D&D 5E What (low level) 5e PC Options Other Than Spells Would Change The World?

[Minigiant]

I wouldn’t. There are NPC shamans and warriors and scouts and spirit warriors and the like. They don’t need PC class levels.

But I’m not trying to argue about whether the assumption is reasonable, just wondering what the impact would be from something closer to what the game seems to assume.

I would think 1% of adults in a wilderness tribe would be the normal PC classes in the normal. 5-25% would be NPC noncommoner nonnoble classes. Their level depend on the setting.

But if you boost it, I could see a 300 adult village having at least 10 fighters and barbarians in it.

 

[Dausuul]

Well according to RAW a simple healing potion cures enough damage just by gulping it down to bring a "Level 0" commoner with 1d8 HP or so back to full health in most cases.
Means the healer is out of work for everyday injuries isn't it?
E.g. someone works as a hunter or lumberjack and has an accident or gets attacked by animals in the woods. What would be the solution of choice? An instant cure by a pot or wait three hours for the healer to arrive, assuming you got a colleague whom you can send to fetch the healer?

That same hunter or lumberjack is making 1 silver piece per day. A healing potion costs 50 gold. So, that's 500 days' worth of work; more than a year of wages to pay for that insta-heal. Even if the supplier is nice enough to provide the potion at cost, 25 gp is still 8 months.

A healer who was willing to charge less than 25 gp for a 1st-level healing spell would do just fine.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

In my settings, healer-types with access to a Lay on Hands ability are fairly common; it's what I favor for making those types of NPCs over spells like Cure Wounds or Lesser Restoration.

Basically, it assumes most healers can handle saving people from death and cure disease, which means medieval staples like plague and rampant infant mortality are not common in my fantasy worlds. It doesn't really impact the gameplay, but it supports the more hopeful, vibrant aesthetic I prefer to promote in my fantasy settings.

I would think 1% of adults in a wilderness tribe would be the normal PC classes in the normal. 5-25% would be NPC noncommoner nonnoble classes. Their level depend on the setting.

But if you boost it, I could see a 300 adult village having at least 10 fighters and barbarians in it.

I can't imagine why, but to each their own. IMO 99% of NPCs don't have PC classes, and I didn't enjoy any of the editions that had NPC classes, so I can't comment on those.

That village, in any game I run, would have several Veterans (with longbows rather than crossbows), and some variants on that statblock that gain some ritual magic and some of those would have something like a simple rage mechanic, while others would have a beast companion or a totem magic ability.

Only an NPC that is going to fight or use a wide range of abilities, is important to the game, and that the PCs are attached to, would get a PC writeup.

 

[GlassJaw]

Wild shape

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Wild shape

Any chance of a clarification?

 

[Minigiant]

I can't imagine why, but to each their own. IMO 99% of NPCs don't have PC classes, and I didn't enjoy any of the editions that had NPC classes, so I can't comment on those.

That village, in any game I run, would have several Veterans (with longbows rather than crossbows), and some variants on that statblock that gain some ritual magic and some of those would have something like a simple rage mechanic, while others would have a beast companion or a totem magic ability.

Only an NPC that is going to fight or use a wide range of abilities, is important to the game, and that the PCs are attached to, would get a PC writeup.

A lot of that's seems to be working.

That tribe doesn't have PC barbarians. It has wolf totem warriors.

What's wolf totem warriors? 2hd humanoids with +2 AC when naked, reckless, and can deal rage 1/day.

If a NPC class is just a half step under a PC class, then all the NPCs with NPC classes become NPCs with PC classes if you make PC features common.

If 10% of your adults were tribal warriors, then 10% of your adults are barbarians or fighters now.

 

[Iry]

Outlander
This background allows someone to find enough food and water for themselves and five other people. Militaries would actively search out and recruit Outlanders to supplement their supply lines, and elite units would have enough Outlanders to eliminate supply lines entirely. Cities would hire droves of Outlanders and make literal grocery stores out of them, and governments would organize teams of Outlanders to disaster regions to provide relief supplies. More tyrannical groups would enslave Outlanders, or force people to grow up as Outlanders against their will just to make more of them.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Every high end research center and fine craftsman would have a 5th level Bard on staff to pump out Bardic Inspiration. With two short rests a day, A Bard can give a dozen boosts a day! A d6/d8 can spell the difference between a great painting and the next Mona Lisa.

 

[Eltab]

Outlander Mk II
Just try to besiege and starve out a fortress with some Outlanders in the garrison. OTOH the garrison may not be too happy eating every last rat and insect in the place.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

A lot of that's seems to be working.

That tribe doesn't have PC barbarians. It has wolf totem warriors.

What's wolf totem warriors? 2hd humanoids with +2 AC when naked, reckless, and can deal rage 1/day.

If a NPC class is just a half step under a PC class, then all the NPCs with NPC classes become NPCs with PC classes if you make PC features common.

If 10% of your adults were tribal warriors, then 10% of your adults are barbarians or fighters now.

Well, no, but I'm honestly pretty tired of this argument. I don't know what an NPC class is. I don't play 3.5, and found it pretty dreadful when I did play it long ago. I don't recall hearing about NPC classes before 3rd edition, but maybe its just bad memory. It's been over a decade since any group I play with used a version of DnD where monsters had HD as the marker for how powerful they are, rather than either a level or a CR.

The question is about what abilities change the world if they are reasonably common. I assumed, and will add to the OP, that we can all agree to use the current game (I tagged this 5e after all) and it's assumptions about the world to determine how common something is. Under those assumpions, 10% is workable, but the original "all of them" wasn't. Remember that the books actually say that most priests aren't clerics, most soldiers and the like aren't fighters, etc.

So, sure, assume 10%. So, how does that effect the world?