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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 9276811" data-attributes="member: 2067">I think this does vary between editions and even campaigns. One of Eberron's impactful design elements was that there aren't high-level NPC's, for instance (contrasting your Elminsters and your Mordenkainens). While in AD&amp;D, mid-level spellcasters are common enough in general that you can pay to have a spell cast on your behalf.&nbsp; And 5e would not define those NPC's using class at all, really - a Captain of the Town Watch might be CR 5, but she wouldn't be a 5th level Fighter (probably), so your PC fighter wouldn't really compare notes on specific abilities. If you want to build your thieves' guild with level 1-2 rogues and your apprentice wizards with level 1-2 wizards, that does make low-level PC's feel much more &quot;a part of the world&quot; than exceptional to it, though they may be exceptional in other ways (higher stats? PC-specific mechanics like feats?). The major barrier to that I see is that there's a lot of complexity in building PC's that there isn't with an NPC statblock, which is why most editions (all except 3e, I think?) prefer that approach. An NPC thief doesn't need [Rogue] class levels. The captain of the town watch needn't be a [Fighter]. But if what you want to do is set the PC's within a setting as part of that setting, that's an effective way to do it!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 9276811, member: 2067"] I think this does vary between editions and even campaigns. One of Eberron's impactful design elements was that there aren't high-level NPC's, for instance (contrasting your Elminsters and your Mordenkainens). While in AD&D, mid-level spellcasters are common enough in general that you can pay to have a spell cast on your behalf. And 5e would not define those NPC's using class at all, really - a Captain of the Town Watch might be CR 5, but she wouldn't be a 5th level Fighter (probably), so your PC fighter wouldn't really compare notes on specific abilities. If you want to build your thieves' guild with level 1-2 rogues and your apprentice wizards with level 1-2 wizards, that does make low-level PC's feel much more "a part of the world" than exceptional to it, though they may be exceptional in other ways (higher stats? PC-specific mechanics like feats?). The major barrier to that I see is that there's a lot of complexity in building PC's that there isn't with an NPC statblock, which is why most editions (all except 3e, I think?) prefer that approach. An NPC [B]thief [/B]doesn't need [Rogue] class levels. The [B]captain of the town watch [/B]needn't be a [Fighter]. But if what you want to do is set the PC's within a setting as part of that setting, that's an effective way to do it! [/QUOTE]

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