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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7090507" data-attributes="member: 4937">1) Only create as much as you need.&nbsp;&nbsp; 2) Don't sweat +/-1 errors unless you are trying to publish.&nbsp; Being exact doesn't gain you much and makes a difference only in a small percentage of occasions.3) Build your library of stat blocks up.&nbsp; You've got a word processor.&nbsp; Everything is reusable.4) The monster manual has utility.&nbsp; Just flip open to the right page.5) Use compact stat blocks.Your notes on Tella are really good.&nbsp;&nbsp; But unless Tella is going to be involved in play for 20 or 30 hours, the crunch in them is pointless.The really valuable part of the notes on Tella is the description and backstory you've given her.&nbsp; In the very unlikely event you need to know her Intimidate skill, her ranks in Animal Handling, or her Reflex save, you can generally guess it on the spot based on your game demographics and what you feel is right about Tella.&nbsp; Then and only then do you need to document your choices.Or in short, even if NPCs use the same rules as PCs (they probably should!) they aren't a PC.&nbsp; Don't lavish the same effort on every NPC that you would in creating a PCs.&nbsp; Instead, put the focus of the effort into what matters - in this case, making her come alive in your mind.&nbsp; Most of that value is in recording your thoughts about her, not working out a stat block.Honestly in her case, I'd probably have written something like Tella (elite stablehand, Thief1), then written a paragraph about her personality (possibly with a few inline notes like 'WIS 8'), and been done.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7090507, member: 4937"] 1) Only create as much as you need. 2) Don't sweat +/-1 errors unless you are trying to publish. Being exact doesn't gain you much and makes a difference only in a small percentage of occasions. 3) Build your library of stat blocks up. You've got a word processor. Everything is reusable. 4) The monster manual has utility. Just flip open to the right page. 5) Use compact stat blocks. Your notes on Tella are really good. But unless Tella is going to be involved in play for 20 or 30 hours, the crunch in them is pointless. The really valuable part of the notes on Tella is the description and backstory you've given her. In the very unlikely event you need to know her Intimidate skill, her ranks in Animal Handling, or her Reflex save, you can generally guess it on the spot based on your game demographics and what you feel is right about Tella. Then and only then do you need to document your choices. Or in short, even if NPCs use the same rules as PCs (they probably should!) they aren't a PC. Don't lavish the same effort on every NPC that you would in creating a PCs. Instead, put the focus of the effort into what matters - in this case, making her come alive in your mind. Most of that value is in recording your thoughts about her, not working out a stat block. Honestly in her case, I'd probably have written something like Tella (elite stablehand, Thief1), then written a paragraph about her personality (possibly with a few inline notes like 'WIS 8'), and been done. [/QUOTE]

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