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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 578140" data-attributes="member: 3146">Others have covered a lot of good tactics already. I'll cover a few NPC construction tactics.1. PCs and NPCs should be constructed differently. Most NPCs will only live for one fight. They'll never see the next level. Which means they don't have to worry about long-term viability.This makes a big difference in terms of their construction.While feats like toughness and dirty fighting are suboptimal for PCs, they're great for NPCs. If the NPC is entitled to a feat and you don't see any particular use for it, an extra 3 hp never hurt. It's not as if he'll wish it were Spell Focus when he hits level 12--he'll never hit level 12. Similarly, dirty fighting gives extra damage until a character gets iterative attacks and then it's useless (since using it requires giving up the iterative attacks). So it's not a good long term feat for a PC. However, low level NPCs don't have a hope of ever getting multiple attacks. If they'd fight dirty, give them dirty fighting and they'll do more damage to the PCs. Sunder (and especially improved Sunder) is another feat that's better for NPCs. If PCs use Sunder, they destroy their loot. If NPCs use it, they inflict lasting damage on the PCs. (Of couse, you don't want to destroy all the PCs gear--that's no fun for players but Sunder can make combats interesting if used judiciously).Some feats are easier for NPCs to use than for PCs. The Dual Strike feat from Sword and Fist, for instance, makes the flanking bonus effectively +4 to hit--as long as both flankers have the feat. Not too useful for a PC because he needs another PC with the feat if it's to be useful. Great for a group of disciplined, coordinated NPCs because you can give it to all of them.Other feats are good for PCs but not good for NPCs. Item creation feats fit into this category. If a villain needs to be a craftsman for plot reasons, give them the feat. Otherwise, there's no point in a villain having it--it won't effect combat and could be something that would (such as toughness, spell focus, or skill focus: concentration). Cleave is another such feat. It's great for PCs who often face down 6 orcs at a time. On the other hand, NPCs don't often down PCs. So, they will rarely get to use cleave. Weapon focus might be a better feat for them--it will help them damage the PC faster: even if they never take the PC down.Other points of interest: Always remember you can rearrange a creature's stats or equipment. Most outsiders, for instance, have pretty anemic hit points--rarely more than a fighter of their CR and often less. However, if you boost their con or strength, they become much more scary. Similarly, a hound archon is not really terrifying to the forces of evil. Their 19 AC is fairly anemic but, if you give them a breastplate as well, they will have an AC of 24 which is much more impressive.And two other points:1. Keeping a fighter alive (for long enough to scare PCs). There are three elements to this equation:a. Iron Will and high wisdom (and a cloak of resistance at high levels). Will save is a fighter's achille's heel. Do what you can to boost it.b. Armor--full plate and a shield are a base AC of 20. If the fighter has a dex 12 and 6000 gp to spend on equipment, +1 fullplate, +1 shield, +1 ring of deflection, and a +1 amulet of natural armor fetches him AC 24. That's thinking like a PC however (long term). Since the fighter will probably only see one fight, he can think like an NPC. Potion of Haste (750 gp), Potion of Barkskin (300 gp), Potion of Shield of Faith or Prot from Good (50 gp). Total AC for 5 rounds (all he really needs to last) 29. And for less than 1000 gp.Note that armor class works better the higher it is. If your PCs have attack bonusses of +10, going from AC 10 to AC 20 will only cut their damage capacity in half. However to cut it in half again, you only need five points of AC. So five points of AC is worth as much to an AC 20 character as ten points is to an AC 10 character. (And an AC 25 character gets almost as much milage out of two points of AC as the AC 20 character got out of 5 points).c. Healing. The best way to keep a fighter alive is to have a cleric standing next to (or behind) him with a bunch of cure spells. If the cleric is a bad guy, you'll need to remember to prepare healing spells (1/3 to 1/2 of available spells is a good rule of thumb--if he decides later it's too much and he'd rather hurt the PCs, he can always convert them to inflicts). However, a potion or three of Cure Light Wounds (1st and 2nd level fighters), Cure Moderate Wounds (3rd-4th level fighters), or Cure Serious Wounds (level 5+ villains) will go a long way. Just remember to take a five foot step back before recovering and drinking the potion so you don't provoke an AoO.</blockquote>

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