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How do you design NPCs?
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<blockquote data-quote="Sunseeker" data-source="post: 6098973"><p>They're basically monsters.</p><p>They have an at-will melee.</p><p>They have an at-will ranged.</p><p>They have an encounter that is one or the other, depending on their style/theme.</p><p>They have a daily that again, is either ranged or melee, depending on their style/theme.</p><p>They have a couple traits or passive auras.</p><p>-Attacks generally have a few riders depending on the condition of the characters: IE: if the first attack weakens will, the second attack is more powerful because the target's will is weakened.</p><p></p><p>Defenses are simply assigned based on what my party is capable of dealing, and offense is tailored to what my party can make.</p><p></p><p>All of these things are custom-made by me based on what I feel I need out of that opponent.</p><p></p><p>There are no feats chosen, no power lists to rummage through, no magic items unless I want them to drop something specific.</p><p></p><p>As I explained earlier in another thread, the idea is to use the various powers and abilities of the NPC to emphasize their desires. Lets say Luke the Demon Disciple wants to convert you to his cause?</p><p>Well, his at-will is pretty weak, dealing low damage, but lowing your will defense.</p><p>-if he attacks a player with a lowered will defense, it deals higher damage, and increases the penalty to will.</p><p></p><p>His encounter is a burst, dealing low damage, penalizing your will, and knocking you away from his position.</p><p></p><p>His daily does a simple burst for high damage...except that if your penalty to will is greater than your will mod, he does no damage and dominates you.</p><p></p><p>For Luke I only need to track one condition, a player's will penalty. It also gives me an order in which I want to use my powers. I hit players with my at-will until their penalty is lower, I blast them away if they get too close, and attempt to dominate them when the time is right. Luke's goal is to control the players, not kill them, so he toys with them until he is sure he can gain the upper hand.</p><p></p><p>My NPCs are different from my run-of-the-mill monsters not in what they can do, but how they do it. They're <em>played</em> like characters, with personalities and motivations and so on and so forth.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sunseeker, post: 6098973"] They're basically monsters. They have an at-will melee. They have an at-will ranged. They have an encounter that is one or the other, depending on their style/theme. They have a daily that again, is either ranged or melee, depending on their style/theme. They have a couple traits or passive auras. -Attacks generally have a few riders depending on the condition of the characters: IE: if the first attack weakens will, the second attack is more powerful because the target's will is weakened. Defenses are simply assigned based on what my party is capable of dealing, and offense is tailored to what my party can make. All of these things are custom-made by me based on what I feel I need out of that opponent. There are no feats chosen, no power lists to rummage through, no magic items unless I want them to drop something specific. As I explained earlier in another thread, the idea is to use the various powers and abilities of the NPC to emphasize their desires. Lets say Luke the Demon Disciple wants to convert you to his cause? Well, his at-will is pretty weak, dealing low damage, but lowing your will defense. -if he attacks a player with a lowered will defense, it deals higher damage, and increases the penalty to will. His encounter is a burst, dealing low damage, penalizing your will, and knocking you away from his position. His daily does a simple burst for high damage...except that if your penalty to will is greater than your will mod, he does no damage and dominates you. For Luke I only need to track one condition, a player's will penalty. It also gives me an order in which I want to use my powers. I hit players with my at-will until their penalty is lower, I blast them away if they get too close, and attempt to dominate them when the time is right. Luke's goal is to control the players, not kill them, so he toys with them until he is sure he can gain the upper hand. My NPCs are different from my run-of-the-mill monsters not in what they can do, but how they do it. They're [I]played[/I] like characters, with personalities and motivations and so on and so forth. [/QUOTE]
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