the issue, as they are captives and not natives to the society. I could easily say that no formal knights exist among barbarian tribes, but obviously one could if caught and held captive. But citing females is a good catch, especially in a barbaric culture where the men do the fighting.

Can we think of no way a man can be a Commoner in such a culture?

 

[Rampant]

The child of captives or a weak male who doesn't even manage to get himself killed.

 

[Trance-Zg]

I personally don't see a place for commoner class in D&D, a commoner yes(as a social class) but not in the game mechanics.

The commoner could be used only for adolescents who didn't yet come of age.

I.E. human younger than 15.

at 15 you commoner class gets changed to any other NPC class(warrior, expert, aristocrat, adept) if you lacked specialized education or a good teacher or to 1st level of PC class with good formal education.

Commoner class has no place here.

Let's take the Silver marches in Fearuns savage frontier: You could argue that farmer there are commoners but in that area littered with orcs, trolls, hill giants, lycans and what not commoner can't survive. All farmers there are warriors and experts and many multiclass of them. An senior citizen there(50+ years) has had many orc raids on his farm village and is probably 6th level of any warrior/expert combination.