Social status plays a significant role for every character in a pseudo-medieval fantasy setting. Such a society has a very rigid social order, hierarchies of relationships, and classes into which people are born. This provides fictional kinetic energy in the form of players learning these structures, manipulating them, and, most significantly – clashing against them and potentially even changing them.
Keeping in theme with “Ye Olde Fantasy,” this post will not be a history lesson on medieval society. The Middle Ages were a long time, and the world a massive place – it would be impossible to generalize one structure sufficiently for every decade and region.
So, we will do what any good Referee does – handwave and wing it to the degree that it gives our players verisimilitude and interesting setting bits to interact with, but not get lost in the details. I prefer to get setting details through character creation, so before I drone about my interpretation of the three estates and other such subjects, let’s delve into using Social Status in an elf game.
Social Status Score
Every character has a score for social status – typically generated but potentially inherited. Assuming we discover our characters through dice, let’s roll them up a Social Score and see where they land in the realm. I’m assuming 3d6, but feel free to use whatever method you generate stats with – adjusting for the additional statistic if you’re using point-buy or something.
| Social Status score | Modifier | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | -3 | Dregs/Outcast | Heretic, Convict, Cursed, Plague-bearer |
| 4-5 | -2 | Vagabond | Wanderer, Beggar, Traveling peddler, Poor itinerant crafter |
| 6-8 | -1 | Lowly | Serf, Unfree laborer, Poor crafter |
| 9-12 | 0 | Free | Free farmer, Tradesperson, Unguilded crafter, Townfolk, Mercenary |
| 13-15 | +1 | Well Off | Wealthy farmer, Merchant, Guilded crafter, Important townfolk, Low clergy |
| 16-17 | +2 | Prosperous | Courier, Bachelor knight, High clergy, Town official, Guild Master |
| 18 | +3 | Lordly | Poor landed noble, Knight, Sherriff, Family member to high nobles or aristocracy |
The chart, of course, goes much higher – High Nobility, Aristocracy, Popes & Anti-Popes, but for now, the synergy with the B/X-y modifier tables works for starting campaigns.
A Note on Categories
When looking at the rough categories above, it’s worth remembering that I am just applying a fuzzy guide for wrangling PCs and NPCs into hierarchies. In the real world, an individual’s social status may vary massively from what I propose above – some serfs could have higher status than a particularly destitute free person. On paper, a broke knight may have more social potential than a merchant, but if that merchant becomes filthy rich, they’ll start tipping the scale.
So if you drop from a 9 Social Status as a free farmer to an 8, that does not mean you necessarily become a serf, but people will treat you like the equivalent.
Starting Wealth
A super easy way to get the Social Status ball rolling is to optionally adjust a character’s starting wealth based on the result. When using old-school D&D, you can use 3d6 * 10 and then an abacus to calculate the resulting value with the multiplier.
| Social Status score | Starting Wealth modifier |
|---|---|
| 3 | 0.125 |
| 4-5 | 0.25 |
| 6-8 | 0.5 |
| 9-12 | 1 |
| 13-15 | 2 |
| 16-17 | 4 |
| 18 | 8 |
Reaction Modifiers
When encountering other individuals from a feudal society, the Social Status modifier (SOC) is used in addition to any other modifiers when generating reaction rolls. The Referee may call for situations where the modifier table is inverted. For example, their positive modifier may become negative when a pompous noble stumbles into a rough-and-tumble tavern and begins putting on airs.
Of course, one could impersonate someone of higher or lower status – such as through a disguise skill, which only applies when looking the part. One must also be versed in the class etiquette they are presenting as – take a -1 or -5% modifier for every level above/below your social status if rolling to play the part.
| 2d6 + CHA mod + SOC mod (if appropriate) | NPC Reaction |
|---|---|
| 2 or less | Becomes hostile, calls for guards, demands a duel, attacks, etc. |
| 3-5 | Unfriendly, openly mocks and denigrates PC, may call for them to be ejected |
| 6-8 | Neutral, may exchange status-appropriate level pleasantries, but unlikely to be an ally or rival without further prompting |
| 9 – 11 | Indifferent, may recognize PC or accept their company for a time, could become a potential ally if appropriate and beneficial |
| 12 or more | Friendly to the PC, may recognize them, generally amiable |
After this initial disposition is set, the NPC’s mood and reaction will fluctuate based on roleplaying, and if you so wish, skill check to abstract the scene away.
Audiences and Contacts
As we can leverage the B/X Monster Reaction table for social interactions, we can utilize the hireling table for requesting an audience with an NPC or looking for someone in another social class. We use slightly different math to account for the fact that someone with higher status can pretty much demand to be seen, for better or worse.
| 2d6 + CHA mod + (Your SOC mod – their SOC mod) | Result |
|---|---|
| 2 or less | Audience denied, NPC probably develops a disdain for the PC |
| 3-5 | Audience denied |
| 6-8 | Audience granted as long as PC provides a status-appropriate gift* or performs a favor |
| 9-11 | Audience granted |
| 12 | Audience granted, and confer an additional +1 or 5% to any social checks made in the meeting |
Maintenance and Adjustments
While some social statuses may be gods-given (or assumed so by the populace), such as the case with the Monarch, most have to spend to retain their status, and one could even get ahead in the hierarchy by throwing around money.
Each category has a rate of living required to maintain status per month. We could adjust the interval, especially for the nobility, who were cash-poor and tended to be pretty regular. But for the purposes of a fantasy adventuring game, let’s initially keep the interval to monthly—adjust to taste with experience.
This money (whatever denomination you prefer) is abstractly “spent” to maintain the characters’ social standing.
| Social Status score | Monthly Upkeep Costs |
|---|---|
| 3 | 0cp |
| 4-5 | 1gp |
| 6-8 | 3gp |
| 9-12 | 12gp |
| 13-15 | 60gp |
| 16-17 | 300gp |
| 18 | 1500gp |
If one cannot afford their monthly upkeep, they drop by one point of social status or multiple if the Referee determines them to be living in a particular squalor. If they spend for upkeep beyond their current status, they increase their social score by 1.
Note that this assumes peasants “earn” about 1 sp a day (and we’re assuming 100 cp = 10 sp = 1gp), which is… fine for now. Especially given the equipment costs of most of these games, we’ll have a whole big post on the economy that will reframe and revise this.
The 3 Estates Spiel
I highly recommend reading Skerple’s OSR: The Three Estates (although note his own “ranking” is not our Social Status score), or if you have the time, a history book or course. Tl;dr is that there are “Three Estates” that categorize society into three roles:
- First Estate: the Clergy
- Second Estate: the Nobility
- Third Estate: the Commoners
These estates break down further depending on where and when you have differences between Barons and Dukes, Low Clergy and High Clergy, rural peasants and urban townsfolk, etc.
You also have many examples that do not fit neatly into the hierarchy – outlaws, for instance. You might categorize them as the third estate, but they operate literally outside the law and that estate’s assumed role and responsibility. The monarch sits outside (or perhaps above) this hierarchy, but you can shove them on top of the second estate. You also have clashed with the rise of urbanization and mercantilism, where very wealthy peasants began twisting the above assumptions and sometimes even buying their way into the nobility.
We also have yet to answer where fantastical elements fit – elves, wizards, wildland barbarians, and other oddities. I will have a whole post on wizards and what you could do with them, but for now, let’s assume they operate as members of the third estate but are often of higher status as they will play the archetypical advisor role to many nobles. For dwarves and goblins, assume that human feudal society will slot in the outside to whatever equivalent category they have. Elven Exarch of the Yewwood Realm might be considered a Noble, so assign appropriately. “Barbarians” and fantasy nomads – rural folk who operate outside of the feudal system, would probably also slot into their equivalent, but probably a whole category lower (so a “wildlands huscarl” who could arguably be the equivalent of a bachelor knight would be in the “well off” category instead).
Since you are making your setting, you do not have to get super precise (as it was not in the real world). Just know that I’m going to roughly assume a category of Priests and Temples of whatever faith who serve to guide the spiritual well-being of the realm, violent landlords who “protect” the realm, and a class of individuals who do not fit into the above and have to do the work.
Backgrounds
This system will play heavily into two background systems I use for character generation: quick and detailed. Both of these require their post, but for now, this should give an impression of what background a PC could come from, given the rough category. Go with your intuition and talk to your players if questions arise. While I don’t have a real plan or structure for these posts the character generation methods most likely will occupy a large portion of the next few or many or forever posts, judging by the number of notes I have on them.
Ye Olde Fantasy © 2024 by Justin Hamilton is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
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