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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DJCupboard" data-source="post: 3026667" data-attributes="member: 21995">Two issues in this thread:1) Do I want a system for quickly statting NPCs a la Iron Heroes or some form of template system? YES!  For my more envolved NPCs, like major bosses, I love tinkering with optimum classes and the like, but for sub-bosses and tough encounters, this would be ideal.2) Should sub bosses and bosses (or anyone who should be of importance or earth shattering bada##ness) be able to fudge an escape or a roll?  Yes, but contingent on the feel of the game.  For most of the adventures I run or play in, I like the feel of the unstoppable bad guy or the clever genius (and my players tend to agree).  The unstoppable bad guy (like a huge barbarian who kills everyone he even looks at) should make most of his saves and have more hp than he should (note: but not limmitless, we still want the players to have the ability to overcome him given great rolling or rping on their part).  For example: [from behind the dm screen] Round 1) "As you raise your hand, trembling with arcane might, your finger pointing menacingly at Throk the Unstoppable, an eldrich blast courses forth, surrounding him in a field of the blackest energy. OK, your save or die spell has a dc of X.." [rolls a 1] "...and Throk makes his save, though you can see the beginnings of fear forming in his eyes.  Charging forward, he prepares to clear the path of any obstacles in the way of single-handedly destroying you.  This round he will need to make a double move before he is in melee range with anyone.  What does everyone do for round 2?"  Throk probably doesn't have any escape contingencies in place, but he should be pretty hard to overcome, somewhere at the top of his CR.  As another example, Throk's Boss, The Mad Wizard, probably doesn't save all that well and won't have optimum hp, but more than likely he has some escape contingency in place and is cunning enough to have multiple escapes in place, since his minions have been dealing with the party's capabilites for some time.  Something like, "As your blade cuts through his arcane fortifications, you can glimpse a look of genuine surprise at the sheer force of your attack.  Before you have a chance to take advantage of his shock, he disapears in a flash of eldritch light."  Technically this isn't anything the players can't do with the right spells and feats, but the BBEG should be able to do it even if you didn't think to add teleport or contigency to his spell list while you spent the hour and a half tweeking him to your liking.  The important thing is not to abuse it (i.e. if all your villians are always completely unbeatble, you are doing something wrong) and make sure it doesn't come accross as blatant cheating (which would surely annoy just about any player).  As long as it generates excitement and a sense of a good story/game/encounter, I would consider it good GMing.  On the flip side, if John's 10th level paladin, Sir Marcus the Exalted, is hit in the first round by Thok for enough damage to kill him outright, without having had the chance to make any significant contributions to the encounter himself, I would rule (from behind my screen, without anyone having seen the roll) that he instead happened to be hit for somewhere between 60-90% of his hp. It's good story telling and it keeps the excitement high.  Just like dying in round one sucks for a player, killing the BBEG that you have been hunting for months and months in round one with one attack sucks just as much and makes for quite the let-down for the players.DJC</blockquote>

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