Greetings Gamer Nation!

Our latest show, Episode 45 "The NPC Deli" is now up! I felt it would be good to point it out to readers of these forums since it tackles a topic that some GMs stumble with - Making NPCs.

Chris, Dave, and I dive in to Minions, Rivals, and Nemeses (and an honorable mention to the rare and elusive Enhanced Nemesis) to give GMs the tips and tricks we've found to making NPCs for any encounter, and any situation. We even make a few of each type live, during the show, if only to show how easy and quick it can be to make them on the fly*.

Give a listen if you like!

Order 66 Podcast Episode 45 - The NPC Deli

Oh, and our next show on Saturday the 31st will have Andy Fisher and Jason Marker joining us for a discussion of "Stay On Target"! We're taking listener questions now, so be sure to get yours in!

Episode 46 Stay On Target Questions thread

May the dice be with you!

*-I statted out my Death Watch Troopers and Imperial Archaeological Survey Members before the show, but "Lady Violet" was made totally from scratch during the discussion.

Thanks! This is very timely for me. I'm beginning creation of the "neighborhood" around my player's home base and populating it with all the necessary and/or flavorful npcs.

I don't suppose you guys could cook up a little sheet like you did for the attributes of an excellent encounter? Sure I could probably write it down myself but you guys probably already have it in the show notes.

I'll offer to help design it

I don't suppose you guys could cook up a little sheet like you did for the attributes of an excellent encounter? Sure I could probably write it down myself but you guys probably already have it in the show notes.

I shall try to have something written up by the end of the Month, and post it here.

I don't suppose you guys could cook up a little sheet like you did for the attributes of an excellent encounter? Sure I could probably write it down myself but you guys probably already have it in the show notes.

I shall try to have something written up by the end of the Month, and post it here.

Thanks! Doesn't have to be anything super-special.

I love coming up with unique abilities for NPCs. A Drall Doctor I cooked up to be the obligation guy for a PC of mine has "Sting Like a Bee", where he gets two additional ranks in Brawl (he usually has Brawl 1) when he uses "Pressure Point". Thus he can defend himself well but only in a specific way.

My GM in an Age of Rebellion game had a great NPC:

A Drall technician who had an astromech "suit" that he could fit inside of and pilot around. It was hilarious

I don't suppose you guys could cook up a little sheet like you did for the attributes of an excellent encounter? Sure I could probably write it down myself but you guys probably already have it in the show notes.

I shall try to have something written up by the end of the Month, and post it here.

That would be awesome. I keep going over the archive podcast intending to take notes on the section where you talk about "soak 1-4 is creampuff, 5-6 is normal, 7+ is hard" etc. Or maybe that was Wounds, or... well, you get the idea. I keep getting lost in the 3 hour broadcast and end up missing what I was looking for while listening to other points.

And here you go, straight from the show-notes:

Minions:

• Wound Threshold (+ Soak) - Consider how difficult it will be to drop a minion with one average shot (base 6-7 damage weapon)

  • <6 = weak (mynock, small creature, average pedestrian)

  • 6-7 = average humanoid minion (gang member, unarmored soldier)

  • 7+ = tough minions (stormtroopers)

• Number of Minions in Group - Consider how skilled you want your minion group to be; every additional minion is an upgrade to any skills they have

  • 2 minions = weak group

  • 3 minions= average group

  • 4+ minions = tough group

• Equipment - Consider how much damage you want your PCs to take in one hit

  • <7 damage base = weak damage

  • 7-8 damage base = average damage

  • 9+ damage base = heavy damage

  • Minion's Armor = Factors into Soak + Wounds above

  • Quality of Gear

    • Use basic weapons and armor with few qualities (no Blast, Burn, Cortosis, high Pierce & Vicious, etc)

    • Typically avoid armor that grants defense (not unheard-of on minions, just rare)

• Species Qualities

  • Ignore them - Species is flavor only except for immunities (Droids and poison or vacuum, for instance)

• Characteristics

  • 1s and 2s in everything are common

  • Okay to have the occasional 3 in primary stat for a tough minion

• Putting it into Practice/Examples

  • Average group = Average Everything (Soak + Wounds, 3 per group, Average Damage)

  • Glass Cannons = Low Soak + Wounds, Average Numbers, Heavy Damage

  • Persistent Pests = High Soak + Wounds, Low Numbers, Low Damage

Rivals

• Wound Thresholds

  • <12 = Weak (typically non-combat based concept)

  • 12-15 = Average

  • 15+ = Tough rival (heavy combat based concept)

• Skills

  • Focus on 4 Skills - consider what they will need for the specific encounter (combat, social, tech)

  • 1 Primary skill with big ranks (2, rarely 3), 1s in the rest

  • Tough Rival = multiple skills with 2 ranks

  • Don’t forget to consider Cool/Vigilance

• Talents

  • 1 or 2, if any at all

  • Have it relate to their purpose (Combat, Social, Tech)

  • No more than 2 ranks are typical, 3 for a tough rival

    • Adversary 1 if they have some combat/survival ability, very rarely Adversary 2, never Adversary 3+

• Equipment

  • Weapon Damage - Per Minion above

    • Okay to have a weapon with a trick or two via Weapon Quality (Ensnare, Knockdown, Disorient, Vicious, Burn, Blast, etc)

  • Armor

    • Unless situation discourages it (i.e. heavy social encounter), have armor that provides +2 Soak or +1 Soak with Defense

• Characteristics

  • Typically 2s in everything with a couple 3s in important stats

  • 4 in primary stat for a tough Rival

• Species Qualities

  • Use as baseline for Characteristics

  • Species abilities matter for Rivals; use them

Nemesis

• Wound Thresholds - Typically better than PCs

  • <16 = Weak Nemesis

  • 16-20 = Average Nemesis

  • 21+ = Tough Nemesis

• Strain Thresholds- Typically on-par with PCs

  • <12 = Weak Nemesis

  • 12-14 = Average Nemesis

  • 15+ = Tough Nemesis

• Skills - Like Rivals, don’t overthink this

  • Focus on roughly 6 skills, with 2 skills related to primary concept

  • Most skills at 2 Ranks with concept skills at 3

  • Rarely have skills at rank 1

  • Rank 4 in primary Combat Skill = Tough Nemesis

    • Unless the PCs have skills at 3-4 ranks, then 5 is Tough Nemesis

  • Don’t forget Cool/Vigilance

• Talents/Abilities

  • Be creative, but stay focused.

    • Focus on a single specialization that matches the concept, and pick 2-3 talents

  • Ignore Specialization Trees - Take whatever you want as long as it fits the concept

  • Try to stay away from Bottom-row talents and Signature Abilities; those are the realm of "PC's Cool Tricks". Odds are you won't need them anyway.

  • Invent your own Talents/Abilities for specific effects you want

  • Most Strain-causing Talents we've seen Nemeses have do not cost Strain for the Nemesis to use (Parry and Reflect, for instance)

  • Adversary - Every Nemesis should have Adversary at least at Rank 1

    • Rank 1 - Weak Nemesis/Starting-group Nemesis

    • Rank 2 - Typical Adventure Nemesis

    • Rank 3+ - Campaign Villain

  • Force User

    • Force Rating - Better than your best PC

    • Force Powers - Upgrades beyond what your PCs have

• Characteristics

  • 3s are Average

  • 4s in Primary stats (up to two, typically), occasionally one at 5 for a tough Nemesis

  • 2s are rare, 1s practically never

• Species Qualities

  • Same as Rivals above

• Equipment

  • Typically same as Rivals above

  • Armor - Almost always have 2 Soak minimum, typically have Defense

  • Consider using Attachments and Mods

Permission sought to do these up in a PDF format with additional prose? I'll give it the same love as the Starship Dashboard.

Make it so.