Book of NPCs

[Paul Strack]

OK folks, I released version 1.0, which covers levels 1-30. With all the race/build combinations, that's 12,000 characters. I edited the original post to reflect the new version.

Other than going up to level 30, there are two major changes in this version:

1) I added some notes speculating on what XP values NPCs should be worth, since they are clearly better than equivalent level monsters.

2) I changed the stat blocks a bit. I removed the range indicators ([M], [R], etc.) because it is obvious from the power description what the range is. I also indicated at-will/encounter/daily with icons (●/○/□) which can double as check boxes. Here is the new style:

○ Wrathful Thunder (standard) ✦ Thunder, Weapon

+6 vs. AC; 1d10 + 4 thunder damage, and the target is dazed until the end of the human cleric’s next turn.
​

● Misty Step (free)

When a cursed enemy is reduced to 0 hit points or less.
The human warlock can immediately teleport 3 squares.
​

Here is the old style:

[M] Wrathful Thunder (standard; encounter) ● Thunder, Weapon

+6 vs. AC; 1d10 + 4 thunder damage, and the target is dazed until the end of the human cleric’s next turn.
​

Misty Step (free, when a cursed enemy is reduced to 0 hit points or less; at-will)

The human warlock can immediately teleport 3 squares.​

 

[ricardo440]

This wreaks of gift horses and mouths, but why get rid of the range indicator?

It may be apparent looking at descriptions what the range is, but it is very handy to have the indicator as you can filter the powers by range when looking at them in a fight. Or at least that is how I find monsters.

 

[Blizzardb]

Seconded, I also miss the range indicators.

 

[SabreCat]

Allow myself to add to the chorus of people saying this is a stupendous resource. Well friggin' done! I use quite a few NPCs in my game, and the necessary work to get them running just cut to a tenth.

One "bug report," as it were: all (or at least as many as I saw on a random sampling of a number of their .htmls) the Half-Elf NPCs are actually Elf NPCs.

 

[Paul Strack]

One "bug report," as it were: all (or at least as many as I saw on a random sampling of a number of their .htmls) the Half-Elf NPCs are actually Elf NPCs.

Guh. The Half-Elves are there, but the Half-Elf file has all the Elf NPCs at the top as well. I will see about fixing this (the bug is that the text "Elf" appears within "Half-Elf").

I will also see about putting the range markers back in. I want to keep the at-will/encounter/daily icons, so I will fiddle with it to see if I can find a format with back icons that looks decent.

 

[Paul Strack]

I released version 1.0.1, which fixes half-elves and puts the range indicators back in. I now have icons for both range and usage (at-will/encounter/daily). The current format is:

○ [M] Wrathful Thunder (standard) ✦ Thunder, Weapon

+6 vs. AC; 1d10 + 4 thunder damage, and the target is dazed until the end of the human cleric’s next turn.
​

The "○" indicates an encounter power, the "[M]" indicates a melee attack.

 

[CapnZapp]

The [M] is fine. Having the brackets makes it easy to make a global search-n-replace to susbtitute the real icons (which may or may not be the letter 'M' in whatever d&d icon font you're using).

Thanks!

PS. A minor bug is that there was't any boundary checking (in v0.1), has this been fixed? That is, the link to "one level lower" is still there for a level 1 critter, though broken. Same for "one level higher" at level 10. (Remember, this was v0.1)

 

[SabreCat]

Cool, thanks for the fixes!

One question: is it RAW that NPCs get racial skills/powers/features, or is that another (but unwritten, from what I can see) of your house rules? You also mention that not giving feats to NPCs is a house rule. I don't remember seeing any mention of assigning feats or the special racial bonuses to NPCs, in the DMG, but maybe I just overlooked it.

 

[CapnZapp]

Neither feats nor racial powers are RAW. Only those specific class features listed on page 188 are.

Of course, I symphatize with the OP's choices here...:

No feats: feat bonuses and abilities are one category of fiddly bits the NPC level bonus is supposed to cover with no administration required. I agree you don't want to say it's a houserule to not have feats though...
Racial features: if these weren't in, I guess the entire point of having a "book" of NPCs would fall. There wouldn't be a need to list Dwarf Fighters separately from Goblin Fighters (and so on...). This is one houserule I heartily approve of!

 

[Paul Strack]

A minor bug is that there was't any boundary checking (in v0.1), has this been fixed? That is, the link to "one level lower" is still there for a level 1 critter, though broken. Same for "one level higher" at level 10. (Remember, this was v0.1)

I missed this. I will fix it in the next update.

One question: is it RAW that NPCs get racial skills/powers/features, or is that another (but unwritten, from what I can see) of your house rules? You also mention that not giving feats to NPCs is a house rule. I don't remember seeing any mention of assigning feats or the special racial bonuses to NPCs, in the DMG, but maybe I just overlooked it.

Guh. I just re-read the "Creating NPCs" rules, and yes, it isn't RAW that NPCs get racial features. I just assumed they did, because all the monsters do. I will note it under the house rules section. As CapnZapp said, the NPCs would lose all their racial flavor if they didn't get racial features.

Regarding feats, NPC rangers get a feat from their fighting style and (assuming you allow racial features) humans get a bonus feat. Those two cases are obscure enough that I didn't want to bother to write feat-handling logic just to include them, but I may at some point in the future.