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Vanilla Essence: 1E Demographics and the Implied Setting
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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 4833286" data-attributes="member: 463"><p>SL - The DMG Town Encounter table is intended to provide exciting city encounters for D&D's core level range. In terms of demographics, the highest level NPCs on it - around 12th level - are likely to be the most powerful people in the city. You see similar from the Random Fortress table, albeit it's intended for 'Wilderness' fortresses beyond the Threshold (making up 1 in 20 random Wilderness encounters), not castles within the mundane civilised world. Its Fortress rulers are typically 9th-12th level, up to 14th for some classes.</p><p></p><p>However you are right that that 1% figure is for 'heroic', PC-type NPCs, who can gain XP and advance as PCs. It does not include fixed-level NPCs like mercenaries and sages. It probably doesn't include the leader-type NPCs in the Men section of the MM, like Pirate Chiefs (although again those are Wilderness encounters, you don't expect to battle 20-200 Bandits + Leaders while travelling the roads of Furyondy, unless the DM is very mean).</p><p></p><p>You also need to take account that cities are power centres for a wide area; a rural population around 20 times that of the city. A city of 30,000 will likely hold most of the highest level NPCs from a rural hinterland (including market towns) of around 600,000 - in Greyhawk; in the real middle ages it'd typically be 3 million to 6 million+, but Greyhawk population figures are all very low, as has been noted. </p><p></p><p>Thus, when the PCs walk through the city and the GM rolls up an encounter with a 12th level high priest, that may well be the highest level Cleric in a population of hundreds of thousands of people.</p><p></p><p>A final point - the 1/2 ratio is for levels up to name level. After name level the 1e XP curve flattens out and the ratio becomes more like 3/2, per the 1983 Greyhawk set. Actually at the highest levels it gets more like 1/1 as progression increases rapidly while lethality declines; that's how you get 29th level Arch-Mages.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 4833286, member: 463"] SL - The DMG Town Encounter table is intended to provide exciting city encounters for D&D's core level range. In terms of demographics, the highest level NPCs on it - around 12th level - are likely to be the most powerful people in the city. You see similar from the Random Fortress table, albeit it's intended for 'Wilderness' fortresses beyond the Threshold (making up 1 in 20 random Wilderness encounters), not castles within the mundane civilised world. Its Fortress rulers are typically 9th-12th level, up to 14th for some classes. However you are right that that 1% figure is for 'heroic', PC-type NPCs, who can gain XP and advance as PCs. It does not include fixed-level NPCs like mercenaries and sages. It probably doesn't include the leader-type NPCs in the Men section of the MM, like Pirate Chiefs (although again those are Wilderness encounters, you don't expect to battle 20-200 Bandits + Leaders while travelling the roads of Furyondy, unless the DM is very mean). You also need to take account that cities are power centres for a wide area; a rural population around 20 times that of the city. A city of 30,000 will likely hold most of the highest level NPCs from a rural hinterland (including market towns) of around 600,000 - in Greyhawk; in the real middle ages it'd typically be 3 million to 6 million+, but Greyhawk population figures are all very low, as has been noted. Thus, when the PCs walk through the city and the GM rolls up an encounter with a 12th level high priest, that may well be the highest level Cleric in a population of hundreds of thousands of people. A final point - the 1/2 ratio is for levels up to name level. After name level the 1e XP curve flattens out and the ratio becomes more like 3/2, per the 1983 Greyhawk set. Actually at the highest levels it gets more like 1/1 as progression increases rapidly while lethality declines; that's how you get 29th level Arch-Mages. [/QUOTE]
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