How would you describe the difference between an NPC listed in the following ways?
Aristocrat 3/ Fighter 2
or
Aristrocrat 3/ Warrior 2
Is the first a royal who is also a veteran soldier, having real combat experience v.s the second who was more likely trained but lacking any real world experience?
Not sure this is a rules question, but I'd say a fighter is a person who dedicates his life to being a fighter/warrior/martial guy, and a warrior is someone who has some training, either in his past or current, but it's not his life's ambition - it's just a job.
So almost every common NPC should probably be a warrior, but anyone who stands out as a life-long dedicated military guy who really does nothing else would be a fighter.
So to your question, many warriors have real-world experience. That's why you can find people who are higher level warriors - a warrior level 5 has gone up 4 levels because he has real-world experience.
Both of your aristocrats are guys with real combat experience. But the first guy spent a part of his life being a dedicated fighter and nothing else, to the exclusion of all else. Maybe an adventurer, or maybe an elite soldier. Then he quit that life and became an aristocrat. Or the other way around, and aristocrat who became a dedicated fighter. The second guy is just an aristocrat who, at some time, spent a little while in the army or serving as a town guard, maybe when he was younger before he began pursuing his career as an aristocrat.
I would consider an Aristocrat/Figther combo to be a knight. Someone born into privlege (probably noblilty) who has trained extensively in combat in addition to a classical education.
An Aristocrat/Warrior combo could either be a person born to privlege or wealth who has served some time in a milita or army; or it could be a vetern soldier who has been elevated to a high ranking officer and has expanded his education to be able to function in more social or professional settings.
Those are, of course, simply the most basic concepts that came to mind and there are many more variations and backgrounds that could lead to that specific class combination.
The thing to remember here is that the Aristocrat class does not necessarily mean that the charcter was born nobility or royalty, just that they received a certain type of education to prepare them to move in certain circles of society.
For npc its often used to reprisent formal military training or in other cases someone being elite. Warriors also often are hunters or mitia or Other less defined combatants.
To add to what I said earlier the aristocrat warror coukd very well be focused on hunting.
I personally use the the same definitions for fighter and warrior as DM blake but the other way around.
For fighter I tend to think of anyone who fights really (ex: fist fighters and gladiators etc.)
For warrior I think any professional soldier who fights as part of an army or unit.
I think it has to do with the U.S. Army refering to us soldiers as warriors all the time lol.
They're both just using NPC classes. Fighter was just in the wrong book!
Anyways, there is as much difference as you give it really, as far as roleplaying is concerned. They could really be very similar too. Ideally the fighter has more ability though, but not by much.
Both could be the same person. The one with Fighter levels is just better.
Evil Twins. They lived the same life, had the same upbringing, but one was evil... and had fighter levels.
Evil Twins. They lived the same life, had the same upbringing, but one was evil... and had fighter levels.And a goatee!
Well that's just a given when your an evil twin isn't it? Maybe a slightly more evil laugh, it turns into a cough if he's old enough.
How would you describe the difference between an NPC listed in the following ways?
Aristocrat 3/ Fighter 2
or
Aristrocrat 3/ Warrior 2Is the first a royal who is also a veteran soldier, having real combat experience v.s the second who was more likely trained but lacking any real world experience?
I wouldn't.
Warrior levels can represent military, militia, guard service, or some role that requires martial training.
Fighter levels represent those same concepts.
Mechanically they are different, Fighter being a PC and Warrior being an NPC class, but who and what they are is pretty much the same.
There was another thread that asked how to describe/when to use NPC classes. I think it isn't a very cut and dry thing to do. Most NPCs I make have NPC classes, but NPCs with PC classes don't usually represent a different concept so much as being naturally gifted and better at what they do.
The priest in the village might be an adept, or if especially devout a cleric/druid.
The officer could be Aristocrat/Warrior, but if a gifted swordsman could be Aristocrat/Fighter.
Part of my question stems from the liberal use of both NPC and PC classes in the various character descriptions throughout the Codex and other publications. Trying to read into what actually determines which you use is kind of tough. A rule of some sort or thorough explanation would have been nice.
For Example - Kinra is a Half Elf that grew up in a monestary. After several years of training her order was wiped out by invading hoardes and she escaped into the wild. Taken in by a farmer and his family on the edge of the wild she spent several years with them before leaving to start a new life in the city. There she was forced to pick pockets and steal from the market to survive, until falling in with a group of adventurers.
So is she a Cleric 1/Commoner 1/Thief 1 or Adept 1/Commoner 1/Expert 1
or some other combination?
Part of my question stems from the liberal use of both NPC and PC classes in the various character descriptions throughout the Codex and other publications. Trying to read into what actually determines which you use is kind of tough. A rule of some sort or thorough explanation would have been nice.
Use whatever combination you want. The world doesn't end. Make up your own if you want too! The only really important thing is CR for NPCs that you intend for the players to fight, and even that's only roughly accurate.
So is she a Cleric 1/Commoner 1/Thief 1 or Adept 1/Commoner 1/Expert 1
or some other combination?
What do you want her Challenge Rating to be? What abilities do you want her to possess as an NPC? What role does she play?
Given that background, she could also be a
Rogue 3 with background traits to reflect her life in the church and on the farm
Ranger 1/Rogue 2 with Knowledge (Religion)
or any other number of possibilities.
What do you want her Challenge Rating to be? What abilities do you want her to possess? What role does she play?
Answers will determine stats.
How would you describe the difference between an NPC listed in the following ways?
Aristocrat 3/ Fighter 2
or
Aristrocrat 3/ Warrior 2Is the first a royal who is also a veteran soldier, having real combat experience v.s the second who was more likely trained but lacking any real world experience?
I would say that the Fighter is a royal that went on an adventure or two, and the Warrior is one that served in the military.