NPC class breakdown? EDIT: D&D is high magic

[shadow_archmagi]

Does anyone recall where the chart was that said, on average, what portion of the population was what? Like, "50% of NPCs are commoners, 40% are experts, artistocrats, and adepts, and the remaining 10% are divided evenly between PC classes" or something?

I've been flipping through the DMG with no luck

[Calintares]

I don't have the exact percentages, but this (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20030719a) web enhancement gives a breakdown of how many of each class you could typically expect to find in any one district of a town.

[missmvicious]

Dungeon Master's Guide, pg. 139.

But to make your life easier:

Isolated:
96% Human
2% Halfling
1% Elf
1% Other

Mixed:
79% Human
9% Halfling
5% Elf
3% Dwarf
2% Gnome
1% Half-Elf
1% Half-Orc

Integrated:
37% Human
20% Halfling
18% Elf
10% Dwarf
7% Gnome
5% Half-Elf
3% Half-Orc

Of course, this is a rule of thumb, and certain isolated communities would be Elvish, or Gnomish communities instead of Human ones, so you'd adjust your stats accordingly. Also, some races tend to be a bit clique-ish. An isolated dwarven community may be 99% Dwarven, 1% other if they found a particularly valuable mine and they didn't want anyone else staking a claim.

Anyway, check out the whole section on Generating Towns, DMG pg. 137, it's a good read (for a nerd like me, anyway) and really helps you flesh out a town in depth, just in case your Bard or Rogue starts Gathering Information. It's nice to be able to drop the answers smoothly without breaking up the in-game rhythm. And if it's one or more of the PC's home town, I just print out a page of the town stats and hand it to them, especially if it's a Small Town or smaller.

[missmvicious]

Herp-dee-derp.

I didn't actually answer your question, though did I?

For info on character classes, see page 138 of the DMG. There's no specific chart, though. Just a series of guidelines. They have one sample social demo breakdown, though, on page 139, but it's for a Hamlet.

[137beth]

Out of just 1st level characters with NPC classes, 91% are commoners, 5% warriors, 3% experts, .5% adepts, and .5% aristocrats. If we include all NPCs it gets substantially more complicated.

[shadow_archmagi]

I originally wanted to see this just because I wondered how common magic was in D&D; I have a friend who really prefers low-magic settings, and I really prefer high, so I was curious what the default was.

To determine the highest level wizard, roll 1d4, add or subtract the community modifier. Assume that there are twice as many people of half that level, and so on until 1st.

in a village there is a single 1st level wizard,
in a small town there's a 2nd and two 1st
in a large town there's a 5th, two 2nd, and four 1st,
in a small city there's two 8ths, four 4ths, eight 2nds, and 16 1sts.
in a large city there's three 11ths, six 5ths, twelve 2nds, and twenty four 1sts
in a metropolis there's four 14ths, eight 7ths, sixteen 3rds, thirty-two 1sts.

That's a neat 60 wizards in your average metropolis, or .24% of a 25001 population. Adding sorcerers doubles it. Technically clerics and druids should be slightly larger chunks, but for ease of math we'll treat them as wizards, making this a low estimate of very nearly 1% full-casters in a metropolis. Admittedly though, 25001 is the extreme minimum for being a metropolis; if that one guy dies, it's back to a large city, and all the high level characters have to leave.

In a village, there's a population of 400-900 according to the DMG. We can expect between 0 and 7 clerics and or druids, plus between 0 and 3 wizards and or sorcerers. So depending on the size of the village, and how well you roll, you're looking at anywhere from 0% full casters to 5% full casters.

So depending on random chance, it looks like about 1 in 100 people has the potential for being a full caster of some kind. Thus, we could assume that a huge portion of the population would have regular contact with a full caster

(IE: If Steve Wizard and Susie Druidess grows up in Hamlet, everyone in that Hamlet will be familiar with at least one of them, and thus with magic. Legendary magic might still be spoken of in a whisper on dark nights, but by and large, when people think "Magic" they're going to think of how Steve always drops by the bar to prestidigitation everyone's food in return for free drinks.)

[Kol Korran]

i personally think the DMG's wide estimation is just that- an estimation. different setting take things differently- In Greyhawk as i understand the figures are roughly correct, in FR there are far more casters, and in Eberron actual casters are hard to find (most priests are experts, and only 4-5 characters in Khorvaire above 12 level) but mundane every day magics plentiful due to dragonmarked inventions, not actual casters.

and homebrew worlds differ than that.

[Morph Bark]

That's a neat 60 wizards in your average metropolis, or .24% of a 25001 population. Adding sorcerers doubles it. Technically clerics and druids should be slightly larger chunks, but for ease of math we'll treat them as wizards, making this a low estimate of very nearly 1% full-casters in a metropolis. Admittedly though, 25001 is the extreme minimum for being a metropolis; if that one guy dies, it's back to a large city, and all the high level characters have to leave.

It becomes more skewed the more classes you include, like Wu Jen, Shugenja, Warmage, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, Healer, Favoured Soul, Shaman and Spirit Shaman. Then you got slightly over 3%, not including Warlocks, Dragonfire Adepts, Wilders, Psions, Ardents and Shadowcasters, who would bring it up to nearly 5%.

[shadow_archmagi]

It becomes more skewed the more classes you include, like Wu Jen, Shugenja, Warmage, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, Healer, Favoured Soul, Shaman and Spirit Shaman. Then you got slightly over 3%, not including Warlocks, Dragonfire Adepts, Wilders, Psions, Ardents and Shadowcasters, who would bring it up to nearly 5%.

I wasn't sure how to factor them in, but I assumed that they'd be a proportion of whatever core class is closest to them rather than doubling or tripling the magic rate. (IE: If psions and wizards exist, 50% of wizards are now psions)

[Morph Bark]

That sounds like a reasonable assumption. Otherwise after factoring in homebrew you'd have a >100% population in PC classes.

[Redshirt Army]

That sounds like a reasonable assumption. Otherwise after factoring in homebrew you'd have a >100% population in PC classes.

What would that mean? Multiclassing?

[shadow_archmagi]

What would that mean? Multiclassing?

No, when the math doesn't add up like that you have to just scowl at the page and scoff "Wizards!"

[Siosilvar]

What would that mean? Multiclassing?

Nope. A wizard did it.

Pardon the pun.