The Commoner Handbook

[EdroGrimshell]

I have to ask, why did you not include the Daelkyr Halfblood under races or the Spellfire Wielder feat under feats? Both are incredibly useful and offer some good options for your average commoner.

[WonderfulAngus]

Am I missing a reason that you recommend animal training armor over leather, leather has no ACP therefore proficiency doesn't affect it.
It has 7 lower ACP and 5 high max dexterity bonus than animal training armor. It costs the exact same price and is less obscure, and it has a higher movement speed.

[willpell]

@ OP: Forgive my ignorance, but how exactly can any character start with "three or four" feats, when restricted to Level 1 in a class with no bonus feats? As far as I knew, one feat for nonhumans or two for humans (and a few oddities like Stronghearts) was an absolute limit unless your class said otherwise.

[motoko's ghost]

@ OP: Forgive my ignorance, but how exactly can any character start with "three or four" feats, when restricted to Level 1 in a class with no bonus feats? As far as I knew, one feat for nonhumans or two for humans (and a few oddities like Stronghearts) was an absolute limit unless your class said otherwise.

Taking a flaw(from Unearthed Arcana) gives you a bonus feat in exchange

[killem2]

A commoner who picks a high CHA race, could very well go into a handle animal, leadership monster! :D

Could be some legendary RPing!

[WonderfulAngus]

A commoner who picks a high CHA race, could very well go into a handle animal, leadership monster! :D

Could be some legendary RPing!

It is true that the best thing a commoner can do is get others to do the work for them. a first level commoner (12.5gp) can hire a Minotaur for one day (8gp) and do a first level adventure in one day (8 encounters CR1=2400xp/2=1200xp) now you have a WBL of (900gp-8gp=892) now you can hire a pair of ogre mages for a month.

[Cieyrin]

It is true that the best thing a commoner can do is get others to do the work for them. a first level commoner (12.5gp) can hire a Minotaur for one day (8gp) and do a first level adventure in one day (8 encounters CR1=2400xp/2=1200xp) now you have a WBL of (900gp-8gp=892) now you can hire a pair of ogre mages for a month.

This is assuming you could get a mercenary minotaur to work for you and not eat you and if said encounters weren't anything besides combats or in areas that would allow the minotaur to get inside and be effective. ("No, little boss man, I'm not going into that kobold warren.") This is also expecting the minotaur to not eat you after your contract is at end so he can take all the treasure and have a meal at the same time.

[WonderfulAngus]

This is assuming you could get a mercenary minotaur to work for you and not eat you and if said encounters weren't anything besides combats or in areas that would allow the minotaur to get inside and be effective. ("No, little boss man, I'm not going into that kobold warren.") This is also expecting the minotaur to not eat you after your contract is at end so he can take all the treasure and have a meal at the same time.

It could also just be two centaurs (12gp) or 10 human warriors(1gp)

[chomskola]

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay has a really sweet glut of profession based NPCS that i would love to transpose into 3.5 as NPCS for my campaigns

[Slipperychicken]

One of the Commoner's greatest strengths: Numbers.

Take a look at the DMG2 Mob template: 48 Commoners can join up into a Mob, and become a shapeable Gargantuan CR 8 with 30HD, 135hp, excellent saves, and a grapple mod of +34 (and can grapple multiple creatures without penalty).

[Hiro Protagonest]

@ OP: Forgive my ignorance, but how exactly can any character start with "three or four" feats, when restricted to Level 1 in a class with no bonus feats? As far as I knew, one feat for nonhumans or two for humans (and a few oddities like Stronghearts) was an absolute limit unless your class said otherwise.

Flaws. Among other things, Frail inflicts practically no penalty since you're going to die if you get hit anyway.

[willpell]

Flaws. Among other things, Frail inflicts practically no penalty since you're going to die if you get hit anyway.

Okay, so a flaw can get you up to 2 feats, or 3 if you're human. The OP alluded to one more than that.

Taking a flaw(from Unearthed Arcana) gives you a bonus feat in exchange

(Purple is sarcasm, I thought?)

[demigodus]

Okay, so a flaw can get you up to 2 feats, or 3 if you're human. The OP alluded to one more than that.



(Purple is sarcasm, I thought?)

Sarcasm is blue. Also, you can get up to 2 flaws normally. So 2 feats from flaws, 1 from level 1, and an extra if you are human for 3 or 4 feats total.

[Lans]

You can also worship an elder evil, be tainted, and sell your soul

[Vizzerdrix]

Hmm...

Strongheart Halfling with:

Magical Training, Heighten Spell, Versatile Spell Caster and Spellfire Wielder.

With a Con of 14 (and two weeks of prep time) can dish out 14D6 at a range of 400 feet. One time. I think I've found the most glassy of cannons

[Cieyrin]

(Purple is sarcasm, I thought?)

motoko just always posts in purple, it's not meant to convey a specific tone besides personal whim.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Okay, so a flaw can get you up to 2 feats, or 3 if you're human. The OP alluded to one more than that.

As Demigodus said, you can get up to two flaws. Vulnerable is another good one.

Also, I love that halfling Spellfire build. "The young green dragon sees a halfling caravan passing through his forest. He swoops down and lands in front of them, and say 'give me half of the goods in that caravan'. Two of the halflings each extend a hand out at him, and two bursts of fire erupt from their fingers. Bye-bye dragon."

As for the sarcasm, at least one poster thinks magenta makes a better color. I don't see it, though.

[motoko's ghost]

(Purple is sarcasm, I thought?)

motoko just always posts in purple, it's not meant to convey a specific tone besides personal whim.

Sorry about the confusion, I just like it better this way

[MukkTB]

I guess the most obvious question is, what EL of threat against Opto-Thorp does it take for them to actually feel the need to put out a call for adventurers? (I'm guessing bog-standard "ogre raiders" and "bandit fodder" have either learned to avoid Opto-Thorp or succumbed to natural selection.)

Opto-Thorp is threatened by Opto-Bandit Gang which is also comprised of lvl 1 npc classes.

[Vizzerdrix]

Hmm... What is the feat that allows you to use one power? Any way we could use that to get an Astral Construct for more than two rounds?

[willpell]

You can also worship an elder evil, be tainted, and sell your soul

Those all give you a bonus feat? Also if your DM lets you take more than one of them you have a rather stupid DM (or at least one who doesn't give a ****, which is somewhat less of a criticism).

[Morph Bark]

You can also worship an elder evil, be tainted, and sell your soul

I'd like to have a source on the last two options (page number included if possible), because I've never heard about Taint granting extra feats, nor an official RAW possibility to sell your soul and gain feats.

[Thurbane]

Selling your soul is covered in Fiendish Codex II, page 23-24.

[Crasical]

Opto-Thorp is threatened by Opto-Bandit Gang which is also comprised of lvl 1 npc classes.

I kind of want to see an Opto-bandit squad, if only for more information to pinch on how to make my Thrallherds 1st level NPC Believers useful.


EDIT: Also, Weapon and Torch mentions it has a chance to daze enemies. Is this true?

EDIT AGAIN: One last question. How do you Rate Arrow Volley (CWar 124) vs. Missile Volley (PHBII)?
Arrow Volley lets a formation of 10 archers fire a volley using the team leader's BAB+int to target an area in the same shape as the archers formation, and force everyone in that area to make a DC15 reflex save or take a hit.
Missile Volley lets a formation of up to 8 team members to fire a volley with each individual member getting a +1 bonus for each member of the team participation, on the caveat that they all fire at the same target. It also requires every member to have Point Blank Shot, and for the leader to also have Precise Shot.

I'm not sure that the Ref DC on an Arrow Volley is even high enough to be worth considering, and though it seems like it would be easy enough to just have an archery squad learn both, it doesn't work quite that way. Arrow Volley requires 10 archers, Missile Volley allows a max of 8. And even if you want your crack Missile Volley team to just recruit 2 more warm bodies to fill out the formation, Arrow volley requires bows instead of allowing crossbows, so you have to bring in Warriors instead of Commoners or Experts.

[Cor1]

Hmm... What is the feat that allows you to use one power? Any way we could use that to get an Astral Construct for more than two rounds?

Hidden Talent (Astral Construct), Practiced Manifester. Voilà, 5-rounds Astral Constructs of first level. You can have two. If you're an Elan, you'll get four power points from your race and Hidden Talent.
Without the Complete Psionic nerf to Astral Construct, you can have four simultaneous Astral Constructs of first level.
With the nerf, you can have five rounds of second-level Astral Construct, then ten rounds of first-level Astral Constructs.

With a second Flaw, you can get a Psicrystal, and that one has one feat too. Thus, Hidden Talent (Astral Construct), and that's ten more rounds of first-level Astral Constructs. But those can coexist with yours. Or give it Entangling Ectoplasm, so it entangles one Medium creature with a ranged touch attack, no SR no save, and your Constructs pummel it to death.

It's almost better than a first-level Psion... One Fragile, Shaky Elan Commoner with a psicrystal is not all that scary to five kobolds, but with equal numbers, that's ten simultaneous five-rounds, second level Astral Constructs, and five entangling attacks per round. Oh yes, Leadership is scary.

Without psicrystal, the second Flaw could give Extend Power, so with only one power known and four power points per day, one can reasonably assume the character is psionically focused at every Initiative roll. This means that expending the focus enables the character to Extend one first-level Astral Construct, and it's available all the time. That's a one minute first-level Astral Construct... normally it's one round at first level. Still five rounds available, with the one remaining power point. Hmm, not optimal.

How to optimize this? Three feats slots are available, without over two Flaws, which is "not recommended". So we have found optimal Hidden Talent (Astral Construct), and it would be nice to augment it. Could we do this with incarnum?

So, what about Midnight Augmentation? With one level, we could invest the one point of Essentia given by itself into itself, and cheapen the augmentation of Astral Construct by one point... so a second-level AC would cost two power points, and that's ten rounds of second-level AC with the four power points. Neat.

One more way : with Azure Talent, Hidden Talent and Practiced manifester. This would give six power points, with the one essentia from Azure Talent invested in itself. So that's also two five-rounds second-level Astral Constructs.

The Astral Construct Spam Squad of Flawed Elan Commoners : An Elan experiment in an Elan village. "If this doesn't work out, we have the technology to rebuild them, anyway." I'll do that in the first hidden village I build wih my current Elan Psion.

[Zonugal]

I have to ask, why did you not include the Daelkyr Halfblood under races or the Spellfire Wielder feat under feats? Both are incredibly useful and offer some good options for your average commoner.

I think I just forgot about the Daelkyr Halfblood (I do love their Throwing Gauntlet) and regarding the Spellfire Wielder feat I didn't include it (I actually struggled with this for a while) because while it is powerful I didn't see a reliable way of activating it in small town.

Am I missing a reason that you recommend animal training armor over leather, leather has no ACP therefore proficiency doesn't affect it.
It has 7 lower ACP and 5 high max dexterity bonus than animal training armor. It costs the exact same price and is less obscure, and it has a higher movement speed.

This was honestly an over-sight on my end, thanks for pointing it out.

I kind of want to see an Opto-bandit squad, if only for more information to pinch on how to make my Thrallherds 1st level NPC Believers useful.

I could do so much with Adepts, Aristocrats, Magewrights, & Warriors...

Also, Weapon and Torch mentions it has a chance to daze enemies. Is this true?

Nope, it has a chance to make a creature dazzled for 1d4 rounds. I made a mistake in the feat section regarding the feat.

EDIT AGAIN: One last question. How do you Rate Arrow Volley (CWar 124) vs. Missile Volley (PHBII)?
Arrow Volley lets a formation of 10 archers fire a volley using the team leader's BAB+int to target an area in the same shape as the archers formation, and force everyone in that area to make a DC15 reflex save or take a hit.
Missile Volley lets a formation of up to 8 team members to fire a volley with each individual member getting a +1 bonus for each member of the team participation, on the caveat that they all fire at the same target. It also requires every member to have Point Blank Shot, and for the leader to also have Precise Shot.

I'm not sure that the Ref DC on an Arrow Volley is even high enough to be worth considering, and though it seems like it would be easy enough to just have an archery squad learn both, it doesn't work quite that way. Arrow Volley requires 10 archers, Missile Volley allows a max of 8. And even if you want your crack Missile Volley team to just recruit 2 more warm bodies to fill out the formation, Arrow volley requires bows instead of allowing crossbows, so you have to bring in Warriors instead of Commoners or Experts.

I honestly didn't know about Arrow Volley but it seems pretty rad. Also remember you can still have both of these options available with a squad of Fire Elves.

[Crasical]

I could do so much with Adepts, Aristocrats, Magewrights, & Warriors...

I would totally love to read about it!

[Zonugal]

I would totally love to read about it!

But what challenge is there when you have wealth, magic and a +1 BaB!?!?!

[Slipperychicken]

But what challenge is there when you have wealth, magic and a +1 BaB!?!?!

It's more fun if the Bandits have the same limitations as the Thorp. All Commoners (maybe Warrior if you're feeling generous about their combat experience), wealth limit, would likely be in "Squad" numbers (~11-20).


EDIT: With a starting wealth of 3d4x10 (average 75gp), BAB +1, and a d8, those Warriors are going to be tough..

[MukkTB]

I'm pretty sure opto bandit gang is composed of warriors and maybe experts pretending to be rogues. They 'balance' against opto thorp by not being very many of them. 5-10 probably. They probably aren't willing to take opto thorp in a straight up fight.

If you want to see opto thorpe run over and burned to the ground you're looking for opto barbarian horde. Roughly 30 warriors run by a embryonic big bad. They day he burned your home to the ground was the most important day of your life, young adventurer. But for him, it was Tuesday.