NPC Creation

[Manic Typist]

I've never made an NPC. Technically, I've never even made a character, either. I've only had one "true" character, and the GM made him.

 

That said.

 

For my campaign, I would like to draw up the major NPCs in advance. You know, the Big Boss and his Liuetenants.

 

Is anyone out there willing to help me come up with powers/entire sheets if I post the outline of the character?

 

Basically, I'm asking you to do the work for me, but I'm hoping that by having you show me the best way to do it, it will lead to a better gaming experience for my players.

 

Not to mention, you will get free NPC ideas...

[Captain Obvious]

Re: NPC Creation

 

You should know by now that anything you throw out will have at least three power-builds suggested for it...

[Ndreare]

Re: NPC Creation

 

Of course we will.

 

Go ahead and post some ideas and you will soon after see characters come up.

[Manic Typist]

Re: NPC Creation

 

Alrighty, I guess I will get to work on it then.

 

I just feel bad assuming that people would be willing, even though I suspected that was the case.

 

Update soon.

[Ndreare]

Re: NPC Creation

 

If you post your ideas tonight I should be able to have a write up for you my tomarrow night.

[Manic Typist]

Re: NPC Creation

 

Alright. I can give you one.

 

This is the "Big Boss." Since he is the "final villain," I had intended him to be built on the scale of 150 (the characters' starting points) +50 +50+ 50 = 300 (+50 for each character in campaign, a total of 3 characters).

 

His premise is that he is the head of the local political body that is least likely to have been behind the ultimate scheme to take over the city. Search for my "Semona" campaign for a little more in the way of details. He is the leader of the House, and he is a disgraced member of another House who has been forced to "take the white" (give up all his power and position by adopting the color white and joining House Ivory, or die). He has been slowly manuevering his House so that it could take over everything.... through an elaborate mind control plot. However, he has no talent with magic or psionicsm himself. He HAD hired outside help.... but that is another Major Battle, hehe.

 

So, a bitter, resentful Earl (official title) in charage of a House that is normally the weakest... except that he has secretly been gearing it for war.

 

Twist: he has recently had commisioned a major artifcat to grant him virtual immortality: a portrait of himself, like the one presented in "Dorian Gray." Anything that happens to him, instead happens to the painting. Thus, any aging, knife wounds, burns, posioning, whatever: all of it is transferred to the painting, which has a visual correlation to what happened. Hopefully the PCs will catch on as how to best defeat this man...

 

The painting is pretty much a plot device, but it would be useful to see it statted out so that I can judge some of his stats. While he cannot be killed while the painting exists, he can be Stunned, and certainly he feels pain. The blades sink into his body, but the damage just doesn't... well, his body doesn't react like it is human. But that is SFX.

 

He is from a city that prizes swashbuckling. Think "Three Musketeers." Rapiers and sabres are the weapon of the gentleman. However, he has served in the military, where they fight using more convetional swords and shields that are appropriate for the true battlefield. Indeed, his disgrace stems from his days serving. He is a skilled swordsman.

 

Anything else?

 

Man, I'm tired. I think I will try to do a campaign synopsis in the near future, for help in other areas as well as this.

 

Was that at all useful?

[Ndreare]

Re: NPC Creation

 

Sorry about not responding. I had some important stuff come up. I will start on the character today after church.

Unless someone else makes something first then who knows.

 

I will use a standard noble package and include some fighting skills. One thing I need to know is will you be comfortable if he has martial arts. If you are not skilled with the system then a few martial arts maneuvers can through you off balance as you will spend type looking for the right one as opposed to knowing whit one you need.

 

Since he does not posses magic or psionics powers himself I assume he is meant to be skill and influence based. I will through in a lot of skill levels to show that he is good at most things he does. Also if you do not mind I can through in a couple contacts but leave them undefined.

 

I will post again latter.

[Ndreare]

Re: NPC Creation

 

As I have made him he is a skilled fighter but by no means a master of combat. He is designed to be a leader and political threat able o set the players up and have others do the actual work of killing. If cornered he will be able to defend himself a little but by no means a match for a 150 point dedicated warrior.

 

I also gave him contacts to represent his allies both amongst the elite and less elite of the area he lives in. as you did not give him his name neither did I.

 

Also he is given some “Overall Levels” to show that as someone who is driven and experienced he is more capable than most people of similar skill level. This approach was also used to show his mastery over skills in general rather than raising all of them individually. For his regeneration I did not include “Decreased Re-use Duration” based on it not being part of the official build, however in my games I require it and if you chose to use it would make the power cost 44 points.

 

For limitations without knowing more about your game I do not know what to add for you.

 

Also I did not remove much from his martial arts. I would recommend selecting three or four maneuvers and deleting the rest. As he is he is well over your ideal points range but he is easily trimmed down by removing those martial arts.

 

If you do not have hero designer I attached a zip or the character sheet. (boards will not let me post a html directly.

[Manic Typist]

Re: NPC Creation

 

I love it! It is excellent! I'm going to go over my notes later today (I hope) and post more information about Semona, both for my own benefit as well as for others!

 

Quick question: where could I find a description of the martial maneuvers so that I can narrate them to the players?

[Manic Typist]

Re: NPC Creation

 

Posted a thread that provides more information about my campaign, so when I finalize a few more character outlines and post them, more reference would be available.

[Ndreare]

Re: NPC Creation

 

The martial Arts come from Ultimate Martial Artist. I normaly do not make characters with more than 20 points in martial arts, however as I did not know enough about the character to know if he is offensive or deffensive in his fighting technique I just gave him the whole package and thaught to let you remove the ones you do not like.

 

As for the skills I got the impression he is not a personal engagement sort so I gave him enough skill to take out a couple knights but not enough to take out a couple normal PC's.

 

PS: Thanks for the rep.

[Manic Typist]

Re: NPC Creation

 

Alrighty, here's another.

 

This one is a Lieutenent. Points: 150 (starting) +25+25+25= 225 points.

 

Veezeron is the head mage of House Ocher.He has secretly manipulated his House and its troops for the sake of the Ivory Earl. The reason for this is twofold: heavy bribes and the desire for power, coupled with the threat against his favorite, twelve-year old niece in case he should suddenly develop a conscious (or get uppity in any other way). He also is responsible for dealing with the precise method of mind control being used from the illithid and imbued into the fabrics that Ivory bleaches.

 

He specializes in illusion magic, and is rather strong.

 

He is a habitual drug user.

 

He has studied illicit magics enough that he can perform the ceremonies necessary involving the illithid brain fluid, but I would prefer him to not have much (if any) mind control. That can be annoying, so I am reserving that for the illithid.

 

House Ocher is known for its fondness of poisions.

 

Ideas?

[Manic Typist]

Re: NPC Creation

 

Another one, if anyone suddenly has a flash of insight as to any suggestions they could give me:

 

Lieutenent: 225 points.

 

Breek is a mercenary captain hired by Ivory two years ago to secretly train the Ivory soldiers and make them a more credible fighting force. Several squads of his troops and their officers are also being kept on the paylist in order to aide in the training and provide additional reinforcement for when Ivory finally makes its move.

 

Breek is human, male, with long, golden hair. He is an expert swordsman and is skilled with most other hand to hand weapons. He is decent with ranged weaponry, but prefers to use those as distractions or openers for more serious attacks. He has both his rapier and fencing dagger sheated for a right hand draw, with the hilts crossed. He usually fights with the rapier in his right hand, but once he realizes he is facing someone worth his time and effort, he will swap over to his left hand (since that is his actual favored hand), and will then actually try. If the foe is truly impressive, he will then draw the dirk into his off (right) hand.

 

Breek is a bit vain, but is extremely cunning and competent. He is understandably overconfident. He does not believe he can be beaten in single combat, and only looses his cool when his looks (clothing, hair, face, whatever) are damaged.

 

Suggestions?

[Manic Typist]

Re: NPC Creation

 

Hm. Thread seems to have dried up lately. Ah, no worries. I'll eventually get around to desining these fellows myself (I hope) and post them for review. At the very least, hopefully these ideas will prove useful to others to create some NPCs for their own usage. In the meantime, another idea, and one that I could desperately use help with.

 

Rorsch was a candyseller who doted upon the children of "Semona's Grace Number 5," an orphanage in the city. He would often give the children a few sweets for free on their birthdays. However, he was one of the first test cases for the new mind controlling cloth being used by House Ivory. The cloth was imbued with a rather simple command: "Arm yourself. Kill the children."

 

The result is that Rorsch has been driven completely insane. The mind control spell has been constantly pushing him to do what his conscience would ever consider, and the conflicting impulses have wreaked a terrible toll on his mind. Finally, he snapped and was committed.

 

However, the magic eventually won out, and then a rival of one of the PC's released Rorsch from his cell. Rorsch has cut off his own eyelids so that he could better "watch his hands," and performed other desecrations to his own body (such as sharpening his own fingers down to sharp talons?). He has become very animalistic and feral, revertinng to a more bestial and predatory nature in response to his flight from sanity.

 

I want Rorsch to be an individual challenge for the PC, who is a fire mage. I'm hoping to create a very creepy, night time horror of trying to save these children while hunting something that is no longer human.

 

Considering Rorsch's altered state of mind, I intend to give him some very unique stats and abilities reflecting this. For instance, increased Running, Perception, and a few hunting related skills to create his more animalistic nature. STR of around 20-25 (the highest the PC has is I believe 15), and a higher amount of Con/Stun to reflect his complete lack of regard for his own physical condition. He is so far gone that he doesn't care if he breaks bones or snaps ligaments, etc. Perhaps some increased Leaping....

 

For some imagery, think of Reavers or the ghouls from 28 Days Later .

 

Any other thoughts on skills, powers, or other body modifications that this pitiful creature might have now that he has dedicated his entire body to killing the children he once so dearly cared for?

[War Cry]

Re: NPC Creation

 

Well, if his mind has so snapped where he regularly performs self mutilation on himself, damage reduction would be a good one, and if you want him to be the antogonist for a fire mage, he should have some way to deal with fire.

From the description you've given, he sounds like a classic hit and run combatant. A high stealth or even limited form of invisibility and/or teleport would be good. For extra fun, make him invisible to danger/combat sense and any type of mental sense if your players have those abilities. Animalistic and feral you say? My answer to that is poison/bacteria. You are in no danger of him stabbing you to death, but given your description of his current state, any wounds he inflicts should cause some kind of nasty infection.

 

Just for giggles, here's a fun little power that should sufficiently cause enough fear.

 

Scream in the night

5D6 EB, AOE line, NND, limited range 10", does no damage, stun rolled is only to determine if targets are stunned, only vs living sentient beings, incant throughout

plus - +20 PRE, only to cause fear and terror, incant throughout

 

Our bad guy jumps out of the darkness, screaming like a banshee. Any one caught in range of this is likely to be so scared they stand there and do nothing but wet themselves, curl up in ball crying for mommy, or run away like a bat out of hell. Baddie does a move by on an unarmored location and disappears into the night. Rinse and repeat as necessary.

 

I gave no cost. I never bother with points when it comes to NPC's. I make them as strong or as weak as the conception and scenario warrants.

 

If you're really interested in how I would write up some one like this, drop me a PM.

 

Oh, and Kewl character. I am stealing this idea when/if I start my campaign.

[Manic Typist]

Re: NPC Creation

 

All great ideas, and in line with what I'm looking for. I had already planned on narrating out some creepy screams, but I hadn't thought of actually making it an attack... nice.

 

Hit and run tactics are perfect for what I was already planning. There will be a lot of urban terrain and built up snow in the environment, which would provide plenty of cover for sneaking around and attacking from unexpected angles.

 

 

Let me give you an example of what I intend to narrate to the character tomorrow night, concerning his description of the mental ward cell and Rorsch's first appearance:

 

"As you walk down the corridor to Rorsch’s cell, the only sounds are those of your boot steps reverberating down the corridor. The silence strikes at you. The last time you walked these halls, it was filled with the noise of delusional inmates. Now you are alone with just the torchlight and your bumbling guide. Finally, Rorsch’s cell slowly comes up upon you in the dark. The aide gestures helplessly towards the door, and looks like he is about to be sick. Stepping inside the room, you are assaulted with the smell of blood. Lying in the middle of the room is the corpse of one of the orderlies who makes the rounds through this ward. He is underneath the empty bed frame; face up, with a horrified look upon his face. He has been pinned to the floor with the metal legs of the bed, with each limb being staked at the four corners of the bed into the stone floor beneath. Upon further examination, you discover that the orderly’s innards have been ripped out and stuffed inside the pillowcase. The body has been filled with the feathers from the pillow. You then notice the writing on the walls. The words seem to have been etched into the stone, slowly and over some time: ‘Watch my hands. Think of the children. Watch my hands think of the children. Watch my hands.’ As you dash down the corridor, the inmates begin to scream as never before. Their raucous hollering is deafening, and the metal frames of their cell doors rattle in their bindings…

 

… You finally come to the orphanage. The city streets were deserted as you stumbled through the snow, with only your own rasping breath and horrible thoughts to keep you company. As you come stumbling into the main foyer, you hear shrieks from upstairs. You race up the stairwell and find the door from which the sound of children being murdered emanates. You slam the door open and storm in with words of power burning across your lips….

 

To find three little girls engaged in a fierce pillow fight. All of them stop and look up at you expectantly. Their joyful giggles die away as they hold their breaths, wondering at your intrusion. Your heart is hammering in your chest as the feathers begin to float down through the air. As you gaze around the room in befuddlement, your vision settles on the window. There is a form there. Crouched upon the windowsill is a thin, emaciated humanoid shape. The glass fogs up as he breathes upon the window, his eyes inches from the glass. His face is sheathed in crusted blood, and you notice that he doesn’t blink. His eyelids have been cut off. His eyes caress the room with a hunger that doesn’t belong in a human face. The last thing you notice, beyond his knotted hair and lack of clothing, are that his fingers taper to a sharp point and that white bone gleams in the dim moonlight. Then his eyes widen and he comes crashing through the glass and slams into you. You go soaring though the air and collide with the wall. As your eyesight refocuses, you catch sight of Rorsch framed in the doorway. His chest heaves with each breath he takes, and his skin seems to be stretched too tight so that all of his muscles and bones stand out in sharp detail. His tongue hangs out, and it is pierced with several jagged pieces of metal. Then he whirls and dives towards the panicking children, and the door slams shut in your face. The screams sound entirely different this time. "

[War Cry]

Re: NPC Creation

 

Yup. We're on the same page on this guy.

 

I'll have a write up for you in the next couple of days.

 

Snow will make him easier to track, but that is easily fixed. BWAHAHAHA!

 

And I have a couple of more nifty skills/powers that are going to make this guy uber creepy and very difficult to find and capture or kill - without doing very much to his basic stat line.

 

Oh, and one more thing..............

 

 

 

 

 

Nah, I'll let it be a surprise.

[Manic Typist]

Re: NPC Creation

 

Oh, now I'm all giddy.

 

I've thought of the snow bit. I can't wait to tell the PC that he dived into the snowbank, and then let him throw a fireball at the spot where he disappeared.

 

One roar of flame and a quickly cooling puddle later... the PC sees a hole where Rorsch has tunnled off...

[Manic Typist]

Re: NPC Creation

 

Just so you guys know, I ran with a prototype version of Rorsch.

 

I handed the player a flashlight, and had one for myself, and I cut the rest of the lights.

 

I spooked them but good.

 

It was awesome.

[War Cry]

Re: NPC Creation

 

Kewlness.

 

Lighting goes a long way to enforcing the mood.

 

Scared players are usually good players.

 

On a side note, I ran some of my older characters against the write-up I sent you. I discovered that when I ran CK like a cold efficient stalker, he hosed them. If it turned into a stand up fight, they got hurt pretty bad but were able to take him down. During the day - no contest, he was killed in one phase.

(I used 3 former characters from varying archetypes - a light warrior that weighed in at 256pts, a mage at 207, a half orc ranger at 189, and a elven thief at 222. that's over 700 points that were brutally murdered by this freak)

[phookz]

Re: NPC Creation

 

Jeez, how do you *not* rep someone for a post like this (The introduction of Rorsch above)? Great mood setting piece; plenty of horror elements, and the way you build up the character description is just plain creepy; Good Job! I feel sorry for your player's sanity, and envious of them at the same time