Encounter idea - vs player-like NPCs?

[draquila]

My current campaign features quite a few "PC like" NPC's. The way I handle them mechanically is to use the monster builder and start with a "monster" base template of same race. I will add and substitute powers from PC classes to the NPC in order to give them a feel similar to the class I'm trying to emulate. Some daily type powers can become rechargeable for elite/ tougher NPC's.

There is nothing quite like the look of shock on a player's face when some of their favorite staple powers are used against them. The groans of doom heard heard round the table when an evil enemy ranger uses -DISRUPTIVE STRIKE!! was worth every moment of monster builder design time.

Yeah that's the reaction I'm hoping for

I'm playing around with the monster builder, but I'm pretty noob at it and it seems to take ages to craft a single NPC. I'm not sure I understand how the monster builder works. Adjusting the ability scores don't seem to have much effect on the monster defenses and powers?

Are monsters essentially PCs without feats, limited racial & class features, less powers and lower defenses?

 

[ExploderWizard]

Yeah that's the reaction I'm hoping for

I'm playing around with the monster builder, but I'm pretty noob at it and it seems to take ages to craft a single NPC. I'm not sure I understand how the monster builder works. Adjusting the ability scores don't seem to have much effect on the monster defenses and powers?

Are monsters essentially PCs without feats, limited racial & class features, less powers and lower defenses?

Not quite. Monsters are quite literally different animals. The biggest factors on the numbers will be level and role, and elite or solo status.

Soldiers will have higher AC's, Brutes will be easier to hit but deal more damage, etc.

Once you start to customize, then you can tweak attack bonus, damage, or just about anything else separately.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Yeah that's the reaction I'm hoping for

I'm playing around with the monster builder, but I'm pretty noob at it and it seems to take ages to craft a single NPC. I'm not sure I understand how the monster builder works. Adjusting the ability scores don't seem to have much effect on the monster defenses and powers?

Are monsters essentially PCs without feats, limited racial & class features, less powers and lower defenses?

Yeah, as ExploderWizard says, ability scores for monsters actually have no effect on defenses and to-hit, etc. You can simply adjust those values to suite you by hand. The monster 'rules' are very simple and not really tied to the way PC rules work. That way you can easily create anything you want. Monster Builder does lack the ability to apply class templates or functional templates too, though you can easily do that by hand if you want. Monster ability scores will affect hit points, skill bonuses, and initiative automatically, but that's about it. Roles have the most direct effect on basic stuff with monsters, so usually just giving the monster appropriate stats and an appropriate role will get you 99% of the way there on the basics.

I think once you have one NPC done the others will go fairly quickly. One or two basic attacks, an encounter power, and maybe a minor action power will probably be all you need, and most of those can be pretty stock. You might also drop in a power that is just a 'trait' (IE it will not really be an attack but just something that applies in the right situation, like a 'rogue' monster gets +2d6 damage if it has CA on any attack maybe).

 

[ExploderWizard]

I think once you have one NPC done the others will go fairly quickly. One or two basic attacks, an encounter power, and maybe a minor action power will probably be all you need, and most of those can be pretty stock. You might also drop in a power that is just a 'trait' (IE it will not really be an attack but just something that applies in the right situation, like a 'rogue' monster gets +2d6 damage if it has CA on any attack maybe).

Good advice here. You can also "cheat". While editing a monster you can pull up a powers database list in the right pane. Choose something thats close to what you want and drag it over. Then you can fine tune it for that NPC.