Are all boar hunters medium-high level characters?

[Conradine]

One of the most commonly hunted animals is the wild boar and for many reasons: it provide fat, highly caloric meat; all his parts can be used; it's a prolific omnivore who lives virtually everywhere; and is actually so prolific to be classed as "infestant" specie, which often causes damages to coltures, so there's a big incentive in hunting them.

Since it's a CR 2, and is not breed but hunted ( which means, fighting, even if bows are used ), should we assume that all midly experienced hunters are at least level 5-6 or more?

[Telonius]

First off, real-life Boars are nasty. They're big, powerful, dangerous, and extremely smart. There are numerous historical and mythological accounts of boars killing people who were hunting them. Back before guns, boar hunting was generally something done in groups, often with hunting dogs to help; rarely (as in, serious test of bravery) done solo. Real-world equivalent of a person who could take on a boar alone? Yeah, I'd say that would be a decent fit for level 5 or 6.

[Godskook]

If an NPC starts as a level 1 Ranger, he'll require 2 Boar kills to make level 2. An additional 3 kills to make level 3, and 5 more to hit level 4. He'll hit level 5 with 200xp to spare on 7 boars, but he'll still need to kill 10 boars to hit level 6.

So, a level 6 Boar Hunter(Ranger?) will have to solo 27 Boars in order to get there. That's not mildly experienced anymore. That's an expert. Also, note the word "solo". Most hunters don't hunt alone, and thus, would share XP with their allies. A singular ally would double the required hunts.

So how old is such a character? Well, I poked around, and modern hunters seem to think that ~6 deer is sufficient for a year's supply of meat, so a for mere survival, and Boar weigh about ~50% more than what he used for deer. So 4 Boars a year, or 7 years to accumulate this xp solo. 14 years if done alongside a single ally, and in a party of 4 hunters(boar are dangerous!), over 28 years.

Now, how old is such a person, relative to their life-expectancy? Well, Popes and Artists in 1200-1599 would serve as a high-end estimate of reasonable longevity for Hunters, and that's about 65 years old. So a Hunter who starts hunting at 18, and spends 28 years hunting with an average of 3 friends, will, in his very old age of 46(of 65) have attained the level 6. At this age, he will already have had a family and actively sought to reduce his risk of dying by retiring, or training up a large cadre of younger hunters, who'll drop his XP share into uselessness.

[Conradine]

And....

if the hunter uses hunting dogs and traps?

[Segev]

And....

if the hunter uses hunting dogs and traps?

I think the rules for having excessive amounts of wealth devoted to a fight that makes it less challenging than it should be state that the XP are diminished accordingly.

[Godskook]

And....

if the hunter uses hunting dogs and traps?

Characters have Wealth-by-level baked into the values I was using. Do you mean over and above that amount? Cause yes, increasing WBL would increased a character's effective level, and thus, arguably, reduce their XP benefits from a fight.

[Psyren]

Aren't boars typically hunted in groups for this very reason (and still pretty lethal even then?) Sounds like CR2 is decent to me.

[Conradine]

I think the rules for having excessive amounts of wealth devoted to a fight that makes it less challenging than it should be state that the XP are diminished accordingly.


Holes and slip knots cost nothing; dogs and steel traps are reusable.



So 4 Boars a year, or 7 years to accumulate this xp solo. 14 years if done alongside a single ally, and in a party of 4 hunters(boar are dangerous!), over 28 years.

But if you need to feed 4 hunters, you need 4 times the boars.

[Buufreak]

My biggest question is what are you defining as a medium to high level character? Because 6 definitely isn't it in my book.

[Conradine]

A six level character can trash a room of normal people. He would be feared and respected. Even a patrol of guards would exitate before trying to arrest him. And that if he's not optimized.


The spell Legend Lore says it clearly:


As a rule of thumb, characters who are 11th level and higher are “legendary,” as are the sorts of creatures they contend with

So, if 11 is legend, 6 is medium-high.

[Telonius]

Holes and slip knots cost nothing; dogs and steel traps are reusable.




But if you need to feed 4 hunters, you need 4 times the boars.

Did a bit of googling; a typical boar is going to give something like 150-175 pounds of usable pork. In the US (which eats one the highest meat-containing diet in the world) an individual eats something like 264 pounds a year. Bringing down a boar is going to be a feast for the whole village.

[Psyren]

I think the XP calculation is missing some factors. A hunter hunting boar isn't just killing the boar like it's a monster encounter and leaving it there to rot, they are practicing their profession - hunter at least to bring the carcass back to feed people, and possibly also things like tanning or cooking if they're the ones doing that. All that stuff aligns with the role they're playing in their community, which translates into roleplaying XP.


Did a bit of googling; a typical boar is going to give something like 150-175 pounds of usable pork. In the US (which eats one the highest meat-containing diet in the world) an individual eats something like 264 pounds a year. Bringing down a boar is going to be a feast for the whole village.

Indeed - and that high reward justifies both the high risk, and sending multiple hunters to maximize success.

[Buufreak]

So, if 11 is legend, 6 is medium-high.

Your comparison is one of inequivalence. It is entirely possible for someone to be legendarily bad. Legendary is merely a term used to measure fame. When compared to the core books' level curves, where 20 is generally considered the pre epic cap, 6 is nowhere near to "medium-high."

[Conradine]

Legendarily bad?

Come on. A level 11 character in every class that's not a Commoner is superhuman, and even level 11 commoners are stretching the human limits.

[liquidformat]

Your comparison is one of inequivalence. It is entirely possible for someone to be legendarily bad. Legendary is merely a term used to measure fame. When compared to the core books' level curves, where 20 is generally considered the pre epic cap, 6 is nowhere near to "medium-high."

The definition would be setting specific obviously, tippyverse compared to eberron to forgotten realms to dark sun you have a wide range of what level would be medium high. I normally go with the E6 scaling myself where a level 6 person is a very high and powerful figure...

Anyways, a deep pit trap for example is only 1300gp, spiked pit is 1600gp and camo pits start at 1800gp; considering that they are easily reusable they are a great if not overpriced tool for most hunters. And in conjunction with bows and spears it wouldn't be hard to panic a couple of pigs into falling to their death, so killing a couple pigs a week isn't unreasonable in an area where they are prolific.