Just curious how others have done this. My players are into 7th level and we've about finished book two. Yes, I've thrown a lot of extra stuff at them since we're not necessarily sure if we're going to stick with the AP as-written or just kind of open things up. But anyway ...
I was wondering how other GMs have leveled up some of the NPCs who were included in book one. If the players have progressed to 7, how many levels of expert should I give to Oleg and what about Kesten? Plus I'm going to be introducing one of the Swordlords as an on-the-scene NPC for the one year anniversary of the kingdom.
Suggestions?
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I keep the other council members 3 levels behind the party (which is 8th atm) but they will cap out between 8th-10th level. If they were ever to appoint a general or another significant NPC that was not on the council, they would probably advance similarly and cap out about the same.
Other NPCs are pretty much set at their level, and may increase by 1-2 along the entire timeframe of the game, but that is the extent of it.
Obviously cohorts follow their own set of rules.
All this being said, I pretty much constantly threaten, intimidate, and push on my PCs kingdom with external (and sometimes internal) forces, so there is only such a thing as a peaceful kingdom if they use force of magic, political savvy, and might of sword arm to keep it so. This makes having stronger NPCs sort of a necessity unless I want to be extremely cruel or keep the PCs constantly trapped in their capitol to handle serious issues.
As a comparison, Svetlana is a 3rd level noble, 4th level expert specialized in banking and moneylending. Kesten is a 6th level cavalier (He started as such instead of as a fighter). Jhod is a 6th level druid. All three are council members. Oleg died early in our game, so I can't offer a comparison there.
As a comparison, Svetlana is a 3rd level noble, 4th level expert specialized in banking and moneylending. Kesten is a 6th level cavalier (He started as such instead of as a fighter). Jhod is a 6th level druid. All three are council members. Oleg died early in our game, so I can't offer a comparison there.
Thanks for the info. Jhod is definitely one of the NPCs who I've been negligent regarding. He is on the Council as High Priest and has helped the party out several times with healing. Kesten also sits on the Council as Marshall and his stats have never come into play aside from straight up role-playing.
I'm still early in the game, 5-6th level party, but I've yet to find a place where NPC stats play too much. We had a few court sessions that needed skill checks, but I mostly just handwaved the NPCs' stats to average for expediency.
I'm planning on having each of the NPCs on the council have a mini subplot where their important stat goes up. Svetlana and Oleg had a child, and when she came back from leave, her Charisma went up. Had a similar situation when they helped Akiros atone for his past and get his paladin standing back; upped his Constitution once he got back.
My NPCs float between levels 1 to 3 (newest additions, non-combatants like Oleg and Svetlana, and a few sparse others) to around 8 or 9 for the most elite (our Spymistress has an investigative crew, folks like Mikmek, Akiros, and Kesten see plenty of combat off-screen in places where the PCs aren't directly active) with a very spare few - Elga Verniex and one or two others - around 11, which is where without notable outside influence they'll probably top out. The PCs are 12th/Mythic 2 at the moment.
We actually have a forum for our game with a subforum specifically for NPC statblocks. Let me see.....
Chief Sootscale is a 6th-level Sorcerer. He retrained into it after Tartuk was removed and became his own darned shaman.
Mikmek is a 9th-level Rogue and Council Executioner.
Kesten is a 6th-level Cavalier and is second-in-command to the General, and is currently serving as Interim General while the party is away in Varnhold.
Akiros is Barbarian 4/Cavalier 5, having retrained away his ex-Paladin levels. He's the council Councilor.
Auchs is a 6th-level Fighter.
Jhod is a 6th-level Cleric and Council High Priest. At least until someone else comes along who is willing and able to do the job - he's made no secret of his desire to focus on his work in Tatzylford, and is only on the council because there's no one else suitable and he knows it's a job that needs to be done.
Perlivash is a 6th-level Sorcerer. (Stacks with his innate casting, so his caster level is 9.)
Tyg-Titter-Tut is a 9th-level Bard.
Elga the former "Old Beldame" is an 11th-level Witch. (And got reincarnated as a Gnome after dying of old age, as she told the PCs they'd not last two minutes without her.)
Bokken is a 9th-level Druid. He's gained no levels since the party first encountered him. In fact ever since meeting Elga they haven't gone to speak with him, after he refused their offer to move into their capital city built on the Stag Lord's place.
There's quite a few other NPCs of various levels but they're all additional ones I've added or taken from the 6-player expansion and aren't in the books.
As a general rule, Council NPCs and other significant NPCs (PC Spouses, for instance), run at 1/2 the party's level. For the most part, their stats don't come into play much.
I did have a 'change of pace' game where the NPC Baroness decided to handle an issue herself while the PCs were off in Varnhold, and a bunch of the councilors went with her to protect her, so each of the players played one of the councilors for part of a session. (The Baroness, who was also run by one of the players, felt she had something to prove to the regular party, many of whom were not overjoyed with the Baron's choice of spouse).
Now that Armies are coming into play, Kesten's stats are more important, as he will be leading one of the armies.
The PCs in my campaign are L13 at the moment - the first tier of NPcs are at Level 6-7-8 - these are mainly people who have seen some action or been in service a long time. Keston (for example) is now level 7.
There is another tier of NPCs at around about L4-5 who are the lower level officers and leaders. Most NPCs are levels 2-3.
There are, however, a few NPCs at higher level (Such as Terrion Numesti) who have come along courtesy of the adventure path.
I like a high powered game and enjoy building npcs, so I run with the following rules:
"Major" characters - councilors, magic item crafters, and folks who might be called upon to assist the PCs in combat gain half the XP the PC's do, whether on screen or off, have the elite array and NPC Heroic wealth. Practically, this means that major NPC's run 2 levels behind the PC's (although if they start out higher it takes awhile for them to lag behind the PC's). This also means that if any of my PC's want to take Leadership, it's a relatively easy rebuild.
"Minor" characters accumulate XP at 1/5 the rate of PC's, have the non-elite array, and NPC basic wealth. This means that they end up 5-6 levels behind the PC's. That means by the time the PC's peak, there will be a horde of level 10-11 experts fleshed out for my kingdom, and a number of 15th level champions of the kingdom.