On Income and Levels of the General Population

[Legend]

The party I DM for has recently started a shipping business in a big city, and I'm finding that the ecenomy as a whole is becoming increasingly relevant to the internal consistency of my game. Because of this, I'm trying to figure out exactly how much it costs to live in a world such as mine (early rennaissance, with magic superceding gunpowder).

The information I've gathered so far is as follows:

* A level 1 commoner with the Craft or Profession skill and a 10 or 11 in their relevant ability would pull in an average of 7 gp per week (avg check of 14, divided by 2).
* An unskilled laborer with no Craft or Profession skills makes about a sp per day, or 7 sp per week. I'd assume this person would be a peasant.

I'm wondering several things:

What proportion of the population is of a level higher than 1? If someone's been a shoemaker for 20 years, does he pick up a few levels (and a few more skill points)?

What about adventurers? I've always had a bit of a problem with easy treasure... seems like if all somebody had to do was hack up a couple of goblins to get their hands on 500 gold pieces, people would do it all the time, and the easy treasure would dissappear. Is there any sort of guideline for what proportion of people ever reach a certain level? I'd imagine that adventuring becomes orders of magnitude more lucrative as you become more powerful. How much would, say, a 5th level adventurer bring in, as compared to a 10th level or 20th level one?

I suppose I'll eventually just have to arbitrarily decide on these things, but I'm wondering if anyone can offer any insight that will help me arrive at some numbers that will hold up to scrutiny.

Thanks,
Legend

 

[LGodamus]

I am probably in the minority....I usually only let PCs and "special" NPCs gain many levels.......95% of any NPC that doesnt have a PC class will be first to third level and no one without a PC class will have more than 5 levels.

 

[CRGreathouse]

In my campaign, about 98% of the population is first level, with most of the remainder second level. In well-off lands (rich soil, many natural resources, etc.) the median income is around 25 cp/day; in regions of poor climate and resources, perhaps 7 cp/day.

Generally, the people are poor and weak. Then again, my PCs (now 8th level) complain the same is true of them... "Ain't no goblins guarding 500 gp!"

 

[Wrath of the Swarm]

I've posted it before, and I'll post it again:

Sean K. Reynolds' A Theory About Peasants

 

[Abisashi]

I've posted it before, and I'll post it again:

Thanks for posting that, I found it very helpful.

On the original question, the DMG has guidelines on how many NPCs of what level can be found in a city. I think it is in the world building chapter.

 

[Silveras]

Thanks for posting that, I found it very helpful.

On the original question, the DMG has guidelines on how many NPCs of what level can be found in a city. I think it is in the world building chapter.

Yes, I have also found it useful.

And, although the DMG has rules for the NPCs in a settlement, I consider those the "generic" version (i.e., suitable for "anyworld, anytime"), and have tinkered with them a bit.

Changing the die roll, for example, lets you make some classes more or less significant. Reducing the number of die rolls can make them less plentiful, too. To achieve a low-magic world (in the sense that 'magic is potent but rare' as opposed to 'magic is weak but readily available'), reduce the number of die rolls for spellcasting classes by 1. Suddenly, every small village doesn't have "at least one spellcaster". Or, if you want to make magic more plentiful... add 1 to the number of rolls.

I find this method works well to help me differentiate the cultures of my world. A religious people tend to have more divine spellcasters than "normal"; a barbarian people tend to have fewer arcane spellcasters.

You should also look at the Upkeep variant. This should give you an idea of the costs for varying standards of living. Some DMs (myself included) feel that these numbers represent what an "outsider" would pay; remember that most of the rural communities are sets of "insiders", who probably pay less -- also, they use barter instead of cash.

In one of my recent campaigns, the early adventures featured Orc raiders driving off livestock to a secure location. The 500 gp guarded by those goblins might be in the form of some oxen and a box of rare spices from a foreign land.

If your party is also in the habit of collecting and selling the weapons from defeated foes, you should count that as part of the treasure.

And, of course, use the Community's price cap from the DMG. Just as the PCs can't buy anything over X gp in a settlement, they probably can't find a buyer for anything over that price, either.

Also, you may want to check out A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe from Expeditious Retreat Press. While the model is very much Western Europe, the Manor material provides a good deal of guidelines on how income is earned among the nobility, etc. Also, there is an "Economic Simulator" chapter that discusses buying and selling individual items in a medieval world. It will not help much with the "big picture" economy, but it may give you some ideas.