Just as it says, I'd like it if anyone could offer advice on how the tactics used by town defenders (or other militant or civil groups) would be different from historical ones. For example, staying spread out to avoid area of effect attacks, having a small reserve of magical or silver weapons and ammunition that can be passed out on an as-needed basis (break glass labeled "+1 bolts" in case of fiends, ghosts or elementals), making use of in-house or mercenary specialists (AoE specialists, Anti-Demon, Anti-Flyer, Anti-Armor etc.) I don't care if the tips take an approach that the guards would have next to no silver or magic and would just have to do their best with almost nothing, or go full bore and have flying cavalry, airships, paladin/demonhunter groups, really anything you can think of.
Build a town like you would build a character. What is its back story? What resources does it have available? What is the general personality, flaws, identity, and bonds? Furthermore, how does the town tell the story you want to tell? What kinds of themes and narratives do you want to reinforce?
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
The story I'm working on is vaguely renaissance mid-high fantasy in a world that's never fully at peace. Because of the constant threat of attacks by followers of evil deities, most (but not all) of the nations of the world are mutually cooperative city states that lend aid to one another, and have robust international trade to minimize each region's deficiencies, but also have strong home guards and reserve militias. In other words it's a world that grown to be flexible and defense oriented for the sake of survival. There's enough sharing of resources and training that most places would have at least some equipment and strategies in common, which is why I'm asking for general tips. I'm still going to give each place it's own traits, but world building is a big task and having people help me out with the base would be a big help.
It’s going to depend on the town and the baseline level of magic in the world. And on the enemy. In a small town- low magic scenario, when a dragon swoops in, I could easily see the town guard’s job being get people to shelter, then shelter yourself because you’d just be killed if try to fight it. But if there’s a small pack of kobolds, they should go fight. In a big city-high magic scenario, maybe they would have low level fighters riding griffons that would be expected to handle most anything. And shifting around any of those levers — town size, magic levels, enemies — would change the specifics.
Edit to add: Once you have those basics, you can skin them with various cultures in the world, like one region is known for its spear fighters or archers or what have you.
Expensive items: It would be cheaper for towns to have a couple of magic or silvered tipped javelins or spears rather than arrows or full swords. They're versatile and cheap.
Fire: Oil or alchemist fire is non magical, cheap and bypasses some magical resistance. They may use burning weapons to deal with supernatural enemies more easily.
Moon touched weapons: cheapest way to get magical weapon damage and it gives them shiny glowing swords!
Anti magic squads: If a town sometimes deals with spell casters there may be guards with the mage slayer perk. They get opportunity attacks when some one casts a spell, have advantage on saves and give disadvantage on concentration checks. A well kitted town may have some knights who also have the shield master feat or evasion so when they save against dex they take no damage.
Animals: Towns may even have something really exotic like a rust monster which can send even the most powerful player fleeing out of fear of losing items. A couple of these bad boys on a rope with guards in leather armor would be devastating and they wouldn't be too hard to control.
Keep in mind that in a pinch, torches make decent weapons to damage certain enemies, particularly things like trolls where you only need a small amount of fire to make all of your weapons effective. Also, while normal weapons are ineffective against werewolves and the like, they aren't immune to falling damage or damage from things that force a saving throw.
Also, think about how big a threat various things are to people that aren't the PCs. Does everyone have to deal with the number and strength of enemies that they do or are they just unlucky? If monsters are a comparable threat to wolves and bears in our world, you can expect towns to be fairly similar to historical towns. If they are much stronger than that, every town will be a fortress and any settlement is going to build an outer wall before they have a second building.
The story I'm working on is vaguely renaissance mid-high fantasy in a world that's never fully at peace. Because of the constant threat of attacks by followers of evil deities, most (but not all) of the nations of the world are mutually cooperative city states that lend aid to one another, and have robust international trade to minimize each region's deficiencies, but also have strong home guards and reserve militias. In other words it's a world that grown to be flexible and defense oriented for the sake of survival. There's enough sharing of resources and training that most places would have at least some equipment and strategies in common, which is why I'm asking for general tips. I'm still going to give each place it's own traits, but world building is a big task and having people help me out with the base would be a big help.
Based on this description, I'd think that each town would have a contingent of specialists from every other town. They would rotate in and out similar to military personnel and would be given the general respect that military personnel would be given. There might be some tension with the foreigners from small pockets of townsfolk, but the majority would appreciate the service that they render.
This would probably mean that each town would have specializations related to the threats that most commonly threaten the town. As part of the world building, you could identify which threats are a bigger deal in certain parts of the world and then identify which strategies would be developed by the specialists.
Since the goal is defense, the overall tactics would be to turn back the enemy first and foremost. Actually defeating the enemy would be of secondary importance, though individuals would certainly want to accomplish it.
Peter V. Brett does an excellent job with defensive strategies in his Demon Cycle series, with offensive options starting up late in the first book, the Warded Man (or Painted Man in the UK). It should be noted that the demon threat isn't particularly bright in general, but does have done intelligent generals that take note of the change in tactics. How intelligent are the enemies in each area, how interrelated are they, and how do they change tactics in reaction to changes from the defenders?
So, one of the things that's always a challenge in D&D is trying to explain how magic users are held captive, especially when Misty Step is a Verbal-Only spell that's very easy to get. So suddenly every town needs an anti-magic field somehow in their cells, or the town guards need to carry not only manacles, but also gags or like... muzzles or something to explain how they ever manage to arrest spellcasters.
So, one of the things that's always a challenge in D&D is trying to explain how magic users are held captive, especially when Misty Step is a Verbal-Only spell that's very easy to get. So suddenly every town needs an anti-magic field somehow in their cells, or the town guards need to carry not only manacles, but also gags or like... muzzles or something to explain how they ever manage to arrest spellcasters.
Blindfolds would be the cheap and humane way. Removal of eyes and hands would be the less humane and more permanent way.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Keep the economics in mind too. Giving town guards magical weapons might seem like a good idea, but if even common magic items are expensive, is some mayor or town council really going to approve shelling out that much coin? Why, we could pay the whole guard's salary for a month with what just one of those weapons costs! No, if a really dangerous threat comes along, better to let some passing adventurers handle it, and then give them a bounty or something afterward... if they survive
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Because of the constant threat of attacks by followers of evil deities
What about the good deities? Are they just sitting back and watching their followers get routed? Maybe the people could get some divine help or at least allies in the form of more powerful good-aligned creatures.
Just as it says, I'd like it if anyone could offer advice on how the tactics used by town defenders (or other militant or civil groups) would be different from historical ones. For example, staying spread out to avoid area of effect attacks, having a small reserve of magical or silver weapons and ammunition that can be passed out on an as-needed basis (break glass labeled "+1 bolts" in case of fiends, ghosts or elementals), making use of in-house or mercenary specialists (AoE specialists, Anti-Demon, Anti-Flyer, Anti-Armor etc.) I don't care if the tips take an approach that the guards would have next to no silver or magic and would just have to do their best with almost nothing, or go full bore and have flying cavalry, airships, paladin/demonhunter groups, really anything you can think of.
Okay, I get this. Some towns will have zero magic and will pursue x strategy and some have gobs of magic and will pursue y. Is that right?
So, any town will have to find a way to have some magic, just for communication purposes. They'd import magicians. They'd kidnap and enslave magicians if they had to (potential story). But the lowest magic towns would ALSO have to rely on raw manpower (highest population or maybe an unusually sturdy population) or else smarts (highest tech level or best spies). These are examples of what the low-magic states of your Alliance might look like..
The lowest-magic is essentially a massive slave labor camp organized by a mafia/army/cult. It makes huge amounts of money for the ruling class running sweatshops for the people in the other cities. The ruling faction is a cult of personality centered on an autocrat. They are welcome in the other cities, where they spend lavishly and face no opprobrium. For this place: assuming you ever wanted to go there, security would be smothering. Outsiders would not be welcome. There would be no reason for anyone to go to this city except to cause trouble for the boss. If an outsider was found outside of the official district, they'd be escorted back there and potentially arrested on suspicion of something. The very few magical OR technological resources in this city are in the constant service of the ruling class.
The next lowest is mainly agrarian and mining. Some druids in the countryside. Some independent wizards who want to be out in the boondocks for whatever reason. A few clerics. They'd probably hire wizards ad hoc for specific jobs. Maybe your party would run up against guys with pitchforks the first time or two, but then the bounty wizards start showing up. The breadbasket of the Alliance.
Next lowest is Industrial. Again, the magic is going to gravitate to where the money is. Company owners and civic leaders. Important targets will have magical security and access to healing. Skilled craftsmen with powerful guilds or unions might also. Recognizable middle-class. Where you would ordinarily use a magical response, consider a steampunk mad science one. The guards would probably not be armored at first, though they could match anything your party could throw at them.
Next is a faded power, but undergoing a renaissance. Its magic is concentrated in The Church. The real strength of the Church isn't in spell casting, but in the centuries-long relationships it has formed with the royal families of the other cities (and the colossal amount of land in those other cities willed to them over the centuries). A word in the right ear can start or stop a war. The security would range from the elite mercenary guards to busybody old clergy folk warning you that they've got their eye on you or trying to convert you several times a day.
Giving town guards magical weapons might seem like a good idea, but if even common magic items are expensive, is some mayor or town council really going to approve shelling out that much coin?
My world is higher magic and tech than average (not Eberron level though) and has artificers and organized magic trade. +1 weapons can go for as little as 200 gold and consumable ammo cheaper. +0 items exist too as failed tests of enchanters and artificers in training. Guards don't walk around with magic items but the chief/captain/champion might, and the barracks or hq could keep one +1 longbow for an archer sniper. In the case that magic weapons are needed the priority would be to protect and make use of the archer, more than one guy could be trained to use it too.
What about the good deities? Are they just sitting back and watching their followers get routed? Maybe the people could get some divine help or at least allies in the form of more powerful good-aligned creatures.
Well I do like Magic the Gathering, so maybe something like summoning lesser angels would be fitting. Get attacked by demons. Turns out the town priest is a badass. Summons an angel to battle the demons with the guards. Then there's always prophetic visions, warnings. A place could find out they need to evacuate or send for help possibly.
Giving town guards magical weapons might seem like a good idea, but if even common magic items are expensive, is some mayor or town council really going to approve shelling out that much coin?
My world is higher magic and tech than average (not Eberron level though) and has artificers and organized magic trade. +1 weapons can go for as little as 200 gold and consumable ammo cheaper.
OK, but again -- what's the average guard making a week? 200 gp may not seem like much from an adventurer's perspective, but it could be a pretty big amount from the perspective of a small town's budget.
Or, let's flip it around. If you're proposing a situation where guards need to handle threats that require magical items even semi-regularly, so that it does make sense for the town to acquire them... who's even going to take that job? How much will the town have to pay them, if they have to deal with fiends and ghosts every other week?
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
So, one of the things that's always a challenge in D&D is trying to explain how magic users are held captive, especially when Misty Step is a Verbal-Only spell that's very easy to get. So suddenly every town needs an anti-magic field somehow in their cells, or the town guards need to carry not only manacles, but also gags or like... muzzles or something to explain how they ever manage to arrest spellcasters.
Yes, magic throws everything into a tizzy.
In another thread we discussed money in D&D and a big part of that was how do you try to prevent counterfeiting. A part of my solution was that the Sheriff had an artifact that generated an anti-magic field at the jailhouse. Anyone could take a pile of coins or gems or whatever, and have it authenticated at the Sheriff's office. Bringing it into his office would expose any illusions. He also kept a calibrated scale for weighing items that needed authentication. After all you could try to counterfeit money the old fashioned way.
But back to the Guards, since my Sheriff's have an anti-magic artifact hidden in the jail, holding a magic user once you got him isn't too hard. It is catching the little b-tart that is the problem. I would think that every town that had adventurers come through would be mighty careful about apprehending strangers, even though it needs to be done from time to time. Could there be a net for magic users? What about just big tough Barbarians?
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
OK, but again -- what's the average guard making a week? [...] Or, let's flip it around. If you're proposing a situation where guards need to handle threats that require magical items even semi-regularly, so that it does make sense for the town to acquire them... who's even going to take that job? How much will the town have to pay them, if they have to deal with fiends and ghosts every other week?
About 24 silver a week base, more like 50 if it's a dangerous region. And it'd be the same people who might otherwise be soldiers or mercenaries... or homeless or bandits. People who either just need the money or who know deciding not to fight won't stop monsters from killing you, or people you care about. Paying 15 guard recruits would cost about 1877 gold a year. In a world that pays guards 1 silver a day with an unpaid day off a week they'd pay 469 gold a year for the same. And that's just wages for the men, there's also upkeep costs and the captain's wages, meals if provided, horses if they have em, replacement arms and armor. A single +0 or +1 weapon to allow your best guy to do damage to certain monsters is a one time investment that remains property of the organization, (is marked as such and carries a death penalty for theft) isn't crazy costly for a town, and they'd have the connections to get them at discount. Small towns of the scale and income you suggest are rare in my world, it's genuinely not a historical medieval setting and it's not utterly defenseless without big bad adventurers to save their bacon. The towns that were like that got destroyed a lot so they had to adapt. I want to say I do appreciate you pushing me to make it economically viable though, asking the questions you are helps me to come up with the answers. And if there's anyone reading this who wants to play a darker or lower magic setting, or one where the players are heroic figures before they reach high levels, I think they should take your thoughts and use them. In a world where guards pull their weight, guards personalities would reflect the dangers of their job, with hardened soldier-types contrasting optimistic idiots who need the money. I think I'll have the guard employ lower wage civilian watchmen or deputies to stretch their intel while keeping costs down.
I think the inevitable outcome when you try to make things realistic is that small towns just wouldn't exist at all in a dangerous world. And the larger ones would be situated in very defensible places, like a cavern with one entrance. So you either need to hand-wave the economics/manpower/armory aspect or introduce some kind of complicated excuse for how things are the way they are.
That's fine, I'm actually pickier about this stuff than my players but I also know this stuff can be over thought. I'm not going to try and compete with game of thrones, I just want to make a world that's a little more fleshed out and flavorful than a dnd world that's just like any other.
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Life is the game.
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Just as it says, I'd like it if anyone could offer advice on how the tactics used by town defenders (or other militant or civil groups) would be different from historical ones. For example, staying spread out to avoid area of effect attacks, having a small reserve of magical or silver weapons and ammunition that can be passed out on an as-needed basis (break glass labeled "+1 bolts" in case of fiends, ghosts or elementals), making use of in-house or mercenary specialists (AoE specialists, Anti-Demon, Anti-Flyer, Anti-Armor etc.)
I don't care if the tips take an approach that the guards would have next to no silver or magic and would just have to do their best with almost nothing, or go full bore and have flying cavalry, airships, paladin/demonhunter groups, really anything you can think of.
Life is the game.
D&D Townguards could carry some of the following equipment;
Build a town like you would build a character. What is its back story? What resources does it have available? What is the general personality, flaws, identity, and bonds? Furthermore, how does the town tell the story you want to tell? What kinds of themes and narratives do you want to reinforce?
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
The story I'm working on is vaguely renaissance mid-high fantasy in a world that's never fully at peace. Because of the constant threat of attacks by followers of evil deities, most (but not all) of the nations of the world are mutually cooperative city states that lend aid to one another, and have robust international trade to minimize each region's deficiencies, but also have strong home guards and reserve militias. In other words it's a world that grown to be flexible and defense oriented for the sake of survival. There's enough sharing of resources and training that most places would have at least some equipment and strategies in common, which is why I'm asking for general tips. I'm still going to give each place it's own traits, but world building is a big task and having people help me out with the base would be a big help.
Life is the game.
It’s going to depend on the town and the baseline level of magic in the world. And on the enemy. In a small town- low magic scenario, when a dragon swoops in, I could easily see the town guard’s job being get people to shelter, then shelter yourself because you’d just be killed if try to fight it. But if there’s a small pack of kobolds, they should go fight. In a big city-high magic scenario, maybe they would have low level fighters riding griffons that would be expected to handle most anything. And shifting around any of those levers — town size, magic levels, enemies — would change the specifics.
Edit to add: Once you have those basics, you can skin them with various cultures in the world, like one region is known for its spear fighters or archers or what have you.
Expensive items: It would be cheaper for towns to have a couple of magic or silvered tipped javelins or spears rather than arrows or full swords. They're versatile and cheap.
Fire: Oil or alchemist fire is non magical, cheap and bypasses some magical resistance. They may use burning weapons to deal with supernatural enemies more easily.
Moon touched weapons: cheapest way to get magical weapon damage and it gives them shiny glowing swords!
Anti magic squads: If a town sometimes deals with spell casters there may be guards with the mage slayer perk. They get opportunity attacks when some one casts a spell, have advantage on saves and give disadvantage on concentration checks. A well kitted town may have some knights who also have the shield master feat or evasion so when they save against dex they take no damage.
Animals: Towns may even have something really exotic like a rust monster which can send even the most powerful player fleeing out of fear of losing items. A couple of these bad boys on a rope with guards in leather armor would be devastating and they wouldn't be too hard to control.
Keep in mind that in a pinch, torches make decent weapons to damage certain enemies, particularly things like trolls where you only need a small amount of fire to make all of your weapons effective. Also, while normal weapons are ineffective against werewolves and the like, they aren't immune to falling damage or damage from things that force a saving throw.
Also, think about how big a threat various things are to people that aren't the PCs. Does everyone have to deal with the number and strength of enemies that they do or are they just unlucky? If monsters are a comparable threat to wolves and bears in our world, you can expect towns to be fairly similar to historical towns. If they are much stronger than that, every town will be a fortress and any settlement is going to build an outer wall before they have a second building.
Based on this description, I'd think that each town would have a contingent of specialists from every other town. They would rotate in and out similar to military personnel and would be given the general respect that military personnel would be given. There might be some tension with the foreigners from small pockets of townsfolk, but the majority would appreciate the service that they render.
This would probably mean that each town would have specializations related to the threats that most commonly threaten the town. As part of the world building, you could identify which threats are a bigger deal in certain parts of the world and then identify which strategies would be developed by the specialists.
Since the goal is defense, the overall tactics would be to turn back the enemy first and foremost. Actually defeating the enemy would be of secondary importance, though individuals would certainly want to accomplish it.
Peter V. Brett does an excellent job with defensive strategies in his Demon Cycle series, with offensive options starting up late in the first book, the Warded Man (or Painted Man in the UK). It should be noted that the demon threat isn't particularly bright in general, but does have done intelligent generals that take note of the change in tactics. How intelligent are the enemies in each area, how interrelated are they, and how do they change tactics in reaction to changes from the defenders?
So, one of the things that's always a challenge in D&D is trying to explain how magic users are held captive, especially when Misty Step is a Verbal-Only spell that's very easy to get. So suddenly every town needs an anti-magic field somehow in their cells, or the town guards need to carry not only manacles, but also gags or like... muzzles or something to explain how they ever manage to arrest spellcasters.
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Blindfolds would be the cheap and humane way. Removal of eyes and hands would be the less humane and more permanent way.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Keep the economics in mind too. Giving town guards magical weapons might seem like a good idea, but if even common magic items are expensive, is some mayor or town council really going to approve shelling out that much coin? Why, we could pay the whole guard's salary for a month with what just one of those weapons costs! No, if a really dangerous threat comes along, better to let some passing adventurers handle it, and then give them a bounty or something afterward... if they survive
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
What about the good deities? Are they just sitting back and watching their followers get routed? Maybe the people could get some divine help or at least allies in the form of more powerful good-aligned creatures.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Okay, I get this. Some towns will have zero magic and will pursue x strategy and some have gobs of magic and will pursue y. Is that right?
So, any town will have to find a way to have some magic, just for communication purposes. They'd import magicians. They'd kidnap and enslave magicians if they had to (potential story). But the lowest magic towns would ALSO have to rely on raw manpower (highest population or maybe an unusually sturdy population) or else smarts (highest tech level or best spies). These are examples of what the low-magic states of your Alliance might look like..
The lowest-magic is essentially a massive slave labor camp organized by a mafia/army/cult. It makes huge amounts of money for the ruling class running sweatshops for the people in the other cities. The ruling faction is a cult of personality centered on an autocrat. They are welcome in the other cities, where they spend lavishly and face no opprobrium. For this place: assuming you ever wanted to go there, security would be smothering. Outsiders would not be welcome. There would be no reason for anyone to go to this city except to cause trouble for the boss. If an outsider was found outside of the official district, they'd be escorted back there and potentially arrested on suspicion of something. The very few magical OR technological resources in this city are in the constant service of the ruling class.
The next lowest is mainly agrarian and mining. Some druids in the countryside. Some independent wizards who want to be out in the boondocks for whatever reason. A few clerics. They'd probably hire wizards ad hoc for specific jobs. Maybe your party would run up against guys with pitchforks the first time or two, but then the bounty wizards start showing up. The breadbasket of the Alliance.
Next lowest is Industrial. Again, the magic is going to gravitate to where the money is. Company owners and civic leaders. Important targets will have magical security and access to healing. Skilled craftsmen with powerful guilds or unions might also. Recognizable middle-class. Where you would ordinarily use a magical response, consider a steampunk mad science one. The guards would probably not be armored at first, though they could match anything your party could throw at them.
Next is a faded power, but undergoing a renaissance. Its magic is concentrated in The Church. The real strength of the Church isn't in spell casting, but in the centuries-long relationships it has formed with the royal families of the other cities (and the colossal amount of land in those other cities willed to them over the centuries). A word in the right ear can start or stop a war. The security would range from the elite mercenary guards to busybody old clergy folk warning you that they've got their eye on you or trying to convert you several times a day.
My world is higher magic and tech than average (not Eberron level though) and has artificers and organized magic trade. +1 weapons can go for as little as 200 gold and consumable ammo cheaper. +0 items exist too as failed tests of enchanters and artificers in training. Guards don't walk around with magic items but the chief/captain/champion might, and the barracks or hq could keep one +1 longbow for an archer sniper. In the case that magic weapons are needed the priority would be to protect and make use of the archer, more than one guy could be trained to use it too.
Well I do like Magic the Gathering, so maybe something like summoning lesser angels would be fitting.
Get attacked by demons. Turns out the town priest is a badass. Summons an angel to battle the demons with the guards.
Then there's always prophetic visions, warnings. A place could find out they need to evacuate or send for help possibly.
Life is the game.
OK, but again -- what's the average guard making a week? 200 gp may not seem like much from an adventurer's perspective, but it could be a pretty big amount from the perspective of a small town's budget.
Or, let's flip it around. If you're proposing a situation where guards need to handle threats that require magical items even semi-regularly, so that it does make sense for the town to acquire them... who's even going to take that job? How much will the town have to pay them, if they have to deal with fiends and ghosts every other week?
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Yes, magic throws everything into a tizzy.
In another thread we discussed money in D&D and a big part of that was how do you try to prevent counterfeiting. A part of my solution was that the Sheriff had an artifact that generated an anti-magic field at the jailhouse. Anyone could take a pile of coins or gems or whatever, and have it authenticated at the Sheriff's office. Bringing it into his office would expose any illusions. He also kept a calibrated scale for weighing items that needed authentication. After all you could try to counterfeit money the old fashioned way.
But back to the Guards, since my Sheriff's have an anti-magic artifact hidden in the jail, holding a magic user once you got him isn't too hard. It is catching the little b-tart that is the problem. I would think that every town that had adventurers come through would be mighty careful about apprehending strangers, even though it needs to be done from time to time. Could there be a net for magic users? What about just big tough Barbarians?
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
About 24 silver a week base, more like 50 if it's a dangerous region. And it'd be the same people who might otherwise be soldiers or mercenaries... or homeless or bandits. People who either just need the money or who know deciding not to fight won't stop monsters from killing you, or people you care about.
Paying 15 guard recruits would cost about 1877 gold a year. In a world that pays guards 1 silver a day with an unpaid day off a week they'd pay 469 gold a year for the same. And that's just wages for the men, there's also upkeep costs and the captain's wages, meals if provided, horses if they have em, replacement arms and armor. A single +0 or +1 weapon to allow your best guy to do damage to certain monsters is a one time investment that remains property of the organization, (is marked as such and carries a death penalty for theft) isn't crazy costly for a town, and they'd have the connections to get them at discount.
Small towns of the scale and income you suggest are rare in my world, it's genuinely not a historical medieval setting and it's not utterly defenseless without big bad adventurers to save their bacon. The towns that were like that got destroyed a lot so they had to adapt.
I want to say I do appreciate you pushing me to make it economically viable though, asking the questions you are helps me to come up with the answers. And if there's anyone reading this who wants to play a darker or lower magic setting, or one where the players are heroic figures before they reach high levels, I think they should take your thoughts and use them. In a world where guards pull their weight, guards personalities would reflect the dangers of their job, with hardened soldier-types contrasting optimistic idiots who need the money. I think I'll have the guard employ lower wage civilian watchmen or deputies to stretch their intel while keeping costs down.
Life is the game.
I think any discussion of how much to pay the town watch will devolve into a discussion of how a sane economy can't be built in D&D.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
I think the inevitable outcome when you try to make things realistic is that small towns just wouldn't exist at all in a dangerous world. And the larger ones would be situated in very defensible places, like a cavern with one entrance. So you either need to hand-wave the economics/manpower/armory aspect or introduce some kind of complicated excuse for how things are the way they are.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
That's fine, I'm actually pickier about this stuff than my players but I also know this stuff can be over thought. I'm not going to try and compete with game of thrones, I just want to make a world that's a little more fleshed out and flavorful than a dnd world that's just like any other.
Life is the game.