Troll Lord Games

I've been thinking about this a little bit based on the Magic and Society thread, and I thought I'd post the rough scheme I came up with, for the Illyrian Empire, which is a loosely organized realm which occupies most of a landmass the size of Western and Central Europe, containing some sixty million humanoids (mostly human, but with sizeable populations of elves, halflings, dwarves and others). The numbers are approximate, based on the figure of sixty million.

Illyria as a Whole:
Population of Illyria: 60,000,000
5% of people on average have class levels (3,000,000)

50% of these are level 1 characters (1,500,000)
30% of these are level 2 characters (900,000)
10% of these are level 3 characters (300,000)

10% of leveled are above level 3 (300,000)

50% of these characters are level 4 (150,000)
30% of these characters are level 5 (90,000)
10% of these characters are level 6 (30,000)

10% of those above level 3 are above level 6 (30,000)

50% of these are level 7 (15,000)
30% of these are level 8 (9,000)
10% of these are level 9 (3,000)

10% of those above level 6 are above level 9
50% of these are level 10 (1,500)
30% of these are level 11 (900)
10% of these are level 12 (300)

10% of those above level 9 are above level 12 (300)
30% of those are Level 13 (90)
20% of those are Level 14 (60)
15% of those are Level 15 (45)
10% of those are Level 16 (30)
25% of those are Levels 17 and above (75)

In these numbers, 50% of all classed characters are fighters, 20% are rogues and 10% are clerics, with 20% of all classed individuals covering all other classes. This means that Illyria possesses 1,500,000 classed fighters, 300,000 classed clerics and 600,000 classed rogues, with 600,000 individuals of other classes.

In the largest cities of Illyria, one can pretty much freely assume there's at least one individual of pretty much every class level and that all classes are represented. The capital of the Empire, Solfest, has about 1.2 million people, with the next largest city being Kaiserstadt-am-See (population 300,000-ish) and Magadan (population 150,000) are all going to have a somewhat higher share of high-level characters than a country as a whole- Solfest only has 2% of the total population of Illyria, but perhaps a quarter of the Level 17+ characters.

What about a smaller city, and a largish village? For the purposes of this, I'm going to use Anadir, a frontier city of around 9,000 people on the northeastern fringes of Illyria, and Roteburg, a village of roughly 500 located along one of the passes that lead to the capital of Solfest from the west. Anadir is an 'active' location, in terms of games- it's quite likely that a game would take place in and around it, and it's probably fair to say it has a higher proportion of classed adventurers than an average settlement, perhaps 10%. Roteburg is a 'quiet' location that is unlikely to be the main centre of an adventure, but rather a settlement that a party simply passes through. The proportion of classed individuals is likely to be lower here- I'm setting it fairly arbitrarily at 2%. In all cases, these are residents of the city and not passing adventurers or major antagonists.

The City of Anadir- Population 9,000
900 classed characters in the city

450 of these are fighters (225 level 1 fighters, 135 level 2 fighters, 45 level 3 fighters, 22 level 4 fighters, 13 level 5 fighters, 5 level 6 fighters, 3 level 7 fighters, 1 level 8 fighter, 1 level 9 fighter, and one of above 9th level)

In this case, the highest ranked fighter in the city is Nikolai, who is the personal bodyguard of Princess Aikaterina, the ruler of the city. He is an 11th level human fighter.

180 of these are rogues (90 level 1 rogues, 54 level 2 rogues, 18 level 3 rogues, 9 level 4 rogues, 5 level 5 rogues, 2 level 6 rogues, 1 level 7 rogue, and one rogue of above 7th level)

The highest ranked rogue in the city is an 9th level rogue, Simeon, who is the halfling master of the local Thieves' Guild.

90 of these are clerics (45 level 1 clerics, 30 level 2 clerics, 9 level 3 clerics, 5 level 4 clerics, 3 level 5 clerics, 1 level 6 cleric, and 1 of above 6th level)

The highest ranked cleric of the city is a 10th level dwarven cleric, Father Kazan, who administers the Temple of Sol Invictus, the largest in the city.

180 of those are from all other classes (90 level 1 others, 54 level 2 others, 18 level 3 others, 9 level 4 others, 5 level 5 others, 2 level 6 others, 1 level 7 other, and one other of above 7th level)

The highest ranked individual of another class in the city is the Princess Aikaterina herself, who is an 8th level wizard/4th level rogue.

The Village of Roteburg (Population 500)
2% of all people in Roteburg are classed, thus roughly 10 people have class levels in Roteburg

There are three 1st level fighters, 1 second level fighter and a third level fighter, Michel, who is the captain of the guard. There are two rogues, one of first and one of second level. The second level rogue is Glindi, who is also the only gnome in the village and one of only ten or so non-humans in Roteburg. There is one cleric of first level, Benedict, who operates the Shrine to Los in the town. The other individual with a class level is a knight, Sir Tristan, who is the lord of Roteburg and surrounding lands and is a third level knight.

This is extremely useful! I like what you've done here.

Outside of the human-dominated lands of Illyria, a slightly different dynamic no doubt manifests.

The Dwarves of Khazaria:
The Khazarian Dwarves, for example, would have a much lower proportion of rogues among their population, and virtually no wizards or illusionists. Demihuman settlements tend to have a slightly higher percentage of classed individuals than human ones do, which is more than compensated for by the vastly superior numbers of humans.

Dwarven Class Breakdown:
60% fighters
20% clerics
20% other

Anmor, a Dwarven fortress-city in Khazaria
Total Population: 5,000
Proportion of total population with PC Classes: 7%

350 classed characters
210 fighters (105 1st level fighters, 63 2nd level fighters, 21 3rd level fighters, 11 4th level fighters, 6 5th level fighters, 2 6th level fighters, 1 7th level fighter, 1 8th level fighter, 1 fighter above 8th level)

The highest level fighter in Anmor is Woden Blackaxe, who is a 10th level fighter/5th level cleric. He is the Mountain King of Anmor.

70 clerics (35 1st level clerics, 21 2nd level clerics, 7 3rd level clerics, 4 4th level clerics, 1 5th level cleric*, 1 6th level cleric, 1 cleric of above 6th level)

The highest level cleric in Anmor is Freyja Redbeard, a 7th level cleric who administers the Temple of Eredar in Anmor. The 5th level cleric referred to here is actually Woden Blackaxe.

70 others (35 1st level, 21 2nd level, 7 3rd level, 4 4th level, 1 5th level, 1 6th level, one above 6th level)

The highest level individual who is neither a cleric nor a fighter in Anmor is Valdemar the Tall, who is actually not a dwarf, but is a human bard of 7th level who is the honoured friend of Woden Blackaxe and one of his main advisors.

The High Elves:
Those High Elves that live outside of Illyria, mostly in the Seven Cities along the western coast, would have a rather different distribution of classed characters. They are very few in number, but the proportion of classed individuals amongst these Elves would be higher than either dwarves or humans, at approximately 15%. Of these, 40% are fighters, 10% are rogues, 10% are rangers, 10% are clerics and 30% are other classes.

To represent the Elven City States for the exercise, I've chosen Iconium, which is pretty representative of the Seven Cities.

Iconium, one of the Seven Cities of Tyria
Total Population: 50,000
Class Percentage: 15%
Classed Individuals: 7,500

3,000 fighters: (1500 1st level, 900 2nd level, 300 3rd level, 150 4th level, 90 5th level, 30 6th level, 15 7th level, 10 8th level, 3 9th level, 2 10th level, 1 11th level, 1 above 11th level)

The highest-level fighter in Iconium is a 12th level fighter, Trajan, the current King of Iconium.

750 clerics (375 1st level, 225 2nd level, 75 3rd level, 37 4th level, 22 5th level, 8 6th level, 4 7th level, 2 8th level, 1 9th level, 1 above 9th level)

The highest level cleric in Iconium is Kore, the chief Priestess of Luna, who is a 11th level cleric.

750 rangers (375 1st level, 225 2nd level, 75 3rd level, 37 4th level, 22 5th level, 8 6th level, 4 7th level, 2 8th level, 1 9th level, 1 above 9th level)

The highest level ranger in Iconium is a 10th level ranger/5th level druid by the name of Shira.

750 rogues (375 1st level, 225 2nd level, 75 3rd level, 37 4th level, 22 5th level, 8 6th level, 4 7th level, 2 8th level, 1 9th level, 1 above 9th level)

The highest level rogue in Iconium is Marcus Sulla, the master of the Black Cloaks, an ancient thieving order. At 13th level, he is the second highest level character in the city.

2,250 others (1125 1st level, 675 2nd level, 225 3rd level, 112 4th level, 67 5th level, 22 6th level, 11 7th level, 7 8th level, 2 9th level, 1 10th level, 1 11th level, one above 12th level)

The highest level individual of another class in Iconium is the powerful wizard known as Decius. At 18th level, he is by far the most powerful character in Iconium and perhaps in all of the Seven Cities. Colloquially known as "Doctor Dee" by some of his human students, wizards from all around the known world (and some from outside of it, either geographically or in terms of plane) come to him, seeking knowledge. His primary assistant and daughter, Lorelei is an 11th level illusionist.

To give a wider sense of perspective, Decius is probably one of the five or six most powerful wizards in the entire campaign world.

Gawd you're good! I love it when you talk nerdy to me

Seriously, this is great stuff! I love how you broke it down!

Andred of Albans wrote:Gawd you're good! I love it when you talk nerdy to me

Seriously, this is great stuff! I love how you broke it down!

I'll second this, very useful and interesting stuff!

I used to think I was mad and that I was the only one who derived a perverse pleasure from applying background campaign demographics my players would at the same time both never actually realise were in play but encounter every session! Cool.

Yes, nice post. I often try to play out the numbers on this and will use it as a base line for my settings but I add the following factors;

Age Bracketing roughly
0-15 @20%
16-35 @35%
36-65 @25%
66+ @20%

The unrealistic part of this is the 66+ range, in the real world it is smaller but I figure with a fantasy setting and so much dang healing floating around, life spans would extend to some extent. I generally do not include the 0-15 range for level capacity and the 66+ rnage I reduce the percentage of leveled people significantly (though this would not necessarily be the case as those would presumably be the ones with standing and monies to help extend one's lifespan).

I drop some gender rolls and sexual dimorphism into play as well. Meaning that 50-55% of the population is female and as a general rule only 25% of the female population can level (gender rolls). This is different in different cultures. Dimorphism also tend to cause females to assume some rolls while males fill others. Dimorphism never effects PCs but NPC populations have the effect.

So, of any population group, only 60-80% of the males and roughly 15-20% of females are even eligible for levels. I trend to the 60/20% but 70/25% works well.

Then i pick the percentage which would level. In settled. peaceful communities its about 1% and in strife torn, militaristic societies with struggle as the primary means of attaining wealth and or status it goes up to 10%.

Then run the numbers for leveled characters. That breaks down per class afterwords. And that is entirely up in the air though I tned to give preponderance to fighting classes, rogue classes, clerical classes and wizardly classes in that order.

I've done some similar things for my homebrew setting, though generally only at the city or city-state level. I also assume a lower percentage of individuals with levels (usually no higher than 3%) but that's simply a matter of taste. 5% isn't going to give you a wizard on every corner.

Nice to see how this plays out for a much larger population than I normally play around with!

FWIW, my quick-and-dirty leveling is based on human equivalent ages. Your level equals the tens digit in your age... teenagers are level 1, 20-29 is level 2, 30-39 is level 3, etc. This is in general; obviously, adventurers break this rule, but it does let me work up characters rather quickly.

Most non-adventuring types have a "class" which corresponds to their profession, and these generally don't actually give a prime... so non-adventuring humans have 2 primes, and other races have 1. In terms of HD and To-Hit, they're usually the equivalent of wizards, or maybe rogues or clerics.

Unless, of course, they're antagonists. Then I tend to stat them according to monster rules.

Wow. This is good stuff, but it's not for me. In my fashion of play, everything is too loosey goosey to be tied down to stats.

"How big is the town, Mr. GM Anglefish?"
"It's a big town."
"But how big?"
*looks at the player nonplussed.* "It's a big town. It's not a city, nor a small town or even a village. It's a big town."
"But how big is it?"
"What are you really asking, Mr. Player?"
"Is it big enough to have a magic potion and item shop?"
"That, sir, should have been the question you asked in the first place."