Other NPCs in the Community *help* v3.5

[Jundaria]

Hello, I am a new DM who has read through the ph, dmg, and mm. I have ran a few sessions and everything feels right. However, I am designing my first town which is a small hamlet of about 82 population. I seem to grasp the rules on creating the town except for one detail I can't seem to wrap my head around. On pages 138-139 under where it says "Other NPCs in the Community" to "Racial Demographics" on the next page. That section has stumped me beyond anything. I've even showed it to my group who all agree it is bewildering. I need to make citizens in my hamlet but I have no idea how the Community Modifier and Highest-Level Locals tables work, and I have no idea what the paragraph on "Total Characters of Each Class" means. Please o' wise and noble DMs of v3.5, bestow upon me your wisdom and knowledge on this issue. Thanks in advance so much.

[MintyThe1st]

Basically, the larger your town is, the more people it will have in it.

for example, your tiny town would definitely not have a 20th level cleric in it, unless you specifically put one there. your local church of Pelor would have 2 or 3 lvl 1 clerics at best.

as for Racial Demographics, the larger the town, the more multicultural it will be, where as smaller towns tend to be more xenophobic. you'd likely find several orcs living in a human city, but those same orcs would be ostracized in a small human town.

Although this is all up for interpretation by the DM, you don't HAVE to follow these guidelines. your town could be entirely made up of dragons disguised as humans if you want.

[Jundaria]

Basically, the larger your town is, the more people it will have in it.

for example, your tiny town would definitely not have a 20th level cleric in it, unless you specifically put one there. your local church of Pelor would have 2 or 3 lvl 1 clerics at best.

as for Racial Demographics, the larger the town, the more multicultural it will be, where as smaller towns tend to be more xenophobic. you'd likely find several orcs living in a human city, but those same orcs would be ostracized in a small human town.

Although this is all up for interpretation by the DM, you don't HAVE to follow these guidelines. your town could be entirely made up of dragons disguised as humans if you want.

That actually made alot of sense! Thank you... My only problem now is using the community modifiers and highest-level locals... I'm guessing I roll a d20 on that table, but is it saying that a town only has one high level npc, and bigger cities have more? Maybe I'm reading too deep into this, but once I got this down I can populate random towns on the fly... hopefully.

[GilesTheCleric]

Following the DMG's guidelines on who all is in a community on average can be helpful, but remember that you're not beholden to it. If there's a renowned, retired ranger that you'd like the party to meet to learn about your next plot hook, then you can say they're in the town, regardless of whether the community "should" have a 10th level ranger or whatever.

[Telok]

I went through those rules and worked them out once. 85% of the total population will be 1st level commoners, about 8% PC classes, and 2% of the total population is capable of casting Cure Light Wounds. Smaller, rural, towns will be oddly weighted towards having lots of druids and rangers. Plus the buy/sell stuff is silly.