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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8185796" data-attributes="member: 6801228">Those are great images. Also from 3.5 if I don't miss my guess. So, where is all of this in 5e? Where are these armored outriders with shields and spears?The book tells us what the traditional defenses are, sticks and rocks. Pot Lids as armor. Note that none of that matches the images from 3.5 you posted. Now, you say that a small village couldn't afford to have a large contingent of heavy infantry, and I'll grant you that is true. But, what does it really require to have a small guard force? Weapons and armor can be made by the locals. Tanned hides can make hide armor. A carpenter and a blacksmith can make simple weapons and armor. So, lets say ten guards with spear, shield and armor. Total cost of making it would appear to be 5gp per armor, 5gp per shield, and 5 sp per spear. 10.5 times ten is 105 gold. That is a lot of money. However, a small village according to older DnD rules is..hmm, I'll use hamlet which is 80 to 400 people. Let's take 240 as a mid point. Some of those would be skilled workers, smiths, tanners, ect, but we'll just assume everyone is unskilled labor for ease of math. The 5e PHB assumes that unskilled labor generates an equivalent of 2 silver per day. 240 * 2 * 360 days / 10 to convert to gold -> This tells us that in equivalent value, the hamlet should generate about 17,280 gold per year. That means that equipping a defense force is only about 10% of yearly GDP. That doesn't seem too far out of line.Now, I'll grant you, that isn't cold hard coin. Some of that would be barter, some of it would be services for favors, ect. And this is likely a close estimate, because while I assumed everyone was working, a skilled laborer makes ten times the value, so everyone who counts as skilled, because they can use tools, accounts for nine people who do not work. So, yeah, you probably won't have knights with warhorses, gleaming platemail, and lances, but a few guards with basic equipment? That seems like something they could afford. Especially if the gear was crafted only every few years. And ten guards is likely not enough, but it isn't nothing. And it can be a deterrent for some of the smaller raid parties and beasts. And that is just by themselves, with simple gear that any village should be able to make.</blockquote>

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