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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silveras" data-source="post: 1592353" data-attributes="member: 6271">Actually, it is not representative of much other than 'how big a town do we need to get to if we want to spend X gp or have spell Y cast ?'. The demographics in the DMG include only "normal residents" (a term that remains rather loose) -- the DM is free to plunk down a whole monastery of monks, with any distribution of levels s/he sees fit, in addition to what the tables say. Also, since Prestige Classes are an optional part of the game, they are not included in the tables. If they were, I doubt that you would see them reducing the numbers of other classes; I expect they would be in addition to the "normal" Clerics, Druids, etc. Well, 1% of the number was classed AT ALL, the remainder being "0-level" non-combatants and generic soldiers. That model does not work as well in a game where the residents are ALL some sort of class with multiple HD. PC Classes remain the minority, the specialists and outstanding talented individuals of their times and communities.  Honestly, I think it is an exercise in frustration and futility to try to make a sensible demographic rule out of D&D. D&D is a game; it has needs that are as often dictated by "play balance". Demographics joins Economics and Physics as analyses that it is often more trouble than it is worth to try to use in the game. That is not to say don't tinker ... I do, myself. I am just saying "don't agonize over it". FWIW, I have revised the tables for communities to reflect cultural and racial trends in my homebrew world. Each area gets a different set of dice rolls; some classes are eliminated entirely, and others get bigger dice rolls than the DMG tables. I also use the alternate demographics in A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe (2x as many at level -2, instead at 1/2 the level).</blockquote>

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