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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 464599" data-attributes="member: 2067">Hoo boy...I was going to respond to this thread long ago, but it's just gotten....blargh...Look, by-the-book, the DMG says that NPC's gain XP for the same things that PC's do -- overcoming challenging encounters.Now, by-the-book, basically the only challenging encounters are those that threaten your life with other creatures involved. Maybe the occasional trap or something, but the PC's don't gain XP for, say, buildling a house or something. So, NPC's don't, either. The DMG also doesn't award "down time XP" for surviving day-to-day hazards and activities, to PC's or NPC's. If the PC's take up farming for a year, they don't get XP for it. So, neither do NPC's. The PC's don't get XP for surviving harsh weather or starvation -- neither to the NPC's (neither environmental hazards or starvation have Encouter Levels or Challenge Ratings, so no XP awards are assigned to them, by-the-book).This is all assuming you're following what the DMG says, so far. Let's pretend we're not using the commonly accepted variant rules, because the DMG didn't...So, then, most commoners wouldn't be above 1st level. A few, if on the fringes of society, having to fight off the occasional orc or ankheg, might be a level or two higher. If the commoner was in a fairly well-protected, quiet area, they're basically 1st level, perhaps 2nd for some woodsman or something. The reason being that commoners don't get in a whole lot of life-threatening encounters with CR's and EL's and stuff that you get XP for.1st level commoners, experts, aristocrats, and adepts are still fairly competent individuals, full-fledged adults in the real world. They can be decent architechts and builders -- it's not like you have to be 5th level to build a house or something. Just spend a few ranks in Craft (carpentry) or Profession (housebuilder) or something, and you're good to go.Higher level commoners represent those that are on the edges of society, where it is dangerous and brutal. Perhaps they are settlers in orc lands, or thugs from the inner city. Either way, they have had encounters with things with CR's and EL's, and probably a good many of them -- enough to bump them up a level or two.The reason that higher-level commoners and such can exist is for some semblance of realism. In theory, someone who never trained as a fighter or a barbarian or whatever could never gain levels in one of those classes, having never experienced the trianing to go there. So, they'd be stuck as, say, an Expert, despite gaining millions of XP -- simply because no one exists to show them how to be a Rogue, or they have no interest in the other class's powers.There ya go. The DMG's ruling and reasoning on it.IMHO, giving XP  beyond this to commoners creates some bizarre situations. ("sorry, you want to play someone who's age 75? That's a +3 ECL for three levels of 'grandpa.'"), and creates some unfair restrictions. ("the campaign is starting at 1st level, so everyone has to be 15!")...it limits the story and age (flavor) by tying a mechanic to it...not a desirable end in my opinion.Not that the reasoning isn't fairly valid. It's just that environmental damage and starvation risk carries no XP award, CR, or EL, by default. So you don't, by defualt, gain XP for simply living from year to year....otherwise, I'd be giving a few XP to my players every time they rested for a week or two....which would mean "We camp until we're higher level" would become something of a norm for a campaign...it's not desirable for me. For many, it may be okay, but I wouldn't accept it as a defualt ruling. I'm quite comfortbale with the first, which allows some odd high-level-ers, but mostly limits it so that by they time they're 5th level, most PC's are certainly a significant cut above the average mook in a dark alleyway. They're truly heroes, and not just nobodies with interesting lives.</blockquote>

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