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Falrin
2006-08-01, 11:08 AM
I've noticed people complaining a lot (including me) about the amount of HP of high LvL commoners.

So I came up with this simple adjustment. Give them D1 HD and the thougness feat (life in the d&d-universe is prety hard for average Joe).

This gives you a nice 4 HP (average Joe has 10-11 con) at first LvL.
At 20th LvL they'll have 23 HP. Still fairly easy to kill.

So, any pro's and cons? Suggestions? or commment?

Altair_the_Vexed
2006-08-01, 11:36 AM
Yeah, that'd work...
Trouble is, it still means that for some reason commoners who have to fight goblins now and then are better farmers than those who just farm.

I have a house rule for non-combat characters (experts, commoners - and my own class, priests): XP is granted by a Profession check. The amount of gp earned is translated into XP.
This XP can only be spent on non-combat levels.
Non-combat levels grant no HP or Base Attack Bonus - only skill points, feats, and other level dependent bonuses.

That way, I can have a really competent farmer who's never fought anything in his life, but can judge the weather and tend the cattle like he knows what he's doing. Similarly, a priest can be learned and pious and a great healer, but have less ability in a physical fight than an adventurous wizard with his hands tied.

Truwar
2006-08-01, 12:49 PM
A level 20 commoner with a 10 Constitution will only have 50 HPs. When you figure in the fact that he has a str of 10 and probably some stat hits based on old age and you quickly begin to see that a town populated with lv 5 commoners is not that big a deal. My personal opinion is that that lv1 commoners should only be children (maybe adolescents).

Peregrine
2006-08-01, 01:01 PM
I have a house rule for non-combat characters (experts, commoners - and my own class, priests): XP is granted by a Profession check. The amount of gp earned is translated into XP.
Hey, I developed a rule like that -- I mentioned it a couple of times on the boards, but got no feedback. Maybe I'll be lucky this time? ;D

Unfortunately it's meant to fix the problem of 'everyone stays low-level unless they go out and kill stuff' -- so higher-level commoners still get more BAB and HP. But it's designed to be balanced for anyone to use, but so low compared to normal experience (so most NPCs level up over the course of years) that players will, at most, use it for a bit of extra XP during downtime.

belboz
2006-08-01, 01:08 PM
My impression is that the XP rules are really for PCs and cohorts--I'd thought all other characters gained experience at the speed of plot.

(Here's an example: Suppose you have Leadership, and your followers--not your cohort--participate in a great battle. You might think they'd get lots of XP for this, but in fact, unless your Leadership score increases, none of them level up.)

Perhaps a more specific example: NPCs never get *roleplaying* XP. So why should they always get *combat* XP? Or why, for that matter, should they *not* get XP from other sources, including entirely undocumented ones?

ThunderEagle
2006-08-01, 01:23 PM
This sounds like a good idea, as there is no chance a wizard is as tough as a commoner.

Also, that Profession-XP thing is the answer to my problems! Do you mind if I use it?

A Priest class ?!:oTell me where I can find it!

Altair_the_Vexed
2006-08-01, 03:21 PM
I specifically didn't want players to get XP from Profession checks, so I ruled that the XP could only be used in non-combat classes.

Here's a link (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=homebrew;action=display;num=11543021 73;start=19#19) to where I first proposed this on the boards. I called it the "Unadventurous Cleric" back then, but "Priest" is a simpler title.

Back the OP's question:
I don't know that having Toughness feat for free is necessary. You could also give your commoners 1d4 at first level and only Con bonuses thereafter... or 1d2 all levels...

squishycube
2006-08-01, 03:50 PM
I remember reading about the rate people gain XP by just living their lives.
IIRC it was mentioned in Ebberon, but I don't remember a table.

Cornugon
2006-08-01, 04:18 PM
I find it to be easier just to not stat out commoners that often. I mean, how ofter does it really matter how much HP any one commoner has? Unless they're extremely important to the story, in which case you probably want them to have a bunch of HP, I don't even stat them.

Mostly I just rule that they have two hits from a gobbo before they go down to dying... or 0.05 hits from a dragon.

ThunderEagle
2006-08-02, 10:59 AM
Thanks for the class link. I'll probably use it in my homebrew, if thats ok by you.

Brickwall
2006-08-02, 04:12 PM
When you think about it, a commoner who's done enough adventuring to get that much XP has probably picked up a heroic class. Just stat them up to level 3 and give them regular class levels after that.