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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6196082" data-attributes="member: 4937">In practice, rather than in theory, how many of the NPC's that the PC's meet are actually of NPC class?   In my case, my guess is over 30%, and I wouldn't be surprised if I'm on the low end.I used to give that sort of stock answer out of the 1e DMG answer too back in say the early 90's.  But I jumped into a FR campaign and initially got shocked by the fact that in the FR there are whole armies of 4th level, 5th level, and even 6th level fighters.  Average people are assumed to not be 1st level in any of the FR's published materials.   You'll hardly ever fight an entry for a 0th level fighter and 1st level fighters are probably in the minority.   Now, I never did quite accept the FR's standard that the average barman is a retired 10th level fighter, but it did make me stop and question my unreflected upon assumptions.One thing that I realized on reflection was that even though I had this theory that everyone out there was largely 0th level fighters (commoners in 3e terms), I didn't put it into practice.   In practice, the majority of NPCs were classed and leveled because I needed them to be somewhat minimally competent.   The world just made more sense if there was a slightly better background level of competence that kept average people from being eaten by wolves and kept average orcs raiders somewhat in check.   And when I consider that, I realized not even Gygax was actually following his own implied demographics.   His world was chock full of leveled individuals of often quite high level meant to be foils and rivals of the PC's.  Even his urban wandering encounter table in the 1e DMG churns out 10th level characters quite regularly.   The Village of Hommlet is likewise people with many more classed and leveled individuals than your 1% estimation would predict, with the actual most full practical implementation of Gygaxian demographics yielding 5-10% of persons of PC class or equivalent with several being quite capable.I think we can easily presume that had their been a monastery in the area, more than 1% of the population would have been monks of at least 1st level.As for why care, beyond the world building interest of demographics, I've actually had the question of how many NPCs can be trained to PC class come up in game.  If players become Lords with land and subjects in their own right, then they'll eventually probably see the need of levies and corvee, and if levies then militia, and if militia then standing armies for the purposes of protecting their vassals and serfs particularly when bad things happen while they are off on some deed of errantry.  Indeed, I've seen it progress in game as far as establishing military academies for the training of officers.   And you'll find that they take a very keen interest in these questions for perfectly understandable reasons, and as a DM, I am of the sort that - having never considered the question before that point - also wants to apply to the PC's neighbors that same systematic approach so that rather than hand waving what the militia or army of Baron Bad of Overhill or the Mufti of Fooville is like, I can derive it from what I've stated or established about his desmanse in the interest of impartiality.</blockquote>

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