My own take on armies is that most conscript armies start out being composed of Com 1, Com 2, Com 3, Exp 1, Exp 2, Exp 3, and War 1s.
After they've got a bit of experience and training under their belt, they are often:
Com 1/War 1, Com 2/War 1, Com 3/War 1, Exp 1/War 1, Exp 2/War 1, Exp 3/War 1, and War 2 or 3s.
An elite group of soldiers that has either seen several campaigns of seen a lot of training and a couple campaigns might be:
Ftr 2-Ftr 4, War 4-5, or Com 2/War 3-4, or even Com 1/Ftr 4s.
The career soldiers who have been fighting their whole lives might make it up to Ftr 7 or Ftr 8 before retiring but that's fairly unusual and requires a lot of dedication.
Nobles and leaders are often multiclassed aristocrat/fighters. So it would not be unheard of for a group of soldiers to be led by an accomplished warrior and duellist who was something like Ftr 8/Ari 3. However, Ari 2-6 and Ftr 2/Ari4, etc are more common.
That said, I don't base this on the idea that doing it the other way makes NPCs too weak. I base this primarily on the idea that NPCs gain experience and levels too--just at a (typcically) slower rate than PCs. If you go into a village in my world, you'll find a lot of Com 1, Exp 1, and Ari 1 characters but most of them are apprentices and teenagers. People in their mid 20's will more typically be between 2nd and 4th level (often with a level of warriors from when they were conscripted to fight in the king's army) and people in their forties will often be 5th or 7th level. Of course, since their feats and skills are optimized for farming, many of their levels are commoner, their hit points were never maximum for their level, their stats are 15-22 point buy, their equipment is cheap (generally leather or studded leather and a spear, crossbow, handaxe, or something like that--common folk don't have a lot of money and don't want to spend any more of it than they have to on arms and armor they will rarely use), and they don't generally have the right mindset, first and second level adventurers still have the chance to be heroes.
A PC ftr 1 typically has an AC of 17-18, +4-+5 to hit with his longsword for 1d8+2 or +3 damage, and 12 hit points, and can power attack and cleave. An NPC com 3/War 1 typically has an AC from 12-14, +2-+3 to hit with his spear or axe for 1d6-1d8 damage, about 12 hit points (average), and can tell when the merchant is trying to fleece him (skill focus: sense motive), when his daughter is sneaking out at night (alertness), when it's time to bring the crops in (skill focus: profession farmer), and is good at haggling in the market (negotiator). He might replace one of those with Endurance (from his army days), skill focus: Survival (lets him know what the weather's going to be like and helps him shoot rabbits to supplement his diet), Rapid Reload (if he was in the crossbow corps), or Combat Reflexes (if he used a longspear in the army). However, even if the middle aged NPC has a few combat feats up his sleeve, the first level fighter is still better suited for facing the rigors of adventuring.
Gort said:
Am I the only one who thinks that the "common soldiers should be commoners or 1st level warriors" thing makes for incredibly weak armies, utterly dependent on heroes to save them at every turn?
I prefer to make soldiers 3rd level fighters, veterans around 5th, knights around 6th, and veteran knights any level they like.
That way, a kingdom can actually protect itself with its army every once in a while.
