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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 4294877" data-attributes="member: 158">Bill the Blacksmith: Level 1, Minion (so he's killed with one swipe, the word "minion" means "I don't want to mess with his laughable combat prowess), AC, Reflex, and Will are all 11+level, or 12 (from page 184 of the DMG, because I just eyeballed him as a brute, and because minions seem to have 1 defense point less than non-minions), and his hammer does 3 damage; if a PC grabs that hammer, it's an improvised weapon as noted before than does 1d4. He has a +5 skill in all the skills that matter to a blacksmith, so none, really (maybe diplomacy, but even that's a stretch); for all other skills, he has a +0. He's just as ready as he would be if you statted him as a first level commoner for 3E, PLUS  you don't have to roll a single die to make him up, nor figure out what his equivalent skill would be if he actually had skill points, feats, skill synergies, etc.As for sword smithing times, I have to agree with Mourn: the crafting rules in 3E were off in a big way, and I'm not sure there's a benefit to having them in most cases. I'm sure there are groups that enjoy just crafting items just like there are some people who used to enjoy sitting in town in Everquest and doing NOTHING but crafting items, but it's not something that is going to have a large appeal over handwaving craft times.I've done this very thing above with almost all my NPCs since around 2003 or so, and it's worked very well.Bigger example:Warlord Krang is the So-called Lord of Podunk; he collects taxes that are a little stifling, but not too punishing. He's a horse's rear end, but he is rightful authority in the area, and he does provide protection to Bill and family against the Orcs and whatnot.Let's say the PCs are level 5 or so, so let's say Krang is Level 8 (tough against orcs and kobolds, but a good troll or giant would stomp him flat). He's a soldier (leader) type, and he has 84 hit points (8 x 8 + 12 CON on the fly +8 more), +2 init bonus, AC 24 (level +16) in his shiny plate mail, Ref, Fort, Will 20 (level +12), and he has +9 in Diplomacy, History, Bluff, and Intimidate (because those sound like good Thug Baron Skills), and a +4 to everything else untrained. Then, we give him 1 warlord at-will, 1 warlord encounter, and 1 warlord daily to spice him up a bit if he gets into combat. I could give him the whole warlord template, or EVEN make him a full-fledged warlord using the rules on page 187, but chances are whether I do or not, he's going to be toast by the PCs anyway if he gets in a fight with them, or with a Troll, so I don't bother. Besides, the most important part of the whole "NPC template" business is the one at-will/encounter/daily thing.He's done, and It took me 4 minutes to look him up, because I had to check the table of contents to find the page because I'm unfamiliar with the rules. He's ready for anything the PCs will do with him, to him, or for him.</blockquote>

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