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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 7148169" data-attributes="member: 71699">I agree with you that much of the time we can use abstracted stat blocks in our games (regardless of what we envision is behind them!) Caveating that for me an absolute resistance to NPCs with character classes feels less helpful. Say our PC Monk has the common backstory of studying for years at a monastery. Perhaps containing 144 monks... none of whom are allowed Monk character class levels!? A flat-out disconnect between PCs and all other inhabitants of their world causes dissonance... for me at least! Can we directly equate CR to tiers? You seem to be saying it is 1:1 to class level. Is that right?It's a matter of tuning values. If you believe there should be fewer, tune it that way. Faerun (pop 70m)Tier 1 - 700,000Tier 2 - 140,000Tier 3 - 14,000Tier 4 - 1400+Epic - 140It feels safe to assume that we only know about a proportion of Epic level characters i.e. there are more that could be encountered or written about. Still, 140 seems high doesn't it? Perhaps the original though to assume an order of magnitude fewer at each tier is right after all?Faerun (pop 70m)Tier 1 - 700,000Tier 2 - 70,000Tier 3 - 7,000Tier 4 - 700+Epic - 7070 epic tier NPCs for the entire continent, known and unknown, sounds okay for me. YMMV. In my experience as a DM, being able to turn to a strong cast of NPCs who can meet PCs on their own terms leads to the most enjoyable and challenging situations. Consider abilities such as the Diviner's Portent, which gets very interesting when taken together with Bardic Inspiration and the Lucky feat! Treating MM stat blocks as the limit of complexity for NPCs rules out such fascinating options, or at best makes them much harder to balance! I'd go so far to say that for the greatest gameplay, character class NPCs become more valuable at high level than low. Because of the burgeoning power of PCs, and their range of options.</blockquote>

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