D&D 5E Advice for running a PC built NPC as a BBEG?

[bedir than]

I have a couple PC built NPCs that are adversaries to the PCs' goals, but in the next session there could windup a significant conflict between either a 3rd Tier Moon Druid or a 3rd Tier Mundane Ranger (Hunter). Are there any bits of advice on how not to get bogged down in minutia with the amount of skills/spells while still maintaining either of these individuals' builds for story purposes?

I'm not worried about them dying. They will eventually. I'm more concerned about how to manage a combat encounter when the opposition has wider spell choice (the druid) or maneuvers and pets (the ranger)?

 

[Sunseeker]

Well, your biggest problem is that monsters aren't built like PCs. Simply put a lot of the "choice" that players have is baked into the default assumptions for what a monster is doing.

So my advice is this: figure out ahead of time what your PC is going to be doing most of the time anyway and then just bake it in to their basic attacks. Dump everything exploration or social related and then pick out no more than 5 options for your BBEG to do at any given time.

 

[bedir than]

You're essentially saying that I should get to know 4-5 of the features of these NPCs and use those?

 

[spinozajack]

That sounds about right.

Usually for NPCs to get a power boost I give them a few levels of champion. This gets them heavy armor proficiency for an AC boost, and a to-hit boost and other stuff from the class.

Once I made a battlemage who was basically just an EK and the PCs were running scared when the NPC flew in wearing black platemail with a flaming sword and unleashed two fireballs in a row on a third group of unsuspecting NPCs (action surge). It was a three-way fight. That one display convinced the players to set aside their differences and join forces with this NPC, whose ultimate goals they knew to be largely different than their own.

I also agree about pre-selecting the NPC abilities. Most of the time, ranger spells are basically Hunter's Mark and Cure Wounds, while I haven't played a Druid but I've seen one briefly. I guess just cast the easiest, most obvious and straightforward spells you can.

Use one of the excel character generators that have spells built in, and make sure your NPCs have the spell effects and ranges handy so you don't have to look up various spells mid combat. Spell lookup is the real time waster. Most of the other abilities are fairly straightforward but you still need to have a rough idea how to play these classes.

I don't recommend picking any complex character options for NPCs, at most they will get used a couple times.

Recommend you actually play these classes yourself before DMing them as DM PCs (or NPCs). Being a player will really educate you on which ones are a lot of work to maintain and will guide your character creation or spell selection decisions later on. Best to learn a few spells really well. Actually I recommend memorizing the most iconic spells of the PHB. This will more than pay for itself early in the edition's run because you will probably end up knowing many of them off the back of your hand regardless. Might as well get a head start.

 

[Quickleaf]

I have a couple PC built NPCs that are adversaries to the PCs' goals, but in the next session there could windup a significant conflict between either a 3rd Tier Moon Druid or a 3rd Tier Mundane Ranger (Hunter). Are there any bits of advice on how not to get bogged down in minutia with the amount of skills/spells while still maintaining either of these individuals' builds for story purposes?

I'm not worried about them dying. They will eventually. I'm more concerned about how to manage a combat encounter when the opposition has wider spell choice (the druid) or maneuvers and pets (the ranger)?

I have found "good enough" simplified conversions of PC classes work well for NPCs. Don't be wedded to strict use of the PC rules, feel free to use shortcuts & altered versions of class features to make running them easier at the table. The 3e mindset of "must design NPCs using PC classes" makes for NPCs that are a PITA for you to run as DM. There is no player who is going to criticize you as DM for changing minutiae. A better mantra for 5e might be: "design NPCs using PC classes as inspiration." That thinking seems to apply to the sample NPCs in the Monster Manual. As long as the NPC *feels* like the class in question I think you're good to gol

For your shapeshifter moon druid, pick 2 forms in advance from the Monster Manual (CR 4 or less if a 12th-14th level druid) and flag those pages for easy reference. Pay attention to how Hit Points & Damage work for shapeshifting - also remember if you want to play up the shapeshifting, you can have the Druid burn spell slots on Combat Wild Shape to heal as a bonus action. As with any spellcaster, familiarize yourself with spells beforehand (and if you did CR calculations for the Druid, you probably did this anyways when calculating DPR over three rounds as the DMG suggests).

For the hunter ranger, there aren't any maneuvers to keep track of (maybe you're confusing it with the Battlemaster fighter?) and they don't get an animal companion, so I'm not sure what you're thinking there. But in general just treat animal companions as another monster in the encounter allied with the ranger - no need for special rules. More generally with the ranger, you can omit a lot of class features from an NPC build including Favored Enemy, Natural Explorer, Hide in Plain Sight, and maybe Primeval Awareness. It's not that the ranger NPC doesn't have these things, it's just you don't need to include them in the stat block. Omitting them makes handling the NPC at the table easier.

One last word: A "third tier" (level 11-16) NPC who is not throwing about area effect spells is probably going to be around CR 4. I'm basing this on a bunch of 12th level NPCs I created following the DMG maths and most of them turned out to be CR 4. What I generally found to be true is that they had low defenses and higher offenses. If your party is just facing one NPC designed with PC rules and they are good about focused fire, your NPC might not last more than a round or two. YMMV.

 

[bedir than]

Thanks. The hunter is using the mundane ranger rules from UA. He'll have a bunch of pets at his disposal as well as a couple less complex guards.

 

[Sunseeker]

You're essentially saying that I should get to know 4-5 of the features of these NPCs and use those?

Yes.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I have a couple PC built NPCs that are adversaries to the PCs' goals, but in the next session there could windup a significant conflict between either a 3rd Tier Moon Druid or a 3rd Tier Mundane Ranger (Hunter). Are there any bits of advice on how not to get bogged down in minutia with the amount of skills/spells while still maintaining either of these individuals' builds for story purposes?

Sure. Pick the spells you want, and then leave the other spells/skills blank. Just assume that they picked something that isn't useful in the current situation. You might have a high-level druid whose only spells are Produce Flame, Conjure Elemental, Dispel Magic, Moonbeam and Insect Plague--and that is totally okay! If he survives the session, you can fill in those blank spots later, as needed.