So, first I'll admit that certainly description, the GM's ability to act, and the NPC's conduct, and actions, while figuring into the adventures is significantly important, but how do you go about building a good NPC, and not have it be too strong, or too weak? To an extent, the characters are restricted by their XP, and if I was playing d20 something, or several other options, the NPCs are built in a similar, of often tedious, time-consuming fashion as the players, which CAN help one gauge them against a player character, but this system seems to sort of say "just give the NPC what they need", and things cost differently, based on how, and when, you acquire them. What's a good way to go about this? Also, as a supporting, how do you find the block write-ups the books provide? If you've ever seen FFG's 40k stuff, they have a tendency to underpower their adversaries, and that's often before the little PC exploits/optimizations (not as much a problem here, I've read), and you figure how many players you might have. Are they good? Does the narrative quality of this game somewhat just cover it up? I'm certainly not trying to be negative of it; I just don't have a first hand experience with it, yet, to know how well the opposition works.

For instance, in an effort to run something I'm fond of, I've considered making some notes to field out Legacy Era. A great deal of the stuff is similar, with few full Jedi, the Empire (two of them, sort of), the Rebellion, and numerous other similarities. One little quandary I have, though; I'm not sure how good the rules for Inquisitors really are, and how they stand up. I've read what Darth Krayt, and his resurgent One Sith, are like, and I don't honestly know if the rules for Inquisitors could cover some of them, and do them justice, especially the couple, or so, who don't drag around a battalion of mooks, but can still be a challenge to a small/decent party. Certainly a Darth Krayt-analogue might have more Vader-like stats, as in basically none, but NPCs like Darth Talon, Darth Nihl, or Darth Azard would need to be capable of fighting, and not just getting creamed, or hiding behind everything. Feelings?

When I want to make up an NPC I usually have an encounter or idea in mind, I choose a skill or tactic to be the core focus, a particular action I want them to do. Then I eyeball the characteristics, maximum 3's for Minions, possibly 1 4 for Rivals and 4+ for Nemesis. Gear is chosen as part of the theme. Force Powers as part of the theme too.

Then once I have the character in play ill fudge things to make sure the story is engaging for the players, remove a setback here, add a boost or upgrade there, extend the wound threshold a little if necessary. Or have them give up at the right moment.

I have found that the numbers get you close to your goal of a fun story, but the way you play them is the icing on the cake.

I did a few NPC's and designed them in certain combat scenario in mind. It worked pretty well. Funny thing is that I didn't even play these NPC's, our GM did. And the characters provided to be a great tool for him to pit against us (we were having trouble, but not TOO much).

Our GM is still trying to learn the rules and such, I'm helping him out a bit as I know them bit better but I don't want to GM. So I end up making some maps for him and such.

It's actually pretty easy to make NPC's for this game. When I was trying that with the SAGA edition, it always felt like sucha chore. Here? Not so much.

Give a listen to the NPC Deli episode of the Order 66 Podcast. A lot of really really good advice and solid info on how to build and what to consider when building NPCs as well as pitfalls to avoid.

Well to open I've noticed FFG seems to have taken a story-first attitude toward Star Wars ... The shield bunker is gonna be guarded by a squad of scouts no matter your XP level, they aren't going to automatically be replaced with trained racors at a certain point.

LOL. I love this!

Agreed, and it's freeing as a GM to be able to throw down some generic stat blocks that match the general TYPE of encounter vs. the specifics you need to get into when doing something for a d20 based system.

It's one of the reasons I'm such a convert to SWRPG. Story first.

As a GM...I don't want to be in the way of my players...I want to be a partner in telling great stories set in the Star Wars universe...

That's what I like too. Upgrading Orcs every other adventure to maintain threat consistency while telling a coherent story was tedious.

It's nice to be able to just increase numbers, add sergeants, officers, use squad rules, and so on, but never have to replace all my stormtroopers with Imperial Guard or some homebrew Veteran Stormtroopers just to keep up.

I find it really easy to make NPCs. I give them 3 rank/3 Stat in a combat skill (complete with a matching weapon) and 3/3 in a utility skill (perception for a guard/negotiation for a merchant) and give them 0/2 in everything else. This would be for a rival type "named guy".

Nemesis enemies I give adversary 1 or 2 and a whole class tree, but not over use everything (dodge, side step, etc. Adversary cover all those upgrades). With a 4/4 for combat and skill(s) of choice that match tree.

With this system I never have to Stat out too much other than soak WT and ST, which I'd take the situation into account. A street merchant doesn't need high WT (say 13 WT) but his bodyguard would (maybe 16 with a soak of 6).

I don't normally Stat out minions, just use the ones in the book, but with a new face.

Of course take your group into account. My group is a lot of high damage output but almost no presence. So I've started to try to just charm them at first before they attack.

Deception against PC's works great, you can tell them any old stuff and they just believe it, meta gamers ruin it a bit though.

Deception against PC's works great, you can tell them any old stuff and they just believe it, meta gamers ruin it a bit though.

I pick pocketed them once. Someone just wouldn't let me just roll a skulduggery roll successfully without knowing what I was doing. It was pretty funny for them to chase down the guy for stealing from them. He didn't steal anything, he put a note in their pocket. Great stuff.

On topic, don't be afraid to lower NPC Stats to show how much better PCs are. I realized a few characters had anti-coercion skills, so I had a "weak" guy come up to them threatening and yelling. They weren't phased at all.