Commoners as Adventurers: Possible?

[WSmith]

If you can ever get it in either print or ESD from WotC, I highly recomend N4 Treasure Hunt. It is an introductory adventure for 1e (yet easily converted) and IMO one of the most helpful novice aids ever printed for the game line. It is no ToEE or ToH, but it is well designed for its purpose.

All the players start with characters that are 0 level. They become lost on a ship in a storm to start. The adventure takes them up to 1st level, where they choose their class.

While we are on the subject, (if anyone thinks this is straying from the topic let me know and I will bust it out to its own thread) does anyone else miss 0 level NPCs? With the exception of the warrior, I have come to wish all others were not actually classed. I just haven't found a way to make it work in 3e, where the blacksmith is a 0 lvl but might have skills in Craft (weaponsmithing), etc, based in his his years of experience doing such. I would rather have a template for barkeeps, shop owners, armorers, and such where they get X amount of Y skills, that increase with time, not level, (which essentially can be the same thing, but I don't think they really need an increase in HP or feats, just skills, and 1pt ability increase every so often.

But, enough of that. Yes, players can play commoners, and with the right DM, it could be a success.

 

[hong]

I'm not saying it can't work with D&D. I just don't see the point in trying to force D&D to do it, when other games handle it better.

True.

Nah, it's not the same thing at all. 1st level D&D characters are very, very competent - they Power Attack, they cast spells...it's just not the same.

Heh. Power Attack is useless at 1st level. Even spells aren't that great; they may get you out of a couple of scrapes, but that's about it.

A 1st level PC-class character is one step up from a 1st level NPC-class character, but that step isn't very large. One hit from an orc with a greataxe will take out either of them.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'm thinking of it. I'm even making "requirements" for the PC classes that the NPC-classed PC's (there's an interesting use of letters) will have to meet to gain. So a Bard, for instance, will have a different requirement than a Wizard, who will be different from a Fighter, who will be different from a Rogue.

 

[Victim]

First level characters are already pretty crappy. Sure, they have a significant edge on the average peasent, but not much. Compared to many of the threats in the world, they're insignificant. If they meet a dragon, it would have to be careful not sneeze or cough, else the people it's talking to would mysteriously disappear.

At first level, stats are going to make more a difference than class. A 28 point buy commoner would have a decent chance against 15 point fighter.

If you want to intimidate really low level characters, take away their stats, not their class.

 

[mmadsen]

Really, at first level, the thing that's going to hurt "nobodies" the most is their lack of Hit Points -- especially since there won't be a wall of Fighters, Barbarians, Rangers, and Paladins between them and the monsters. Using a Wound/Vitality system, or any system that gives more Hit Points at first level, could go a long way here.

The next thing that'll hurt them is a lack of arms & armor (including the inability to really use it even if they get ahold of it). Actually, Simple weapons aren't that bad, but Light armor and no shield is a bad idea in combat -- at least when you have four or six Hit Points and no magical protection.

Of course, if you focus on mystery, the PCs can be just as competent as Fighters, and the looming threat of combat should keep them nervous. If they're set up with a magical or silvered blade, they can stop the evil Wizard's summoned fiend where the town guards can't. (Of course, in a medieval village, the town guards are just commoners with a shield and spear...)

 

[BrooklynKnight]

No they would be Warriors or Experts.

 

[Mordax_sighs]

Hong:

Heh. Power Attack is useless at 1st level. Even spells aren't that great; they may get you out of a couple of scrapes, but that's about it.

A 1st level PC-class character is one step up from a 1st level NPC-class character, but that step isn't very large. One hit from an orc with a greataxe will take out either of them.

I've played 1st level characters, and I've played commoners. They're nothing alike.

If you don't understand the difference, I recommend trying a real commoner game. It's quite a kick, knowing that not only are you not badass...you never will be.

(If it doesn't appeal, lemme put it this way: when I got access to Magic Missile, we retired our characters. )

Victim:

At first level, stats are going to make more a difference than class. A 28 point buy commoner would have a decent chance against 15 point fighter.

This is a good point. I'd recommend a 22 point buy or less, for Commoner types.

 

[hong]

If you don't understand the difference, I recommend trying a real commoner game. It's quite a kick, knowing that not only are you not badass...you never will be.

It depends on what you mean by "badass". A 10th level commoner stands a pretty good chance of kicking a 1st level fighter's butt.

You also have a rather odd definition of "kick".

 

[mmadsen]

I've played 1st level characters, and I've played commoners. They're nothing alike.

If you don't understand the difference, I recommend trying a real commoner game. It's quite a kick, knowing that not only are you not badass...you never will be.

(If it doesn't appeal, lemme put it this way: when I got access to Magic Missile, we retired our characters.)

This make a good point. If you change your expectations, you can use an entirely different power scale to the same effect as D&D's standard grandiose power scale. After all, if the PCs never encounter high-CR creatures or high-level human opponents, what's to say that a Com1/Wiz3 isn't a force to be reckoned with? Especially with his Com1/Ftr2 bodyguard -- with a full hauberk of mail and a masterwork longsword!

 

[Rune]

In one of the campaigns I'm planning on running this summer (Kingdoms of Kalamar in The Dream--a good mix of verisimilitude and surrealism!), I'm going to allow the players to start out either,

a) at first level, with one core PC class (to be retooled, later, if desired, when I get the Kalamar Player's Handbook).

b) at second level, with one core PC class and one NPC class (again, to be retooled later, if desired, but without losing the NPC class level).

or

c) at third level, with one core PC class and two levels of the Commoner class (again, to be retooled later, if desired, but without losing the Commoner levels).

This should allow for a wider variety of starting concepts. For instance, one of my players will be playing a blind 60 year old Fhokki Barbarian (with a scythe!). He'll be starting with 2 levels of Commoner.

We'll see how it turns out!

[edit - Great thread topic, by the way!]