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<blockquote data-quote="DracoSuave" data-source="post: 5392249" data-attributes="member: 71571">Ideally, NPCs fall into one of two categories:1)&nbsp; Non combatants.&nbsp; You don't need any stats for these.&nbsp; A statblock for such an NPC looks like this:Phil.&nbsp; Farmer.&nbsp; Human.&nbsp; Says nothing, and generally looks tired and weary.You don't need combat stats for this guy.2)&nbsp; Combatants.&nbsp; These guys are monsters.&nbsp; The reason you don't want to go into any detail greater than that is because it doesn't -actually- improve the game for the players.&nbsp; Who cares if the guy with them can cleave and reaving strike and can also have a daily that's reliable?&nbsp; It's not important.&nbsp; His contribution is going to be to go to something, hit it, so that the -players- can actually play.&nbsp; Anything more than that risks taking away the spotlight or time from the players.&nbsp; This is a case where less is more.&nbsp; Your players don't see statblocks so there's no point fleshing them out beyond what you need to run them.&nbsp; And you don't need a lot to run them, so why go to such detail?And don't forget power concerns:&nbsp; PCs are designed to face Monsters.&nbsp; They're not designed to face NPCs--such things end up being overcomplicated coin-flips at best.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="DracoSuave, post: 5392249, member: 71571"] Ideally, NPCs fall into one of two categories: 1) Non combatants. You don't need any stats for these. A statblock for such an NPC looks like this: Phil. Farmer. Human. Says nothing, and generally looks tired and weary. You don't need combat stats for this guy. 2) Combatants. These guys are monsters. The reason you don't want to go into any detail greater than that is because it doesn't -actually- improve the game for the players. Who cares if the guy with them can cleave and reaving strike and can also have a daily that's reliable? It's not important. His contribution is going to be to go to something, hit it, so that the -players- can actually play. Anything more than that risks taking away the spotlight or time from the players. This is a case where less is more. Your players don't see statblocks so there's no point fleshing them out beyond what you need to run them. And you don't need a lot to run them, so why go to such detail? And don't forget power concerns: PCs are designed to face Monsters. They're not designed to face NPCs--such things end up being overcomplicated coin-flips at best. [/QUOTE]

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