I have to agree with the people who pointed out that Tolkien's "NPC's" are stronger than the ones in D+D. Orcs are not supposed to be pushovers. In an even fight between orcs and, say, the village militia, the orcs would wipe the floor with them. The Uruk'hai (the souped up orcs that Saruman bred) , were supposed to be seriously badass, compared to normal orcs. Boromir fights dozens(I don't have a copy of the book with me at work, but it was alot), slays either a dozen or a Score(20). He also either has some supernatural fear effect(he blows the horn of Gondor, and they draw back for a bit), or maybe decent ranks in Intimidate.
Then there's Bilbo, Frodo, and the rest of the hobbits. I think we have to assume that "hobbit" is either a class or has racial HD, because they show remarkable mettle in the department of Saves. Most obviously will, but also fortitude. Bilbo carries the Ring for over 60 years. Judging by Tolkien's writing, the Ring is a corrupting influence, on a sliding scale. The longer you bear the ring, the more difficult your Save DC is to resist using it, and, ultimately, getting transformed into a wraith. The ring starts off semi-dormant, so Bilbo and Frodo's checks are probably roughly equivalent.
So lets look at Frodo: He carries the Ring from the Shire, all the way to Mount Doom (with a short break where Sam carries it,when he gets stung by Shelob and captured by orcs). Starting off, it doesn't seem so bad. Later on, the strain is crushing. So the DC is going up. The DC is supposed to have started at a point that was difficult for any human,elf,or wizard in Middle Earth. So We're probably talking mid-teens to start off, scaling to the low to mid twenties. Finally: Frodo NEVER fails a save, until the very end, when they're actually at the TOP of the volcano(and he had to make a couple of checks on the way up too!). Assuming he rolls 11 each time, that sets his Will save somewhere in the low teens(assuming a final DC of, say, 23, at the Crack of Doom). Neither Frodo nor Bilbo is ridiculously quick witted. Bilbo is decent, but still runs into trouble against Gollum in the riddle game. Frodo shows himself to be ok, but not great at thinking on his feet. So assume a wisdom of 12. That means that Frodo has somewhere around a +10 to will saves from his hit dice(whether class or racial) and feats. Ok, he took iron will. That leaves +7 from levels. So, Frodo is like level 10. Of course, by the end of the
Of course, I made those DC's up, but given that Frodo performs an increasingly hard moral and physical challenge for a year(so moderately tough will and fort saves, increasing to horrendously tough), I don't think they're unreasonable. He even has sacred vow(to carry and destroy the ring), which ends up in Vow of Nonviolence(and possibly Vow of Peace) by the end of the third book.
Looking at people like Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas, I don't even want to go into all of it, but think about this: (again with saves) The three of them march from the falls of Rauaros to the edges of Fangorn forest. They walk/run for 2 days, resting for a few hours total. That's some serious forced marching, to the tune of 20+ hours a day. Their Con check DC's(not even fort saves) would be: 12,14,16,18,20,22,24,26,28,30,32, and 34!!!
Sure, they all have Endurance, but thats still ridiculous. When they tell Eomer, the best warrior among the Rohirrim, where they just came from in two days, he is SERIOUSLY impressed.
I think my point is this: obviously D+D is not meant to model a fantasy world as written by classic authors. Power levels are all out of whack. But looking at these guys as level 4's or 5's really can't cover a lot of their feats of heroism.
Just my 2 cents.
Cheers