Level of competency via Skill Ranks

[Aaron L]

A first level expert with 4 ranks in a craft, and (assuming hes been trained in something hes got some natural aptitide in) a +2 from ability mods. And lets say hes dedicated and put a feat into skill focus. Thats +9. Now apprenticeship is learning, so that would be ranks 1-4, til youre a full 1st level fully trained grown up. Crothian got it right, NPCs level just like PCs, they just dont go out and kill dragons. They face thier own challenges and gain XP from that. Killing dragons is a faster way to gain XP than meeting hard deadlines (or struggling through a hard winter, or working thier way through a personal tragedy, or whatever; a callenge is a challenge and makes you grow as a person, IE XP) and a well trained individual with some years is going to have some levels on them. Sean K. Reynolds wrote a great NPC level-to-age guide somewhere, I'm going to go sss if I can find it.


OK found it, here it is. Brilliant little thing. http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/misc/theoryaboutpeasants.html


This isnt 1E where everyone who isnt a fighter or a wizard is a 0 level moron. And if you have a problem with high level blacksmiths having lots of hit points, well.... dont give them to them.

 

[Mark CMG]

heh heh Kamikaze Midget has a mount. heh heh


Yeah, +1 to +4, +5 to +9, +10 and above is a good baseline, with some exceptions for early mastery by someone with an exceptional ability score or an item that gives them a bonus handed down through the family or such.

 

[LostSoul]

And DCs can be higher then 20, and a Master can deal with them. I think too many people are stuck in low level mode, the game goes higher then level 5 why not let the NPCs do the same?

If the DCs are higher than 20, that's what he's got apprentices for. Aid another. And his tools (which he makes himself, once he's got the cash) give him another +2. That's +12 to +14. Give him a 12 Int and he's got +15. What can't he make now?

Why do master blacksmiths need to have a +7 BAB and 15d4 hit dice?

 

[Afrodyte]

I agree with Crothian. I personally could care less about limiting an NPC's BAB, saves, and HP. However, if a character can have up to 23 levels of a class skill, limiting things to bonuses or to so few ranks seems very awkward. It's easy to keep things on the low end when you're only talking about NPC tradesmen. However, if you want to include PCs or the people who teach said PCs what they know, going beyond that is crucial. After all, even the NPC classes go from 1st to 20th level. Why limit things to the first 5 or so levels?

Anyway, the last time someone asked a related question, I came up with a scheme like this:

Untrained: 0 ranks
Novice: 1 to 5 ranks
Seasoned: 6 to 10 ranks
Expert: 11 to 15 ranks
Master: 16 to 20 ranks
Legend: above 20 ranks

With skills defined like this, neither rolling nor taking 10 is needed to ensure success. It's pretty ho-hum when talking about NPC blacksmiths, but if a PC happens to be a wizard who has a lot of item creation feats, completely dispensing with the need to make a roll can come in handy. Or, if rolling exceptionally well actually has an impact on the quality of the product beyond success or failure.