Question - Creating NPCs

[Supplement Four]

So, the PCs are supposed to be the heroes, right? That's why they get the "cut above" stats, rolling 4D6, drop the lowest.

What about NPCs? How do you normally roll them?

I'm thinking of rolling them using 3D6, unless the NPC is important, in which case, I'll roll them like a PC using 4D6, drop lowest.

Thoughts?

 

[Supplement Four]

Well my Heroes use the 1d10 +8.

Thanks for the input!

Don't take this the wrong way...because I only mean it as a question. I'm not criticising your play style. (Have to say that...it's so easy to be mistaken for being an a-hole on the forum, while this is just one GM talking to another).

But, don't you think, by using that system, that it will lead to problems later? When the PCs are higher level?

I've seen GMs be very generous at chargen time, but then complain that the "game is broken" at higher levels. When, really, if the stats weren't so high to begin with, the game works just fine.

So...just curious about your experience.

 

[tarkhan bey]

I never roll for NPC's. I stat them as I require them, based on what I believe will make them a reasonable challenge for my PC's.
I've always found it a much easier way to create believable characters, rather than rolling stats and try to envision an NPC from a set of random variables.
Less time consuming as well.

 

[Supplement Four]

Less time consuming as well.

I like your approach!

I'm into minmal prep work, myself.

But, I love to roll randomly for things and then try to make them "make sense". I love this sort of thing in Traveller, when a world is rolled up randomly, and I've got to ponder..."hmmm, why is it like that?"

It gets my creative juices going.

To a lesser extent, I like to do that with NPCs too--have the stats tell me something about them. I find creating them this way makes them more "real".

For example, look at what just rolling up some stats did for Drachena in this thread: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=42828&start=15

I rolled up stats for her and Branoc, but that's it. Nothing else. I'll add to the characters as needed.

And, I'm going to need to flesh out Branoc a bit more. He'll need some skills as he's going to run the Ras Croi with the player characters.

 

[Jotenbjorn]

For minor NPCs I roll 5d6, drop the highest and the lowest. This creates a more narrow bell curve for the general population, making the heroes abilities more exceptional. They also don't have hit points, but must save against serious wounds every time they are struck in combat.

I treat heroes and villians as templates. Heroes receive hit points, roll 4d6 drop the lowest, and are resistant to fear. I hate heroes running in fear (unless they player chooses for them to), so any hero who fails a save vs. fear is shaken instead.

Villians also roll 4d6 and get hit points, but they have no resistance to fear.

I'm thinking of making more templates, but those two are all I need.

 

[Supplement Four]

I think I'm going to roll 3D6 for most NPCs, but then use 4D6, drop lowest, for major NPCs and PCs.

This will keep the PCs a hair more heroic than the NPCs.

 

[Clovenhoof]

When I ran Conan D20 games, I just gave the NPCs whatever stats seemed to make sense. Then I double-checked the total modifier sum to make sure I didn't go overboard.

Note that PCs were always created with Point Buy.

 

[rabindranath72]

I gave them the stats I deemed necessary, and just the skills and feats that would be relevant to their interaction with the players. If I am going to describe a soldier the PCs are going to fight, I don't care whether he has Craft or Profession. I might take two or three maxed out skills, and feats useful for the fight. And that's all.

 

[VincentDarlage]

Well my Heroes use the 1d10 +8.

Thanks for the input!

But, don't you think, by using that system, that it will lead to problems later? When the PCs are higher level?

So...just curious about your experience.

I use that system, too... and have used it since the play test long ago. I have never had a problem with it. Not even once. Not at any level.

 

[Supplement Four]

I use that system, too... and have used it since the play test long ago. I have never had a problem with it. Not even once. Not at any level.

The problem I've always heard about high level games is near-automatic hits and Massive Damage checks too often.

That hasn't become a problem for you guys running games with non-default chargen stats?

 

[VincentDarlage]

I use that system, too... and have used it since the play test long ago. I have never had a problem with it. Not even once. Not at any level.

The problem I've always heard about high level games is near-automatic hits and Massive Damage checks too often.

That hasn't become a problem for you guys running games with non-default chargen stats?

No. It hasn't. By the time characters get to be high level, the game usually shifts to be more political in nature rather than combat, and the bit of combat that remains works just fine as short and explosive. Even in the few games that retained its hack 'n' slash character didn't really have that problem.... and I am not sure how non-default stats would change anything.

 

[Supplement Four]

...and I am not sure how non-default stats would change anything.

It's not obvious??? The default method tends to turn out characters with lower stats than the other methods presented in the book. Therefore, modifiers are are lower.

Every player character doesn't have a Stat 18. He might have a 15 or 16 as his highest stat.

So..he hits less often...does less damage...etc.

 

[VincentDarlage]

...and I am not sure how non-default stats would change anything.

It's not obvious??? The default method tends to turn out characters with lower stats than the other methods presented in the book. Therefore, modifiers are are lower.

Every player character doesn't have a Stat 18. He might have a 15 or 16 as his highest stat.

So..he hits less often...does less damage...etc.

So, if he has a 16 str, he does a point less damage, and hits 5% less often? At low levels, I see it can make a difference, but not at high levels. Most of my high level characters already sacrifice to hit ability for more damage via power attack as it is. A point or two here or there really doesn't seem to impact the game. Indeed, the barbarian thief with the 15 str often seems to out-do the soldier with the 18 strength.

I think you are being more mathematical than my games get. Most mooks are meant to be taken out with a swing or two, whether the player has a 13 str or an 18. If I gear the NPC to have hit points that the player with 13 str can take out, then the guy with the 18 can also take him out.

I also want the players to play above average, elite characters. Like Conan, player characters should stand out in a major way from the rest of the population - in my games. It doesn't matter to me if my players leave a swath of bloody carcasses in their wake... that is the fun part of the game, and higher stats just helps it happen.

In my games, the fun is more in figuring out what is going on - the fighting at the end is just the icing on the cake.

 

[Supplement Four]

So, if he has a 16 str, he does a point less damage, and hits 5% less often? At low levels, I see it can make a difference, but not at high levels.

That 5% takes its toll over the life of a character's career. And I was talking about a 1st level character that hasn't been improved yet. The STR 16 character gets a couple of points in STR, and he's STR 18. But someone who is STR 18 already at 1st level gets a couple of points, and he's at a whopping STR 20.

I think you are being more mathematical than my games get.

It's not me at all. I'm just asking about what I heard. On this very forum there are strong arugments about the game becoming unbalanced at higher levels. I haven't experienced that myself, of course, because I haven't played much of the game.

My take on this though, and it's only my opinion, is that if the complaint is true, then it probably due to GMs being too generous at the start of the game: Instead of starting low and growing to a medium position, the GMs allow characters to start at a medium position and grow high.

I also want the players to play above average, elite characters.

Absolutely. That's why they have Fate Points and the "average mook" doesn't. But, I also see some GMs (and a lot of players) thinking that their character is no good if his stats all range between 12-14.

Those are all above average stats. The player should be happy. Only the rare, truly gifted should have 17s and 18s. I think that outlook gets skewed in some games.

 

[VincentDarlage]

I have played it up to level 20, and I haven't ever noticed an imbalace because of stats. I have players who prefer more average characters, and others who prefer heroic characters - in the same party - and it has never gotten imbalanced.

At higher levels, my experience is that one's stats play less and less of a role.