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how do you set "level" of NPC?


tgcb

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A random thought just occurred to me, you could probably portray a "realistic" version without prep by using a d100 roll and using a bell curve to see how good a random NPC is at something. Most of the time you'd get the stereotypical "average", but every once and a while you'll have some deadly bandits and some hilariously incompetent guards.

It is certainly possible, but the very high results could create a problem for the internal

logic of the setting, because it could become difficult to explain why there suddenly is a

true master swordsman (or whatever) no one has ever heard of before. This may be ac-

ceptable once or twice in a campaign, but it becomes quite implausible if it happens mo-

re often.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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I guess it's supposed to be funny to insult someone for asking a question. Classy. Do you feel better now that you've put him down?

I didn't think anything of it. I've learned long ago not to take anything personal on the Internet. And to be honest, I found it mildly humorous. But, thanks for "defending me"...now let's all just relax and be friendly.

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Trying to make a system of difficulty for BRP has been somewhat difficult in the 20 years I have been playing the game. What I usually end up doing is basing my enemies off the stats of the PC's. For weaker combats -20% off the highest combat score of the PC's is what I have found to be a simple rule of thumb. For a good threat combat -10% off the highest combat skill is good. For an epic combat, combat skills = to those of the PCs will make for high adventure.

More important is the number of enemies compared to the number of PCs. less that the PCs will be a low threat encounter, equal numbers is a good fight (even with slightly lower combat stats), and more enemies than PCs is a good way to get them killed, especially in a modern setting where they can be engaged by multiple threats simultaneously (two or three guys opening up with shotguns or on burst/full auto will pretty much ensure that 1 PC per round is going down). This is how people are trained...pick the biggest threat and engage it till it dies...spreading out damage evenly is poor tactics.

Additionally with bigger numbers of NPCs vs smaller PC groups is that they can use fire and maneuver to lay on the hurt and unless the PCs gain and maintain the initiative...they will be reacting to the NPCs and with the fast pace of combat in BRP, they may have little to no time to reverse that trend.

-STS

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c/p from my homebrew rules that may be of use here:

Because BRP Vhraeden has no level system, it is somewhat challenging for a novice GM to set the appropriate amount of challenge for a group of characters. This is easily remedied by use of Ability Levels. There are 10 Ability Levels, and they are appropriate for characters as well as NPC's. A beginning character is usually considered Average or Above Average. The Ability Level is determined by adding together all of the percentages of a beings skills, abilities, and statistic checks. That number is the Ability Level for that being.

Ability Level Descriptor

0% to 1000% Novice, max skill 30%

1000% to 1200% Rookie, max skill 40%

1201% to 1400% Green , max skill 45%

1401% to 1600% Trained, max skill 50%

1601% to 2000% Average, max skill 55%

2001% to 2500% Above Average, max skill 60%

2501% to 3000% Experienced, max skill 70%

3001% to 3500% Elite, max skill 80%

3501% to 4000% Expert, max skill 90%

4501% to 5000% Awesome, max skill 95%

5001%+ World Class, max skill 98% or above depending on setting

By using this you can see how a world class character is at least 5 times as powerful as a novice or a rookie, but remember that this is only as an individual...a world class character will almost never be alone, they will usually have at least one Awesome cohort and several Experts or at the very least Elites in tow. They also have huge amounts of resources which allow them access to all sorts of ability boosting goodies. This is important to remember, since many RPG's have the idea that a “major character” must have freakish ability scores and ridiculous amounts of "power" in order to be important.

That theory is utterly ridiculous. If an enemy warlord has a high leadership skill and actually delivers on his promises to his subordinates, there is no reason why a very “low level” NPC can not command the undying loyalty of some very high level cohorts. This is essential to understand when creating NPC’s for you characters to interact with. A major foil does not need to be an insanely old, ridiculously powerful warlord or wizard, but it could simply be their neighbor who knows somebody that owes them a favor or two.

(Basically it turns it into a point buy system)

-STS

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Interesting point. And depending on the campaign, it fits many adventure genres, too. How many times have you read a novel or seen a movie where the hero struggles to overcome the Big Bad's minions and then his powerful lieutenants? But when the protagonist finally confronts the villain, he turns out to be some dude the hero could easily kick around the office -- if he could figure out the bad guy's identity and actually get his hands on him. That's why villains always seem to have secret doors, holdout weapons, stunt doubles, and other dirty tricks up their sleeves: to enable them to escape at the last minute. ;D

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That's why villains always seem to have secret doors, holdout weapons, stunt doubles, and other dirty tricks up their sleeves: to enable them to escape at the last minute. ;D

That is where the villain's skill points (and character points, or points of 'value') go, hence they are actually tougher from a general survival perspective (but comparatively weak from a purely "physical-combat-is-the-only-way" type of RPG approach).

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Something I can't grasp at the moment (among many other things), is how a GM knows how strong/powerful to make an NPC or group of NPC's in order to challenge the

This may not quite answer or question or be of use, apologies if not.

Players like to roll dice. It is exciting.

Players like to be agents of their own success or failure.

Rarely (not never but rarely) is it exciting for them to watch the GM roll dice.

So I now get my players to make all rolls.

Does player hit foe? Roll against against Weapon/Attack.

Does player block foe? Roll against Weapon/Parry

Does player spot foe? Roll against Perception/see/spot hidden

Does player sneak past guard? Roll against Stealth/Sneak/Move Quietly

All I do is decide what the default is.

Goons default Fail - so if player fails no big problem, but fumbling a parry for example means they get hit badly

EDIT: or they succeed minimally (I.e. hit for minimum rollable damage) by default so that there is a reason for players to attempt a roll, this is all much clearer in play than it is reading in my post

Significant NPCs default Success - so player failing is bad

Al

Edited by Al.

Rule Zero: Don't be on fire

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A random thought just occurred to me, you could probably portray a "realistic" version without prep by using a d100 roll and using a bell curve to see how good a random NPC is at something. Most of the time you'd get the stereotypical "average", but every once and a while you'll have some deadly bandits and some hilariously incompetent guards.

I have done similar a couple of times in Stormbringer games for PCs. (Inspired by a comment in the bestiary which recommends just rolling d100 for skill of a new creature if unsure)

It is quite fun and fitting for the bonkers nature of early Stormbringer but it does not half take a long time (if I were adopting it seriously as a mechanic I would obviously automate)

Rule Zero: Don't be on fire

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I have done similar a couple of times in Stormbringer games for PCs. (Inspired by a comment in the bestiary which recommends just rolling d100 for skill of a new creature if unsure)

It is quite fun and fitting for the bonkers nature of early Stormbringer but it does not half take a long time (if I were adopting it seriously as a mechanic I would obviously automate)

Never really thought of doing that. You could make it easier by using an extra d10 and not noting a skill until the first time it is used. How you could do it is:

Roll d100 and an extra d10.

if the d10 is 1-5 then the skill succeed and the NPC rolled exactly its skill value.

If the d10 is 6-10 then the skill failed by 1

E.g. roll is 27, d10 is 4, then the skill succeeded so the NPC's skill is 27%. (This may have been modified so you may want to reverse engineer the modifiers.)

If the d10 roll was 8 then the skill failed by 1 point so the NPC's skill must be 26%

Extra wrinkles, 01-05 always succeeds and 96-00 always fails so the dice roll doesn't tell you the skill (except see below).

If the d10 is a 1-2 and the skill roll is 10-30 - the NPC rolled a special so it's skill equals roll * 5

If the d10 is a 1-2 and the skill roll is 1-9 - the NPC rolled a critical so it's skill equals roll * 20

Sort of wacky but might be fun.

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