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<blockquote data-quote="Larrin" data-source="post: 6261888" data-attributes="member: 55816"><p>My first experiences with (and thus my formation of views on) NPCs was slightly different than them being weak.</p><p></p><p>In my first few games of D&D, various DMs though it was cool for their characters from other games to be the quest givers, etc. They weren't joining the party or hogging the spotlight, they were just the guy with the "!" over their head or the "saved you from the no-win scenario" plot hook. Still, it was never actually well done, and someone always ended up lipping off to the DM's pet and getting rinsed, etc. </p><p></p><p> Even though I'm now older and wiser, playing in older and wiser groups, and have never seen this in a long time, I'm still fine with NPCs being cut from a different cloth than the PCs. </p><p></p><p>As for complexity of building them:</p><p> As player or DM, I only want as many numbers as the PCs will ever interact with. In general I'm a fan of NPCs not having any stats unless they need it, and thus they should be quick and easy to improvise. </p><p></p><p>This leads to another point : I think 90% of how the players will view NPCs is how the DM presents them. If he makes it obvious that they have a sheet full of numbers that defines them, I feel that colors the players opinion of them and that NPC will live and die by how well those numbers stack up against the players. If NPCs are presented as 'people' with their descriptions based not on numbers but on who they are and what they do (my favorite:what is something cool they are doing as the players approach), you can make them feel as weak or strong as you like, and if they need stats, hopefully you can make the stats fit the character, not the other way around, and the players will feel that they are up against the character you described.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Larrin, post: 6261888, member: 55816"] My first experiences with (and thus my formation of views on) NPCs was slightly different than them being weak. In my first few games of D&D, various DMs though it was cool for their characters from other games to be the quest givers, etc. They weren't joining the party or hogging the spotlight, they were just the guy with the "!" over their head or the "saved you from the no-win scenario" plot hook. Still, it was never actually well done, and someone always ended up lipping off to the DM's pet and getting rinsed, etc. Even though I'm now older and wiser, playing in older and wiser groups, and have never seen this in a long time, I'm still fine with NPCs being cut from a different cloth than the PCs. As for complexity of building them: As player or DM, I only want as many numbers as the PCs will ever interact with. In general I'm a fan of NPCs not having any stats unless they need it, and thus they should be quick and easy to improvise. This leads to another point : I think 90% of how the players will view NPCs is how the DM presents them. If he makes it obvious that they have a sheet full of numbers that defines them, I feel that colors the players opinion of them and that NPC will live and die by how well those numbers stack up against the players. If NPCs are presented as 'people' with their descriptions based not on numbers but on who they are and what they do (my favorite:what is something cool they are doing as the players approach), you can make them feel as weak or strong as you like, and if they need stats, hopefully you can make the stats fit the character, not the other way around, and the players will feel that they are up against the character you described. [/QUOTE]
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