Topic: Your average Joe NPC

[DavidKlecker]

When a NPC is needed I just roll a specific set of dice that determines the foundation: intelligence, demeanor and a 1D100. The higher the 1D100 the more "special" this character is. Based on how the character goes and works and if it winds up to be a reoccuring character then I actually sit down and come up with a character sheet. For me, I always start with the personality first, then work down to what makes sense and is needed.

[Nortti]

Skills of average Joe are easy to generate on the go. I have found the game to be easier to manage when you dont let mundane matters to have too high importance.

I think of the average Joe simply to have a primary skill that comes from his profession and a secondary skill (if any).

Then my avg J is of expert, mid or low level. In my game expert would be around 90-100, medium 70 and low around 30. This applies to the primary skills of the profession.

Combat abilities depend primarily on background and physical qualities. A farmer, hunter or fisher could actually be a relatively tough guy. Probably he would not have much of a chance against a 2nd level fighter, but this is Rolemaster, so who knows

In my game the regular NPCs are mostly 1 level, some 2-3 and some even 4-5lvl. After that I consider NPCs to be rather remarkable persons with name, history and background.

[Morthandeus]

In my game the regular NPCs are mostly 1 level, some 2-3 and some even 4-5lvl. After that I consider NPCs to be rather remarkable persons with name, history and background.

I take it this is for common men, right? I'd be interested to know how much you vary that by race.

Using High Elves from C&T as an example, they are coded 5E which gives a distribution from level 0 to level 17. Although the table is probably intended for encounter groups rather than settlements (which would have higher percentages of young and elderly, the latter being irrelevant among the immortal races) it is interesting to map out the distribution.

0 - 10%
1 - 5%
2 - 5%
3 - 5%
4 - 10%
5 - 30%
6 - 10%
7 - 5%
8 - 5%
9 - 5%
10 - 5%
11 through 17 - 5%

Numbers are slightly simplified, but the implications are really clear with about a third of all High Elves falling outside the normal distribution (level 1-5) for humans and another third being at the top of the range for non-exceptional humans.

If, by human standards, level 0 is adolescence and level 1 is apprenticeship (with many humans failing to develop past that level), then levels 2-4 are probably journeymen of varying experience and level 5 are masters of their craft.

It follows that if humans at the master level visited an Elven settlement they could expect fully a third of the population to match their skills and another third to exceed it. Elven apprentices would craft as well as human masters! For the more average level 1-2 humans the culture shock would be even more enormous. Only the most exceptional humans (<1%) could come close to matching the skill of the top 10 or 20 percent of Elves.

Outlining racial differences like that really brings home the impact of longer life spans (which is correlated with higher levels in C&T) and highlights how, as DMs, we can differentiate places to make a visit to an Elven or Dwarven (or Orcish!) city truly memorable.

[Nortti]

In my current campaign the average Joe high elves, dwarves, drows are all clearly higher level than humans in general. Your table of high elves looks good to me. Also their "adventuring" parties that interact with PCs are clearly above that average.

In my campaign world humans are much more numerous than their higher level neighbors. Above-mentioned races live in their areas and dont give trouble to humans, at least not openly.

Orcs and the half-orc kingdom are similar in average levels to humans.

High elven apprentices would indeed match humans with master-level skills.

Balance to the game-world comes from unified strong monotheistic religion with paladins, priests and witch-hunters that wield powerful anti-magic protection and artifacts. This religion is practiced only by humans. If another race poses a threat human kingdoms will put down their differences and unite. Other races know this and avoid direct conflict.