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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hellcow" data-source="post: 1807272" data-attributes="member: 15800">*shrug* Stone Dog has hit it on the head. Jaela is the highest-level good cleric on Khorvaire, and if she ever leaves Flamekeep she's only 3rd level. Not to mention, as she's a child her physical stats suck, and as Stone Dog suggests, she's got a nation to run. Oalian is a 20th level druid, but he really doesn't like to move, and when it comes down to it he's Neutral -- so he doesn't much care about a war between Darguun and Breland. The goal was never to avoid high-level NPCs completely; it was to make sure that the PCs have the potential to be the heroes of the world. By the time you're 12th-level you should have a considerable reputation, and as you approach 20th the bards should be singing of your exploits. When the Tarrasque does come to Thrane, Jaela will be calling you, because she can't leave Flamekeep to deal with it. And all the 17th-level commoners in Khorvaire together aren't going to have much luck against it!As for 17th-level commoners, it's one of those weird things that's supported by the DMG demographics tables but can be hard to wrap your brain around. If the commoner splits skill ranks they aren't that impressive; even at 17th level you're only talking about 40 skill points, not that much more than a 1st-level rogue. The issue is that if they focus on just two skills, they get that impessive +20 modifier. Demographics implied that there were some high level commoners in Sharn, and I thought that we ought to call them out, because if you've got +20 ranks you should be well known; my thought was that the main way to get that good at something is by spending centuries working at it, which is why she's an elf. As to how they get the experience, I just don't apply experience rules to NPCs. I don't feel that the village blacksmith should become a better blacksmith by beaning a few goblins with his hammer. Likewise, I'm perfectly willing to say that most commoners never will advance above 5th level, whatever they do. Personally, the experience system -- with the associated potential to jump up levels in a ridiculously short span of time -- is something I reserve for PCs, as the heroes of the story. Personally, I prefer the idea that the cook has a +20 modifier because she spent 300 years cooking than because she killed 536,210 goblins (though I'd advise you to avoid her "Soylent Gob" special...). But with all that said, I think Mike's idea is the only logical answer! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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