D&D 4E Demographics in 4E D&D

[Plane Sailing]

My demographics tend to be primarily story-driven.

i.e. there is an NPC of the appropriate level that there needs to be for the needs of plot.

I've not played or run Forgotten Realms, so I can't speak to that, but I like the Eberron setup where all the high level people died in the wars, and a cosmological wrinkle means that you can't just true resurrect them because their souls have departed the plane of the dead (Dolurrh) and gone "beyond".

I didn't like the 3e DMG demographics, and I sort of calculated expected xp gained per year for different social classes, giving me an 'expected level for a given age'. I don't know how that would work if they don't include NPC classes, but then I don't know how they are going to do NPCs - they've probably got something sorted out to allow easy master blacksmiths and knowledgable sages without having the latter able to shrug off fireballs

 

[kennew142]

My 3e campaigns have always had more NPCs in the 2-4 level range than the demographics in the DMG suggested, but had few at the middle and upper levels. I was pretty free with levels 2-4 for NPCs with some work or life experience, but I eschewed anything resembling an xp per year formula. I know too many folks (middle-aged or older) whom I would term 1st level commoners. Not everyone experiences personal growth every year (or even every decade).

In 4e, I expect that the demographics will be roughly the same as in 3e for NPCs with heroic classes. I am hoping that leveled commoners and experts are a thing of the past.