Can we please get more stated settlements!

[Luke Styer]

Vardoc Bloodstone wrote:

I also think the actual answer to what level a specific city is, is “whatever the GM wants it to be”.

I already have “whatever the GM wants it to be.” It was free. I pay RPG publishers to give me rules and story that I can then use, modify, or ignore using “whatever the GM wants it to be.”

Quote:

a sparsely populated town in Golarion with access to high level NPCs or trade with big cities could effectively have a higher level than a populous town in a remote region.

That sounds like a great argument for a settlement stat block laying our those deviations from expectations.

[AlastarOG]

Luke Styer wrote:

Quote:

a sparsely populated town in Golarion with access to high level NPCs or trade with big cities could effectively have a higher level than a populous town in a remote region.

That sounds like a great argument for a settlement stat block laying our those deviations from expectations.

Shraen is actually a perfect exemple of this from the EC AP, being a level 15 settlement with only 1600 population but leadership in the 18-20 levels.

Really glad we got that one in the compendium as it provides an official outlyer exemple.

[foxpwnsyou]

Taja the Barbarian wrote:

Age of Ashes was pretty good about providing settlement levels: I mean, they tended to be pathetically low, but they were provided at least...

Because MOST citys are just that low lmao...thats normal in Golarion and its 100% intended.

[foxpwnsyou]

Taja the Barbarian wrote:

Age of Ashes was pretty good about providing settlement levels: I mean, they tended to be pathetically low, but they were provided at least...

Agreed but its safe to say MOST are Level 5...fewer are 6...and the really populated ones are 7...keep in mind you can order higher level items but it takes TIME for it to arrive...I normally roll 4d6 to see how many days it will take (and no I dont let the PC's just sit there they have to keep playing lol)...BUT in strength of thousands its stated they provide up to 6th level casting services (normally)...that means it is atleast Level 11 automatically.

[James Jacobs]

Part of the issue with Age of Ashes' settlements being low level is that at the time, we hadn't really figured out internal rules for how to assign a settlement a level. It wasn't until quite a bit later that we all settled on making Absalom the benchmark for a level 20 settlement.

I think that the closest we've come so far to offering more exact guidelines in print is on page 541 of Kingmaker:

Village = level 1 (population 400 or less)
Town = level 2–4 (population 401–2,000)
City = level 5–9 (population 2,001–25,000)
Metropolis = level 10+ (population 25,001+)

Before then, and pretty much now, it's kind of up to the developer and/or the GM to just make choices as they wish. My best guideline here is to set the settlement level at a point 1 or 2 levels within which where you think the PCs will be staying in town, since that level helps to inform what level of items are for sale or what jobs are available to Earn Income. There are, of course, exceptions there, especially to campaigns where you intend for the PCs to be associated with a smaller town for many levels, in which case you'll want to include ways for them to earn income or shop when they get high enough level that they outpace the settlement's resources.

[Jacob Jett]

It feels like there was a book in (A)D&D2 that had demographics tables that could be adapted to fit this purpose by enterprising GMs.

[James Jacobs]

Jacob Jett wrote:

It feels like there was a book in (A)D&D2 that had demographics tables that could be adapted to fit this purpose by enterprising GMs.

There was one for 3.5, the DMG 2, which I helped write most of the city and urban content for, so yup; it's a topic I'm interested in.

[Jacob Jett]

James Jacobs wrote:

Jacob Jett wrote:

It feels like there was a book in (A)D&D2 that had demographics tables that could be adapted to fit this purpose by enterprising GMs.

There was one for 3.5, the DMG 2, which I helped write most of the city and urban content for, so yup; it's a topic I'm interested in.

Ah. Now that was an interesting book but not one I used heavily. Probably because my 3.5 setting was merely a conversion from 1990s' 2nd ed. So I'd already done most of the leg work that DMG2 sets forth. (Of course, this also means my DMG2 is basically still in mint condition.)

I was thinking of the demographics tables in Skip Williams' DM's Option: High-level Campaigns for AD&D 2. It was one of the '95 black cover series.