Statting 23 high-level NPCs

[Quickleaf]

I'm writing an adventure that involves an entire royal court and their enemies. There are roughly 23 NPCs who are of 10th to 16th level. Most are human and have more than one class. It just looks like a nightmare to calculate all their d20 stats. And that's without the little bit of custom content that would be the icing on the cake for these NPCs. So far, I'm planning on doing these by hand.

Are there any suggestions you have to make this easier? Computer programs that create stat blocks for you? Pre-generated stat blocks? Tricks to make assigning skills easier? Legitimate ways to fudge the numbers without ruining the system?

Any help is welcome. Thanks!

 

[Campbell]

Perhaps we could help you stat out the NPCs?

 

[Quickleaf]

Really? Most of the NPCs rely on classes found in Dynasties & Demagogues (atlas games), but here's a couple that don't need much custom content....

Changeez (barbarian 11, Chaotic Good, He was rescued from a dragon by prince Sanjar and owes a life debt to the prince though he despises the prince's evil policies. His loyalties lie with Hamar Kur, though he is a dissenting voice, advocating peace and dialogue where the warlord wants violence and terror.)

Javeed (paladin 14, Lawful Good, He is a defender of sacred beasts including a certain sin-eating manticore, Javeed was wooed to prince Ardeshir's political party after Ardeshir said he would defend the manticore and the practice of sacrificing the worse unrepentant sinners to her. Though he differs with Ardeshir on his approach to politics, he agrees that massive reform needs to be made. He leads an order of rogue knights called the Order of the Blameless. They are repented criminals or wrongfully accused who have been spared by the manticore and dedicate themselves to protecting sacred beasts. Javeed was the first to be spared, thus he owes his life to the manticore.)

Manu, the royal vizier (Wizard 16, Lawful Good. Manu is a loyalist supporter of the Shah. He has saved the Shah and his father from many pickles. Manu holds the first seat on the Magian Council. He is a sworn enemy of demons. Though he is a powerful figure, Manu fears war-mongering and bloodshed, and is easily coerced into less-than-desireable action to prevent violence...or the threat of violence.)

Barut-maan, lord-general of the Silver Company (Fighter 15, Lawful Evil. Barut-maan is a retired, now unretired, veteran of many wars totally burned out on the propoganda of conquest. Barut-maan is owed a large financial debt by the Shah's people. At the same time he is a staunch supporter of the throne. He operates a group of mercenaries turned loan-sharks, composed of many of the men who used to fight beneath him in battle. Originally he did this to help provide for nomadic refugees, but the money turned his good intentions bad. Barut-maan and his mercenaries are reviled by the public yet protected by the Shah. Barut-maan and the Shah have each saved each others lives and have an appreciation for one another, while acknowledging their differences.)

 

[Campbell]

I'll get to work on the wizard.

 

[Patman21967]

I got the Barbarian. How many points to start with? or do you just want me to make him up on the fly?

 

[Patman21967]

I've been wanting to use Power Attack/Leap Attack for a character for a while now...He is going to deal massive amounts of damage.

 

[Campbell]

Here's what I have so far. I'm unhappy with spell selection, perhaps with some additional critiquing it might serve your purpose.

Manu CR 16

Male human wizard (Abjurer) 16
LG Medium Humanoid
init +5; Senses Spot +1, Listen +1
Languages Common, et all

AC 21, touch 15, flat-footed 19
hp 73 (17 HD)
Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +11

Spd 30 ft.
Ranged Heavy Crossbow (masterwork) +11 (1d10/19-20)
Base Atk +8 Grp +8
Spells Prepared (CL 16th ie, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th... +x ranged touch)
xth - spell (dc x), spell, spell (dc y)
x-1th - spell (dc x), spell (dc y)

Barred Schools Necromancy, Illusion

Abilities Str 10, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 24, Wis 12, Cha 14
SQ
Feats Improved Initiative, Scribe Scroll, Combat Casting, Eschew Materials, Heighten Spell, Spell Penetration, Spell Focus (Abjuration), Quicken Spell, Skill Focus (Diplomacy), Maximize Spell
Skills Concentration +21, Diplomacy +11, Knowledge (Nobility) +10, Knowledge (Arcana) +10, Knowledge (The Planes) +10, Sense Motive +9, Spellcraft +23,
Possessions Bracers of Armor (+5), Headband of Intellect (+4), Dusty Rose Ioun Stone, Ring of Protection (+2), spell book, material component pouch
Spellbook

0 - Resistance, Acid Splash Detect poison, Detect Magic, Read Magic, Daze, Dancing Lights, Flare, Light, Ray of Frost, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Open/Close, Arcane Mark, Prestidigitation

1st - Alarm, Charm Person, Comprehend Languages, Enlarge Person, Hold Portal, Magic Missile, Obscuring Mist, Protection From Evil, Shield, Summon Monster I

2nd - Melf's Acid Arrow, Arcane Lock,Detect Thoughts, Locate Object, Obscure Object,Resist Energy, See Invisibility, Scorching Ray, Summon Swarm

3rd - Dispel Magic, Fireball, Gaseous Form, Nondetection

4th - Dimensional Anchor, Scrying, Stoneskin, Wall of Fire

5th - Baleful Polymorph, Break Enchantment, Contact Other Plane, Dismissal, Dominate Person, Hold Monster Mordenkein's Faithful Hound, Mordenkein's Private Sanctum, Planar Binding (Lesser), Rary's Telepathic Bond, Teleport, Wall of Stone

6th - Antimagic Field, Chain Lightning, Contingency, Control Water, Disintegrate, Dispel Magic (Greater), Guards and Wards, Legend Lore, Move Earth, Repulsion, Planar Binding, Suggestion (Mass), True Seeing, Wall of Iron

7th - Banishment, Forcecage, Hold Person (Mass), Limited Wish, Mordenkein's Magnificent Mansion, Sequester, Vision

Manu, the royal vizier (Wizard 16, Lawful Good. Manu is a loyalist supporter of the Shah. He has saved the Shah and his father from many pickles. Manu holds the first seat on the Magian Council. He is a sworn enemy of demons. Though he is a powerful figure, Manu fears war-mongering and bloodshed, and is easily coerced into less-than-desirable action to prevent violence...or the threat of violence.)

I left 8,000 gp unspent for now, in case you notice any holes in spell selection.

 

[S'mon]

I use my Quick NPC System (see Sig) for this kind of thing, if necessary. Often I don't stat them or use the 3.0 DMG stats - pity that doesn't include default spell lists.

 

[Yair]

Sorry I don't have time to help out actually stating them up, kind of busy trying to stat up a pack of NPCs for my own tuesday game

I would strongly recommend doing at least some work with software, it really does speed things up. I work with (the free) PCGen, their latest edition is reasonably fast (prior edition were too slow on my computer) and their list editor is sufficiently good to quickly input simple feats, domains, deities, and so on (I haven't tried a class yet). I suspect you won't be able to put in certain features of the class/feat/spell/whatever, but the program should allow you to generate the basics (say, name alone for feats) and produce an output you can later edit. It is good when you know more or less what you want the character to be, and just use the program to calculate the little details; it isn't good when you don't know what feats you want to take (in general), what character classes you want, what types of magic items you want to equip it with, and so on. I recommend working in groups of levels seperated by feats/classes: whenever you gain a feat or switch class, choose feats and skills. That takes care of multiclass/prerequisite issues.
For the record, I just created a level 14 wizard which took me about, I think, about 20 minutes. I spent most of the time deciding things no program could decide for my BBEG - the spells, feat strategy, chosen skills, magic items. The actuall raising-of-a-class-level is a breeze, it's deciding on your options that slows you down.
I also created a deity and two new domains in a few minutes. Most of the time was spent choosing the domain's spells.
And I statted out drow and hobgoblin NPCs in no-time, you don't even have to look up the MM or anything - it's all there.
(I do have a little experience with the editor, though; it's a bit like programming if you wont to go beyond the very basics offered by the standard menus, so may take a bit of time to catch up - but it's time well spent, as PCGen can save you lots of time later on.)

For creating hordes of smaller NPCs, where multiclassing isn't much of an issue, I'd recommend Jami's NPC Generator. The output is not that great, but you create lots until something sounds about right, then edit it. That won't work with non-core elements, however, and it sucks with gear or complex characters.
There is also another, similar, program currently in beta-testing that claims to do much more but my experiences with it were that it is far from being able to meet those claims.

There are plenty of other programs out there, of course. But I'd recommend trying out PCGen - it's free, so you've got little to lose.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Don't forget to post the final results to the d20 NPCs Wiki, so that other people don't have to repeat your work once you are done!