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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9146205" data-attributes="member: 42582">On pp 133 and 135 of the Ironsworn rulebook are these general rules for NPCs (p 134 links NPC combat stats to the game's general combat rules):An NPC (non-player character/creature) is anyone who inhabits your version of the Ironlands other than your character and those portrayed by your fellow players. They can be a person, being or creature. . . . NPCs are primarily represented through your fiction rather than mechanics. They don’t have stats, assets, or tracks. Instead, the sample NPCs in this chapter include some broad details to help guide their actions and the threat they pose in combat. . . . Tactics provide a reference for how an NPC might act in combat. These give you a sense of typical maneuvers, but do not represent the possibilities of a complex and dramatic combat scene. You should let NPC actions flow out of the fiction. What is the situation? What is their goal? What will add to the excitement and danger of this moment? Make it happen. . . . Your foes should do more than simply try to inflict harm. A fearsome roar or demoralizing boast might cause you to Endure Stress. Tactical maneuvers reduce your momentum. Fictional complications - the appearance of new foes, putting companions or allies at risk, or a realization that undermines your quest - will heighten the drama of the scene.I'm not all that familiar with Ironsworn, but I think paying the price is the most obvious way whereby a NPC's tactics would come into play. Eg if you enter the fray with a basilisk, and miss, then it catches you with its mesmerising gaze, and you have to endure stress because you are "fac[ing] mental shock or despair" (p 95).</blockquote>

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