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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 2525844" data-attributes="member: 22779">Here's why I refuse to accept the whole 1% number.  The only justification for that number is because, as you said, classes should only apply to exceptional people - PC's and NPC's.  So, to phrase it another way, classes should only apply to people who are important to the adventure.  I do not accept that as a logical basis.  Saying that classes should only apply for narrative reasons is hardly a basis for a logical assumption.Add to this the fact that many of the published material routinely ignored this number as well.  Look at modules like Cult of the Reptile God, Hommlet, heck, even Keep on the Borderlands, and you see classes far in excess of 1%.  Even NPC's that had little reason for having classes, like bartenders or farmers, were routinely fighters or whatnot.  Plus, if you run with this 1% assumption, then the likelyhood of any adventuring group coming together becomes very, very small.  I'm no math wiz, but, even I know that the chances of 6 people who all come from 1% of the population, coming together in the same place and the same time AND all having similar enough outlooks to want to work together is pretty bloody slight.I have a problem with trying to use a narrative assumption to justify realism in a game.  The 1% number isn't supported by the mechanics whatsoever.  Hrmm, the only reason Joe can't become a mage is because he's surplus to needs for the plot?  How is that realistic?  If PC classes were meant to only represent 1% of the population, they should have been much more difficult to become.  None of the 4 base classes require more than a 9 in a base stat.  Mechanically, there is no reason why classes shouldn't be more popular.That's why I refuse to accept the handwave.  The assumption of only 1% of the population having a class has nothing to do with realism and everything to do with narrative.</blockquote>

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