Characters to Monsters

[Buddha the DM]

How would one go about turning a PC, from a character sheet, into a NPC/Monster Statblock? (like the one included below)


[sblock]Jared Silverhawk, level 6
Human, Fighter
Build: Tempest Fighter
Fighter: Combat Agility
Fighter Talents: Tempest Technique

ABILITY SCORES
Str 21, Con 10, Dex 15, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 8.

AC: 23 Fort: 22 Reflex: 18 Will: 15
HP: 60 Surges: 9 Surge Value: 15

TRAINED SKILLS
Heal +8, Athletics +12, Streetwise +7, Endurance +7

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +4, Arcana +3, Bluff +2, Diplomacy +2, Dungeoneering +3, History +3, Insight +3, Intimidate +2, Nature +3, Perception +3, Religion +3, Stealth +4, Thievery +4

FEATS
Human: Toughness
Level 1: Weapon Expertise (Light Blade)
Level 2: Weapon Focus (Light Blade)
Level 4: Two-Weapon Fighting
Level 6: Action Surge

POWERS
Bonus At-Will Power: Crushing Surge
Fighter at-will 1: Dual Strike
Fighter at-will 1: Footwork Lure
Fighter encounter 1: Funneling Flurry
Fighter daily 1: Tempest Dance
Fighter utility 2: Boundless Endurance
Fighter encounter 3: Parry and Riposte
Fighter daily 5: Hounding Longarm
Fighter utility 6: Swift Recovery

ITEMS
Transference Short sword +2, Imposter's Finemail +2, Cape of the Mountebank +1, Chainmail, Adventurer's Kit, Vengeful Short sword +1[/sblock]

 

[Derulbaskul]

The DMG explains it fairly well.

Personally, I treat NPCs the same as a I treat monsters and I use the Monster Builder to put them together.

As a start, I've set him up as a level 6 elite soldier but I think he should probably be a skirmisher.

Essentially, I reduced his powers to those that I felt best reflected what a two-weapon fighter would be doing (and which makes me think that I really should have made him a skirmisher as he doesn't really do any "soldiering"). Anyway, this is just a WIP:

NPC Jared Silverhawk, male human fighter
Level 6 Elite Soldier
Medium natural humanoid (human) XP 500
HP 138; Bloodied 69 (these high hit points are the reason I ditching the utility powers)
AC 22; Fortitude 19; Reflex 18; Will 17 (these numbers are straight out of the monster builder)
Speed 5
Saving Throws +2; Action Points 1
Initiative +8 Perception +4

Standard Actions
m Dual Strike (weapon) • At-Will
Attack: (two enemies); +13 vs. AC
Hit: 2d6 + 4 damage.
Effect: Jared may shift 1 square before either attack or after both attacks.
(Average damage should be 14 but I went with 25% lower because he gets two attacks. As a soldier this attack should also probably mark the target... but I keep thinking that I should change him to skirmisher. YMMV.)
M Tempest Dance (weapon) • Encounter
Attack: +13 vs. AC
Hit: 2d6 + 4 damage.
Effect: Jared shifts 1 square and repeats the attack against a second target. He then shifts 1 square and repeats the attack against a third target.
(This is normally a daily but it felt like a good encounter power for a two-weapon fighter "monster".)
Triggered Actions
M Combat Agility (weapon) • At-Will
Trigger: An enemy adjacent to Jared takes an action that provokes an opportunity attack. After the triggering enemy completes the action, Jared shifts 3 squares and must end the shift closer to the target than when the shift began. He then makes the following attack against the triggering enemy:
Attack (Opportunity): +13 vs. AC
Hit: 2d6 + 4 damage, and the target is knocked prone.
Cape of the Mountebank (teleportation) • Encounter
Trigger: When hit by an enemy.
Effect (Immediate Reaction): Jared teleports 5 squares and gains combat advantage against the triggering enemy until the end of his next turn.
(I kept the cape of the mountebank magic item power as it felt like something this NPC should have. If you use this, the cape should form part of the treasure parcel for the encounter.)
Skills Athletics +14, Endurance +9, Heal +9, Streetwise +8
(I kept the same trained skills that you had for the character.)
Str 22 (+9) Dex 16 (+6) Wis 13 (+4)
Con 13 (+4) Int 13 (+4) Cha 10 (+3)
(My philosophy with ability scores for NPCs is that they no longer reflect the true ability scores of the NPC [if that makes sense]. As a result I just go with the monster builder numbers and modify as high or low as a feel is appropriate. To approximate the ability scores of your character, I selected high for Str and Dex and Low for Cha; the other three scores are average as created by the monster builder.)
Alignment unaligned Languages common
Equipment chainmail, shortsword x2, cape of the mountebank +1 (magic item)
(As you can see, I reduced the equipment list significantly.)

HTH.

 

[Buddha the DM]

Thanks for giving me a starting point. Since there's no easy way, I guess I'm just going to have to go back through and rebuild all the PC-grade characters as monsters.

 

[Derulbaskul]

You're welcome. It was a good excuse to play around with the monster builder after the upgrade. I've changed him to a skirmisher now and added in a couple of more powers that I feel suit him better.

I've attached my updated version in case you're interested. (He actually is perfect for an upcoming game of mine so the time was definitely not wasted.)

 

[Buddha the DM]

Well I'm glad he'll be useful to you for your game. If you need any more possible NPC/Monsters I've got quite the stable created. But right now they are all still in PC-format. I'll be slowly changing them over to a npc/monster format.

Couple things. How'd you go about assigning the recharge to Funneling Fury (which I assume was Funneling Flurry)? Also, did you create the powers Tempest's Shift & Step from scratch or did you get them from somewhere?

 

[Buddha the DM]

Here's the first one that I did. I took my "me as what i'd like to be" character and changed it. I've included both formats here for comments/critiques.

[sblock]Harold Nichols, level 1
Human, Fighter
Build: Great Weapon Fighter
Fighter: Combat Agility
Fighter Talents: Two-handed Weapon Talent

ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 14, Dex 13, Int 11, Wis 12, Cha 10.

AC: 17 Fort: 17 Reflex: 12 Will: 12
HP: 34 Surges: 11 Surge Value: 8

TRAINED SKILLS
Streetwise +5, Heal +6, Endurance +7, Athletics +9

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +1, Arcana, Bluff, Diplomacy, Dungeoneering +1, History, Insight +1, Intimidate, Nature +1, Perception +1, Religion, Stealth +1, Thievery +1

FEATS
Human: Toughness
Level 1: Action Surge

POWERS
Bonus At-Will Power: Reaping Strike
Fighter at-will 1: Crushing Surge
Fighter at-will 1: Cleave
Fighter encounter 1: Steel Serpent Strike
Fighter daily 1: Driving Attack

ITEMS
Scale Armor, Adventurer's Kit, Greatsword[/sblock]

 

[Derulbaskul]

Well I'm glad he'll be useful to you for your game. If you need any more possible NPC/Monsters I've got quite the stable created. But right now they are all still in PC-format. I'll be slowly changing them over to a npc/monster format.

Couple things. How'd you go about assigning the recharge to Funneling Fury (which I assume was Funneling Flurry)? Also, did you create the powers Tempest's Shift & Step from scratch or did you get them from somewhere?

Basically, for NPCs that are elites I give them their encounter powers as recharge 5 powers and their daily powers as encounter powers. It's just the way I prefer to create NPCs.

I made Tempest's Shift and Tempest's Step from scratch after I made him into a skirmisher. I just wanted a really mobile character.

As for the NPC you created, my understanding is that an elite should be a threat to two PCs at a time. This can be accomplished by having multiple attacks via minor actions or, like the example I posted, being able to attack two targets with a standard action. Another option is a useful triggered action that results in a regular attack.

That said, how do you see your Harold Nichols NPC in combat? As a soldier, do you want him to be able to mark? Should he have some of the fighter combat style abilities to help him in this respect?

As it stands, he reads a bit like a brute but with low damage. Personally, I would like to see his at will have a more interesting rider effect than just the invigorating keyword. Again, it would be interesting to know what you're aiming at with him before posting suggestions.

 

[Buddha the DM]

That said, how do you see your Harold Nichols NPC in combat? As a soldier, do you want him to be able to mark? Should he have some of the fighter combat style abilities to help him in this respect?

As it stands, he reads a bit like a brute but with low damage. Personally, I would like to see his at will have a more interesting rider effect than just the invigorating keyword. Again, it would be interesting to know what you're aiming at with him before posting suggestions.

See this is why I asked for help. I suppose he should be a better brute given that he wields a greatsword. As for being able to mark someone it would provide no real benefit to him as an npc. Sorry about the lack of interesting aspects to his at-will and other powers as this is the first npc-type that I've tried creating myself. Given that the power is titled Crushing Surge, perhaps it should inflict some sort of generic damage vulnerability to his targets.

Edits:
Crushing Surge: Added - Effect: Target also gains Vulnerable 5 until the end of Harold’s next turn.

 

[Derulbaskul]

OK, maybe if I asked: what allies would this NPC be fighting alongside? That's actually why I asked about marking: I was thinking he might be playing a defender-like role for the group that he will be encountered with.

Check out Aegeri's re-crafting of the purple worm feel more like a purple worm:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/5265708-post13.html

I realise that your NPC is a completely different monster to that but Aegeri's design shows how he takes what a purple worm should be like and then he creates the powers accordingly.

Similarly, my skirmisher version of Jared Silverhawk was an attempt to create something that felt like a nimble, mobile, slashing monster that bounced around the battlefield.

Going back to your greatsword-wielder, you have designed him as a PC to be able to get temporary hit points, right? That's not much fun for a DM when running a monster plus it can increase the sense of grind. If you change him to a brute, you get effectively get the extra hit points.

I think the damage vulnerability might be a good start, although vulnerable 5 all might be too high. Another option is to reduce AC instead by, say, two points (which I know is rather high). Perhaps all it shieldbreaking blow instead? And make sure you use the high damage expression.

Also, why not give him a minor attack 1/round that targets fortitude, does low damage and slows until the end of his next turn. Call it dead leg.

What about an immediate interrupt when flanked called pommel smash that does low damage but dazes the opponent.

Anyway, with these three powers you start to picture a strong combatant, perhaps more disciplined than a barbarian, but one who sets himself in the middle of a group of foes and then unleashes a storm of powerful blows.

And there's the idea for his next attack: what about a close burst 1 that duplicates his at will and is a recharge 5? Call it shieldbreaking storm.

I would give him one more encounter power with very high damage. Perhaps it requires combat advantage to make up for the fact that he already has a few choices. Call it overhead smash and have it do very high damage and possibly stun an opponent. If you were feeling nasty, maybe if it reduces an opponent to 0 hit points the opponent dies from being beheaded, but that is probably too strong for a low-level NPC (although I would certainly think about doing it!).

I'm not sure if that helps but I hope it does. Mesh Hong is the "go to" guy on this sort of stuff. He has a much better grasp of the rules and flavour than I do. If my suggestions don't work for you, definitely go and ask him as he is much, much better at this.

Edit: Here's a draft version for you to look at.

 

[Buddha the DM]

Wow.. I apparently still have a lot to learn. I'm always concerned when I try to create monsters, classes or whatever that I'll make them too strong.

As for who this npc would be fighting alongside it'd be 1 artillery, 2 strikers, and 1 leader (a healer type for this one). But wouldn't the appearance of companions negate his elite status and leave him an ordinary monster?

I like your take on the "Shieldbreaker" and might use it myself.

Side note... How is it that Mesh Hong commented directly in your post?