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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 4293576" data-attributes="member: 2067">I'm looking for some help.I've been wrestling with this for a while now, so its time to come out and say it:4e doesn't like the way I do NPCs and Monsters.What do I mean? I mean the advice in the core books largely boils down to "Design them for their intended purpose." This is all well and good and fine and dandy and filled with bubblegum and candy-coated rainbow pieces of deliciousness...for most people......but for me? I don't know what my NPC or Monster is going to be used for before it happens.I don't know if the angry troll will be a combat, will be an ally, will be some sort of knowledgable sage, will be used as raw materials because he can regenerate and thus feed a village...I don't know.Honestly. No clue. Until my PC's do something to it, I have no idea what will be done to it. And I'd like my PC's do be able to do whatever their twisted little imaginations can come up with.So what I need is a more...robust...system than 4e offers. I can't silo off these world elements like they're telling me to do. It's just counter to all of my training as a good on-the-fly DM. I don't have the narrative thrust for that. I rely too much on the rules to tell me how that poor critter reacts to being used for whatever it is used for. My notes don't say "Billy the Blacksmith is a combat. Edward the Bard is for information. Maggie Gyllenhaal is for lovin'." They say stuff more like "Billy the Blacksmith enjoys fine cheeses. He may react violently if someone moves his cheese. Edward the Bard carries an ornate set of kitchen knives that he juggles as he jogs. He calls this "joggling." He thinks it is very impressive. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a freakin' <a href="http://www.myemospace.com/supersodas/maggie-gyllenhaal.jpg" target="_blank">hottie</a>. But is all an act to get you to go see her movies."This isn't a thread for bashing 4e for not giving me all that I irrationally demand. This isn't a thread for bashing 3e for being too complex with those rules.I don't need that jazz in here.What I need is help. I need help in getting a good, fast, solid system that I can use on the fly to change "Billy the Blacksmith likes fine cheeses" into an NPC that can accomplish any position my PCs throw him in.Does 4e already have this and I'm just not looking hard enough?Does 3e give me a way to do this that's transportable?Does another system have a good solution?Or will I be forced to either fiat this stuff or spend double the prep time on my own PCs because of this particular playstyle quirk?Help me, EN Kenobi, you're my only hope!</blockquote>

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