What I was interested in with this thread was to see if any others were concerned with what I percieved as an issue with NPCs and how other DMs may be handling them. I also enjoy honest, non-judgemental response which answer the question posed, "Has anyone else picked up on this? If so, do you find it an issue and how do you plan to fix it in your game?"
I've received several responses to this thread ranging from answering the question with honest, non-judgemental response to questioning why I would want to "fix" something that is obviously not broken, to I think we need to wait for the rest of the rules.
Allow me to clarify a couple of things:
First, I have played this game for a very long time; 30+ years. I've also played a multitude of other games, all the versions of Traveller, Boot Hill, Top Secret, Gamma World, Star Wars, Cortex system, Firefly, I could go on, and the one thing I've always prided my self on, as a DM or GM or Admin, is consistency. That said, that is what I look for in the rules and story lines.
Second, anyone who has played this game as a DM or player for an extended amount of time, over multiple editions of the rules, will probably agree that all the editions have had pros and cons based on their reading and application of the rules, and has probably house ruled something at some point in time.
Third, my style of play has always been to make the primary bad guys the same as the PCs in respect to advantages and disadvantages. An evil NPC 18th level wizard that calls himself an archmage is still an 18th level wizard and should have the same HD, racial benefits, racial disadvantges, and class features as the 18th level wizard that is trying to hunt him down and stop his evil plans. Canned NPC don't leave memorable impressions, a well fleshed out NPC villian does. Let me repeat something here "my style of play". I don't mind a little bit more work as a DM and if come to the session prepared, I find that playing a PC built NPC does not impact game flow.
All that said, I still fall back to the best rule from the AD&D DMG, I'm paraphrasing here - This is your game. Use the rules in this book, don't use them. This is your game, have fun.
That is the rule I always fall back to.
Sparrowhawc