In which MetalJim tackles 4th edition’s new rules for NPC and bad guy creation…

Okay, okay, so we all remember how one of the real stumbling blocks to higher level play (anything above 10th level) in 3rd edition D&D was the fact that major villains, and even some of the supporting monsters, required a lot of work on the part of the DM to stat out correctly.  Sure, it makes perfect sense that a high level cleric is waiting at the end of the dungeon to fight the party.  However, the game master has to work out all of the stats and skills for that cleric, work out his memorized spells, and figure out how many minor magic items such a character would have in order to be comparable to the PCs he is going to face. 

Then, of course, most high level 3.5 edition NPCs who actually get into combat with the PCs are dead in 2 or 3 rounds.  They will never use their skills, and they might be lucky to cast one or two spells out of the 12 or more spells that you wrote on the NPC’s character sheet.  Of course, if you are really doing it right, you figured out which “buff” spells the evil NPC cleric started casting once he sensed that the party was right outside his door.  Then there’s all the micro-management that goes with that…

So, how does 4^th edition improve on all that tedious stat-blocking?

The short answer is that things are quite a bit easier, but you can still get bogged down in the details if you don’t know the system really well.  You will still need a large enough desk to keep three books open at once.

So, you want to make an NPC?  Well, first of all you should decide how important it is that the NPC gets full combat stats.  If the NPC is just a bartender, or a sage with a high “history” skill, then you can fudge most of the finer details and no one will care.  If the NPC really is a major villain in your story, then you might consider writing that NPC up as a “real” character with all of the normal rules that are available to player characters.  Going this route is a bit of work, and one of the major differences in terms of the 4th edition rules is that such a villain might have a lot more healing surges available.

However, if you want to make a combat-ready NPC in 4th edition you have two main routes available to you.  One route is the “elite” route, while the other is the non-elite build-from-scratch route.  The actual amount of work that you will have to do as the GM isn’t much different, but the way that the NPC performs in your game will feel very different.

Remember that elites get a lot of hit points, and have +2 to all their saves (which are normally 10+ checks).  Elites also get one action point, which they will no doubt use to take an extra whack at a vulnerable PC.  An Elite monster doesn’t tower over the party in terms of its actual level, but it can feel very “wide” and thus hard to kill. 

Anyway, you can take any monster in the 4th edition rulebook and add an elite template if it seems appropriate to you.  The DMG contains a set of templates designed to mimic class roles.  One advantage of this route is that you won’t need to change the monster’s ability scores, and changes to the monster’s attack numbers and defenses will be very minor.  You will still need to come up with an at-will, an encounter power, a daily power, and a utility power for that class and appropriate to the elite monster’s level.  Add in a couple of skills, and you are well upon your way. 

Be careful, however, when creating an “elite” version of a monster to use as an NPC or major villain.  The listed “role” of the base monster will have an impact on the combat performance of your elite.  Starting with a “brute” is very different than starting with a “soldier”.  The soldier tends to have very high defense numbers, and is much harder to hit.  This might cause some synergy if it gets boosted with a character class that favors durability in combat, like a fighter or warlord. 

However, there are going to be lots of times where you DON’T want the BBEG (big-bad-evil-guy) to be an elite.  There may be lots of times where you want to add some variety to your humanoid monsters by throwing in someone with some class levels that the party won’t really be expecting.  It’s okay to have a hobgoblin sub-lieutenant who is statted out as a warlord or a cleric.  Because that monster NPC is only using a single monster “slot” in the roster of bad guys, that NPC will get more team-mates to work with, more guys to surround the PCs, etc.

Anyway, as a way to keep my rules knowledge sharp and in practice, I set about making a 4^th level hobgoblin warlord.  On page 140 on the 4th edition MM, you will find stats for a 5^th level Hobgoblin Commander who obviously fits the same role, to an extent.  I could just as easily have “de-tuned” that monster by dropping it to 4^th level and taking away some hit points (not much else would have changed).  The monster listed in the book is in the “soldier” role and thus has very high defensive ratings.  What he doesn’t have is the ability to “rally” his troops by granting them healing surges.

Remember that all (heroic tier) monsters have 1 healing surge, as do monster NPCs.  As the rules point out, it is very rare that a monster will get the chance to use that healing surge.  In practice, most monsters just get a few more HP at the start.  Note that monsters cannot use “Second Wind” to take a healing surge, though an NPC specifically CAN use “Second Wind”.

Anyway, here is the reality of making NPCs in 4th edition…

1. You need to understand how your chosen class works when designing an NPC.  It makes perfect sense to build a warlock NPC using a monster race like the Shadar-Kai or the Dark Ones.  However, if you’ve never rolled up a warlock before, you are going to have to study how the different pacts work, how the other class features of the warlock work, and which daily powers and which encounter powers are better suited to certain “builds” and certain warlock pacts.  The same issue applies to pretty much any character class.  In other words, if you’ve never used that class before, budget half an hour at the start for “class training 101”.
2. Start by generating ability scores, and getting a handle on racial bonuses, and other added bonuses for being above 4th level.  Think ahead as to which abilities are needed for bonuses on some of the class abilities.  Work out the 1/2 level plus ability number that will add to defenses and skills.
3. It takes a minute to work out your NPC’s basic defense numbers, and his basic attack numbers.  Does the NPC have any special armor?  Does the NPC have a magic weapon?  There’s sort of a built-in magic bonus depending on the NPC’s level, so you don’t need to worry about every single minor item that an NPC might own.  You just have to know about the major items that the players will actually want to take as part of their treasure. 
4. If you know what the NPC’s basic attack looks like, then the math on his encounter powers and daily powers is simple.  However, it can still take several minutes to choose 1 at-will, 1 encounter power, 1 daily, and 1 utility.  The good news is that the workload here doesn’t really change as the NPC rises in level.  After all, you are only interested in the NPC’s best powers, not the minor powers that he will never have a chance to use anyway.
5. Picking two skills and doing the math is easy.  NPCs don’t get feats, which greatly simplifies the workload.
6. Actually writing out the NPC statblock still takes several minutes, because you have to make your notes precise enough that you can use his powers correctly during combat.  You may have to write out the text for his racial power, and for the daily power on that magic item that you gave to the NPC.

So, there you have it.  The hardest part of making NPCs in 4th edition is that you have to understand how your chosen class works before you get too far into the project.  After that, the biggest pain in the butt is just writing everything down. 

Fourth edition desperately needs some sort of “PCGen” tool to assist with making NPCs.  If you could automate the stat block creation, then the process would be really, really painless.

Anyway, I’m attaching a file (File Attachment: Surthik.doc (27 KB)) for the 4^th level Hobgoblin warlord that I rolled up.  For homework, compare the stats on this guy to the stats for the 5^th level hobgoblin commander in the MM, or to other 4^th level monster stat blocks. 

You can decide for yourself if making some healing surges available to the monsters actually makes combat more interesting, or just more tedious.