Tips for making NPCs

How do you make NPCs? Do you follow the guidelines in the DMG or do you make a complete character through Character Builder?

What I am looking for is something somewhere between the two. I want to start using some regular "companion" NPCs in my group, the type that travel with the party for a time, but I want more detail than the route given in the DMG but less detail--and easier playability--than making a complete PC through Character Builder. Basically I don't want to have to run a complete PC with all the power options and such, but I want a few more options than just one at-will and one daily (which is I think what the DMG recommends). What is a good balance? Specifically I would like said NPCs to be of the same general power level as an equivalent PC, but with less options.

I'm thinking Monster Builder is still the way to go, but does anyone have any homemade NPC sheets they would like to share? Or tips on making NPCs?

Thanks!

Mercurius said:

How do you make NPCs? Do you follow the guidelines in the DMG or do you make a complete character through Character Builder?

Click to expand...

I custom build them like monsters and mostly ignore the npc guidelines. I feel that a "Human Slaver" or "Kelrox, Dwarven Trapmaster" or whomever pretty well deserve to be custom. Plus, I love making monsters.

As far as guidelines- I treat them pretty much exactly like any other monster I'm building. I usually include the key racial ability (elven reroll or whatever), sometimes give 'em second wind (but only sometimes) and make up the rest to serve their in-game purpose.

It depends on the NPC and what they'll be doing. For the most part, I use either minions or companion characters. I've also used monsters straight out of the Monster Manual.

If understand what you're looking for, I'd recommending statting up a companion character and giving it maybe 2-3 at-wills and 1-2 dailies (depending on its level). That should give you a little variety without too much complexity.

If it is an ally of the party that will actually travel with them then it can be a companion. Certainly any henchman of a PC would be a companion character and probably themed around a class. Otherwise if it will fight the party it is 100% a monster. If it doesn't fight at all then it is a non-combatant. It MIGHT have stats, or maybe even just 1 or 2 key stats, a skill or two, a description, and 3 sentences or less of motives, place in the story, personality, etc. If the NPC grows more story important it might graduate to one of the other levels of being fleshed out.

I wouldn't use monsters STRAIGHT as companions. The rules in DMG2 are solid. You end up with something that won't outperform party members but can fill in a weak niche in the party somewhat and be simple to run.

The old DMG1 NPC rules I honestly don't use. The resulting stat blocks are glass cannons basically. XP rewards for them are not ever defined, MB doesn't support them, and if it ain't going to fight all that is a waste (and besides most ordinary folks qualify as low level minions, so they have little combat significance to a paragon character anyway).

I often make monsters using class-flavored abilities. (For instance, an evil templar for my Dark Sun campaign will probably use either cleric [use primal instead of divine] or warlock class ability names/descriptions/non-damage effects, but use monster damage instead.)

And since it's Dark Sun, I very frequently give them an encounter ability flavored as a Theme. (So templars usually have Templar's Fist, letting it scale damage depending on the "monster's" level.)

But sometimes I actually use the DMG rules. Which, IMO, are terribly organized. I actually used nine 4x6" index cards for my NPC generation system. One for the generic rules (level bonuses, magic item threshold, level-based stat boosts, etc) and one for each core class (they include which class abilities you get, because often an NPC doesn't get them all, as well as descriptions for them; plus typical ability score arrays).

I notice that NPCs have lower stats than monsters, and probably lower damage too. But they get dailies, and level bonuses might generally fill the lower non-AC defenses and damage. I wonder if anyone has done comparisons. One day I'll design, say, a 5th-level rogue-like monster (using a base race like halfling or elf) or something like that and compare to an actual 5th-level rogue NPC and see if there's significant differences.

Though it might not help you, the DMG2 has exact rules for this sort of thing. Other than the one at-will, one encounter, and one daily, you could trade up with it every session, using a different encounter and daily each time. After all, if the PCs can do it between levels, why couldn't a companion do it per session? No harm done, unless you're giving them a bunch of dailies or encounters to use at one time, which in my opinion steals the players' thunder, which is why I imagine they don't recommend it, and why I wouldn't either.

Mercurius said:

How do you make NPCs? Do you follow the guidelines in the DMG or do you make a complete character through Character Builder?

Click to expand...

Neither.

the Jester said:

I custom build them like monsters and mostly ignore the npc guidelines.

Click to expand...

This! In most cases I use an exisiting monster as a basis and add or replace a power to more closely resemble a signature power of the npc's class.

I noticed a problem with companion characters as written, though, in the DMG2. I used 3 of them and found I was arbitrarily increasing various factors (AC, HP, Damage, etc) They're just not nearly as good as PC's, yet they demand an equal share of the experience points.

For this, and other reasons, I'd like some kind of baseline stats for characters of every role of every level. For example, what's the average DPR of an 'average' striker of level 5? Including usage of encounter powers and daily powers. The average should be a bit higher than a typical PC's at-will damage, and that's right where a companion should sit (just like essentials martial classes, in theory.)

You can handwave the experience thing, but even then I still think they should be more comparable to a PC.

I flesh out two types of NPC's. Both in the Monster Builder. Both are built on the basis of rules in the DMG 2 concerning the Companion NPC's, but just as you, I sometimes feel that they need a little more oumph.

What I then do is build the character in the CB (or by hand), give him items and whatnot, and then stat him up in the Monster Builder. How many powers I give him may vary quite a bit.

An example would be this 13th level slayer.

Just my quick thoughts on this, but shouldn't companion NPCs be weaker?