Why be a Commoner?

[Twowolves]

I think everyone here is confusing "level" with "combat survivability", when levels, especially in this case, should mean "story survivability". Yeah, a level 20 commoner has 20 hp, but that doesn't mean he's so tough he can take on the town guard. It means he's so important to the story/setting that something will happen to keep him alive just a little longer after one sword hit. A 20th level anything, even commoner, should be a legend in the setting, and the level system still fits the bill just fine.

In 3.Xed rules, where with power attack, improved critical, massive damage dealing foes, etc, it really shouldn't bother anyone to have a commoner with double digit hp. They can still drop from one hit by the 1st lvl guy's longsword. Besides, no one but the DM should know his level anyway, and it's all in how he describes the action in any scene involving these NPCs that sets the tone of the game.

 

[Henry]

Simple: You don't CHOOSE to be a commoner. It's what you are if you're NOTHING else. It's the class of poor farmers, unskilled laborers, and innkeepers who have never known anything more adventurous than running an inn in a thorp or hamlet.

 

[billd91]

Remember, though, that you always have a minimum of one hit point per hit die. So that 20th level commoner will have 20 hit points even if his Con score is 1. Which means this frail old man can't be killed by a single sword blow from an average town guard.
.

On the other hand, that frail old commoner is going to have a few tricks up his sleeve and have some grit to have made it that long and through the kind of things that would be necessary to make 20th level (killed any variety of predators harrying his livestock, maybe been conscripted once or twice into a peasant levy, gotten into a few knife fights in the local tavern, etc). He might just be too stubborn to die easily.

 

[DaveyJones]

and without the commoner no other class would exist.

where do heroes come from? Mommy and Daddy. and where does the food on your table come from?
and where does the shirt on your back? or the shoes on your feet?

most of the world are commoners, comrade.

fear the commoners learning the truth of their rights and powers.

 

[Celebrim]

Frankly, I can't imagine how anyone could possibly reach 20th level as a commoner....

Live quietly for a very very long time.

 

[Grog]

... had at least one level of Soldier Guy.

And probably several levels of Expert, after he got into construction.

 

[Grog]

In 3.Xed rules, where with power attack, improved critical, massive damage dealing foes, etc, it really shouldn't bother anyone to have a commoner with double digit hp. They can still drop from one hit by the 1st lvl guy's longsword.

It's pretty unlikely. The 20th level commoner with the 1 Con has 20 hit points. If the guard is a 1st level warrior with a 15 Str, he'd have to get a crit and roll maximum damage on 2d8, and even that would only drop the commoner to 0 HP - not even unconscious. If he has the Power Attack feat, he could knock the commoner out with one blow - but he'd have to get a crit and roll max damage to do it. Not too likely.

And yes, I know that a guard killing an old man would probably be handled by DM flavor text. I'm just saying that, mechanically, it's a little silly.

But then, like I said, most old men probably aren't 20th level commoners in the first place.

 

[hong]

On a slightly different subject, someone said that they had ranks in commoner. I tend to not believe them. My personal feeling is that anyone with at least a High School education is at 1st level expert, and most people in our comparitively well educated society are probably at least expert 2's and 3's. Now, most of us probably seriously out of shape, a concept that D&D doesn't really have in the RAW,

We rolled a 1 on hit points.

 

[Celebrim]

We rolled a 1 on hit points.

You never know how many hit points you have until someone hits you.

 

[Twowolves]

It's pretty unlikely. The 20th level commoner with the 1 Con has 20 hit points. If the guard is a 1st level warrior with a 15 Str, he'd have to get a crit and roll maximum damage on 2d8, and even that would only drop the commoner to 0 HP - not even unconscious. If he has the Power Attack feat, he could knock the commoner out with one blow - but he'd have to get a crit and roll max damage to do it. Not too likely.

And yes, I know that a guard killing an old man would probably be handled by DM flavor text. I'm just saying that, mechanically, it's a little silly.

But then, like I said, most old men probably aren't 20th level commoners in the first place.

Well, you nicely ignored my point entirely. The 20th level commoner is story important, else he wouldn't be 20th level. Any one of that level, regardless of class, shouldn't drop that easily, and it has nothing to do with combat prowess. He still can be dropped in one hit by the 1st level town guard, no matter how unlikely, and even if he hangs on another 6 seconds, the second hit will get him anyway.

The 20th lvl commoner isn't necessarily just an old man, but an important old man. Important characters have more levels.

At least, that's the way I read it.