NPC Design Question

[JoeGKushner]

While looking over a module heavy with NPC's for review, I couldn't help but note that my players would slaughter these characters. Not because they were designed poorly, but because they were designed basically with the SRD only.

I think my quote is something like this...

"The problem with so many NPCs is that there are a lot of options for characters in the D20 system and NPCs, if not outfitted with similar options, tend to be much weaker than players who have access to things like the Quintessential books, Path books, or ‘official’ sources. This makes me think that in some cases, the basic stat blocks, recommended feats, and a section that provides the GM with an idea of what this character is supposed to be, i.e. an archetype like sniper, blademaster, etc… would in be better than provided full stats."

Is there a way that this might be incorporated or is this asking too much from the publishers who have a lot on their plates already.

 

[HellHound]

One of the serious problems here is that a LOT of the supplemental material is, strictly speaking, out of balance with the core rules.

While a Prestige Class can be more powerful than a core class due to the specialization involved, some are VERY much more powerful thant the core rules. Then ther are additional "options" that have been added in various supplements that increase this trend further.

What we SHOULD be seeing in modules especially, however, is USE of this content for the NPCs. You don't have to include the full write up of a Prestige Class just because a character has a few levels in it, instead just include the new special abilities granted by the class in the SA and SQ sections of the statblock.