Running a villain using PC rules instead of NPC

[Piratecat]

I did this last night, creating a kenku assassin 9 in the Character Builder instead of in the monster builder. It was fierce, deadly, and a giant pain in the butt to run. Which is no surprise, really - I expected it to be, so I only had one other monster, a lvl 8 owlbear - but it reminded me of the challenge that players with new PCs have until they learn their characters.

A few things that may help if you ever need to do this:

- for the power cards, right-click -> hide all the ones you don't need.
- give it monster hit points instead of PC hit points
- don't tweak out feats that increase defenses
- set your character builder to inherent bonuses instead of assigning magic items.

Anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[Obryn]

Wow! I can't believe you went ahead and did this!

I'll keep these suggestions in mind, but I don't think I'm brave enough to try this out at the table!

-O

 

[Roger]

Interesting. Of course, assassin may be more of a pain-in-the-butt class to do this with than some other classes.

I hope he was using the owlbear as a mount.



Cheers,
Roger

 

[Piratecat]

Sadly, no - the PCs were forced to owlbear wrangle an escaped "pet" in the middle of a riot, and the assassin took the opportunity to attack during all the chaos. It was fun regardless.

 

[Kzach]

I think the only time I'd even consider doing this is if it was a recurring villain where he may not, for instance, use his daily powers in the first encounter. Otherwise I don't really see the point since the entire purpose of the difference is that monsters are only meant to last one encounter.

 

[KarinsDad]

Otherwise I don't really see the point since the entire purpose of the difference is that monsters are only meant to last one encounter.

I think DMs should run most monsters as if they were meant to last longer than a single encounter. Be that running away or surrendering or whatever.

 

[jbear]

I did the same, with a gnome assassin. And yep, it was pretty tricky. But very fun! A sloooowww fight but very memorable. The only suggestion I have is to have the tactics very clearly outlined from the start. The assassin knew the exact moment it was waiting for to join the fight, exactly who it was going to attack, and the combo of powers he was going to perform for the next 3 rounds.

Also I would divide the powers into different categories, strandard, minor, free and esp. the Reactions (esp. Im Interrupts,) and have fairly defined when the pc will use each. you could maybe put the cards in each pile in the order you plan to use them.

 

[Arivendel]

I try to make sure i do this only with Classes/Races im deeply familiar with, and as a result this tends to be the Mastermind Villain and/or High Captains. Of course in typical FFIV fashion they will never attack the party together but rather do it by themselves while bringing their own personal mooks.