|
The best way is often to use the terrain intelligently. Cover, consealment, difficult terrain, higher ground.
Thrown or ranged weapons from cover often leads PC to charge forward. Have stealthed enemies with braced weapons in the bushes to greet them is nasty.
Items like tanglefoot bags are very effective on weak reflex PC’s.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
take account of buffing and flexibility.
i had a campaign where the pc made sure to have protection from evil before facing an evil npc bard and his entire selection of spells and most of his abilities were nuffed because of it.
and in another game the big evil npc on the FINAL EPIC BATTLE did not have any way to deal with my warpriest just standing right next to her with silence cast on him. all her spells and get-away movement items needed voice (to cast or activate)... it was the most brutal one sided end-game fight i ever won. (i was as dumbfounded as the gm. he looked up his notes. over and over then goes like "..ok she takes out a dagger and try to stab you...with your 39 ac...")
|
Here's some random npcs from the npc codex:
Their "CR6" wizard has AC19, 37hp, saves 5-10, save DCs 13-17.
A CR6 is supposed to have AC19, 70hp,5-9, save DCs 11-16
That one's pretty much bang on, except for having half the hps.
Their "CR14" fighter has AC25, 150hp, high attack of +22, ave dam 59, saves of 10-15.
A CR14 is supposed to have AC29, 200hp, high attack of +23, ave dam 65, saves of 12-17.
The fighter's stats are already counting in some temporary buffs from potions, without which he's even weaker. That fighter is actually a CR12.
Their "CR19" druid has AC33, 150hp, attack of +19, saves of 10-22, save DCs of 20-27.
A CR19 should have AC 34, 330hp, attack of +22-29, saves of 16-21, save DCs of 19-26.
Again, mostly good except for less than half the hps.
So not only are npcs built using class levels way off CR, they also drop completely inappropriate amounts of treasure for their CR.
Conclusion, stop using classes to build npcs. Personally, I use the bestiary monster creation rules to create any npc that is going to be a combat challenge. This way they are actually CR appropriate and carry appropriate amounts of treasure as well. This way treasure can also be more interesting instead of another dozen cloaks of resistance +1.
The quick fix solution to not rebuild npcs from pre-written products is to just straight up double their hit points.
I love building characters, and I love using class levels to do so. The time it takes to build characters is its own hobby for me.
Sometimes I want to mess with classes that I will personally never get the chance to play as. There is a lot of fun stuff out there, why not let the enemies have fun things? I even will give enemies gestalt'ed class levels in order to give them neat abilities.
After I have their cool abilities from classes, I adjutst their stats according to the CR average tables. They are still NPC's, after all. Make sure they have high-average everything for their CR.
I find that cool abilities from classes can reduce the amount of expensive gear that an NPC would otherwise require, and inevitably drop as loot when they die.
There's no blanket rule, because different NPCs will need to be improved in different ways. Some have poor AC, some have useless spells, some have a hopeless ranged weapon and so on.
If in doubt, add mooks. The extra round it takes to demolish the rabble gives the star NPC time to do something interesting. The mook(s) might be a pet dog, a gang of hobgoblin mercenaries, a horde of zombies, an animated table, a bunch of cultists or a demon. The mook might even be a hostage...anything to give the NPC time and options.
In zza ni's example above, buffing the main NPC might not have helped...but I expect a Marilith would have done.
Pimp my NPC
Get that sweet ass of yours out on the street and earn my money!
The addition of Traits and flaws come to mind, coupled with the clever use of nonmagical equipment you should get the desired result.