INFO (Skip to STATS if TL;DR)
OK, OK, so I know this probably seems really silly and nobody else will care.
I like having a little more variety in the NPC classes, just for when I have to stat up various groups of whatever non-monstrous thing the party has to fight or have as allies.
One thing that irks me about the basic rules is that I find the NPC Classes should have a wee bit more variety for the able use of non-Hero characters. I, personally, prefer to have them statistically make sense in the world where they are the majority of the population.
Fortunately, Class Archetypes gave me the solution to it, and I am surprised that I didn't think of this before. Someone else probably did, but whatever.
STATS--THE TROOP
The Troop exists as a way to represent large numbers of people who are trained to wield specific weapons in combat, usually those of unusual design or unique to a region that aren't strictly racial weapons.
TROOP (Warrior Class Archetype)
Special Training (Ex): A Troop is decently trained or experienced with one particular unusual weapon. The extra time spent on this training results in less practice with more common weaponry.
At 1st level, a Troop gains Exotic Weapon Proficiency with a single weapon appropriate to his or her nation, region, or race.
This ability replaces the Warrior's Martial Weapon Proficiency.
Troops are generally referred to by their specialized weapon. Ergo, a squad of Troops with Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Repeating Crossbow would be simply referred to as Repeating Crossbow Troops. Troops with EWP: Musket are Musket Troops, etc.
In addition to have the advantage of spellcasting, an adept is the only NPC to gain a class feature at 2nd level. You could follow suit and grant each NPC a 2nd level class feature, such as the warrior gaining a bonus feat. Alternately, you could modify Weapon Familiarity for certain races, or you could homebrew a Cultural/Regional Weapon Familiarity feat. This would allow human warriors to tae it at 1st level.
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That's an interesting idea, but I think it's fine how it is. Really won't see any NPC's that are higher than 3rd or so of Warrior in my campaigns anyway (5 at max). Many of them start out as Commoner or Expert anyway, and those that are devoted enough to some sort of militaristic or gladiatorial combat will just start unlocking Fighter levels.
Good idea, though.
As for the Adept, I'm working on splitting it into the Acolyte and the Apprentice. I don't like it being this weird mixed hodge-podge that it is now. But since I also include the Magewrights from 3.5 Eberron, it results in there being less of the Arcane ones as well, since the NPC's will either graduate into it or start accruing actual Wizard levels or the like.
Which reminds me, I stripped out the Familiar from the Adept. The Apprentice gets it back, the Acolyte gets limited Channeling and a Domain. Both eventually allow them to gain access to their respective PC classes, but they have to make a sort of contract to get there.
The way I see it, only Aristocrats, Experts, and Magewrights will go above a certain level. Adepts, Warriors, and Commoners just graduate into actual levels should they get high enough, or they are already a mix of other NPC base classes.