I get asked this stuff a lot, so I'll try to go over this as best I can.

Q) I can't get past fifth insight?!

A) Yes, you can.  Next Lev reads zero, but insight 6 is there.  When you get 33k total experience, you will become insight 6.  Next Lev will function normally again when you gain exp at 6th insight.  Next Lev reads 0 at fifth insight because you are supposed to choose a path at fifth insight.  They say at one point peasants could not reach 6th insight, but I've heard tell of Deoch 8 peasants reaching insight 6, so if it's bugged, it's been bugged for as long as rogue traps have been. (They do double damage - it's a bug, but accepted as how it was always meant to be, now.)

Q) Why in the world would anyone abuse a bug to walk some non-path as a fetus?

A) Peasant is a path, contrary to some beliefs.  It's like the null set.  The null set is a set, and also an element of every other set. It contains no elements, but it is still a set.  As to why someone would choose to remain a peasant, I can offer several reasons.  Uniqueness - Few manage to get over 50 insights as a peasant.  Challenge - It is the hardest path, I call it 'Harrd Mode'.  Boredom - When you've had your fill of MonkWars, WarMonks, Wiests, Prizzards, Ninja, and Rizzys, you can always try your hand at the simplest, yet most challenging of all paths: Peasant.

Q) What stats to I raise?

A) Several answers come to mind:

    First Thought - Whatever you want.  There are no skill requirements for peasants, unless you intend to enter Luathas' faith, in which case you'll be needing a bit of Intelligence.  Peasants are free to raise whatever they please.

    Want to hunt?  Well, then, option Two is the Ceathairne training.  Ceathairne technically means 'Stout Peasant', the kind that's just healthy enough to be conscripted into your army. heh.  These are the guidelines for such a peasant, they basically mimic a Warrior's training, minus Dex.

    Rule 1) DO NOT SKIP INSIGHTS.  It is vital that you experience each of the first five to ten insights.  This means you cannot exit the tutorial until you reach Insight 2, as the 5000 exp would put you from 1 to 3, skipping 2, which is very, very bad. (Press F1 and read Roleplaying Tips for a boost to your exp.)  (Advanced tip:  The Lag Shamble can provide an exit from the tutorial for the impatient without giving the 5k, but what self-respecting peasant would turn down the chance to smack a whole mess'o'floppies? hehehe)
    Rule 2) Only raise Con and Str.  How much Con?  How much Str?  That's up to you.  Thanks to Moiraine's studies, the following table is constructed, assuming you raise Con to the number listed before adding points to Strength or any other stat:

  Pure Strength training will yield 199 base Strength at 99 insights, but you'll only have 3000 HP or so. (You could get to around 4k HP with rings..)  If you boost your Con early and often, (5 Con at Insight 2, 7 at Insight 3, etc.) you can end up much more HP. (As you can see, about 300-400 more HP at 99 for each insight put into Con.) 12 Con is the general guideline I suggest, as that leaves you with 190 base Strength at 99.  Higher Con yields higher HP, but less Str, hence less damage, and the key to a Ceathairne's power is to hit HARD, since you won't be hitting often.  (If you have leechers and patience, pure Strength and the Dark Fountain for HP is definately the way to go to get to 99.)  Moreover, 180/3/3/22/3 isn't all that different from where Warriors end up, so why didn't you run a Warrior?
    Rule 3) When you pass 11, it may be beneficial to equip Cail items when you know you will gain insight.  This is said to be false, but the HP gains are random, so who knows?  A little luck can't hurt.
    Rule 4) DO NOT GAIN INSIGHT WITH A SGRIOS SCAR.  Get it healed!  Scars lower your HP gains on insight by 2% per scar.  (So you'd only gain 98 instead of 100 HP with one scar.)  Doesn't seem like much?  Well, it's cumulative, so it's 2% per scar per insight gained with said scar.  It adds up.  Peasants need every last point they can get.  Some say that Scars no longer lower HP gains, but I have reason to doubt this.  The HP gains on insight, again, are randomized.  Accurate rules are hard to prove.  Best not to take any chances.

    If you're thinking of basing a peasant around the spell Srad Tut, well, that spell now is filtered from spellbooks on login.  Such a path is no longer an option for peasants.

Q) What equipment should I wear at Insight X?

A) Table follows with the optimal equipment, I wish I had all the numbers for Blessed Items.  Insights listed are for plain versions, enchantments tend to add insights.  For a full list of weapons/armor/accessories a peasant can use, visit The Warrior.  Vamistle keeps the best lore on the subject.

Insight	Weapon	Armor	Accessory
1	Oak Stick (Rare:Spare a Stick)	Shirt/Blouse & Wooden Shield	Small Rings, Boots
6	Fine Dirk/Epee	Leather Greaves	Ruby Ring (if no small)
7	Loures Sabre
9	Good Loures Sabre	Leather Gaunts
11	Fine Loures Sabre	Leather Shield, Pirate Shirt/Blouse (If you're very rich)	Spinel Rings, Elemental Belt
13			Jade Necklace
20	Dragon Scale Sword	Iron Greaves
24			Cured Boots
31		Bronze Shield
33		Iron Gaunts	Shagreen Boots
41	Shovel/Bramble/DSS		Grim or Silk Boots, Sea Coral Necklace
45	Fine Bramble/DSS	Iron Shield
50	Wooden Club (get one!)	Goblin Helmet or Cap/Band of Danaan	Cordovan Boots
59		Mythril Greaves
61		Mythril Shield
63		Mythril Gaunts
66			Saffian Boots
70		Spiked Greaves (Good AC, +3 Hit/Dam but rare.)
75	Giant Club
77		Hy-Brasyl Shield
82	Talgonite Axe (81, actually)		Magma Boots
90	Hand Axe (If you can find one)	Dwarf Helmet
93		Hy-Braysl Greaves/Reef Greaves (AC vs. Blessed)
94	Scythe (You're a Peasant, right?)
95	Stone Axe (Get one!)	Hy-Brasyl Gauntlets
96		Orc Helmet	Enchanted Boots
99		Turtle Mount/Champion Band (If Peasants can.)

Q) Which enchantments are best to have on my shield/gaunts/etc?

A) For a peasant?  Blessed.  You need to hit the enemy to kill it.  Gramail offers protection from enemy spells.  Abundance increases the damage your blows do.

Q) How do I hunt?

A) Very slowly. hehe.  Ceathairne bash like warriors, and with high Strength you will do more damage than others.  Just walk up to the monster and start swinging.  You won't land all that often, but when you do...!  If you have friends, you can hunt with a priest, which helps immensely.  Cradhs and Bennaich help you hit more often.  Armachd helps compensate for low armor.  Fas Deiras and Creag Neart improves your already deadly damage.  Iocs keep bashers alive.  And Aite reduces damage very nicely.  A priest will be most busy when hunting with a bashing peasant. hehe

Q) Where do I hunt?

A) At first, like everyone else, in Mileth Crypt and Eastern Woods.  Go as deep as you feel safe.  After 11 Insights, you might consider hunting Kobold Pups in Astrid for the bounty Kalliope offers, or Grimlok in Pravat, for Bahadir's bounties on the Grimlok.  When you're strong enough, switch to hunting Kobold (the ones that take two steps at a time) and Shamans in Astrid Center, or Goblin in Pravat for Phailin's bounties.  If you have a nice group, you can hunt anywhere everyone else does.  Just be sure the priest likes you, because you're gonna need their help... a lot! hehe

Q) How the heck do I hit something?  I keep missing!

A) Peasant skills do not improve.  They are lower than 0/100... Having observed how mundanes count, it's most likely that peasant skills are actually -1.  Blessed items are the answer.  Each blessed item provides five extra chances for your assail to hit the monster.  A full blessed set and Jade Necklace can get your Hit high enough that even Assail -1 can land.  If you still have problems, have a priest Cradh your target, this raises their AC and makes them much easier to hit.

Q) Can a peasant CR?

A) Yes.  Just not well.  Mor Cradh is needed for a peasant to even have a hope of landing a blow.  By this point, Warriors and Monks will be much quicker killers than a peasant.  Not that a peasant cannot do it, they just take longer, and more Iocs. heh

Q) I can't get hunts!  They laugh at me!  What now?

A) Quests.  You can get in excess of five million experience a week from quests.  I won't go into all the details here.  Visit The Warrior or DA-Wizard for a good list of quests and how to do them.  Note that the bounties on Kobold, Grimlok, and Goblin always stay the same.  Such hunts are only worth a hundred thousand or so a night, (1 exp from the kill, a few thousand from the mundanes' bounties) but it helps.

Q) What skills can I learn?

A) You leave the tutorial with Assail, Look, and Nis. (And if you're sneaky, Srad Tut, but you can't keep that spell.)  Join any of the eight faiths and you will get the prayer spell of that religion.  Advance to Acolyte and you gain the spell to summon creatures to help you fight for a short time.  Become a Guard of Mileth or Rucesion and you gain the skill Throw and the Law spell for that town.  Become a Demagogue and you get the Politics spell of the town.  Pentagram Grimoire is also able to be learned by anyone, takes your full labor, learn it in the Library of Loures when you reach 50 or 60 insights.

Q) A peasant can do Penta?

A) Um, no.  But you can learn the skill...  These quests that require 'one of each path' do not count Peasant.  Or, more accurately, count peasant five times.  Just not pure peasant.  Um... yeah. In a perfect world, a pure peasant should be allowed to sit in for any of the other paths in such a quest, but Temuair is far from perfect.

Q) Ok, what good skills can I learn?

A) Um... Assail is all you get.  I do call Peasant path 'Hard Mode' for a reason. hehe

Q) Can a peasant Master?

A) Nope.  I believe (with no proof, actually) that if a Peasant Mastered, they could still be guided.  This would make a "back door" to obtaining a Master of whatever path you want with no skill practicing.  Hmm... Maybe that could be balanced by requiring an obscene amount of HP/MP to Master a Peasant... Nah, I'll go with what the mundanes say, "Peasant Master?  That's an oxymoron, isn't it?"

Q) Can a peasant ascend?

A) Yes!  Thanks the the generosity of the mundanes, there is now a quest for any Aisling to get Ailsing of Talgonite at insight 99.  Note that doing Talgonite at 99 costs 100 million experience, however.  Also, don't forget, you can drink from the dark fountain beneath Oren every 4 deochs for +850 HP and MP... if you can find someone to leech you through it...  And Adoration can give +100 HP/MP and +2 Stats once a year...

A2) Another trick has been brought to my attention.  The Terror quest gives +2HP and +1 MP.  Keep your peasant under level 50 through mass scarring (Hope you are friendly with the entire Gliocan faith to remove them. heh) and you can, in theory, gain a significant amount of HP helping the old beggar of Mileth Tavern.  But it's very slow, tedious and difficult to maintain for very little reward.  But that's what peasant life is all about! heheh

Q) What are the stat maximums for a peasant?

A)  Stat purchasing is for Masters only.  Otherwise rededication would hold NO limitations or drawbacks.  Also, I'm fairly sure any restrictions on peasant stat purchasing would affect all classes, so... I don't expect peasants will ever be able to Master or Purchase Stats.  S'why I recommend as much Strength as you can manage.  HP, you can get.  Strength, just the +2 every year from Adoration.

Q) How about GM/Medenia?

A) Nope.  Well, no Medenian Serf path... yet.  GM quests are Master only. (To prevent subbing in GM gear, naturally.)  The Leather, Silver, and Gold gauntlets from Medenia are very, very nice.  Built in MR and they can boost Str or Dam.  They're a bit expensive though.  They'll drive you to the poor house quickly if you aren't good friends with a Mogue with mastered Mend Garment, Tailor, and Lucky Hand. heh

Q) Why wouldn't a peasant get guided at 99 to a path that can actually DO something.

A) Why would you?  You forsook the power and ease of those paths only to claim it later?  Why?  If you intend to be a priest, be a priest!  If you wanna be a monk, be a monk!  You'll be much better off knowing your path inside and out.

Corrections/suggestions welcomed.  Pidgeon Naze in-game, or PM at LSoDA or PlanetDA .