I´ m creating some npcs for my next combat (Ork nob) using the rules from "Into the storm" book and came up with a very tough ork. I created it just like creating a character for me to play.

Just the caracteristics are like this: WS 69, BS 42, S 68, T 60, Ag 44, Int 34, Per 35, Will 35, Fell 33. And talents like Unnatural Strenght and toughness, Sound constitution x 14, etc.

I was wondering how much you can tune your npcs and if creating and using one created like the one I made is valid.

Thanks in advance!

You may be interested in ''The Koronus Bestiary'' p71, there is a profile for Nob with all the stats, talents, traits and equipements

Specifically for your profile tho, i think its very unlikely that a Nob would have 42 BS and he would probly be a bit overpowered with 68 S, 60 T with unnatural stats

And what about the tuning, the npcs in the bestiary (and in any other book) looks like they are for rank 1 characters and my players are rank 7. Should i add +10 or +20 to the characteristics? Add a few traits and talents?

One time I used bloodletters "by the book" and they literally melted in 2 rounds. They (players) were rank 3 or 4.

I personally would not use PC generation rules for NPCs.

The developers do not follow those rules in creating NPCs so why should you? Besides there's plenty you can just take from and use as a baseline.

I see, thank you guys for the advice.

Sometimes, you just have to be careful with stats; yes, this system is rife with stat blocks for "Baby's First Adventure" (Rank 1-2), and it suffers from a terrible case of not wanting to reference other books of its own line, as they couldn't be sure you'd drop the coin (sometimes I appreciate this, sometimes I don't), but they occasionally try to make something that approximates the entry in a 40k codex, and these rarely change much, even as your group does. Also, little in these books can compete with a party's ability to tweak, twink, and cherry-pick between them, making a group that can take anything else not optimized, which can be hard to build around. Sometimes, just adding to their stats makes it seem like less of an accomplishment for the party to have gotten to where they are. We used to discuss some of the NPC Rogue Traders, like those presented in Lure of the Expanse, Edge of the Abyss, and the Warpstorm Trilogy , because their stats were meh, their ships were rather stock, and they rarely described much of what the individuals had for their own retinues, aside from some mercs they might employ, or household guards/oathsworn that are stock. Now, you might be able to say this is a nice opportunity to flesh them out yourself, and not feel limited by what they structured, or to deal with whatever level your party is at, when you decide to have them tackle it, but to me, it smacked of a party, with 4-8 "optimized" Arms Masters, Void Masters, Explorators, and Astropath Transcedants, replete with super-gear, and a min-maxxed ship, against a bunch of low-threat fools, who don't have a chance, and, if you just readjust them, so that they have comparable stuff, it might feel like the party had to work, and for nothing really "unique", as all of these also have the same stuff.

The Nob has a rather high Ballistic Skill; I'm not sure most Orks ever get that good, but then I'm comparing to the TT game, where even Ork Lord of War units, like Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka have BS 2, which is worse than typical Guardsmen (TT BS 3, RT BS 30?). You might actually want the gun to matter, so it might work. One thing for him, though, will be what other Boyz he drags along. A Nob's not a Boss, but he hopes to be, and he already throws his weight around, trying to show them he's big'nuff. As much as he might need good stats to stand up to a party, he will have possibly a lot of other Orks, boosting him, and padding out his health. Probably not saying anything you don't already know, though. Here's hoping it works out. Best of luck!

Balancing encounters is very gear based as well as stats. Rather than simply trying to match the PCs in raw stats sometimes its better to use complicating factors to even things up to make an encounter challenging.

Ideas like a battle in a ship flooded with gas that might explode, combat next to the main plasma drive, fights in an electromagnetic field that prevents tech functioning, combat in a vacuum (any damage through armour may breach) , combat underwater (most ranged weapons don't work), enemy have a hostage who the pcs need alive etc. etc.

Avoid straight fights as pcs generally have a ton of advantages and better gear.

Also remember that for a Rogue Trader, everything comes out of their pocket, and anything blown up is potentially lost capital-or a potential asset denied to an enemy. A dynasty is liable to set charges on a hulk or conduct an orbital bombardment on anything they do not want in order to deny it to their opponents. By the same token, what can make or break a dynasty is deciding what is worth fighting for-the group should never just find themselves in combat just because. There is always a goal, if only to escape an ambush, mishap or disaster. Think about why the PCs are there, in place of a negotiator, diplomat, or company of armsmen. The usual answer is either happenstance-getting caught with their pants down in a dangerous situation-or personally overseeing a task too delicate, complicated, sensitive, difficult, or simply important to trust even your best underlings.

Now with that in mind, encounters should usually not be as simple as 'kill them all'. Whatever task or situation drew them in should be more involved; an ambush will usually be either a small cadre of elite assassins, necessitating not simply killing them, but out thinking them and identifying their source-or an endless stream of soldiers trying to pin them down and overwhelm them, and the goal is to escape and understand the situation. For clearing a hulk or taking an enemy ship, your goal should be to fight onto the bridge and prevent the enemy from escaping or scuttling the ship-a time sensitive problem in confined combat, where numbers mean little and the quality of the team is paramount. You might explore an alien ruin in person, where unusual conditions could break the minds of lesser people or dangerous knowledge/tech must be prevented from circulating among the crew. While other comments here can provide a particular answer, think about why the characters are drawn into personal combat to begin with, and work back the nuts and bolts of the encounter from there.

Wow, these are very good advices. Thanks guys.

Definitely second @ViperMagnum357 - When the explorers have a kilometre long warship with city-vaporising guns and hundreds of armsmen at their disposal, there is a limit to how often they have to get their hands dirty, and they should never really have to face a 'fair' fight.

Formal settings - when dealing with fellow nobility on Port Wander or Damaris - is another good option.

"No."

"But..."

"It's a high society dinner with lots of influential Navy and Ecclesiarchy figures. You cannot bring a man-portable plasma cannon."

Equally, assassination attempts on the ship, or in port. Part of the reason Rogue Traders like force-field jewellery, posh-looking swords and ridiculously high-impact sidearms is that they are socially acceptable everywhere, and it's not unreasonable that they even sleep with them (or at least within a half action's reach for a Light Sleeper talent). Given that powered armour only lasts a couple of hours on a power cell, and takes something like a quarter of an hour to get in and out of, it is not something explorers have on them at all times. Getting armoured up at the same time their ship beats to quarters? fair enough. On your way to supper?