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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 6097084" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>Again, character design rules are for PCs, not NPCs. You could of course write a whole set of rules that NPCs must follow but it seems pointless and leads to the sort of thing you had in 3.5 where took 3 hours to write up a high level NPC and they would bite the dust in 3 minutes. OF COURSE you can make up all your NPCs in 4e using PC rules IF YOU WANT, and there are even a set of simplified NPC rules for that, AND a set of elite monster templates to add a "class" to any monster (which can be a human, another quick way to make an NPC). However, in my example of the Mayor I don't need OR WANT an adventurer with boku hit points and powers and things. This guy is just a very very skilled diplomat/politician. Maybe even supernaturally skilled if he's got a +25 skill bonus, but he's still got no appreciable capability in combat, etc. There's probably a story reason to explain why he has this bonus, but to insist on some awkward framework of feats and BS for NPCs seems mighty pointless to me. I want the guy to have the bonus that will make the story work the way I want it to. Again, my philosophy is give me rules that support what I want to do, not rules that tell me what I have to do to follow them. If I make up a super politician "0 level" NPC I want rules that make that work. Setting any bonus I want is that rule, at least in 4e.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>My last post, and I think it was Ratskinner before me, someone anyway, that we've mentioned this. The fiction in 4e is at best VERY loosely tied to any specific DCs. You don't have to fudge with skill bonus. You simply decide what DC the "truly super-heroic" stuff has for your campaign. If you want totally mundane PCs then DC42 (level 30 hard, the highest listed DC) is maybe something like "make a 20' jump" or "lift a 500lb boulder", if you want super gonzo mythology mode then the same DC is "leap over the Moon" or "lift a mountain". In other words the 4e system caters to at least a wide range along this axis. It isn't really unique this way either. 2e's NWP system for example really is similar, but the problem there is without something like half-level and/or 3e's skill points, you are stuck with the problem of insufficient range of DCs to do it effectively. This is one of the primary reasons for keeping half level bonus.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 6097084, member: 82106"] Again, character design rules are for PCs, not NPCs. You could of course write a whole set of rules that NPCs must follow but it seems pointless and leads to the sort of thing you had in 3.5 where took 3 hours to write up a high level NPC and they would bite the dust in 3 minutes. OF COURSE you can make up all your NPCs in 4e using PC rules IF YOU WANT, and there are even a set of simplified NPC rules for that, AND a set of elite monster templates to add a "class" to any monster (which can be a human, another quick way to make an NPC). However, in my example of the Mayor I don't need OR WANT an adventurer with boku hit points and powers and things. This guy is just a very very skilled diplomat/politician. Maybe even supernaturally skilled if he's got a +25 skill bonus, but he's still got no appreciable capability in combat, etc. There's probably a story reason to explain why he has this bonus, but to insist on some awkward framework of feats and BS for NPCs seems mighty pointless to me. I want the guy to have the bonus that will make the story work the way I want it to. Again, my philosophy is give me rules that support what I want to do, not rules that tell me what I have to do to follow them. If I make up a super politician "0 level" NPC I want rules that make that work. Setting any bonus I want is that rule, at least in 4e. My last post, and I think it was Ratskinner before me, someone anyway, that we've mentioned this. The fiction in 4e is at best VERY loosely tied to any specific DCs. You don't have to fudge with skill bonus. You simply decide what DC the "truly super-heroic" stuff has for your campaign. If you want totally mundane PCs then DC42 (level 30 hard, the highest listed DC) is maybe something like "make a 20' jump" or "lift a 500lb boulder", if you want super gonzo mythology mode then the same DC is "leap over the Moon" or "lift a mountain". In other words the 4e system caters to at least a wide range along this axis. It isn't really unique this way either. 2e's NWP system for example really is similar, but the problem there is without something like half-level and/or 3e's skill points, you are stuck with the problem of insufficient range of DCs to do it effectively. This is one of the primary reasons for keeping half level bonus. [/QUOTE]
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