As a shortcut to generating NPCs (especially party companions and henchman temps), I want to draw up some standardized equipment lists. After hand-picking the weapons, armor, and magic items of the NPC, I'm wanting the fuss of miscellaneous gear to be mostly modular.
However, there are two limitations to consider: cost and weight.
Cost is fairly straightforward; an NPC has a set amount to spend.
Weight is more ambiguous because every NPC has a different Strength and encumbrance rating, access to a pack animal (or not), and access to things like Bags of Holding.
An additional factor is the weight of non-trivial gear: the character's weapons and armor, bulky magic items, and so on. This said, I am fairly comfortable with handwaving an NPC's armor and shield encumbrance. Armor and shields already have the effect of reducing speed and imposing armor check penalties so we may consider their weights already "factored in".
As for an NPC's carried weapons, if they consist of anything heavier than a pound or two. We do not need to approach encumbrance as an accounting problem, but a hefty weapon such as a polearm or a spiked chain of 10-15 pounds' weight could reasonably tip someone over the threshold of the next load category.
Now if we use Table 14-6 of the core rulebook, NPC Strengths can range from a 6 for a Gnome or Halfling Arcane NPC to a 17 for a Human, Half-Orc, or Half-Elf Melee PC. That's a broad range to go on, but we can also assume that all non-arcane NPCs will have a Strength of between 10 and 14, so if we go with the median this gives us a "standard Strength" of 12, thus encumbrance ratings of 43/89/130 lb. We can also factor in the presence of a pack animal, mount, or a cart or wagon which can add to a character's effective encumbrance limit.
Donkey (Str 13 medium animal): 75/150/225
Mule (Str 15 medium animal): 100/200/300
Heavy horse/warhorse (Str 18 large animal): 300/600/900
Light horse/warhorse (Str 16 large animal): 230/345/690
Pony/warpony (Str 13 medium animal): 75/150/225
And then we have NPC level to consider. It would be inefficient to draw up an adventuring kit for every level from 1 to 20, so we might put together a kit for a range of levels, such as 1st to 3rd, 4th to 6th, etc.
So here is my dilemma: how much of this weight limit should I reserve for weapons? Given that a melee NPC will need more "weight space" than an arcane NPC, I may need to use two different values (and so two different sets of kits) for a given NPC level range.
As well, are there any other factors to be considered which I've missed?
However, there are two limitations to consider: cost and weight.
Cost is fairly straightforward; an NPC has a set amount to spend.
Weight is more ambiguous because every NPC has a different Strength and encumbrance rating, access to a pack animal (or not), and access to things like Bags of Holding.
An additional factor is the weight of non-trivial gear: the character's weapons and armor, bulky magic items, and so on. This said, I am fairly comfortable with handwaving an NPC's armor and shield encumbrance. Armor and shields already have the effect of reducing speed and imposing armor check penalties so we may consider their weights already "factored in".
As for an NPC's carried weapons, if they consist of anything heavier than a pound or two. We do not need to approach encumbrance as an accounting problem, but a hefty weapon such as a polearm or a spiked chain of 10-15 pounds' weight could reasonably tip someone over the threshold of the next load category.
Now if we use Table 14-6 of the core rulebook, NPC Strengths can range from a 6 for a Gnome or Halfling Arcane NPC to a 17 for a Human, Half-Orc, or Half-Elf Melee PC. That's a broad range to go on, but we can also assume that all non-arcane NPCs will have a Strength of between 10 and 14, so if we go with the median this gives us a "standard Strength" of 12, thus encumbrance ratings of 43/89/130 lb. We can also factor in the presence of a pack animal, mount, or a cart or wagon which can add to a character's effective encumbrance limit.
Donkey (Str 13 medium animal): 75/150/225
Mule (Str 15 medium animal): 100/200/300
Heavy horse/warhorse (Str 18 large animal): 300/600/900
Light horse/warhorse (Str 16 large animal): 230/345/690
Pony/warpony (Str 13 medium animal): 75/150/225
And then we have NPC level to consider. It would be inefficient to draw up an adventuring kit for every level from 1 to 20, so we might put together a kit for a range of levels, such as 1st to 3rd, 4th to 6th, etc.
So here is my dilemma: how much of this weight limit should I reserve for weapons? Given that a melee NPC will need more "weight space" than an arcane NPC, I may need to use two different values (and so two different sets of kits) for a given NPC level range.
As well, are there any other factors to be considered which I've missed?
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