High-level populations - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

High-level populations

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Sep 04, 2003 21:20:54 The thread concerning the Knights of Takhisis' titles briefly hinted on the question of major posts (high level positions) being restricted to a certain number of individuals, at the end of The second generation . The exacts numbers are: 147 15th-level, 21 16th-level, 7 17th-level and 1 18th-level for each of the orders. That means that at some point it may have been that there were 441 15th-level, 63 16th-level, 21 17th-level and 3 18th-level knights of Takhisis on Ansalon, or at least on Krynn.

Now two things about this:

But the question is: don't most of us agree (from the novels, at least) that Dragonlance is a low-magic, low-power world compared to, say, that other world ? Tell me: if important NPC's like Dalamar and such are around 17th-level-ish, how can you also have a knightly order full of blank-faced, unheard-of people that are around the same levels??

Which brings me to my real question :

What do you think are reasonable numbers for the high-level population of Ansalon? Are the characters depicted in the novels (and game material) the only powerful ones? I should think not. Are they only a small fraction of the population of their level ?? I don't think so, too. The best guess in my opinion would be the middle solution: there is a limited number of high-level characters on Krynn, so of whom we know already, and some (around the same number??) are left for us inventive DMs to flesh out.

I would very much appreciate your thoughts on this.
#2
kalanth
Sep 04, 2003 21:25:15 Do to the problems presented by 3rd ed and 3.5 ed with multiclassing and PrC's, I upped the max planet level to 25. If you remember, the original books stated that characters above 18th level were rare because the Gods normally took them off the planet in one way or another. I figure, to give players a fair chance at multiclassing, I would up this level.

However, I have no more than 7 total NPC's of 18th or higher, and that is because of some characters that had played in an old campaign I ran that I am using as NPC's now.
#3
dragontooth
Sep 04, 2003 21:34:41 First of all Krynn is by no means a low power world. Yes is Lower powered then Greyhawk, and FR. But its not low power. MY view and I stress the word MY because i know a lot of other people don't share the veiw I have. Is Krynn isn't a low magic world either. Its not high magic like FR or Greyhawk. To me Krynn is about regular magic level appropriate for assigning magic and what not. Now of course the Age of mortal drained a few magic items of their power, But not all Mistics, Sorceres are going to drain the magic items to oblivion, and as stated in the AOM book magical items recharged themselves when Mistics, and Sorcerers drained some other their magic potential. But from what I seen in the Campaign Setting, and AoM setting their are plenty of magic items for hero's to find, and weild.
#4
iltharanos
Sep 04, 2003 22:39:06 I guess the best terminology to use in describing Krynn and magic is that Krynn is a high magic world.

Yes, a high magic world because there are all kinds of magical beings and magical events occurring, e.g.

Chaos War
War of Souls
Dragon Overlords
Sorcerers and Mystics
Clerics and Wizards
Towers of High Sorcery
Guardian Groves
God-instigated Cataclysms
etc.
etc.

Krynn is, however, also a rare magic world. It's a rare magic world because there simply aren't tons of magic items lying around, but it is still a high magic world because the magic items you do find tend to be that much more powerful due to their relative rarity.
#5
ferratus
Sep 04, 2003 22:52:49
Originally posted by Bredangar

What do you think are reasonable numbers for the high-level population of Ansalon? Are the characters depicted in the novels (and game material) the only powerful ones?

The number of high-level characters could easily be extrapolated if we knew the population of Krynn's nations. I could tell you how many people live in Flotsam, Nereka, and various other cities though, and what level and class everyone is using the rules in the DMG in the chapter on World-Building.
#6
iltharanos
Sep 04, 2003 22:54:32
Originally posted by ferratus
The number of high-level characters could easily be extrapolated if we knew the population of Krynn's nations. I could tell you how many people live in Flotsam, Nereka, and various other cities though, and what level and class everyone is using the rules in the DMG in the chapter on World-Building.

Man, you just never give up. :D
#7
ferratus
Sep 04, 2003 22:59:07 As I said, I'm not just being petty. You NEED this information to widespread in order to have a consistent vision for a shared world. These questions are just going to pop up again, and again, and again.
#8
iltharanos
Sep 04, 2003 23:07:08 Well, we do have population stats for Palanthas, Gwynned, Khuri-Khan, Neraka, Port Balifor, Flotsam, etc.

If we use the rules on pp. 138 and 139 of the 3.5 DMG, we can easily generate a range of npc stats for these cities. It's not the whole country, but it's better than nothing.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Sep 04, 2003 21:20:54	The thread concerning the Knights of Takhisis' titles briefly hinted on the question of major posts (high level positions) being restricted to a certain number of individuals, at the end of The second generation . The exacts numbers are: 147 15th-level, 21 16th-level, 7 17th-level and 1 18th-level for each of the orders. That means that at some point it may have been that there were 441 15th-level, 63 16th-level, 21 17th-level and 3 18th-level knights of Takhisis on Ansalon, or at least on Krynn. Now two things about this: But the question is: don't most of us agree (from the novels, at least) that Dragonlance is a low-magic, low-power world compared to, say, that other world ? Tell me: if important NPC's like Dalamar and such are around 17th-level-ish, how can you also have a knightly order full of blank-faced, unheard-of people that are around the same levels?? Which brings me to my real question : What do you think are reasonable numbers for the high-level population of Ansalon? Are the characters depicted in the novels (and game material) the only powerful ones? I should think not. Are they only a small fraction of the population of their level ?? I don't think so, too. The best guess in my opinion would be the middle solution: there is a limited number of high-level characters on Krynn, so of whom we know already, and some (around the same number??) are left for us inventive DMs to flesh out. I would very much appreciate your thoughts on this.
#2 kalanth Sep 04, 2003 21:25:15	Do to the problems presented by 3rd ed and 3.5 ed with multiclassing and PrC's, I upped the max planet level to 25. If you remember, the original books stated that characters above 18th level were rare because the Gods normally took them off the planet in one way or another. I figure, to give players a fair chance at multiclassing, I would up this level. However, I have no more than 7 total NPC's of 18th or higher, and that is because of some characters that had played in an old campaign I ran that I am using as NPC's now.
#3 dragontooth Sep 04, 2003 21:34:41	First of all Krynn is by no means a low power world. Yes is Lower powered then Greyhawk, and FR. But its not low power. MY view and I stress the word MY because i know a lot of other people don't share the veiw I have. Is Krynn isn't a low magic world either. Its not high magic like FR or Greyhawk. To me Krynn is about regular magic level appropriate for assigning magic and what not. Now of course the Age of mortal drained a few magic items of their power, But not all Mistics, Sorceres are going to drain the magic items to oblivion, and as stated in the AOM book magical items recharged themselves when Mistics, and Sorcerers drained some other their magic potential. But from what I seen in the Campaign Setting, and AoM setting their are plenty of magic items for hero's to find, and weild.
#4 iltharanos Sep 04, 2003 22:39:06	I guess the best terminology to use in describing Krynn and magic is that Krynn is a high magic world. Yes, a high magic world because there are all kinds of magical beings and magical events occurring, e.g. Chaos War War of Souls Dragon Overlords Sorcerers and Mystics Clerics and Wizards Towers of High Sorcery Guardian Groves God-instigated Cataclysms etc. etc. Krynn is, however, also a rare magic world. It's a rare magic world because there simply aren't tons of magic items lying around, but it is still a high magic world because the magic items you do find tend to be that much more powerful due to their relative rarity.
#5 ferratus Sep 04, 2003 22:52:49	Originally posted by Bredangar What do you think are reasonable numbers for the high-level population of Ansalon? Are the characters depicted in the novels (and game material) the only powerful ones? The number of high-level characters could easily be extrapolated if we knew the population of Krynn's nations. I could tell you how many people live in Flotsam, Nereka, and various other cities though, and what level and class everyone is using the rules in the DMG in the chapter on World-Building.
#6 iltharanos Sep 04, 2003 22:54:32	Originally posted by ferratus The number of high-level characters could easily be extrapolated if we knew the population of Krynn's nations. I could tell you how many people live in Flotsam, Nereka, and various other cities though, and what level and class everyone is using the rules in the DMG in the chapter on World-Building. Man, you just never give up. :D
#7 ferratus Sep 04, 2003 22:59:07	As I said, I'm not just being petty. You NEED this information to widespread in order to have a consistent vision for a shared world. These questions are just going to pop up again, and again, and again.
#8 iltharanos Sep 04, 2003 23:07:08	Well, we do have population stats for Palanthas, Gwynned, Khuri-Khan, Neraka, Port Balifor, Flotsam, etc. If we use the rules on pp. 138 and 139 of the 3.5 DMG, we can easily generate a range of npc stats for these cities. It's not the whole country, but it's better than nothing.