D&D 5E (NPC) Stat array: how would you allocate?

[FormerlyHemlock]

Oh I see, if she wasn't so great at the labor, you could pull a Scheherazade with her and perhaps she kept herself alive by telling interesting stories she learned as a child to the slavers. It would certainly lend her towards being a bard as well.

Not in this specific case; the players found her in the lifejammer input nodule. I.e. she was being used as fuel, lucky to still be alive when they captured the ship. And she's not a bard yet, she's just a farm girl.

But I don't want to get hung up on the details of my particular case, I'm more interested in the variety of opinions that have been shared so far.

 

[Sezarious]

Given that her mistreatment is caused by unknown alien science, it's hard to say how she may have finished off. Given your stat rolls, one thing is certain, it appears that one particular stat was being drained after than others. Any stat combination could be justified.

She may have developed high physical stats whilst in the tube, because of DNA altering chemicals that have been injected into her, to make her last as long as possible, but maybe her personality gradually reduced as she was always aware of everything that was going on, the trauma of becoming a part of a machine grinding away her identity (Charisma of 4)

Or maybe the chemicals enhanced her constitution inadvertently and neural implants enhanced her intelligence, but caused extensive nerve damage to her body, granting her incredible pain resistance (high con) but poor coordination (dex of 4).

To me, it shouldn't be about what you want HER to be like, rather, how the ship has mutated the stats of an ordinary farm girl who was once just Str 11, Dex 11, Con 11, Int 11, Wis 11, Cha 11. Into 3 almost perfect rolled stats, 2 slightly above average and 1 really bad stat.

 

[bedir than]

Yeah, STR 4 is the powergamer's choice in this case, but there might be valid reasons for taking it anyway. What would you personally do (as a DM) for this NPC?

Similar to the array offered below

STR: 4
DEX: 12
CON: 12 (maybe even lower it to 8 just because I feel like it)
INT: 17
WIS: 18
CHA: 16

You say "farm girl" so I want to put in attributes that apply to farming type skills (Nature & Animal Handling). That means high WIS and INT. I already like the 4 STR, so I'm leaving it.
The hardest decision is CHA v DEX. Nimble farm girl versus the girl that's able to inspire people to follow her. I imagine her future involving leading her old farm/town in building defenses against those that took her.

The build is pure non-physical, allows for PC classes targeting a druid or bard or cleric of a god of nature/domesticated beasts.

I'd use a sling and a dagger for the weapons, but always stay at a long range. Use Disengage, Dodge, Dash prolifically. Fire at long range, even if ineffectively. If human take the Magic Initiate Feat on the Druid list. Have the first level spell be Goodberry and it explains how she stays alive while being treated as fuel. Have her take Druidcraft (for the weather sense) and Magic Stone (so combat isn't completely horrible).

As a zero level with just the Feat and a background of Slave (from ENWorld's Downloads) or Folk Hero this could be a fun little character to have around the group.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

To me, it shouldn't be about what you want HER to be like, rather, how the ship has mutated the stats of an ordinary farm girl who was once just Str 11, Dex 11, Con 11, Int 11, Wis 11, Cha 11. Into 3 almost perfect rolled stats, 2 slightly above average and 1 really bad stat.

Lifejammers don't cause mutation, they just kill you (IMC, DC 10 Con save every hour to avoid 1d10 semi-permanent HP loss; semi-permanent HP loss is also used by wraiths/spectres/vampires/etc. and means "your maximum HP is reduced by this amount, until you take a long rest AND pay 100 XP per HP of damage"). I could definitely justify stat loss in this case as fluff for the rolls (DMG suggests that you can make up any backstory for stats that you want, e.g. "he's weak because he's 80 years old") but I wouldn't use it to justify the good rolls, only the bad. If I stat her as having 18 Charisma, she will always have been popular and well-liked in her village: kind of a Lindsey Stirling of the fantasy realm. Hmmm, I kind of like that idea.

 

[Unwise]

Slightly off topic, but I don't really like NPCs having stats above 16 very much. If PCs invest in 18 Int, they should be the smartest guy in the room in almost all instances. If the PC has 18 Str I don't want to overshadow them with some random NPC being as strong or stronger. I prefer PCs being exceptional though.

I think that you could got the River Tam route too. She is a child prodigy, but captivity has left her insane. Give her 4 Wisdom and she becomes utterly unpredictable and does really strange and unwise things. She is a genius, but keeping her on task is really hard. She pretty much needs a baby sitter to keep her useful.

 

[Sezarious]

Lifejammers don't cause mutation, they just kill you (IMC, DC 10 Con save every hour to avoid 1d10 semi-permanent HP loss; semi-permanent HP loss is also used by wraiths/spectres/vampires/etc. and means "your maximum HP is reduced by this amount, until you take a long rest AND pay 100 XP per HP of damage"). I could definitely justify stat loss in this case as fluff for the rolls (DMG suggests that you can make up any backstory for stats that you want, e.g. "he's weak because he's 80 years old") but I wouldn't use it to justify the good rolls, only the bad. If I stat her as having 18 Charisma, she will always have been popular and well-liked in her village: kind of a Lindsey Stirling of the fantasy realm. Hmmm, I kind of like that idea.

Ah I see, well knowing that this is the function of the 'lifejammers', I can see why you were picturing the low con. I can see why you posted the article though. Those stats are a really unique roll. She would make a very potent character. As a DM, I personally like to justify good stats in key npcs, that's all. If she was born with her awesome stats, I would be thinking of where she got them from as a potential backstory for PC's to dig into. Maybe it was just by chance or maybe she has heroic relatives with similar genes. I don't know.

I would also consider elaborating on what having a low con means when describing her. I imagine that she would have increased susceptibility to allergic reactions including simple things such as dermatitis, nothing game changing, but aesthetically noticeable. She would probably often catch cold going adventuring or at least have the sniffles, often start coughing, getting sore throats, ear infections, be more susceptible to food poisoning etc. somehow though, with a high Charisma, the casual observer might at most notice a red nose, but nothing else.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Slightly off topic, but I don't really like NPCs having stats above 16 very much. If PCs invest in 18 Int, they should be the smartest guy in the room in almost all instances. If the PC has 18 Str I don't want to overshadow them with some random NPC being as strong or stronger. I prefer PCs being exceptional though.

I know where you're coming from.

My PCs love to collect allies and minions though, so I won't feel too bad for them if this particular minion turns out to be competent instead of just awful like the Hobgoblin sorcerer with Cha 9 turned out to be. (He got turned into a PC anyway.) But one reason a Con 4 Wild Sorc is tempting me is precisely because I don't want her to overshadow the PCs, and someone with 12 HP at level 10 isn't going to be overshadowing anybody, ever, in combat situations. She'll put a twinned Haste on somebody and then be too busy staying under cover to engage in direct fighting after that. Plus, wild sorc (or warlock) are both very thematic for someone from a traumatized background.

 

[cavalier973]

If you're playing B/X, the 4 goes in DEX.

 

[bedir than]

I don't think that PCs are more gifted than the rest of the world. I do think that there aren't many NPCs with similar arrays, and that a world is in many ways defined by how common a PC array exists.

A high power world may have 10% or so NPCs with PC quality attributes (Look at Forgotten Realms where power abounds)
A low power world might only have 1% (look at Middle Earth where there are tens of thousands on/off screen that just don't measure up to even lowly hobbits)

If you are doing world creation figuring out how many people exist that are like your characters helps you understand when your characters will encounter people more powerful than they are, or that their allies are useful for specific tasks and uncapable of helping dungeon crawl, or cast magic.

It's almost like determining the level of magic in your setting. Both dials are related, but not tied together.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

When worldbuilding, it's also worth figuring out whether anyone can become a wizard/Eldritch Knight/etc., or if there's some kind of magical prerequisite for sensing the arcane Weave, like having perfect pitch in the real world. It could be safely assumed that PC wizards have any such prerequisite, but are there high-Int non-wizards out there who become successful merchants or Battlemasters or spies because they don't have the magical gift? Or is learning magic like learning computer programming in the real world, something so accessible that lots of people learn it? (And yes, I'm including accountants who program spreadsheets as computer programmers. Anytime you offload your work onto a computer, you're programming.)

This ties into the high magic vs. low magic parameter, but it's still logically distinct. You could have a low magic world where anyone can learn magic but few people do (maybe because magic is stigmatized/secret/etc.), in which case the PCs have the option of teaching spells to their minions and developing a magical guerilla army/hospital corps and changing the world.