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Message: <blockquote data-quote="drnuncheon" data-source="post: 381354" data-attributes="member: 96">I'm not sure you can make that jump, first of all - from 'everyone has 12 skill points' to 'everyone has education', I mean.The average human peasant isn't going to be able to put skill points into most Crafts or Professions because the DM says "no, you don't have anyone to teach you that"."Why can't I ask Joe the Blacksmith to teach me?""Because he's teaching his son, and he doesn't want competition."So most people are going to practice the trade of their fathers, and the people who aren't lucky enough to get into that kind of apprenticeship for whatever reason have to spend their points elsewhere.Remember, they don't get to optimize.  Opportunity is part of it too.Laborer, porter - what else would they mean by "unskilled labor"?  "You go over there, lift heavy thing, carry it over here."  Note that any profession that requires any degree of skill earns more.That's assuming that the 3d6 method is how people really are distributed rather than a convenient way to make stats quickly.But yeah, a commoner could have an 18 strength.  He'd be a real asset on the farm, or a great unskilled laborer.  Without someone to teach him how to fight, he's never going to even become a warrior, let alone a fighter.  Even if he had an 18 intelligence, the spellbook fairy isn't going to show up one day and say "Just look at your stats! You're optimized for being a wizard! Here you go!"It's about opportunity just as much - if not more than - your raw talent.Most first level commoners don't do well on adventures. They tend to die off quickly.  The other first level commoners see this, and decide that their lives are better spent in abject poverty as opposed to 6 feet under.If a PC is from a poor peasant family, I will want to know how he got that shiny new greatsword and mail hauberk.  Heck, I'll want to know how they learned to be a fighter.  But then, I'm all in favor of, y'know, roleplaying and stuff.Remember when I said it was about opportunity as much as talent?  That's what makes the PCs special.  They got the opportunity.  Why the PCs? Because 'Dirt Farming & Dunghills' won't sell books.  (Fans of the PS2 game Harvest Moon, my apologies.)J</blockquote>

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