Tell me about bandits in your settings. Are they poor people

A strong yes.

Doesn't depend on the setting but the bandits themselves. Some of those, some of these, and some others too.

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The latter.

both of these and much more - bored nobility, foreign agents rising unrests, misunderstood revolutionaries, PCs...

>>52637813
in my current campaign there's a bit of backstory to this
>two massive empires
>neither wants to risk a war, so both decide to fuck with each other economically
>this largely involved paying off and supplying bandits and pirates to cause problems for the other
>however after a while the bandits/pirates started to become more organised and now had access to rather a lot of arms
>they become a much bigger threat than intended
>both empires immediately publicly blame the other for this problem

>>52637813
They're Lv 4-7 and most of them have Tome of Battle classes

ZATZ A NIZE HED YHOU HAVV ON YOUR ZHOULDERZ

Revelers mostly to a god, who sort of rob and incorporate people into the ongoing revelry to get by. Stuff like satyrs and dryads and their followers, they ambush you playing their merry tunes and drinking, and will try to lure or tempt you into joining the revelry in which case they don't need to rob you since you'll just bring everything with you anyway. If you don't succumb then they rob you but after a party first, sending you on your way with lighter pockets but a full belly and feeling loved.

At least that's how it is in the general temperate regions. In theory you could have typical bandits, but they end up getting pushed out or joining the revelry bands.

>>52637813
Both. Most bandits are either unemployed mercs robbing and extorting people on the old highways, poor outlaws trying to make a quick coin at the expense of city folks and nobles, or non-human slavers working for the Southern republics and kingdoms by kidnapping travelers and selling them to the Not!Romans.

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>>52637813
>Tell me about ban-
Fuck off.
>>>/tv/

They wear daedric armour, yet they are content being highwaymen. Must be all the bears and monsters around. I wonder how the guards and rabble does it.

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Most are out of work soldiers from the last great war from both sides and refugees fleeing the coastal kingdoms before the next great war happens. the rest is a mix of everything I suppose

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>>52637813
They do what they like and they like what they do.

>>52637813

They're poor savages who attack their targets over fleeing when discovered like those encountered in MMOs, but arguably rightfully so as there is no moral qualms to treating them like animals and hunting them for their meat and hides.

There used to be the "unemployed merc" type of bandit for a very brief period, but when they figured out the lack of tolerance for that kind of behaviour they smartly volunteered to be the town guard instead, and perform their duties towards extortion and tolls in regions where the non-merc guard is either spread too thin to call them out or non-existent.

>>52637866
>tfw the villages would rather have a band of bandits than a group of PCs because at least the bandits have clear and discernable goals.

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>>52637813
The only real setting where I have actually fluffed-out bandits is my space one.

Most of them are people who in their attempts to form their own independent societies overestimated their abilities and underestimated what it would take to keep everything running. As these failed colonization attempts of new planets go on they sometimes go a bit hunter gatherer and when someone starts setting-up shop the raids begin.

Other than that some folks just love the freedom afforded to them by the bandit lifestyle and turn to SPACE piracy but usually even those people have some backwater planet where they have some infrastructure to maintain their ships and plan/relax in relative peace.

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>>52637813
>Tell me about bandits in your settings.

>Humans & Centaurs
The least unemployed group of bandits and the most racially motivated; they raid and pillage other races (mostly orcs, dwarves, changelings) to keep anybody else from trying to live in their grassland territories. Pretty good at what they do since Humans can run like motherfuckers, ride on the backs of their Centaur friends/family and aren't usually doing it out of poverty- going back to their farms, ranches, after they're done, so they're usually well equipped and well fed.

>Orcs
Most common, most annoying, most difficult to discern from their countries own military as a band of Orcish bandits has as much discipline, order, and conduct as a small platoon of Orcs. They'll raid, they'll steal, sometimes they just like to pick fights. The least interested in just straight up murdering people: would rather take what they want and leave survivors to steal from again, would rather leave tough opponents to fight again.

>Changelings
Shittiest group of bandits since they're usually doing it due to poverty and with poverty comes no code of ethics. Typically the "good ones" shapeshift into logs, rocks, a small gang will stand on each other's shoulders and turn into a tree or a sign- they've got the "cut-purse" and "highwayman" style down to an art and are usually either professionals or the fucking worst. The bad ones usually get killed due to underestimating the xenophobia and racism of humans/centaurs.

>Minotaurs
Unlucky fucks who've come west out from the orient due to being exiled from civilized minotaurian society. Most were bandits to begin with, but some were just political enemies: philosophers or priests who said the wrong thing, uppity dirt-farmers, etc.. These guys turn mean and feral; abandoning good morals in exchange for bullying smaller western races. Often rumored to be cannibals, but that's just a rumor.