D&D 5E Using Monsters/Stat Blocks as NPCs to round out the party

[SpiderMonkey]

I've been trying to suss out appropriate power-levels for NPCs to shore up party ranks. I'd like to use the NPCs in the back of the MM (as well as the occasional monster if and when appropriate) simply because the statblocks are easier than having a player run a complete character. Trying to hash out an appropriate CR seems a bit tricky, though. I don't want to use an equivalent level=CR as a CR assumes 4-5 PCs fighting it. Looking at the level by individual, I intuit using the "hard" or "deadly" xp value for a character's level in CR would probably be closest, but I haven't tested it out.

So, for example, an appropriate CR for an NPC/monster party member in a 5th level party would likely be a CR 3 or 4 creature. I *think* this would more or less be on par with a character of the same level.

Does this sound right to you?

SM

 

[S'mon]

CR 3-4 in a 5th level party is certainly fine. In terms of actual all-round effectiveness CR probably does equal level, but you don't necessarily want NPCs who may overshadow PCs.

I recommend looking at hit points/resilience - are they similar to the PCs? IME NPCs adventuring with the party tend to die a lot unless they have a lot of hp.

 

[hastur_nz]

Yeah, in my limited experience on this I'd tend to say forget CR, and have NPC's with around the same number of Hit Dice as the PC's. For example, if you have 5th level PC's, an NPC Thug might be an appropriate "companion", as they have 5d8+10 hit points i.e. 5 Hit Dice. That's a very rough rule of thumb, but as noted above, it's likely they the NPC(s) will be less powerful than the PC's which is good, the PC's are meant to be the "stars of the show" and NPC's, if used, "supporting cast". You can (and IMO should) easily let the players run them in combat too, because they will be simple and easy, much easier than their PC. With a similar amount of hit points, they should be roughly as survivable as a PC.