NPC WBL and Leadership

[Ruethgar]

What do NPCs use their wealth on? I mean nobles can own land and manors and what not, but a commoner? What’s a commoner going to spend 900g on realistically? And how much agency should a leader have over his followers use of WBL?

I was thinking of redoing my Prince Charming character and his town. He was never really intended for play, just sort of a thought experiment, but looking back on it, even if they liquidated their assets to 50% of WBL, I could still easily build a small town for my 48 followers with over 13,000g leftover. Assume they had 100g of sentimental stuff and base equipment each and it’s still 10k left over after the merchants’ feats.

So I have been searching for a while now on the prices of land or the typical amount of land granted to a noble and finally found official content(though old in DrMag #80) giving a low end of 40 ha(630x630 meters, about half of what's north of 97th St. Central Park) to support a manor. Unfortunately no prices on the land, but just take a level of Aristocrat, kill your family who might lay claim to it and call it yours.

E3
Character: Prince Charming
32pt buy Str 8 Dex 12 Con 12 Wis 14 Int 10 Cha 24
LN Magic Blooded Unseelie Lesser Aasimar
Martial Monk 1/Marshal 1(for diplomancy)/Aristocrat 1
Monk: Leadership(via the Commander Fighter bonus feat list)
Flaw: Extra Followers
Flaw: Improved Cohort
1st: Practiced Cohort
Marshal: Skill Focus(Diplomacy)
3rd: Inspirational Leadership
Skills: Diplomacy, Sense Motive, Perform(Oratory), Bluff

Cha +6, lvl 3, feats +4, fairness +1, special power +1, aloof -1, stronghold +2, moves -1= 15
48 people should be enough for a thorp granted they are retrained properly. Genral rule of 90% of the followers are commoners(42), 5% experts(2), 3% other NPC class(1) and only 2% are PC classed(1). He talks his way out of most fights with a nice +18 to all charisma checks(21 to diplomacy). He can generate an average of 21g/week after taxes, 3g/week going to the community(if not more should he choose it) if he is traveling around to "prosperous cities" and can quickly become a very well known(although still lesser) noble.

Followers of Note:
Bob level 1 Commoner is the builder.
Peasant Array Str 10 Dex 11 Con 11 Wis 10 Int 11 Cha 10
LN Human
Flaw: Extraordinary Artisan
Flaw: Exceptional Artisan
1st: Create Device(Scroll)
Human: Magical Artisan(Extraordinary)
Faustian: Magical Artisan(Exceptional)

Very nice for all your cheap mundane crafting needs, 58% reduction in time and money.

Some Guy PC classed 3
Some Other Guy Psychic Adept 3

The Four Seconds all the level 2 Commoners are common psychers.
Peasant Array Str 10 Dex 10 Con 11 Wis 9 Int 10 Cha 13
N Magic Blooded Humans
Flaw: Hidden Talent(Create Element, Living Wood Wose x2, Prestidigitation)
Flaw: Psycarnum Infusion
1st: Azure Talent
Human: Psionic Meditation

The Common Merchant 5 level 1 Commoners
Peasant Array Str 10 Dex 11 Con 11 Wis 10 Int 11 Cha 10
LN Human
Flaw: Skill Focus
Flaw: Mercantile Background
1st: Laborious Training
Human: Apprentice Crafter

Craft check average of 21 for 50g/week from the craftsmen. Tax 25% for 6g/week for local causes.

The Common Little Man 5 level 1 Commoners
Peasant Array Str 10 Dex 11 Con 11 Wis 10 Int 11 Cha 10
N Forest Gnome
Flaw: Animal Friends
Flaw: Animal Affinity
1st: Handle Animal

Magebred Servals will keep vermin at bay as normal cats would, you don't have to spend nearly as much from taxes on the animals protecting you, and you have 10 of them which should be enough for a regular guard. With the grand leader there to help train, Handle Animal +15 is enough to easily train the beasties. On average the gnomes produce 3g/week in local taxes.


Servals 10
Str 16 Dex 19 Con 15 Wis 12 Int 2 Cha 7
Flaw: Skill Focus(Spot)
Flaw: Extra Tricks
1st: Open Minded
Magebred: Alertness, Swift Breed
Skills: Balance +8, Hide +12, Climb +8, Jump +12, Move Silently +10, Listen +12, Spot +9
Tricks: Guard, Herd, Defend, Attack, Subdue, Down, Assist Defend, Alert, Come, Stay

I'm sure you could mash those tricks up into a trained for purpose package to defend an area(though Herd pretty much covers that).

Father Hive Mind level 1 Commoner
Peasant Array Str 10 Dex 11 Con 11 Wis 13 Int 10 Cha 12
LE Lesser Aasimar
Flaw: Apprentice (Philosopher)
Flaw: Fell Conspiracy
1st: Research

The Clergy 4 level 1 Commoners
Peasant Array Str 10 Dex 11 Con 10 Wis 11 Int 10 Cha 13
LN Magic Blooded Human
Flaw: God Touched
Flaw: Divine Channeler
1st: Minor Divine Spellcasting
Human: Magical Training

Average 7s/week in local taxes.

The Others 25 level 1 Commoners
Peasant Array Str 10 Dex 11 Con 11 Wis 11 Int 10 Cha 10
LN Human
Flaw: Skill Focus(Profession or Craft)
Flaw: Open Minded
1st: Apprentice: Woodsman
Human: Skill Focus(Survival)

Skills into Survival, Profession and 5 into flavor. Survival +9 means they can automatically feed themselves. Nets 25g per week in local taxes.

Money:
Assuming 25% tax a little over half of which is national and about a 10% tithe to the church and the church paying taxes.
Income:

Taxes: 34g/week
Stronghold: 1g/week
Prince: 3g/week
Church: 5g/week
Builder's Fund: 30g/week
Total: 73g/week


Costs:

Guards: 7g/day(least we can do is feed the kitties)
Tax Collector: 6g/week
Building: 25g/week
Savings: 5g/week


Citizen Costs: Average

Taxes: 2g/week
Rent to Own: 1g/week
Common Meals: 2g/week
Misc. Supplies: 1g/week
Savings: 1g/week
Builder's Fund: 1g/week



The buildings are owned mostly by the merchants though the land is yours, so the tenants do have to rent to buy the buildings for about 20years. The rent prices are maximized Sharn rent for a poor house. Renting an inn room is only 4s more so it seems a fair estimate. The food is assuming you make your own most of the time and 1.3g to spend on ale or tavern meals.

Land:
2075ft across, so 415 squares. Lets give a buffer of 87.5 ft on each side so now nice and even at 300 squares. A simple home for 6 costs 900g before adjustments and takes a 6x6 area. Lets put 4 between them for 10x10. For the above thorp you need 8 of these houses for 7200g add on a few bathrooms for a total of 8800g and 100x10ft used. I'm going to assume you're building it yourself, in temperate plains, near no town, controlling arable land and a goat herd, you own the land by being a noble but lets give you a break and say your cousin claims it as well, your builder is actually spearheading the mission, so total discount 65%. 3119g gets you a village(which the 5 merchants above can pay for half of out of pocket).

Let's get the other basics out of the way, these aren't 100% needed per se, but make the village seem more like a village.

Armory and Smithy ~340
Chapel Library and Study ~575
Jailhouse and Prison Cell(2) ~500
Shop(5) ~675
Tavern and Stable ~640
Storage(2) ~170
Workplace(5) ~840)

Total with Discount: 3934g and your stronghold income increases to 2.3g/week

Simon, the Clergy and the Four Seconds can all take the Grass Growth side effect on one or two of their spells meaning that the farmers will mostly be harvesting grasses: grain, sugarcane, bamboo and so forth. This lessens farmland and grazing area greatly since these crops are now a near infinite resource.

[zlefin]

Commoners should probably have their own special wealth table (assuming you mean commoner NPC class); as some are probably quite a bit poorer than that. I'd expect average commoner wealth to be more like 100-200 gp.

is NPC wbl really that high? does it depend on whether they're PC-classed or NPC-classed? been awhile since I read those tables.

At any rate, for what they'd buy I'd focus on housing and land; those could easily run to a few hundred gp at least if not more; plus whatever useful animals you could afford (including affording the maintenance/feed on). masterwork tools for a profession or two maybe; I guess in many ways if you have some money you'd just be buying the pricier but better version of a lot of goods, mwk quality or its equivalent.

[Goaty14]

What do NPCs use their wealth on? I mean nobles can own land and manors and what not, but a commoner? What’s a commoner going to spend 900g on realistically?

Their land. Keep in mind that the upkeep of the land also costs money, in addition to the commoner WBL not really "replenishing" itself. A 1st level commoner starts the game with 900 GP to buy his pigs, ducks, land, house, etc, but after that's all gone, he's reduced to making profession checks weekly to try and not let the local lord bankrupt them.


And how much agency should a leader have over his followers use of WBL?

Minimal. Unless the're dominated mind-slaves, the best a leader can hope to do is try to convince their following that sending their money somewhere is a good idea. Even then, his 1st level commoners aren't just going to drop 900 GP onto his lap -- even presuming that their following haven't already spent most of their coin into assets (livestock, land, seed, etc), they still have to make a living off of what they have.

[unseenmage]

Debt, taxes, and tithes. Commoners stay common because they owe the world everything they make.

[HouseRules]

Technically, NPC have the same WBL as PC. They have a "Gear Value" WBL which limits how much total value of gear and consumables. The rest of their wealth are always not on person. They do not always carry all of their gear as well. Usually, they would have consumables that they already consumed before becoming part of an encounter with PC.

[Florian]

That one is rather tricky. Technically, NPC only use a WBL chart when build as potential encounters. Cohorts and Followers, like Animal Companions, aren't encounters. That means, that as an extension of your character, you have to spread character WBL around to outfit them.

[Elkad]

That one is rather tricky. Technically, NPC only use a WBL chart when build as potential encounters. Cohorts and Followers, like Animal Companions, aren't encounters. That means, that as an extension of your character, you have to spread character WBL around to outfit them.

I'm with this interpretation. Buy them gear out of your own pocket.

[SLOTHRPG95]

NPC classes have their own "starting gear" amounts, and for Commoners it's 5d4 gp worth of stuff. I'd argue that's not just equipment like daggers or barrels or wine or whatever, that's what they own. If you're an average 1st-level Commoner in most campaigns, you don't own your own land, or your own home. You're a serf, and the land you live on is owned by some noble who lets you live there and farm that bit, in exchange for making you farm his private lands, too. And obeying him, and possibly dying as part of a peasant levy should war come. And paying taxes. And paying tithes to the church that he follows. You own your cow and two goats and a dozen chickens, plus your tools and the clothes on your back and maybe a few trinkets. And that's it.

Now, 1st-level Experts and Warriors are worth quite a bit more, but even 75 gp average isn't that much if you want your followers to be well-equipped. For example, providing a bunch of Warriors with upgraded equipment would have to come out of your pocket, but most DMs would probably allow you to use at least part of their starting wealth to do so since it also benefits them. Say you wanted them all to have Scale mail, a heavy wooden shield, a battleaxe, a shortbow, a dagger (for backup) and a quiver of 20 arrows. Maybe you could convince your DM to let you split the cost in half, with you contributing 50 gp per, and the followers contributing their own money for the rest (assuming they get to keep the gear).

[HouseRules]

Let's look at the hypothetical.

Level 1 PC leveled NPC, 900 gp (gear value), but CR 1/2 encounter has 150 gp worth of treasure. Thus, a Level 1 PC leveled NPC has 750 gp of buffs from all sorts of consumables before an encounter, so that players do not receive more treasure by killing NPCs.

Level 1 NPC leveled NPC, 900 gp (gear value), but CR 1/3 encounter has 100 gp worth of treasure. Thus, a Level 1 NPC leveled NPC has 800 gp of buff from all sorts of consumables before an encounter, so that players do not receive more treasure by killing NPCs.

The chart at the top says "gear value", so it only indicates how much gear the NPC has for an encounter. It does not say where the wealth comes from or how much wealth the character has. Thus, NPCs do not even have a WBL. This does not contradict the fact that NPC companions, cohorts, familiars, mounts, etc all need to use the wealth of the PC that "owns" them.

[Ruethgar]

So pretty much I should go with the original idea of having to pay for everything myself and get my 5 'wealthy' merchants to invest in about 50% of the startup cost to collect rent to own off the rest of the village for 2 decades.

[HouseRules]

Not only do they have to use your wealth, they also need to have sufficient gear. Thus, you need to try to match the "gear value" for all humanoid followers or their loyalty will go down. Try the interpolate the values. The table value indicate at halfway point between that level and next level.

Thus, a level 1 follower with 500 xp has 900 gp, but a level 1 follower with 0 xp has 150 gp worth of gear provided by your wealth.

[Ruethgar]

But followers don’t gain Xp.

[HouseRules]

But followers don’t gain Xp.

Cohorts do gain xp. Followers do not gain xp, but the GM must set their xp. Their xp is usually the minimum for their level.

[ericgrau]

NPC WBL is for elite NPCs, similar to PCs, with PC class levels and the elite array. Others use the normal treasure tables with is much lower. And it's not unreasonable for things the PCs don't fight like commoners to be even lower than that. But yeah a commoner might sometimes have a house and so on passed down to him.

[Ruethgar]

NPC WBL is for elite NPCs, similar to PCs, with PC class levels and the elite array. Others use the normal treasure tables with is much lower. And it's not unreasonable for things the PCs don't fight like commoners to be even lower than that. But yeah a commoner might sometimes have a house and so on passed down to him.

I reform all of my followers, of course they are going to be elite peasants. But along those lines, I’m assuming peasant array and normal sort of town, but were you to go with Awakened Animals sourced over and Endless Forest Gnome’s life, you could gather only straight 18 followers if you had some time travel or timeless sleep to throw them in when you found one.