Low-Tech Occupations
 

Here is a list I made of low-tech occupation that could be used for adventurers. I selected each because they have something, IMO, worthwhile to contribute to the party. This is not an exhausted list of low-tech jobs. Jobs that would need a workshop, like blacksmith or potter, are not listed. A party could easily hire one to do custom work for them.

Adventurers
Fighter

• bandit, brigand, highwayman, outlaw
• enforcer
• guard
• mercenary
• paladin (fights for a cause)
• soldier; scout; skirmisher; army officer; military engineer
• warrior

Seeker

• assassin
• bounty hunter
• burglar
• detective, private eye
• explorer
• investigator
• spy

Talker

• conman, fraudster, racketeer
• diplomat
• lecturer
• politician, shyster
• speaker
• preacher

Arcanist

• priest
• wizard
• psionicist
• super

Secondary Occupations

Low-tech occupations involving travel, outdoorsmanship, streetwise, or influence, or some skill or trait useful to adventuring.

Farm Related

• field hand; migrant worker
• herder, shepherd, swineherd
• junk man, knacker
• tinker; basket weaver; wattle maker

Governance

• attaché; consular; diplomat; ambassador
• bureaucrat; minister
• councillor; mayor; reeve; county clerk
• courtier; tail (lord's entourage); courtesan; aide; advisor
• judge; magistrate; bailiff; jailer; lawyer
• kingsguard
• lord/lady; noble; royal; knight; lady-in-waiting; squire; page

Maker

• artist
• charcoal burner
• journeyman
• mason
• public-works crewman; civil engineer (roads, bridges, canals, dams, aqueducts)

Outdoorsman

• falconer
• ferreter
• fisherman
• herbalist
• hunter, beater (battue), hunt master
• lumberjack
• poacher
• prospector
• surveyor
• trapper
• truffler
• woodman

Performer

• actor
• barker
• busker
• musician
• professional fighter (e.g. boxer, wrestler)
• singer, bard, troubadour
• stagehand
• storyteller

Professional

• courier, messenger
• doctor
• judge (circuit court); magistrate; bailiff; jailer; lawyer
• lawman, ranger, forester, warden, marshal
• taxman
• veterinarian

Shipper

• boatman
• coachman
• drover, mule skinner
• farrier
• caravan guard
• merchant
• porter
• sailor; naval officer; naval engineer
• wagoner

Transient

• camp follower (barbering, cooking, laundering, liquor, nursing, sexual services, sutlery)
• gypsy
• nomad
• peddler
• pilgrim
• vagabond

Urban Occupations

• deliveryman
• lamplighter
• merchant
• pickpocket
• public-works crewman; civil engineer (wells, fountains, sewers, drains)
• rat catcher, pest control
• street sweeper

Re: Low-Tech Occupations
 

I'll just point out that GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3 has a chapter on all sorts of low-tech occupations and professional skills.

Re: Low-Tech Occupations
 

In a 3e game I've got a quite successful Mason turned Engineer, He goes Doungenering, solves mysteries and foils plots around town, has gone Campaigning with the Army and uses his engineering skills to trouble shoot as he wounder the countryside. he is a successful adventurer though a capable fighter it is not his primary skill set. That would be Building, Braking and figuering things out.

Re: Low-Tech Occupations
 

You might want to read the list of basic and advanced professions of warhammer fantasy as inspiration

Basic

https://wfrp1e.fandom.com/wiki/List_Of_Basic_Careers

Advanced

https://wfrp1e.fandom.com/wiki/List_Of_Advanced_Careers

Re: Low-Tech Occupations
 

Another useful item in this context is GURPS Historical Folks. It was written for 3E, but there's a 4E conversion supplement for it which rewrites all of the templates (but not other material) for 4E.

Re: Low-Tech Occupations
 

There are also several fan-made GURPS WHFRP conversions on the web which include GURPS conversions for many of these templates.

Re: Low-Tech Occupations
 

Most lists will also need to be skimmed for setting and/or culture - a bronze age city state culture is going to differ markedly from a pseudo-Roman one, which will differ again from a tribal culture.

Low enough tech and everyone is probably a hunter-gatherer with very few other occupations...

Re: Low-Tech Occupations
 

That list of occupations also makes good fodder for making characters. Easy way to give them a background that can be easily worked into a backstory.

Re: Low-Tech Occupations
 

Naval Officer should be governance. Courtesan is a polite word for "rich hooker" and should be a performer. Courtier by contrast is someone who hangs around court possibly because they are rich dudes with no specific job at the moment possibly because they are lobbyists or some kind of political fixer. Ivan Vorpatril is a Courtier and even more his mother. Pavel Young was a villainous courtier.

Re: Low-Tech Occupations
 

You can make the argument that a Courtesan is an Urban Occupation as well.