SIngle Skill NPC?

[sladethesniper]

On 1/9/2024 at 10:41 AM, g33k said:

It's entirely-similar, IMO, to how a "Physicist" may understand a nuclear reaction better than than an "Engineer," but an "Engineer" has a much better grasp of a nuclear reactor !

 

[Atgxtg]

On 1/30/2024 at 9:59 AM, narsilion said:

I do something similar, ie: Viking 55-40-20

Numbers represent: crucial-secondary-other skills.

Thus i can make very specialised Viking 90-30-15 or more "jack of all trades" Viking 50-40-30

I'd be inclined to just go with Viking 50 and then just halve or quarter the skil (or up the difficulty) for secondary and "other" skills. So basically 50/25/13 but only tracking one number. 

I think the specialized/jack of all trades thing isn't noticed by players unless the NPC is around for a long time, and the players have a chance to notice it, and their ability in other categories. In that case a full character sheet is probably  warranted.

For me, in game play, I'll sometimes add a skill to a reoccurring minor NPC if it comes up in play. For instance, in one sci-fi campaign we had a minor NPC who ended up always being the one on duty when they had to fix a shuttlecraft. So after a few such encounters I added a Shuttlecraft specialty to his sheet. By then end of the campaign he was one of their "go to" guys when it came to shuttlecraft. 

I find it's actually a good way to flesh out minor characters. A minor trait or hobby can help to develop an NPC's personality or backstory. 

 

[Atgxtg]

Sorry, technical difficulties when posting. 

Edited February 19 by Atgxtg
Sorry Triple Post

[Atgxtg]

Technical difficulties when posting.

 

Edited February 19 by Atgxtg
Sorry, double post

[yangtze2000]

This reminds me of "Monster Rating" in Tunnels and Trolls. You could give a Dragon a full range of stats and a bunch of special attacks and abilities, or you could just give it a Monster Rating of 85 😆 Fun either way, but the second way is way less work for the GM, and allows a lot more flexibility for unplanned encounters on the fly.

Edited February 21 by yangtze2000

[Atgxtg]

1 hour ago, yangtze2000 said:

This reminds me of "Monster Rating" in Tunnels and Trolls. You could give a Dragon a full range of stats and a bunch of special attacks and abilities, or you could just give it a Monster Rating of 85 😆 Fun either way, but the second way is way less work for the GM, and allows a lot more flexibility for unplanned encounters on the fly.

It kinda is, and for kinda the same reason. In T&T most monsters are obstacles for the PCs to overcome, so all you really need is their combat stats, and MR lets you boils that down to one number, albeit at the loss of some details (such as armor). Likewise most minor NPCs in BRP are mooks that are obstacles for the PCs to overcome, and all you usually need are their combat stats, which typically comes down to armor, weapon damage, hit points, and skill %. In addition, a lot of the subtle differences in details don't really show up in play. Most of the time a minor NPC with a 11 STR and one with a 10 STR are the same from the viewpoint of the players. So a single skill NPC writeup can greatly reduce the size of statblocks. Especially if the GM uses generic attributes to go with it. THh D6 system generic 2D/4D NPC stats are a similar idea. 

T&T is perhaps the pinnacle of achieving that, as one number can serve for all game functions. It lets you write up a dozen or so rooms, and occupant/opponents in the space it would take to do up one full stat block. Plus in most cases you don't need a full statblock for a one shot NPC. Because T&T stats and damage are open ended, you don't have to worry about appropriate damage or hit point caps either. A hobbit swordsman who does 5d+244 in combat is quite possible, so a NPC Hobbit with MR 308 is acceptable. 

 

But the core idea is to sacrifice detail that probably wont be needed anyway for speed, simplicity, and a lower workload.