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average level for a nobody ?
MisterK:
What would be the average level for someone who does not go on the straight and narrow heroic path (or any adventuring path, really), by age ?
We know that a person straight out of apprenticeship is level 1. let's assume they are 16 when that happens.
If nothing special happens (just everyday life with its load of small events in a fantasy setting), what would be the person's level when they are 20 ? 30 ? 40 ? What would be the maximum level they can expect to be before old age slows them down too much ? Is it a linear progression (1 level every x years), or geometric (one level after 1 year, another after two more years, another after 5 more years...), or something else ?
And does this change according to race ? Can Laan, for instance, hope to gain more levels than Shay before the Reaper strikes ? Can dwarves expect even more ? And can the immortal elves expect even more, being what they are ?
[remember : no extraordinary event, no going on adventure, nothing but what you would expect from your average citizen]
Hurin:
RMU gives some good guidelines for this (p. 185 of the core book, in a little chart):
Level 1 = pre-teenager
Level 2 = teenager
Level 3 = young adult
Level 4 = adult
They also give a little more guidance for each level (e.g. a level 4 would be a senior apprentice, a level 5 a journeyman, which implies a master would be another level or more above that).
Cory Magel:
Age has always seemed like a really horrible benchmark for level to me. I guess if you have ABSOLUTELY nothing that you care about in terms of a random person walking down the street maybe that's a good half-assed way to work it... but if you don't care anything about them and it's just some random person that means nothing to the game, why does it even matter what level they are? For some reason any random schmuck that's spent their life possibly sitting around doing nothing, picking potatoes from a field, shoveling out horse stalls, etc,. has gained levels in, what? Anything? Simply for breathing X number of years. Yeah, no. Just plain silly.
First, I'd decide what that individual actually is; Farmer, merchant, city guard, adventurer, whatever.
Then I'd gauge their level by what the person has actually done. Sure you might be a city guard, but for how long? Maybe you shoveled the horse stalls in the garrison for years first.
Lvl 1 = No experience
Lvl 2 = Beginner
Lvl 3 = Novice
Lvl 4 = Apprentice
Lvl 5 = Journeyman
Lvl 6 = Expert
Lvl 7 = Master
The other thing to consider is, does it really matter? Not as it what level they are, but as in is that actually going to come into play?
First the combat outlook. If they aren't going to be in a fight, it just doesn't matter. If they are, I'd refer back to the above.
For non-combat, if the characters go to town and ask a Armor-smith to repair their armor, are you actually going to roll dice?
The way I'd look at it is I'm not going to waste my time with that unless I actually want the Armor-smith to have the potential not help the party.
And if I do want the Armor-smith to fail and not help the party... am I actually going to roll for that, or just tell them he failed because it's a plot device?
Wolfwood:
--- Quote from: Hurin on April 11, 2022, 01:50:20 PM ---RMU gives some good guidelines for this (p. 185 of the core book, in a little chart):
Level 1 = pre-teenager
Level 2 = teenager
Level 3 = young adult
Level 4 = adult
--- End quote ---
So, all those lvl1 characters that we've started our games with have been pre-teenagers? :o I would have thought a young adult to be lvl 1 and then go up from there...
Hurin:
--- Quote from: Wolfwood on April 12, 2022, 04:42:25 AM ---
--- Quote from: Hurin on April 11, 2022, 01:50:20 PM ---RMU gives some good guidelines for this (p. 185 of the core book, in a little chart):
Level 1 = pre-teenager
Level 2 = teenager
Level 3 = young adult
Level 4 = adult
--- End quote ---
So, all those lvl1 characters that we've started our games with have been pre-teenagers? :o I would have thought a young adult to be lvl 1 and then go up from there...
--- End quote ---
Essentially, yes. Remember that RMU does not have a level 0, so in comparison to RM2, level 1 = level 0.
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