I realize that a GM always has the option of figuring out the stats for that 5th level NPC human bandit, but honestly, it would help -immensely- if there were a book with official templates for them along with gear and CR listings. It would make the game a lot easier for GMs to run and avoid the "PCs always encounter monsters" problem which isn't all that realistic for a fantasy world. I want to see a book or series of books where a GM can say "well, I need a 15th level human Wizard for one of the baddies" and be able to go "ah. Here we go. Already statted out, with gear and everything". They started to do this (sort of) with the later Monster Manuals in 3.5, but it would be really cool to see Paizo pick up the dropped ball and put out something official. What do you guys and gals think? Would you buy such a book?
Yes.
If it had some more monster feats that would be cool as well. My players immediately disallowed Savage Species when they found out it was 3.0, since I kept having trolls and other regenerators take Roll With It.
I realize that a GM always has the option of figuring out the stats for that 5th level NPC human bandit, but honestly, it would help -immensely- if there were a book with official templates for them along with gear and CR listings. It would make the game a lot easier for GMs to run and avoid the "PCs always encounter monsters" problem which isn't all that realistic for a fantasy world. I want to see a book or series of books where a GM can say "well, I need a 15th level human Wizard for one of the baddies" and be able to go "ah. Here we go. Already statted out, with gear and everything". They started to do this (sort of) with the later Monster Manuals in 3.5, but it would be really cool to see Paizo pick up the dropped ball and put out something official. What do you guys and gals think? Would you buy such a book?
Paizo has an NPC book out, but the highest character is around 10th level. It just came out within the last two months. I cant recall the name though.
Probably not what you want to hear--> You can buy some of the older 3.5 adventures and use their villains. You have to do some converting, but its a lot faster than doing all the work yourself.
Paizo has an NPC book out, but the highest character is around 10th level. It just came out within the last two months. I cant recall the name though.
Probably not what you want to hear--> You can buy some of the older 3.5 adventures and use their villains. You have to do some converting, but its a lot faster than doing all the work yourself.
That'd be the NPC Guide, which is good, except that all the "generic" NPCs are CR4 or lower - only some of the named NPCs go higher. Hopefully they'll release followups for mid and high level NPCs though.
I personally hope not I can make a high level NPC in about 5 minutes on Hero lab so a book with them wouldnt be all that helpful
I personally hope not I can make a high level NPC in about 5 minutes on Hero lab so a book with them wouldnt be all that helpful
Do not underestimate the laziness of many GMs. >.>
I personally hope not I can make a high level NPC in about 5 minutes on Hero lab so a book with them wouldnt be all that helpfulDo not underestimate the laziness of many GMs. >.>
Or the unpredictability of many players - pausing the game for 20 minutes so you can stat up a few high level NPCs because the players decided on a whim to raid the opposing king's treasury is kinda a mood killer, lol.
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Personally, I think this is a great idea, and would purchase such a book in a heartbeat. I would even take it one step further and include a few monsters with class levels - at least orcs, goblins, etc. It's always fun to throw a few ringers in the mix, so players don't just assume that they can take out those orcs without breaking a sweat!
I would most certainly purchase a book like this if it had some expanded content (such as feats) to make it worthwhile.
My GM's been running a realistic setting for a while and the encounters are having some strange balance issues. Some kind of of section for more mundane villains and encounters that could still propose a challenge to low-mid level PCs would be excellent.
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That'd be the NPC Guide, which is good, except that all the "generic" NPCs are CR4 or lower - only some of the named NPCs go higher. Hopefully they'll release followups for mid and high level NPCs though.
See, I don't think there should be a "generic" NPC of a much higher level. Groups of more than a dozen or so PCs that are even mid-level would be vastly powerful...they would basically have the ability to run roughshod over empires. Having the average town guard be a collection of dozens upon dozens of 12th level fighters is getting dangerous close to the Forgotten Realms syndrome, where you can't throw a rock without it bouncing off the skull of one epic-level wizard and into another epic-level wizard. And the average street bum is yet ANOTHER epic-level wizard. Seriously, I think a newborn baby comes out of the womb with 30 class levels in the Realms.
That'd be the NPC Guide, which is good, except that all the "generic" NPCs are CR4 or lower - only some of the named NPCs go higher. Hopefully they'll release followups for mid and high level NPCs though.See, I don't think there should be a "generic" NPC of a much higher level. Groups of more than a dozen or so PCs that are even mid-level would be vastly powerful...they would basically have the ability to run roughshod over empires. Having the average town guard be a collection of dozens upon dozens of 12th level fighters is getting dangerous close to the Forgotten Realms syndrome, where you can't throw a rock without it bouncing off the skull of one epic-level wizard and into another epic-level wizard. And the average street bum is yet ANOTHER epic-level wizard. Seriously, I think a newborn baby comes out of the womb with 30 class levels in the Realms.
"Generic" in this sense being more "not detailed as a specific character in the fluff" rather than "there's one on every streetcorner". Sure, there may only be a couple dozen mid-high level characters in the world, but they could still be statted out as "Master Thief: CR 13" or "Barbarian Warlord: CR 12" or "Mad Necromancer: CR 16" or whatnot. You'd be able to add your own fluff to fit (which you may have already done, just didn't expect the players to decide to go fight these people at the drop of a hat).
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That'd be the NPC Guide, which is good, except that all the "generic" NPCs are CR4 or lower - only some of the named NPCs go higher. Hopefully they'll release followups for mid and high level NPCs though.See, I don't think there should be a "generic" NPC of a much higher level. Groups of more than a dozen or so PCs that are even mid-level would be vastly powerful...they would basically have the ability to run roughshod over empires. Having the average town guard be a collection of dozens upon dozens of 12th level fighters is getting dangerous close to the Forgotten Realms syndrome, where you can't throw a rock without it bouncing off the skull of one epic-level wizard and into another epic-level wizard. And the average street bum is yet ANOTHER epic-level wizard. Seriously, I think a newborn baby comes out of the womb with 30 class levels in the Realms.
+1
I realize that a GM always has the option of figuring out the stats for that 5th level NPC human bandit, but honestly, it would help -immensely- if there were a book with official templates for them along with gear and CR listings. It would make the game a lot easier for GMs to run and avoid the "PCs always encounter monsters" problem which isn't all that realistic for a fantasy world. I want to see a book or series of books where a GM can say "well, I need a 15th level human Wizard for one of the baddies" and be able to go "ah. Here we go. Already statted out, with gear and everything". They started to do this (sort of) with the later Monster Manuals in 3.5, but it would be really cool to see Paizo pick up the dropped ball and put out something official. What do you guys and gals think? Would you buy such a book?
The GM book that is about to come out is supposed to have a bunch of generic bad guy stats. I'm not sure what level these will be, but there are supposed supposed to be a bunch of them.
As for higher level NPC's I think those are the ones that specifically need the more personal touch. And if you have for example a 15th level wizard as a baddie, you can always give an introduction that doesn't really allow PC's to get into combat with him/her. Then your evil wizad/cruel tyrant/savage warlord can have time to do things behind the scenes to make the PC's hate him/her. (Even an evil fighter can reasonably have "pocket teleport" at 15th level.)