Statting out NPCs
- Thread starter Grimolde
- Start date
Google: Elric of Melnibone MRQII PC Roster. That's a copy of the one I use for PC's, but it's essentially the same.
Normally, if you were doing it for publication it would probably need to be the same as those presented in the books (format wise I mean) but you wouldn't show the "3d6" entries just the values for the characteristics.
It's up to you what you need to run the NPC in your game. But at a minimum I would suggest; Characteristics (for determining base chances of non-listed skills & derived abilites CA, SR etc), skills you think will be required (merchant, influence and evaluate for example), combat styles, weapon stats. Keep the work to a minimum though, it's not good time sense to spend hours developing NPC's only to have them killed in the blink of eye, unless of course you intend for them to be a recurring character which needs more detail.
Normally, if you were doing it for publication it would probably need to be the same as those presented in the books (format wise I mean) but you wouldn't show the "3d6" entries just the values for the characteristics.
It's up to you what you need to run the NPC in your game. But at a minimum I would suggest; Characteristics (for determining base chances of non-listed skills & derived abilites CA, SR etc), skills you think will be required (merchant, influence and evaluate for example), combat styles, weapon stats. Keep the work to a minimum though, it's not good time sense to spend hours developing NPC's only to have them killed in the blink of eye, unless of course you intend for them to be a recurring character which needs more detail.
DamonJynx said:
I would tender the following is a minimum:
Name and role
Hit Loc AP & HP chart (if you're using hit locs)
CA, SR, Movement & Dmg modifier
Weapon style, persistence, resilience, athletics, brawn, stealth or other relevant skill %
I would stress that you should eyeball-estimate the numbers based on similar monsters/npcs from published sources - I would NOT roll up characteristics and calculate base scores etc
PS anyone else notice the absence of "bandit" type generic human entries in the core rules & Monster Collesuem?
Cheers,
Rusty
johnnyq said:
Am I missing something? How do you know the CA, SR, Skill %'s etc without knowing the characteristic values?
As you say "Bandit" is missing from the MC, so how do you work out their stuff?
Bearing in mind that much of the published material shows values for "average creatures", which is fine for underlings and minions, what are you to do when you want a creature that's better than average for a "boss" monster?
I use primarily the same rules for creating a major NPC as the PC's do. For NPC's I use a characteristic array of 16,15,14,13,12,10 assigned appropriately for the purpose and then pick skills etc based on what I think is fair and reasonable. For example I have "Town Guards" which all have the same basic scores and a little variation to weapons on one sheet, I have a "Sergeant" which has slightly higher skill%'s and so on.
To me, part of the fun of being a GM, is creating memorable NPC's that give the PC's a run for their money. It's nice when one or more of your creations actually wins once in awhile!
Yeah, you're right for important npcs. I suppose I was thinking about your more mundane or throwaway characters.
I would still suggest estimating rather than calculating for these low rank npcs though...
Unless you can steal someone else's hard work, that's even better!
Cheers,
Rusty
I would still suggest estimating rather than calculating for these low rank npcs though...
Unless you can steal someone else's hard work, that's even better!
Cheers,
Rusty
johnnyq said:
I actually emailed Grimolde a spreadsheet I use for the number crunching. I give the "Creature" (or group) a name, put in their ability scores Scroll across the culture & professions columns hiding those I don't want. That shows me the available skills and which ones are modified by culture and profession and then I add 'free skill points' where appropriate. I pick weapons etc and add them to the list. All up about 10-15mins work, for a group of minions or a boss.
If you want a copy PM me your email address. It's tweaked for Elric of Melnibone, but it's easy to change.
RandomNumber
Banded Mongoose
I used to use an Excel workbook with some simple VBA to churn out the stats and the dependent characteristics which I could then print and then just add in the more subjective parts like perception and combat skill levels. That created mid-level fodder and background characters. There's any number of ways to tweak the code to get stats in the range you want jus at a button push. That was maybe 10 years ago though - there's probably an iPad app for doing it now. :wink:
