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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 4293917" data-attributes="member: 2067">Sure thing. The first thing to note is that these are things I would jot down during play. When the PC's are discussing what to do, or slogging through combat, or when someone goes to the bathroom for a moment, I'm jotting this down and flipping a few pages.My Notes For Bill the Blacksmith (who loves cheese) for D&D 3.5.Bill is the Blacksmith of Podunk. He's an Commoner 1 (DMG PG XX; hp 3), all 10's for stats, his max skill bonus is +4, and he has maxxed out Blacksmithery, and Knowledge (fine cheeses). His weapon is his smith's hammer, which takes a -2 to hit because it's not a real weapon.That's what I'd jot down in the notebook when I decided that Bill exists (which I might do if the PC's are looking for a blacksmith, or if the horse-seller offered them a discount on a horse that didn't have shoes, or they needed a local to talk to, or whatever). It's not ENTIRELY rules-legal, I guess, but it doesn't need to be. This isn't for mass consumption. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> The Players Want to Fight Him!: Let's say they decide to rob the neighborhood blacksmith and take his horseshoes, rather than pay for them. I'm game, I like to say YES, so I do. The DMG page tells me all I need to know about running a combat with this guy. Then I can flip back a few pages for the stats of the Warrior town guards that are going to be finding the blacksmith's dead body. I can award XP and GP based on his CR (1/2), as long as the players are around his level. I don't want to bother to roll, so I put some coin in his safe under the bed (along with some valuable cheeses), and maybe 5 gp worth of horseshoes that they find. If I really need to know an exact number, I derive it from the cost of similar items in the PHB if it isn't listed seperately somewhere. I probably don't need to know an exact number, but, y'know, if the start to organize a game of horseshoes somewhere, it'll be there. Or if someone wants to use them as a weapon, I know how to adjudicate that (improvised weapon, damage based on weight, look up weight of item or similar items on a table). One of the PC's picks up the hammer and gets it enchanted by a priest of Moradin, and I drop the cost because I like the thematics.The Players Want to Take Him Into the Dungeon!: Let's say one of the players is a telepath psion with a high Charisma and ranks in Diplomacy and suddenly Bill is charmed and Diplomicized into being a nearly blind sychophant. The player is created with this being what's fun for him, and I'm going to say YES, so I do, and, barring a few lucky d20 rolls on Bill's part, he's drunk the kool-aid and he'll follow the PC anywhere. Perhaps they sweaten the deal by noticing Bill's impressive collection of cheese wheels, and mentioning the rare Golishen milk that the Goblins have recently raided from the nomadic halflings that were recently in the area (which might be a lie, but this is a Cha-monkey PC vs. a Com1, so he probably gets away with it). It takes some convincing, and Bill is still nervous (he is aware of his capacity to fight monsters -- that it is not good), but he will defend the psion with his life, if need be. For fighting the goblins, I know Bill's combat stats. For searching for traps, I know his Int modifier. For talking with the Goblins, I know his Cha modifier. Of course, he gets in a fight and gets captured, the goblins noticing his smith's hammer. The PC's end up retreating and dealing with other stuff, and I can use Bill's Blacksmithery skill to determine how long it takes the goblins to equip themselves with Bill's smithed weapons (or to shoe thier worgs?), and later, when the PC's fight off some goblins that spring out of freakin' nowhere, they can find an odly hollow sword, and, if they explore it, they can see that a note is on the inside, written in blood on dirty leather: "Help Me, You Poopchutes. Love Bill."My Notes for Bill the Blacksmith (who loves cheese) for D&D4:1st level minion human with the following stats [list statblock it took me about 15 mins to 1/2 hour to write up]. That's enough to handle him in combat, and perhaps in a skill challenge, but...how long does it take to make those swords? Is he balanced both as a challenge to reward XP and as a helper? And how do I ask for the extra 15 minutes to stat up Bill if the players decide to fight him, or to use him in the Goblin warrens, or want to know how fast he can shod a small army of horses? And what if one of the PC's picks up that hammer? Was Bill's Greater-Than-10 AC the result of his leather apron? What if someone in the party wants to know how many horseshoes they find in the loot? And uses them as weapons in the ensuing battle against the guards?And I need to answer any and all of those questions without resorting to fiat, so that I can be consistent and so they can use the answers to those questions as launching points for more wacky adventures.I totally accept that I'm weird for needing this for my games, but there's gotta be an answer somewhere!!! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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