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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kennew142" data-source="post: 4153573" data-attributes="member: 18490">I fail to see how any of these elements require NPCs be written up in the same style as PCs. Everything you've written above applies to every campaign I've ever run, and I've never found it necessary to treat PCs and NPCs exactly the same. In truth, unless you have a full character sheet written up for every NPC the characters interact with, you aren't treating them as the same thing either.Also, just because the rules treat PCs and NPCs differently doesn't mean that the NPCs around them do so. PCs are more resilient in combat because they are the main characters of the campaign, and like the main characters in a novel or a movie, they have limited script immunity. They need rules that govern the use of their resources that reflect the fact that they are in encounters repeatedly throughout the day and their resource management is different from an NPC who only needs to manage resources in the scenes he is in.I like the idea that there are some NPCs who can perform magic, heal and fight as well as the PCs. IMO it is integral to a believable setting. But I don't understand why the NPCs have to use the same mechanics as the PCs. The players in my game never see the mechanics behind the NPCs. It isn't that NPCs only exist in their world when the PCs are present, it's that their actions are only governed by game mechanics when the PCs are involved. I don't mean to say that NPCs can do things that are logically impossible for them between scenes. What I do mean to say is that greater campaign issues are dealt with by the GM's storytelling ability. Most GMs don't stat out all of the NPCs in a town so that he can roll the Diplomacy checks of the mayoral candidates against all of the electors so that he can determine who wins the election. They just make a story decision. NPCs certainly should continue to exist when the PCs aren't present, but their off camera actions are governed by the necessities of the story, the logic of the setting and the GM's preferences.I fail to see how game mechanics have anything to do with it.</blockquote>

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