What Level is a Guardsman?

[Starglim]

edit: What Shades of Green said. Of sufficient level that the number deployed to guard a place can overcome the creatures expected to attack it. If the town or city can't recruit guards of that strength, it would already have been sacked and abandoned.

Towns that don't expect any monsters to attack only need guard details and watch patrols that can arrest a typical citizen (CR less than 1), so 1st level guards and some higher-level leaders might suffice. If monsters live nearby, the place needs guards of a CR no less than, say, 2 below the monsters.

Adventures happen when the balance shifts: the town suffers a disaster or distraction, reducing the numbers of its protectors, or powerful enemies arrive unexpectedly from somewhere else.

 

[Starglim]

I'm not happy with the 1e notion that city guards are just typical soldiers, the medieval equivalent of the WW2 conscript soldier. IRL the small number of permanently employed medieval city guards troops were veteran mercenaries, very well equipped.

Excellent point also. Today's Swiss Guard would not be an unreasonable model for bodyguards to city rulers.

 

[Celebrim]

Town guards or the watch are generally 1st or 2nd level. Officers are usually one level higher than that. They are generally supplemented by trained attack dogs. Most will be fighter or hunter (ranger) classed, though there will be a sprinkling of low level mages in the more literate parts of the world.

Elite soldiers, veterens, and mercenaries are generally 1st-4th level fighters. Officers and knights (or anyone else trained from birth) are usually 1-2 levels higher than that. They are often equipped with horses, though more exotic mounts are not uncommon: hippogriffs and mastadons are particularly common.

For long lived races, add another 1-2 levels to any of the above numbers, though there would be a balancing assumption of fewer numbers.

Compared to PC's of the same level, ordinary soldiers will tend to have much lower stats, completely mundane (though possibly high quality) equipment, and less experience with and comfort dealing with things arcane. Otherwise they can be expected to be pretty compotent, and will know who to go to if they need backup.

Against elite opponents, the real muscle of any town is its named NPC's. These could be up to about 15th level depending on the size of the town, though in most cases 6th level is about the highest you would find in a PC class. Commoners and experts of up to 9th level are pretty common though, although most would be of the little old lady variaty.

Many parts of my world are pretty cosmopolitan. It's entirely possible to find things like ogres, hill giants, zombies, gargoyles, and even djinn acting as town gaurds depending on where you go. Also, notable cities will tend to have magical defences that they rely upon in emergencies, anything from stone golems, to calling up the shades of 100 fallen heroes to defend the city to the ability to summon divine aid from a patron deity who might just choose to show up personally. If you are planning on sacking 'Troy', be prepared for the consequences.

 

[Celebrim]

Actually, that's been an issue since Ultima I.

Didn't bother me then, doesn't bother me now

Bothered me then; bothers me now.

 

[Lokathor]

I split all settlements into 3 main groups: Village, Town, City. "Village" defines most farming communities and minor trade posts (pop 100-1000). "City" is any civilization built up around a teleportation circle (but not a military base, wizard lab, etc). Any place rated as "City" just crawls higher and higher on the City scale until it becomes a techno-magic metropolis that rivals LA or New York. "Town" is all the places in between, the deciding factor being that towns do not have a teleportation circle.

The average Village or Town guard is 3rd level, but a squad (3-5 members) can be of any arbitrary class combination. Squads in Cities are 5th level, and there's one member more than normal (4-6). In a Town or City, a 2nd or 3rd squad can be signaled to arrive on the scene within 1 to 2 minutes. Cities also have higher level guard members in high security areas (based on cityness). If it comes up, assume that the useful guard limit of a settlement is 10% of its total population.

A high Heroic or low Paragon level group could probably destroy a Village in one good go. Not everyone would be dead, but those that got away would have nothing to come back to. Even epic level characters are unlikely to have the endurance to actually destroy a Town on their own.

 

[Nyeshet]

It depends incredibly upon the setting.

Is this a small town deep in a duchy known for few bandits and strong border defense? If so then the town guard likely just deals with the local drunks and the occasional pickpocket. A few 1st level warriors is good enough for most, perhaps lead by a veteran 1st level fighter or 2nd level warrior.

Perhaps it is a small frontier town, well outside of most reaches of civilization, dependent for news and rarer types of supplies upon an annual caravan that pass it while en route to more civilized regions? It will need far better warriors to defend it - from the occasional ogre or other monster, from the kobold or goblin bandits that may form near by, and so forth. Several warriors of perhaps 2nd to 4th level, perhaps even a couple 1st to 2nd level Fighters or Barbarians (or one of each), all lead by a Fighter or Barbarian (or a multi-class of both) of 2nd - 4th level. After all, they need to be able to survive such foes on a semi-regular basis just for the settlement to survive each year. Likely the leader of the warriors is also the chief or headman of the town, and one of the other PC level members of the defense is his son.

A city-state on a bay that has to deal with mercenary troop attacks, pirate raids, and maintaining their independence against a nearby duchy would likely have a small army of perhaps 20 to 50, with most having PC levels (albeit low levels), and the leaders being around level 5 to 8. Likely there will be a wizard and a cleric or two also in service to aid in the offense and defense, although at best each is perhaps around level 4 or 5. The cleric may have one or two 1st level helpers to deal with the less serious injuries and aid the higher level cleric with the more serious injuries. Likely both the wizard and cleric can Brew Potions - and the garrison has its own private (not for sale) stock of many useful (lower level) potions. If the wizard is high enough (5th level), he may have the feats for crafting enhanced arms/armor or wands, although the cost of such will limit just how many have been made. It may be that he has 2 or 3 wands with offensive spells and that the top 2 or 3 combatives have +1 armor and/or a +1 weapon.

So it all depends on the setting, really.

 

[Gort]

Depends on the race of the guard. A human guard would be about level 3, while a drow guard would be more like level 11, since he's a centuries-old badass who happened to have drawn guard duty that day.

But I agree with the others in the thread - the guards have to have something that's more powerful than their usual threat, or they're going to lose control of whatever it is they're guarding.

 

[S'mon]

Thinking about this, what level would you peg the plate-armoured soldiers of Gondor in the Return of the King movie at? In 3e they'd have to be at least second level to afford that armour... F2-F3? To me they seem a pretty good fit to what I think of as City Guard - ie the primary defenders of a city, not Watchmen - but I'd be interested if y'all agree or not.

 

[Allister]

Thinking about this, what level would you peg the plate-armoured soldiers of Gondor in the Return of the King movie at? In 3e they'd have to be at least second level to afford that armour... F2-F3? To me they seem a pretty good fit to what I think of as City Guard - ie the primary defenders of a city, not Watchmen - but I'd be interested if y'all agree or not.

Um, wasnt Gondor under constant attacks and had lost cities already?

Those were battle-hardened veterans and way above level 2 or 3 IMO. At least level 4 of not 5.

 

[airwalkrr]

What level is your typical town or city guardsman in D&D?

Approximately five levels higher than the PCs.

You don't screw with the city guard.