So I was reading the Monster Manual...

[The Heretic]

...and came upon this interesting tidbit under the Men - Buccaneer entry:

For every 50 buccaneers there is a 15% chance for a cleric of 12th. 13th. 14th. or 15th level and a 10% chance for a magic-user of 6th. 7th, or 8th level.

Wait, what? If you encounter 300 buccaneers there's a 90% chance they will include a cleric 12th level or higher?!? Not even the clerics you find with Dervishes or Pilgrims go that high!

(I was attempting to rearrange things and find some books to give away, and the Monster Manual beckoned to me. "Stop what you are doing and read me instead!")

 

[squeen]

That is an interesting one. I am trying to think of some historical context --- Spanish galleons?

Of course, in AD&D, only humans get the high levels.

 

[Beoric]

...and came upon this interesting tidbit under the Men - Buccaneer entry:

For every 50 buccaneers there is a 15% chance for a cleric of 12th. 13th. 14th. or 15th level and a 10% chance for a magic-user of 6th. 7th, or 8th level.

Wait, what? If you encounter 300 buccaneers there's a 90% chance they will include a cleric 12th level or higher?!? Not even the clerics you find with Dervishes or Pilgrims go that high!

(I was attempting to rearrange things and find some books to give away, and the Monster Manual beckoned to me. "Stop what you are doing and read me instead!")

I guess if you can afford a ship...

Also, bandits get a higher chance of a higher level MU, and get two lower level clerics instead of one higher level one. And derivishes have a 100% chance of a cleric of at least 10th, even if there are as few as 30. So this may be an example of Gygax trying to balance while adding variety.

 

[Alexander Moonbeam]

I'm interested to know what sort of career path leads one to be a Cleric on a pirate ship. Is there a god of pirates? Someone needs to come up with a name and some lore for the god of pirates.

 

[Beoric]

I'm interested to know what sort of career path leads one to be a Cleric on a pirate ship. Is there a god of pirates? Someone needs to come up with a name and some lore for the god of pirates.

Or maybe some sort of hybrid religion that makes offerings to the gods of war, thieves and the sea.

 

[The Heretic]

Shouldn't NPCs that high level be pretty rare? Isn't that one level away from being able to cast seventh level spells?

Also, if you follow the PHB to the letter, and assume that ALL buccaneers are alignment Neutral, you have a problem, because clerics cannot be true neutral. 15th level Druids didn't exist when the MM was released.

 

[EOTB]

weather control spells
water parting spells

 

[grodog]

Wait, what? If you encounter 300 buccaneers there's a 90% chance they will include a cleric 12th level or higher?!? Not even the clerics you find with Dervishes or Pilgrims go that high!

Good eye!—I’ve been building Greyhawk-style encounter charts for the Azure Sea and points south, and have noticed this same thing recently, WM specifically with buccaneers.

Looking back at OD&D, in M&T, the chances are different (higher chance for a higher-level MU, lower chance for a lower-level cleric), and changing those up by type (buccaneer, bandit, nomad, etc.) is what happened in the MM, to give some more diversity to leader types (OD&D just differentiated them by weapon types, for the most part).

Allan.