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 Commonality of adventurers?
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Wenin
Senior Scribe

585 Posts

Posted - 25 Feb 2011 :  04:10:33  Show Profile Send Wenin a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
I'm about to have an orc horde siege Melvaunt with the assistance of the PCs who are from Zhentil Keep. I used http://www.myth-weavers.com/generate_town.php to generate the population of the city. Would you say that doesn't include adventurers?

How common are adventurers within your campaign? It is something I've never really really considered before. It's funny that out of necessity, we have adventurers ready to be plucked from a bar to join our groups, as if they grew there. =)

Here is the breakdown I got from the generator.

Warriors - Level 1 (1717), Level 2 (16), Level 4 (8), Level 7 (4), Level 11 (2), Level 17 (1)
Cleric - Level 2 (8), Level 4 (4), Level 8 (2), Level 16 (1)
Fighter - Level 2 (32), Level 3 (16), Level 5 (8), Level 8 (4), Level 12 (2), Level 19 (1)
Expert - Level 1 (1026), Level 2 (32), Level 3 (16), Level 5 (8), Level 8 (4), Level 12 (2), Level 19 (1)
Adept - Level 1 (171), Level 5 (2), Level 16 (1)
Wizard - Level 5 (2), Level 16 (1)
Druid - Level 3 (4), Level 4 (2), Level 7 (2), Level 14 (1)
Commoner - Level 1 (31257), Level 4 (2), Level 13 (1)
Monk - Level 3 (4), Level 7 (2), Level 14 (1)
Paladin - Level 2 (8), Level 4 (4), Level 8 (2), Level 17 (1)
Ranger - Level 2 (8), Level 4 (4), Level 8 (2), Level 17 (1)
Rogue - Level 2 (4), Level 6 (2), Level 19 (1)
Bard - Level 4 (2), Level 14 (1)
Aristocrat - Level 1 (171), Level 5 (2), Level 16 (1)
Barbarian - Level 3 (2), Level 10 (1)
Sorcerer - Level 2 (8), Level 4 (4), Level 8 (2), Level 16 (1)

I found the number of clerics and rogues to be especially lacking, given the number of churches a city of 35K would have. Well I have a week before my season ending session, so I'm just going to run with these numbers with the idea that there are a lot more 1st level adventurers within the city. =)

Session Reports posted at RPG Geek.
Stem the Tide Takes place in Mistledale.
Dark Curtains - Takes place in the Savage North, starting in Nesmé. I wrapped my campaign into the Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but it takes place in 1372 DR.

Kentinal
Great Reader

4686 Posts

Posted - 25 Feb 2011 :  07:52:11  Show Profile Send Kentinal a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Generators are as good as the programmer, however I believe game design also a problem in this instance.

The Paladins killed most of the Rogues. Also with so many Paladins less need of Clerics.

As to how many in city that would adventure, IIRC the percentage is something like one percent. Thus you could expect to find 350 that would go at the call for adventure. You of course will find more would serve in homeland defense.

"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon
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Wenin
Senior Scribe

585 Posts

Posted - 25 Feb 2011 :  14:09:53  Show Profile Send Wenin a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Actually now that I recall, those numbers aren't even straight out of the generator, as I believe I somewhat combined two results in order to beef up some of the representation of some of the classes.

The adventurers being there for defense of Melvaunt is exactly why I was generating the population. I was just a bit saddened by the low representation of wizards. It kinda puts a damper on the whole discussion of the use of magic during a battle if there are only a hand full of mages within a city's walls.

I examined a few sites, and they all seem to generate similar results. I figured they were all basing their generator of a set of rules that WotC put out (I barely recall it), so can't really fault the programmer if they're following someone else's design. =)

1 percent sounds fair. I also seem to recall a statement from Ed that adventuring is something that came into "vogue" shortly before the timeline of the Grey Box set. Maybe 1% might be stretching it, or would include those who are retired adventurers.

Session Reports posted at RPG Geek.
Stem the Tide Takes place in Mistledale.
Dark Curtains - Takes place in the Savage North, starting in Nesmé. I wrapped my campaign into the Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but it takes place in 1372 DR.
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Apex
Learned Scribe

USA
229 Posts

Posted - 26 Feb 2011 :  15:05:10  Show Profile  Visit Apex's Homepage Send Apex a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Going way back to the Holy Grail (the first edition DMG) is where the 1% (actually 2% for demi-humans) number comes from. That books also includes an excellent set of tables that determines the age of said characters, their alignments, and races.
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