D&D 5E The Hidden Secret of NPC Party Members

[Minigiant]

Ignore their HD.

You heard me.

Ignore their HD.

If that phrase confuses you, take your Dungeon Master Guide and hit yourself in the forehead with it to knock out years of traditional thought out of it.

In 5th edition, NPCs were designed to fight PCs. Many times they encounter multiple PCs. So their HP and thus HD are inflated to survive the onslaught of PC attacks, spells, and magic items.

When on the PC side of the battle, the main attributes PCs get out of NPCs is their attacks, languages, and "obscure" proficiencies. A NPC's giant sack of HPs doesn't help the PCs finish an encounter.

If you look at HD too hard, you might make the mistake and attribute it to power. A Berserker NPC has 9 Hit Dice but no skills and 1 great-axe attack a turn. If you give a party a few berserkers from the barbarian tribe they befriended, don't think they can take that big bad dragon now because of the 36 HD you added. You might a TPK.

So ignore their HD. Look at their traits, skills, and actions.
Understand this when you hand our squires, apprentices, sidekicks, and animal companions.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

I thought I was going to find something to disagree with here, but I didn't; I thought you were going to be saying something along the lines of not letting NPCs adventuring with the party spend hit dice to recover hp during a short rest, and since that is the one way in which you didn't mean to ignore hit dice, we are in agreement.

 

[77IM]

I'm not sure what you are getting at. A 36-hp berserker is going to last a LOT longer in a fight than a 9-hd guard. A stray shatter spell will take out all your guards, but those berserkers are going to last a round or two under a barrage of fireballs.

Concrete example: My PCs were soaring through the air on their 19-hp hippogriffs, when they got ambushed by a young blue dragon they had pissed off. The lightning breath typically did enough damage to one-shot a hippogriff even if it succeeded on its save. That was a fun battle. ;} Subsequently, the party is spending some time and effort training up their hippogriffs to increase their HD.

 

[redrick]

Shouldn't you be using challenge rating when identifying how "appropriate" an NPC is as a companion? I'd look at the encounter difficulty chart and compare the XP for a given NPC or Monster to encounter difficulties for that level. That kind of tells me how well that character would face off against a PC of that level, and I'd go accordingly.

Now, if you're trying to "level up" the companion, that becomes a whole different issue.

 

[Istbor]

I think all that is being said here, is do not equate HD and HP as a measure of power, and thus provide what you think will be a reasonable boost to the party's power, and expect everything to work out well. You need to pay more attention to what those NPCs can actually do and not just how many times a Dragon can swipe at them before they fall over. Yes, it should be a consideration, but mayhap it is being used too often as the power gauge on its own.

Or, maybe I read it completely wrong.

 

[Minigiant]

I'm not sure what you are getting at. A 36-hp berserker is going to last a LOT longer in a fight than a 9-hd guard. A stray shatter spell will take out all your guards, but those berserkers are going to last a round or two under a barrage of fireballs.

Concrete example: My PCs were soaring through the air on their 19-hp hippogriffs, when they got ambushed by a young blue dragon they had pissed off. The lightning breath typically did enough damage to one-shot a hippogriff even if it succeeded on its save. That was a fun battle. ;} Subsequently, the party is spending some time and effort training up their hippogriffs to increase their HD.

My point is lasting longer typically doesn't help adventurers.

Ironically mounts and couriers are the few times NPC ally' s HP matters.

But a 9HD berserker isn't doing much to the adult Dragon despite all its HP. The correlation between HD and power does not exist in 5th edition. It did from 1st to 3rd. Not now.

 

[S'mon]

My point is lasting longer typically doesn't help adventurers.

It does if they're serving as meat shields, soaking up monster attacks. This keeps PCs up and attacking for longer.

 

[Minigiant]

It does if they're serving as meat shields, soaking up monster attacks. This keeps PCs up and attacking for longer.

Unfortunately none of the written NPCs have any features to encourage attacks their way nor protecting allies.

So you'd really being a DM putting NPCs on the PC's side just to have other NPCs attack them for little reason just to have the first NPCs worthwhile. Extra work for little payoff.

 

[jodyjohnson]

I agree an increase in Hit Dice is not tied to an increase in DPR.

However, DPR only matters over time which is (Rounds Active in Combat * DPR). As Rounds Active in Combat approaches zero, DPR becomes irrelevant. Hit points is the prime determinant of Rounds Active in Combat.

 

[jodyjohnson]

So you'd really being a DM putting NPCs on the PC's side just to have other NPCs attack them for little reason just to have the first NPCs worthwhile. Extra work for little payoff.

Normally this is called Using Red Shirts and it is completely worth the narrative effect (for some play styles).

Often in D&D, creatures are only as scary as their displayed abilities, and it is very difficult to effect PCs with deadly effects. So the most efficient way to display deadliness is against against non-player characters.