Common Commomers

[Utrecht]

As mentioned in another thread, there seems to be some level of demand for "normal" commoners as opposed to polymorphed trolls forced into being street performers.....

As an attempt to rectify this, I encourage each of us to create 1 or 2 of these "normal" folks that we could start plugging into our games.


So here it goes.

Arthur Olvinson

Bread Merchant

Arthur is one of the cities numerous traveling vendors that move about the city with their wares on their carts. Each morning Arthur awakens around 4 am to purchase a cartload of bread from the Cracked Oat, one of the numerous bakeries in town, buying numerous loaves, pastries and muffins. He then rolls his carts to the numerous city guard garrisons throughout the city - selling breakfast to the city as it awakens. Typically he empties his cart just before noon when various cooks purchase a last minute loaf for their masters mid-day meal.

Arthur has been selling bread for the past 10 years when he took the cart over from his father who along with his sister died of the plague brought on by a swarm of rats. During this time, he has become friendly with nearly all of the city guards and quite a few of the other crafts folk who arise before down, making him a great source of information about the comings and goings of the city.

Currently he lives at home with his mother who was crippled by the plague, but is hoping to find a suitable wife shortly to begin his own family with.

Stats (if this is something that we want)

Commoner Level 2

Relevant Skills: Bluff +2 Sense Motive +2 Local History +3

 

[Sir Edgar]

This brings me to asking everyone what they think about NPC levels.

How do you determine if an NPC is a level 1 Commoner or a level 6 Commoner? If he's a farmer and he's been farming for over 20 years, shouldn't he be really high level? Or do you think it depends on how many hit points you want to give him?

Well, if that's the case then what about a really good scribe? Should he be a level 10 Expert? Why would an old man have so many hit points? Sure, he'll need the skill points to justify his occupation, but should he really have a +6 or whatever BAB and 50hp?

Just curious on what you all think about this and how you go about it.

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

Brannin of Ostersynt

Brannin is a farmer in Launhym. He plants in the spring, harvests in the fall, struggles to survive in the winter, and is occasionally conscripted in the summer when his landed lord needs an extra arm. Brannin is typical of the men of the region. He is pessimistic but honest to a fault. His word of honor is the only thing he has of value and he treasures it dearly.

Brannin has fought off the occasional orc raider, but those were not battles of skill. The orcs tried to kill him and he simply tried to live, lashing out as best he could. Beyond that, his only other conflicts have been rowdy fistfights with his nieghbors, but those were friendly competitions and not true melee.

Branin follows the druidic faith and has little love for the Church of Light, which he views as a simplistic and narrow religion.

Commoner Level 3
Handle Animal +2 Use Rope +2 Wilderness Lore (cc) +1

 

[Green Knight]

After thinking about the book The Good Earth which I read years ago, I had a pretty good idea of what a 20th level Commoner might look like (If you go by the town generator in the DMG, 20th level Commoners are pretty common in the larger population centers). I'll be back later today with my write-up of a 20th-level Commoner.

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

This brings me to asking everyone what they think about NPC levels.

How do you determine if an NPC is a level 1 Commoner or a level 6 Commoner? If he's a farmer and he's been farming for over 20 years, shouldn't he be really high level? Or do you think it depends on how many hit points you want to give him?

Well, if that's the case then what about a really good scribe? Should he be a level 10 Expert? Why would an old man have so many hit points? Sure, he'll need the skill points to justify his occupation, but should he really have a +6 or whatever BAB and 50hp?

Just curious on what you all think about this and how you go about it.

I rule that just living gives you a minium exp of 200/year. Player characters don't get this "bonus" as they typically earn more than 200 exp a year.

[nerd]
I also rule that elves and other long lived races gain less after they get to be around a 100 because their nerve cells can heal better than a human's (our brains only get worse, we never repair neural tissue). The advantage is that elves have longer lives, but they tend to be more "forgetful" because the neurons that handled the information are no longer there. So after a hundred years their exp gain slows down to 20/year because they have to take time to re-remember the stuff they already learned.
[/nerd]

Remember that hit points reflect more than ability to take damage. They are abstract and are also indicators of luck, fatigue, and skill. The old man may know enough to roll with a blow from numerous minor scuffles and thus may escape with a bruise.

 

[tarchon]

[nerd]
I also rule that elves and other long lived races gain less after they get to be around a 100 because their nerve cells can heal better than a human's (our brains only get worse, we never repair neural tissue). The advantage [/nerd]

Recent findings have called that long-held belief into question, see for example http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/living/dailynews/brain0725.html.

 

[Claude Raines]

This brings me to asking everyone what they think about NPC levels.

Sean K. Reynolds has a good article addressing this topic.
You can find it here.

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

This subject came up a couple of months ago which lead me to write This Thread in the Rogues Gallery Forum

 

[alsih2o]

kuhlun de woad

itinerant potter:

kuhlun travels the countryside every season. outside of several towns in a predictable circuit kuhlun and his sons barter off their wares to a local lord to set up a kilnsite on low yeild farmland. after finding a suitable location they scout for clay(often needing help from local adventurers when they run into baddies when far afeild). after a decent supply of clay is found the set about collecting wood and building a kiln.

kuhlun digs the clay and has it blessed by a local preist befoe setting his wife and daughters to coiling functional wares for the local community. after the wares are built and have sun dried kuhlun and his 3 sons set about fring them in a large woodburnign kiln. the kiln sets out huge amounts of smoke across the countryside for 4-6 days on end, after the smoke ends the locals gather to aquire the pots as they are removed from the kiln.

kuhlun and his family can produce 1500-2000 pots in any one location and then set out on the road again to the next town, completing a cycle of town every 4 years, when they are needed again. since he mostly barters for his wares kuhlun usually has little money, but is well stocked on all manner of foodstuffs and goods. as a contributor to each town he is a valued visitor, and his approach is greeted as a good sign.

kuhlun has 10 ranks in craft (pottery) and each of his children has 2 ranks.

the real talent in the group is his wife, who has 12 ranks in the craft skill and 2 in proffession cook.

 

[I'm A Banana]

By the book, commoners gain XP like everyone else. E.G: killin' stuff!

The average commoner may get not one hostile orc or bar brawl in his life. A few of the more dangerous lands could have commoners who are a few levels up (the DMG recommends about LV3 max), and Warriors are likely to be a level or two above your average farmer.

The XP systems for living year-by-year work, they just tend to make the local old lady pretty mighty. If ya like tough commoners, it's good. I tend to like my commoners to be pretty common, though.