Aristocratic NPC - Fighter?

[ElterAgo]

Ok, so still pretty new to DM'ing 5th ED. Am making a long term NPC that the party will be interacting with for a fairly long time to come.

Wealthy father wants his son to have his 'time in the sun' before settling down to the family business. The PC's will be in charge of keeping him alive and letting him seem like and think he is the hero.

6th level. Probably Human or Half-elf.
I was thinking a fighter with Str 12, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 12
before race and levels. But I could be talked into something else.

He would have had expensive fencing instructors. But not the hardships of someone who actually actually served in any real military organization.

What kind of choices, options, feats, proficiencies, and gear would you give him?

 

[Shiroiken]

Rather than fully detail the NPC, I'd suggest simply using the Noble from the Monster Manual list of NPCs. Since the primary goal is to keep him alive while making him feel like the big hero, it will be a tricky, since the base NPC is only 2HD (average 9 HP). A level 6 fighter with very little real world experience is bit... hokey IMO.

You could up his AC (daddy buys the best Plate and shield), and give him another HD or two, but you want to make sure he's weaker than the party. Keeping him alive while keeping his ego inflated should be the primary challenge, not the monsters

 

[Li Shenron]

Rather than fully detail the NPC, I'd suggest simply using the Noble from the Monster Manual list of NPCs. Since the primary goal is to keep him alive while making him feel like the big hero, it will be a tricky, since the base NPC is only 2HD (average 9 HP).

Well that sounds like a reason not to use the MM NPC... and actually all those NPCs are basically designed to work against PCs, not as companions.
[MENTION=6972046]ElterAgo[/MENTION] are the PCs going to bring this NPC into combat and trapped dungeons? I think in this case you might want to think of an ad-hoc solution with Hit Points and Saves similar to those of the PCs, but without all the racial and class abilities, so that this NPC has good survivability but bad effectiveness at taking actions and low complexity.

I would make something up without regard to any rule, but for example a starting point could be to give him a "character level" equal to the PCs, and use it to determine the number of Hit Dice (and Hit Points, using d8 or d10) and proficiency bonus, and two saves proficiencies taking from any class. I am not sure I would bother with skills and weapon proficiencies but you can add some of those as well if you want (but for weapons and armors, just give him one of each of his own and let him be proficient at those), just make sure it doesn't outshine the PCs in anything important. Basically this would work as a sort of an "empty class" without any special abilities, with decent survivability but not nearly as useful as a PC.

The idea of making it a fully-fledged PC is also OK in my opinion, just more complicated than you need, and it carries the problem that in order to make him feel lagging behind the PCs you should make it of lower level (I'd think 2 levels lower), but then he'll be more squishy and harder to keep him alive.

 

[bedir than]

Check out sidekicks from the UA

https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/UA_Sidekicks.pdf

I would NOT make the Warrior. I think the noble/aristocrat would make a good expert. Have them act like a fighty type, but they just don't have the skills. What they do have is a lot of INT/CHA skills because that's what their youth focused on

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Since he's going to be a long term character adventuring with the party, it's actually going to be more satisfying to give him a PC class and level. Otherwise you'll have to keep figuring stuff out on the fly anyway, like what proficiencies he has. In this situation, it's almost easier to do a full PC stat-up. Keep him two levels lower than the party though, and don't track XP for him. Just level him up whenever they do. Maybe treat him as getting a half share of xp though, so that the party does have to "pay" for his help a little bit.

Either go Champion or Banneret (the generic term given for the Purple Dragon Knight subclass in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide). Banneret is an under-performing subclass, but he can help out the party with the support class features. It does depend on him actually being inspiring though, so that might or might not fit what you are thinking of.

If you want to play up that he's not all that great at being a warrior, spread his ability score increases thin across most of the ability scores, and/or give him feats like Skilled (choosing all tools if you want to be really mean).

Give him a fancy silvered sword that might come in handy against lycanthropes at some point. That would be particularly fun if the PCs were low on options themselves.

You could also focus on him actually being good at things other than combat. Maybe he has the Medicine skill, Performance, some musical instruments and is a gourmet cook. You might make him a linguist (with or without feat) and have him be the one who has to negotiate with exotic creatures (if he isn't very adventure-savvy, the PC might wish that wasn't their only option). Look over the lists of tools and see which ones jump out as rich kid non-adventuring stuff.

 

[S'mon]

It doesn't sound as if he should be PC class. A better option is to make a 6 hit dice NPC, maybe use the MM Noble as a starting point. You can use the PHB Noble background for skills.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

It doesn't sound as if he should be PC class. A better option is to make a 6 hit dice NPC, maybe use the MM Noble as a starting point. You can use the PHB Noble background for skills.

The reason I would encourage a PC class is that there isn’t a suite of level appropriate NPC statblocks that can be easily used, while the rules for making a PC are well-defined.

I know that not having any NPCs ever use PC statblocks is a popular ideological commitment these days, but out of pure pragmatism designing a new monster stat block that will need to be regularly replaced with a new design to keep up with the campaign’s leveling seems like a lot of work to me just to be able to stay on the popular side of the “should NPCs be treated like PCs debate”.

Edit: That’s not intended to be a personally targeted snarky comment. Any snark is intended for general consumption and should be shared with all except designated drivers.

 

[S'mon]

The reason I would encourage a PC class is that there isn’t a suite of level appropriate NPC statblocks that can be easily used, while the rules for making a PC are well-defined.

I know that not having any NPCs ever use PC statblocks is a popular ideological commitment these days, but out of pure pragmatism designing a new monster stat block that will need to be regularly replaced with a new design to keep up with the campaign’s leveling seems like a lot of work to me just to be able to stay on the popular side of the “should NPCs be treated like PCs debate”.

Edit: That’s not intended to be a personally targeted snarky comment. Any snark is intended for general consumption and should be shared with all except designated drivers.

Well I wouldn't be levelling him up. Sure if the OP expects the NPC to fight alongside the PCs for a long time, make him a Champion Fighter.

I have PC-statted NPCs IMC. I'm not some kind of anti-PC-stats fanatic (except in 4e, obviously).

 

[akr71]

Check out sidekicks from the UA

https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/UA_Sidekicks.pdf

I would NOT make the Warrior. I think the noble/aristocrat would make a good expert. Have them act like a fighty type, but they just don't have the skills. What they do have is a lot of INT/CHA skills because that's what their youth focused on

Yep, I like this option the best. Start with the Noble stat block from the MM - Int, Wis & Cha are already pretty good. I wouldn't object too strongly at Warrior over Expert though, but would prefer a Dex based one. If the party is 3 - 5 levels ahead of the Noble companion, the primary job can still be keeping him alive and making him look good.

For some fun, still have daddy put him in plate & shield, but his Str is only 11 so he is constantly slowing the party down.

 

[jasper]

Ok, so still pretty new to DM'ing 5th ED. Am making a long term NPC that the party will be interacting with for a fairly long time to come.

Wealthy father wants his son to have his 'time in the sun' before settling down to the family business. The PC's will be in charge of keeping him alive and letting him seem like and think he is the hero.

6th level. Probably Human or Half-elf.
I was thinking a fighter with Str 12, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 12
before race and levels. But I could be talked into something else.

He would have had expensive fencing instructors. But not the hardships of someone who actually actually served in any real military organization.

What kind of choices, options, feats, proficiencies, and gear would you give him?

Your NPC does not have to follow the PC rules. Give more hps or + x to hit.