NPCs can vary in 4e. Full on statblocks are most often idiosyncratic monster math and full monster role ones, but there are plenty of monsters designed on class concepts and NPCs described as classed individuals.
I lost sight of this thread, so answering late. I absolutely would not use the Halruaa numbers for Thay. Thay has a higher concentration of wizards than most places, but it still has Tharchions(governors) that aren't wizards and as a Magocracy, Thay would easily be able to fill all positions of power with wizards if they had Halruaan numbers.
Yeah I just mentioned that as pointing out that Nentir Vale functions without taking the abilities of players into account, it's not like we have to extrapolate how the magic system would affect the Vale quite the same way as other settings, where we have to wonder about the ramifications of a spell like, oh, I don't know, how about Fabricate on society.
The Zulkirs were all wizards and rules Thay. Under the Zulkirs were the Tharchions which were the local governors. Some of those were not wizards. All of them would have been had the wizards in Thay been anywhere near as numerous as Halruaa.
Right. All the big world changing effects are basically gone or gated behind massive gold expenditure. PCs can drop fireballs on the regular, but they can’t wish for things once a day as an action.
I do think the setting sometimes underplays how much rituals would impact society, but I'm okay with it since it's a region that is still rebuilding from a massive collapse of an empire that did use such things more regularly.
