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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 3026776" data-attributes="member: 8835">I don't really care about you're opinion on mearls, on to the main topic:I think you're missing the point.  To some DMs making NPCs as detailed as PCs is time consuming, and ultimately a waste of time as they tend to be short-lived.  I've seen suggestions on enworld on NPC making short-cuts, etc.  The fact is, the char-gen rules are a drain on DM resources, with little value add to the game.painandgreed seems to be taking the extreme that anything the DM can do, a player can do.  Conceptually I agree with that, in the sense of a PC can try to make any item, go anywhere, cast any spell, learn any feat, become any class that they meet prerequisites for.However, that doesn't mean that the DM can't have special shortcut methods for NPCs, particularly villains that speed up gameplay, and enhance gameplay.  A PC cannot literally do ANYTHING any NPC can do.  They have the potential.And by no means should any special rules for NPC villains be written to ensure victory over the PCs.  That would be stupid.  It's called a TPK.  It ends the game, and neither player or DM wins.  If there were special rules, they would basically help ensure the "final battle" is climactic enough to make the PCs work for it, and enjoy it.  Imagine the fight, the villain rolls a 1 for init, the monk runs up and does a Stunning Fist.  The villain rolls a 2 for a save, and fails.  The rest of the PCs grapple and subdue him.  Where previously, the last mook encounter took 6 rounds, and was hard.  A villain encounter that goes easily because of blind luck is anti-climactic.  It'd be a whole 'nother thing if the PCs had a brilliant plan that worked out to succeed in 1 round.To compare villain encounters to movies or videogames, they never feature a quick bad guy defeat.  Never.  Because the pacing of a good story requires some dramatic fighting, and stuff.  And maybe a monologue.Lastly, just because there's special rules for NPC construction, doesn't mean it breaks any tenet of the "PC's can do anything" concept.  The players should have no real idea that the NPC is a full fighter, or a shortcut fighter.  The things they should notice would be any feats or skills or abilities that stand out (that they might want to learn, which is the crux of the "PC's should be able to do anything concept).As a DM, here's what I find would be useful for NPCs:shortcut creation, I need less info for an NPC than a fully made PC.shortcut spells/spell lists, there's too darn many spells...handy fudge tool for when really bad luck strikes the villain early on (failing the first 3 rolls of the encounter, etc)handy fudge tool for escaping (PCs can escape because the DM decides to let them because it prevents a TPK.  An NPC can seldom escape through non-magical means because the PCs WILL pursue them)Any fudge tools should be methods that more humanely determine when to let the dice lie, or to lie about the dice (rather than pure DM fiat, yes some DM's roll behind a screen, and they like it that way).  Any escape rules should be help the DM plan out plausible escape methods (per CR, etc) that cover most contingencies the PCs might have.  Clever, but not perfect.  I tend to forget to plan escape methods, so having rules to help, would help flesh out the NPC.[edit, fixed some typos]</blockquote>

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