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<blockquote data-quote="Cleon" data-source="post: 6270949" data-attributes="member: 57383">Not quite.In First Edition AD&amp;D a 0-level mercenary soldier in has 4-7 hit points (Dungeon Master's Guide, page 30), while a commoner or bandit only has 1-6 hit points (Monster Manual, page 66-69).So, a rank-and-file soldier in 1E AD&amp;D has got significantly more &quot;staying power&quot; than a peasant. They both use the 0-level attack table, but the soldier can usually take a single blow from a club, arrow, or spear and keep on fighting.In Second Edition, human mercenaries have 2-8 hit points, and both soldiers and commoners have 1-6 hit points (Monstrous Manual, page 196). They all have the same poor attack value (THAC0 20) but the trained warriors have Steady (10-12) morale, one better than the Average (8-10) morale of an ordinary human.So, in 2E the difference is negligible - assuming that a peasant or merchant can wear armour like a soldier can. As there's no weapon &amp; armour proficiencies listed for 2E peasants that's not necessarily a given.This reminds me. There's a hilarious typo in the 2E Monstrous Compendium Volume One ('Men' entry) which lists human soldiers as having 1 hp each.At least, I assume it's a typo. Either that or the evil overlords would be better off deploying legions of house cats...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Cleon, post: 6270949, member: 57383"] Not quite. In First Edition AD&D a 0-level mercenary soldier in has 4-7 hit points ([I]Dungeon Master's Guide[/I], page 30), while a commoner or bandit only has 1-6 hit points ([I]Monster Manual[/I], page 66-69). So, a rank-and-file soldier in 1E AD&D has got significantly more "staying power" than a peasant. They both use the 0-level attack table, but the soldier can usually take a single blow from a club, arrow, or spear and keep on fighting. In Second Edition, human mercenaries have 2-8 hit points, and both soldiers and commoners have 1-6 hit points ([I]Monstrous Manual[/I], page 196). They all have the same poor attack value (THAC0 20) but the trained warriors have Steady (10-12) morale, one better than the Average (8-10) morale of an ordinary human. So, in 2E the difference is negligible - assuming that a peasant or merchant can wear armour like a soldier can. As there's no weapon & armour proficiencies listed for 2E peasants that's not necessarily a given. This reminds me. There's a hilarious typo in the 2E [I]Monstrous Compendium Volume One[/I] ('Men' entry) which lists human soldiers [B][I]as having 1 hp each[/I][/B]. At least, I assume it's a typo. Either that or the evil overlords would be better off deploying legions of house cats... [/QUOTE]

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