Leveling recurring npcs

[tieflingwizard]

So, I'm coming with my own campaign that's in the same style as the adventure paths. In it, there'll be some npcs that the pcs constantly meet with. Some are very important to the narrative. My question is: how do I level these npcs from "book" to "book"? I want to keep them at an appropriate level and roughly around the same level as the pcs.

[JohnHawkins]

Decide what level you want them to be and then update their statistics.

[Bacon666]

JohnHawkins wrote:

Decide what level you want them to be and then update their statistics.

Also have a rough idea what kind of encounters gave them the experience to level up...

If Farmer Frank needs to level up perhaps his farm was attacked by wolves, and Frank saved all his piglets, and killed the Aloha wolf. After this he went to the mayor to get a small reward (social encounter) etc... No need to be too specific, but be prepared if your players ask questions...

[BlackOuroboros]

Also, watch out about recurring villains. They have a way of ending up dead regardless of your best intentions and PCs can generally smell out when GM fiat is working against them when you try to save an important villain. Always remember, if you stat it they will kill it.

[Dragonchess Player]

Villains my actually have "recurring" as part of their abilities: an arcane caster with various simulacra as agents/proxies for various schemes (which allows lower level PCs to "face" the BBEG early in the campaign with being wiped out or needing a deus ex machina event), an alchemist (possibly clone master, with the Rebirth ability) with Alchemical Simulacra (and/or the Greater version) and Doppleganger Simulacrum can "come back" again and again (potentially even multiple times in the same day), a NE reincarnated druid (5th+ level) can make a very effective recurring BBEG, etc.

[VRMH]

Bacon666 wrote:

and killed the Aloha wolf

I love miss-types and auto-corrects. They evoke such wonderful imagery...

[The Indescribable]

You might also consider a lich, thank god for phylacteries.

[Rub-Eta]

tieflingwizard wrote:

Some are very important to the narrative.

Remember that the PCs may kill your NPCs, don't base it too heavily around them.

If you don't use xp, that is: you level your players up at certain points when you feel like it (which I recommend because otherwise you'll have to update every character every time they level up to avoid throwing the NPCs against a 2 levels higher/lower party), you will have much more controll over when they encounter these NPCs and you can plan months ahead. This way you'll only have to write each NPC up at a few selected levels.

[tieflingwizard]

Good ideas, guys. Good advice for reoccurring villains and other npcs. I was thinking about writing up the npcs at certain levels. For this, I was thinking about npcs that are allied with the pcs.

[tieflingwizard]

Any more advice?

[KestrelZ]

One very optional method is profession XP.

As a caveat - the following are house rules built on house rules.

NPC levelling - non-adventurers gain XP when they make a critical success during the performance of their chosen profession. If the NPC gains enough XP to level without adventuring (facing some sort of life or death crisis) they are considered to have rolled a "1" to gain hit points, and all skill and feats gained must apply to their profession - even if by tangent.

One can build an approximate levelling system based on how rapidly the race of the NPC ages (1st level as an apprentice to 6th or 7th level by the time they reach what contemporary society would consider as "retirement age").

One house rule I have is that when leveling, adventurers or those that gain XP from a life or death crisis can ignore a die roll of "1" for adding hit points.

This very optional system is to explain how commoners could have a 5th level glassblower or merchant that has never faced a life of high adventure.

[Dafydd]

There is also the option: They were always this strong.

Now, this does not work for all NPCs, but none of the methods described above work 100% of the time.

Mentors are a good one to have as "always this strong" as are high ranking nobles, clergy, mages etc. Basically, leaders are almost always higher level, 10-15 in my home games but with exceptions.

For literature references, check out Eragon (Brom mentoring Eragon) or Elrond from LotR.

In the end, you will need to use a combination of the methods mentioned above.