PC using NPC rules

[bagger245]

Hi, was wondering if anyone ever played a campaign with PC using the NPC creation rules... I like the idea of it's simplicity but was wondering how it would fare against monsters...

 

[Mort_Q]

I'd guess poorly.

NPCs aren't designed to have longevity... most exist only for a single encounter.

 

[KidSnide]

Hi, was wondering if anyone ever played a campaign with PC using the NPC creation rules... I like the idea of it's simplicity but was wondering how it would fare against monsters...

I've used NPC rules for low powered allies that PCs run during a combat. The simpler format makes it fairly easy to understand and then run a second character, so it's well suited to supporting cast.

In the right crowd, I could imagine it working well for an introductory "rules light" 4E introduction adventure, but the NPC-rules format is poorly suited to a campaign. If you care about how the characters develop and change, you need to PC rules to let the players see the growth in their character's abilities. Plus, you want the wider range of PC abilities when you are going to pilot the same character through dozens of fights.

-KS

 

[Mr. Teapot]

NPCs are deliberately weaker than equal level PCs, so if you said "These guys are 3rd level and this is a 3rd level encounter, so it should be easy for them" things would be a lot harder than you expected. An NPC is roughyl equal to a monster of the same level, whereas a PC is built to almost always beat an NPC or monster of equal level.

NPCs only getting one at-will power is a bit of a sticking point, as it means they often have only one option to take, which is boring. And often innefective. There are good reasons why all PCs get at least two at-wills: that way they always have options.

NPCs would need extra Healing Surges, too.

And if you gave a low level NPC more healing surges and two at-wills, they start to look a lot like a low level PC. Which raises the question of what you're getting out of mucking around with the rules.