Will the NPCs level up?

[Belgerod]

I was wondering because the NPCs in this game are much more prominent, and that sort of thing. They start off higher than the players, and I'm sure the players will pass them later, but are there plans to increase them as well?

Personally I would like to see the NPCs level up some, maybe not as much as the players, but some growth would be nice. By the end the players should be around 17, but if the NPCs are still 4-6 after all that happened it just seems a little off.

Opinions?

[thebwt]

while it would be cool, I'm not sure I want precious page space used for reprinting the npcs EVERY issue.

[Geeky Frignit]

I suspect you'll have to wait until early next week for James to comment on this.

I imagine they won't though so that GMs have the choice to take them in their own direction.

[Enlight_Bystand]

I would expect so, or else a passing fireball will wipe them out...

[Belgerod]

Well updates could be made with very condensed stat blocks, that would not take up too much space. Or they might just leave it in our hands, but it would be intersting to see the direction the developers intended for them to grow.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

I would keep them at APL -1 in order to allow them to be "Cohortable" at level 7 :)

[Rhishisikk]

In the Kingmaker series, we see one of the major NPCs gain levels between adventures; if you look closely at CotCT, Sabina Merrick gains levels in the background also.

I'm not certain that all NPCs should track XP, more of a hand-wave thing.

OTOH, if players want to track XP for NPCs of interest to them, I'd say let them. It can create and maintain player interest in the NPCs, not just "oh, well, what's-his-name got killed, guess we need another hireling..".

[Belgerod]

Well for me it boils down to the fact that since the NPCs are in danger at points too, they should get some XP. If they don't work it into the later ones, I might just do it myself.

[Robert G. McCreary]

The AP will give advice on when to level up the NPCs, once the PCs surpass them in level. We will not be providing updated stat blocks for them, however, leaving GMs to advance them in accordance with the needs and events of their own campaigns.

[SnowHeart]

Rob McCreary wrote:

The AP will give advice on when to level up the NPCs, once the PCs surpass them in level. We will not be providing updated stat blocks for them, however, leaving GMs to advance them in accordance with the needs and events of their own campaigns.

Ah, and suddenly I'm very glad I've already put them into Hero Lab.

[Belgerod]

That'll work fine, it will be nice to see what the developers have planned for the NPCs advancement. Full stat blocks aren't necessary.