Kid Charlemagne
I am the Very Model of a Modern Moderator
LostSoul said:
How would they ever know? I don't give my notes to my players after every game. So long as the DM doesn't tell the players he's making it up as he goes, they'll never know...
Designing NPCs on the fly
- Thread starter LostSoul
- Start date
How would they ever know? I don't give my notes to my players after every game. So long as the DM doesn't tell the players he's making it up as he goes, they'll never know...
BSF
Explorer
Let me try: Boris the Badd. Nah, I don't want a fighter. I want a barbarian with 3 levels of rogue. He started in the wilds, learned to use some stuff then came to the city. He liked strong drinks and soon ran out of money. Fortunately, a quick, skinny guy had a proposition for him. There was a guy that was bad for his debts. This guy needed to have a lesson taught to him. Boris helped his new friend teach the debtor a lesson and he got a little more coin. He kinda liked the work too.
Now, he has been working with the thieves guild for a couple of years. He does a little strongarm work, as well as hiding in shadows and waiting for drunk nobles to come walking by. They are often quite generous with their "tips" to be sure they arrive home safely.
So, what do I know about Boris? He is strong, but I don't want him too strong. He is also a bit stealthy. The better to mug people with.
So, let's see he starts with a 16 str. We will bump him to a 15 Dex and a 14 Con. Everything else is 10. He will start with 16 skill points as a Barb, he will pick up 24 more with rogue levels. Dang! That's a lot of skills. Oh yeah, he is human, give him 7 more skill points. We don't need that many, but we will max out intimidate at 7 ranks. We will also give hide 7 ranks. That's 14 ranks out of 47. If we ever flesh him out, we will have a lot to play with.
Str: 16 = +3
Bar1 = BAB +1
Rog3 = BAB +2
Total bonus = +6
Let's give him Power attack, improved grapple and improved unarmed strike. for his 3 feats.
Leather armor and a club.
Dex 15 = +2 AC
Leather = +2 AC
AC = 14
HP: 1d12 (maxed) +3d6 (ave) +2x4 (Con) = 12 +10 + 8 = 20
Now, I have a decent base NPC that can rage to be a little more effective. There is room to flesh him out and it took me much, much, longer to type than to figure it out.
What did I forget? Doh! Saves. I would have to calculate those on the fly. But, right now I will say Fort: +2 (bar) +1 (rog) +2 (con) = +5, Ref: +0 (bar) +3 (rog) +2 (dex) = +5 Will: +0 (bar) +1 (rog) +0 (wis) = +1.
So, for low level it is really easy. For higher level NPC's, equipment is harder for me to track. Also, this NPC is odd in that he isn't something I have ever considered before. Could I do it without missing a beat? Probably not. It would take me at least a minute or three. A more complicated NPC would take a little longer and I would play a little looser with the numbers. But, my players hardly ever notice when it comes up in the game.
Now, he has been working with the thieves guild for a couple of years. He does a little strongarm work, as well as hiding in shadows and waiting for drunk nobles to come walking by. They are often quite generous with their "tips" to be sure they arrive home safely.
So, what do I know about Boris? He is strong, but I don't want him too strong. He is also a bit stealthy. The better to mug people with.
So, let's see he starts with a 16 str. We will bump him to a 15 Dex and a 14 Con. Everything else is 10. He will start with 16 skill points as a Barb, he will pick up 24 more with rogue levels. Dang! That's a lot of skills. Oh yeah, he is human, give him 7 more skill points. We don't need that many, but we will max out intimidate at 7 ranks. We will also give hide 7 ranks. That's 14 ranks out of 47. If we ever flesh him out, we will have a lot to play with.
Str: 16 = +3
Bar1 = BAB +1
Rog3 = BAB +2
Total bonus = +6
Let's give him Power attack, improved grapple and improved unarmed strike. for his 3 feats.
Leather armor and a club.
Dex 15 = +2 AC
Leather = +2 AC
AC = 14
HP: 1d12 (maxed) +3d6 (ave) +2x4 (Con) = 12 +10 + 8 = 20
Now, I have a decent base NPC that can rage to be a little more effective. There is room to flesh him out and it took me much, much, longer to type than to figure it out.
What did I forget? Doh! Saves. I would have to calculate those on the fly. But, right now I will say Fort: +2 (bar) +1 (rog) +2 (con) = +5, Ref: +0 (bar) +3 (rog) +2 (dex) = +5 Will: +0 (bar) +1 (rog) +0 (wis) = +1.
So, for low level it is really easy. For higher level NPC's, equipment is harder for me to track. Also, this NPC is odd in that he isn't something I have ever considered before. Could I do it without missing a beat? Probably not. It would take me at least a minute or three. A more complicated NPC would take a little longer and I would play a little looser with the numbers. But, my players hardly ever notice when it comes up in the game.
Barmy Gith
First Post
This thread is proving very enlightening so far. I often find myself trying to consider what is the best method for creating a quick NPC.
In 3e, I found Buck's generator very handy as it had a wide selection of races beyond the typical PHB selection. Now, I'm running a 3.5 game and while I still find the 3.5 Buck generator useful for creating PHB race NPCs, the lack of other races the first one had makes it slightly less perfect. I've thought about gettting around that by simply stating up a human with the generator and then adding the quick and dirty racial modifications that the DMG notes for each race in the NPC section. Has any tried that?
To be honest what I generally do for random NPCs is steal a stat block from an old adventure or one I don't intend to use in that campaign. By the way, does anyone know of any databases or sites out there that have a stockpile of stereotypical 3e or 3.5 NPCs, like the drow cleric or wizrad, the town guard, the lizard man druid, the goblin tough, the orc barbarian, etc.
So it seems there are some good ideas for setting up a fighter or rogue type quick and dirty, but how do you handle spellcasters with their metamagic and spells. I suppose the easiest thing is to simply pull each one out of the air as you go, though I'd be concerned that it would mean each NPC spellcaster would have the perfect spell for every situation. What do you think?
Finally, is there anyway to quickly apply a template, any good programs out there that allow for easy template application?
Good Gaming.
In 3e, I found Buck's generator very handy as it had a wide selection of races beyond the typical PHB selection. Now, I'm running a 3.5 game and while I still find the 3.5 Buck generator useful for creating PHB race NPCs, the lack of other races the first one had makes it slightly less perfect. I've thought about gettting around that by simply stating up a human with the generator and then adding the quick and dirty racial modifications that the DMG notes for each race in the NPC section. Has any tried that?
To be honest what I generally do for random NPCs is steal a stat block from an old adventure or one I don't intend to use in that campaign. By the way, does anyone know of any databases or sites out there that have a stockpile of stereotypical 3e or 3.5 NPCs, like the drow cleric or wizrad, the town guard, the lizard man druid, the goblin tough, the orc barbarian, etc.
So it seems there are some good ideas for setting up a fighter or rogue type quick and dirty, but how do you handle spellcasters with their metamagic and spells. I suppose the easiest thing is to simply pull each one out of the air as you go, though I'd be concerned that it would mean each NPC spellcaster would have the perfect spell for every situation. What do you think?
Finally, is there anyway to quickly apply a template, any good programs out there that allow for easy template application?
Good Gaming.
Desdichado
Hero
Yep, that's something else I like to do; generate a few quick "stock" characters in the generators, customizing them slightly (i.e., monkeying around with their feats or skill points, adding racial abilities to change their race around, etc.) and then keep them on file for use.Barmy Gith said:
A tool that would really get my money, though, is something that operates like Jamis Buck's generators, but with the ability to add custom classes and races. I'd pay top dollar for that. Lately using modified Buck's generator characters is becoming more trouble than its worth. And if you play another game like Star Wars, Conan, d20 Modern, etc., it does you no good at all.
Pbartender
First Post
Eh, I usually just whip together a quick NPCs like so...
For BAB, Saves & Skills... Good = HD, Mediocre = 1/2 HD, Poor = Nothing.
Give them a handful of appropriate feats... A brawler would have Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple and Dodge, for example. An Archer might have Point Blank Shot, Far Shot and Precise Shot.
Give them some basic equipment... Armor equivalent to a +2 AC armor bonus and a generic one-handed weapon (1d6), for example.
That's it... Anybody more important than that, I'll already have statted up.
So a 3rd level Generic Thug might look like...
Thug 3
HP 15
BAB +3
AC 12
Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +0
Intimidate +3, Hide +1, Listen +3, Move Silently +1, Spot +3.
Power Attack, Dodge.
Club (1d6), Leather Armor.
For BAB, Saves & Skills... Good = HD, Mediocre = 1/2 HD, Poor = Nothing.
Give them a handful of appropriate feats... A brawler would have Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple and Dodge, for example. An Archer might have Point Blank Shot, Far Shot and Precise Shot.
Give them some basic equipment... Armor equivalent to a +2 AC armor bonus and a generic one-handed weapon (1d6), for example.
That's it... Anybody more important than that, I'll already have statted up.
So a 3rd level Generic Thug might look like...
Thug 3
HP 15
BAB +3
AC 12
Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +0
Intimidate +3, Hide +1, Listen +3, Move Silently +1, Spot +3.
Power Attack, Dodge.
Club (1d6), Leather Armor.
Last edited:
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