Creating NPC's and using them

[Jack99]

Soo..

My player-base has recently dimished a bit lately, going from 7 players, to 4-5 players. This has put us in a position where we might be lacking a meatshield.

We talked about it, and came to the conclusion that the best way to fix said problem was not to "force" someone to make a fighter/paladin/swordmage, but instead to create an NPC, which would be run by one or more players.

Now, I am fine with this, and since they are as well, it's all good. The problem is, that we do not want a complete fighter, merely one which can do the essentials. So in that way, the NPC fighter from the DMG fits perfectly. Only one at-will, one encounter, one utility and one daily, on top of a couple of class abilities.

My problem is however, that I do not think such a fighter will be much use, because of the 1 surge per tier rule. It's fine for an NPC that tags along, or that they fight, but for one to be in the party, and actually be useful, he will need more.

Now, I know that he comes with higher AC than a normal fighter, for example, but will the 1-2 higher AC really be enough? My gut says no.

Therefore, I wanted to ask if any of you had any experience or any thoughts regarding making an NPC by the book, and giving him more than 1 surge? Will his bonuses make him too good? Will he still trail behind due to his lack of options?

For the record, this is the NPC fighter I made:

Random Meatshield Level 6 Fighter
Medium Natural Humanoid
Initiative +5 Senses Perception +11;
HP 64; Bloodied 32
AC 25; Fortitude 21 , Reflex 17, Will 19
Speed 5
Surges: ???

Battleaxe (standard; at-will) * Melee
+11 vs AC; 1d10 + 6 damage

Combat Challenge (standard; at-will) * Melee
All attacks mark, hit or miss. If a marked creature makes an attack that does not include you, make a basic melee attack as an immediate interrupt.

Tide of Iron (standard; at-will) * Melee
+11 vs AC; 1d10 + 6 damage; push large or smaller targets 1 sq, and shift into old square as a free action.

Crushing Blow (standard; encounter) * Melee
+11 vs AC; 2d10 + 9 damage

Second Wind (minor; encounter) * Healing

Dizzying Blow (standard; Reliable, Daily) * Melee
+11 vs AC; 3d10 + 6 damage and target is immobilized (save ends)

Defensive Training (minor; Daily) * Stance
Gain +2 fortitude, reflex and will for the rest of the encounter, as long as stance is maintained.

Alignment: Unaligned Languages: Common, Dwarven
Skills: Athletics, Endurance
Str 16 (+6) Dex 12 (+3) Wis 16 (+6)
Con 16 (+6) Int 12 (+4) Cha 10 (+3)

Equipment: Scale mail, Heavy Shield, Battleaxe

 

[Lacyon]

If your players are willing to have him count as a full (or nearly full) party member and take an appropriate share of XP each fight, you could probably give him a full complement of surges without problem.

Otherwise, you might give him bonus surges for a high con or something without too much trouble.

Another option is to have monsters that Random Meatshield marks try to ignore him (recognizing the PCs as the true threat). He gets to deal damage to them and pass out his -2 marking penalty, thus protecting the party and helping to take down the monsters, and the party gets to use their own surges to handle healing. He'd still take the occasional hit (monsters that can't reach other party members or throw area attacks), and sometimes might need a Cure X Wounds spell (to heal him without spending his surge), but this might work if you're willing to deal with the extra attack rolls.

 

[Engilbrand]

You'll have 4-5 players. Why do you need a Defender? While it's a nice idea, it's never absolutely necessary. Besides, most classes have something else that they're good at. What's the current party composition? If they don't want the danger of an enemy getting in their faces, then they should just make sure that they can kill things faster.

 

[Mr. Teapot]

Therefore, I wanted to ask if any of you had any experience or any thoughts regarding making an NPC by the book, and giving him more than 1 surge? Will his bonuses make him too good? Will he still trail behind due to his lack of options?

I've been using a couple of NPCs to supplement a small party. So far they've worked fine except this same healing surge issue.

Here's what I suggest you do:

Either make it one surge per tier per milestone (instead of per day)

or

make it one surge per tier per actual combat encounter.

You can't just make it one surge per encounter, becuase that's really just a surge every five minutes. But if you only give surges when people might be spending surges (combats and some dangerous skill challenges), then the fighter gets some durability, but won't outshine the PCs unless they fight like 10 encounters in a given day.

In my campaign, I'm going with one surge per milestone, but counting skill challenges and such towards milestones. So most encounters the NPCs can spend a surge, but not always. In the first sessions of this practice, it seemed to work okay.

 

[Jack99]

You'll have 4-5 players. Why do you need a Defender? While it's a nice idea, it's never absolutely necessary. Besides, most classes have something else that they're good at. What's the current party composition? If they don't want the danger of an enemy getting in their faces, then they should just make sure that they can kill things faster.

The party is composed of a cleric, warlock, rogue, wizard and unknown (he died last time, and is on holiday the next time). We (both the player and I) feel we need a defender, simply because our experience of playing 4e tells us it's the most needed class.

 

[Henry]

I'd say just give him three or four surges, and be done with it. He's not supposed to be a star NPC, nor have the staying power of the rest of the group, and any more than that, if you don't start accounting for him XP-wise as a full PC, he might lead to encounters that are too easy to be a good challenge.