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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fba827" data-source="post: 5430798" data-attributes="member: 807">It's not an exact science... but it's a good starting point.  I'd also say that if the NPCs will have some area effect abilities to actually increase the number of enemy NPCs because the NPCs will be locking down (if not destroying minion) enemies as effectively, if not better, than the PCs can, depending on their composition.  Also, as the number of allied combatants increase on the field, the chance of getting flanking/combat advantage increases greatly.  So your rogues and other PCs that have powers that key off combat advantage will be slicing through everything (or at the very least, able to hit very accurately thanks to the bonus to hit when flanking).You have to be careful that your NPCs do not outshine the PCs in terms of abilities.  For instance, just give the NPCs 1 at will power, 1 encounter power, and some misc power (like a racial ability or hunter's quarry or something).  But no sort of interrupt power or any power that requires any real tracking -- it should be use it and then move on without a second thought type thing.Some players can handle it fine.  Others get distracted by the NPC and are overall less focused during their turn. Others still simply don't like having to do anything other than watch their own PC do everything.  Others will have differing opinions.  So it really all depends on the individuals involved.Most recently, I can recall a time when the PCs knew they were going up against a higher level opponent, so they got some allied troops to help them.  The players were allowed to control the various NPC forces that they mustered.  Frankly, it dragged the combat rounds to a halt by the time everyone got to go since there was lots of positioning and tactical considerations to be made with each person's turn....If you want this to be a key single time thing, sure, why not. if nothing else, it gives you a glimpse into how some things go.However, you may instead want to consider something like "already, you get the allies, they will take on the force head on while the PCs go around the side and attack their leaders in the rear flanks."  and then just have some d20 rolls (modified by the number of allied forces) against the enemy's d20 roll (modifier by their number of forces) every round. winner gets a cumulative +1 on the next round's check. ... and then have the real focus be on the PCs attacking the leaders.it will depend entirely on the region and what is going on. i don't think any of us can answer that question as well as you can.I would, however, recommend that you don't get into stuff like hill giants. keep it limited more towards stuff that the PCs could do (so maybe use a goliath instead of a hill giant), and so on.Are you planning on using the stats right out of the monster manual or something?  Or using the NPC guidelines in the DMG, or better still, the companion guidelines in DMG2 (though if you don't have DMG2, the companion guidelines are similar enough to the DMG's NPC guidelines that there isn't a discernible difference for what you need).see above.</blockquote>

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