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Does this strike anyone else as a bit odd/funny? The below is from the NPC Codex. Level 1 Commoner, the Beggar.
During Combat The commoner offers his pitiful handful of copper pieces to buy his life. If refused, he lashes out with his dagger while screaming for help.
Gear dagger, disguise kit, wooden flute, 203 gp
Emphasis mine. I get that all NPCs are designed with the same allowance of wealth... but still, this seems kind of off. Funny though. :)
Also, he has no Perform (wind) modifier. Not sure how the money is being made, lol.
Well, there's a lot of possibilities. Two of them randomly off my mind...
#1: He's made begging a successful profession.
#2: He's more than just a mere begger. He has a disguise kit after all.
Gear dagger, disguise kit, wooden flute, 203 gpEmphasis mine. I get that all NPCs are designed with the same allowance of wealth... but still, this seems kind of off. Funny though. :)
200+ gold!? Why is he begging! He has like 2000 days worth of work in his pockets. He could afford 1000 nights at the local inn. In 3.5 it was 2 copper for a chicken. He can afford 10,000 chickens! With 10,000 chickens he could probably take over a small town... Just sayin'.
That's usually how it works, honestly. Homelessness can be very lucrative for some.
That's usually how it works, honestly. Homelessness can be very lucrative for some.
Yea. While certainly the ultra rare exceptions, there are stories of begging having a surprising yearly salary.
I think for raw mechanics, they listed the gp. That way no one would ask, "where's the rest of his WBL"?
By the same token, everyone in the NPC Codex is just a "suggestion" and not mandatory to use.
Lastly... there's just some interesting RP potential to explain why he'd even have that wealth. Any "random throw away" beggar, would naturally be broke and most GM's probably wouldn't even have generated stats.
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Oh, I totally get *why* they did it. A level 1 NPC has X money, they gave him that much. It just winds up looking very odd that a beggar has more wealth than most level 1 PCs. :) Personally I think they should have cut the NPC wealth for pure NPC classes in half (at least for the commoners, maybe even more) but for now, it's just entertaining. This was never meant to be a complaint thread.
Maybe they should've burned the rest of his cash on masterwork begging tools? A jewel-studded golden panhandling cup.
Maybe they should've burned the rest of his cash on masterwork begging tools? A jewel-studded golden panhandling cup.
Or maybe a valuable possession worth that much, but doesn't look like it, and the beggar just carries around on him in total ignorance. Others don't take it, because it's hidden and/or the general population is ignorant too (i.e. only an expert appraisalist would know).
For example: a bent, rust coated walking stick that has some rare metal smelted into it.
Maybe they should've burned the rest of his cash on masterwork begging tools? A jewel-studded golden panhandling cup.Or maybe a valuable possession worth that much, but doesn't look like it, and the beggar just carries around on him in total ignorance. Others don't take it, because it's hidden and/or the general population is ignorant too (i.e. only an expert appraisalist would know).
Your putting genuine advice in my joke!
Doesn't sound far fetched, but it would be silly if every begger had one. 1/10 drop rate maybe? Wonder who gives that quest...
True. But then, NPC's in the NPC Codex aren't supposed to be "every" single version of their example. Just one usable example.
How many PC's actually pay that much attention to every beggar walking the streets of a good sized city? If someone really RP'ed the heck out of such a character, I might reward them with such a find.
Plus it make a great story hook that could be used then or later down the campaign...
How many PC's actually pay that much attention to every beggar walking the streets of a good sized city? If someone really RP'ed the heck out of such a character, I might reward them with such a find.
Depends on the game I'm running. One game I ran my character and another were all about Charity, and in another my pirate was completely willing to help the needy. However... in another my friends might find out beggers had money and immediately concoct a plan to steal from beggars. The fact they have any money at all would be their downfall!
You do realize that they point out in the introduction to the chapter, that the gear is based on table values for adventuring NPCs and that normal people don't actually have these amounts.
And just the fact that they spell it out like that makes me think they had these boards in mind when they wrote the intro. :)
The beggar works for the local thieves guild. He is holding that money to pay for something that will be left with another beggar nearby. When the party rolls him and takes the money, they have now pissed off the thieves guild.
NEW PARTY IDEA! The group starts out as one of each of the level 1 NPCs. We have a lowly beggar, a new recruit, an apprentice jeweler, a nervous page, and a eager acolyte. Adventure HO!
Why not just have four murder hobos? Seems to be the norm anyway!
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Gear dagger, disguise kit, wooden flute, 203 gpEmphasis mine. I get that all NPCs are designed with the same allowance of wealth... but still, this seems kind of off. Funny though. :)
Also, he has no Perform (wind) modifier. Not sure how the money is being made, lol.
Wood flute is a bad choice, because without skill, you can't make a flute make any noise. But according to certain period texts, during the victorian era, there were organised gangs of street performers who would travel from location to location, playing loudly and badly till they were paid to go away.
For this purpose, a perform skill is superfluous.
I think in Pathfinder that would be a Profession skill.
Gear dagger, disguise kit, wooden flute, 203 gpEmphasis mine. I get that all NPCs are designed with the same allowance of wealth... but still, this seems kind of off. Funny though. :)
Also, he has no Perform (wind) modifier. Not sure how the money is being made, lol.
Wood flute is a bad choice, because without skill, you can't make a flute make any noise. But according to certain period texts, during the victorian era, there were organised gangs of street performers who would travel from location to location, playing loudly and badly till they were paid to go away.
For this purpose, a perform skill is superfluous.
Of course you can still play it, you'd roll Perform, and just use your Cha mod, depending on what that is, you could be better than the guy that's actually taken lessons/spent time practising. It's all about the randomness of the d20.
If he were being used as a "monster," just give his gold to another NPC in the group. But that's not really the point, for the most part.
Contributor
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Real beggars in Elizabethan and Jacobean England often had very elaborate disguises and were quite successful financially. See here; the link is of the biographer of the most successful of Tudor scoundrels and beggars, Nicholas Jennings.
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I admit that I am somewhat skeptical of the historical accuracy of Caveat, as Thomas Harman certainly seems to have had a non-neutral PoV. And anyone who self describes themselves as an excellent interrogator is probably getting told what they want to hear. But it certainly seems to have at very least formed the core of how beggars and thieves are depicted in fantasy fiction.