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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SavageRobby" data-source="post: 4340331" data-attributes="member: 51573">I'm with the Mouse on this (and with this other points throughout the thread).I find that character creation rules are for player characters. They are to provide a framework for player characters to be on relatively level ground. Thats usually why they are in the Player's Handbook (or Player's Guides in other game systems). As a DM, I am not bound the player restrictions for NPCs. For one, they're not (or, IMO, shouldn't be) the stars of the show. I don't need detailed construction rules for NPCs anymore than I need detailed construction rules for creating the Forest of Gloom or the Hellpeak Mountains or the Swamp of Really Nasty Smells.What I need to know about most NPCs are: What are their goals? How will they deal with the PCs? What will they do if/when the PCs aren't around?  THAT is where I want to spend my construction time with NPCs. Occasionally, I'll need to know: How do they fight? What are their special powers? One of the things that turned me off of 3x was the mentality that all PCs/NPCs/monsters are created equal. In my eyes, they're just not.  I will add one thing (something I think that ties in with Nifft's point about badly designed monsters). Freedom of design comes with a certain DM responsibility. My feelings on NPC (and monster) design are more about spending my time on the interesting parts (for both me and later, the players) and less time on purely mechanical, highly brain-numbing prep time. It isn't an excuse to poorly design NPCs, monsters or encounters. It is occasionally enjoyable (for both sides of the table) when the players run up against something they aren't expecting/aren't familiar with and go "Whoa! What was that?" but its not fun if every other monster is like that, or all NPCs are built to screw with player expectations.</blockquote>

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