Question About NPC's

[Hiro]

I was reading a pdf of Way of the Wicked book 6 (the final one)

and I notice that the "boss" (not spoiling it for those playing the game)

has 40 Cha (with a "unique" type of human half-dragon) how the hell do you get that. (in her gear she only has a mental stat raising item at a +6 value)

And what's with teh pathfinder adventure makers seeming to pull abilities out of their ass just to add to villains (or in WotW, good guys) having abilities teh PC's can't get? No matter what they do.

[KillianHawkeye]

I was reading a pdf of Way of the Wicked book 6 (the final one)

and I notice that the "boss" (not spoiling it for those playing the game)

has 40 Cha (with a "unique" type of human half-dragon) how the hell do you get that.


And what's with teh pathfinder adventure makers seeming to pull abilities out of their ass just to add to villains (or in WotW, good guys) having abilities teh PC's can't get?

Did you just answer your own question? :smallconfused:

[PersonMan]

has 40 Cha (with a "unique" type of human half-dragon) how the hell do you get that. (in her gear she only has a mental stat raising item at a +6 value)

That's doable, actually, between templates, HD bonuses, a high base and other gear (Tome of +X Stat).

As for why they get these kinds of things, well, it's because they have to do what no PC has to: Provide a fun challenge for 4 or more people geared to be good at fighting and overcoming challenges.

A PC doesn't need to be built to withstand a party of 4 people trying to kill them, an NPC does.

[Extra Anchovies]

A PC doesn't need to be built to withstand a party of 4 people trying to kill them

They do if they're in a group of five and keep stealing the other members' stuff...

Anyways, a lot of custom non-stock NPCs have statblocks that basically started with the final numbers (AC, HP, to-hit, save DCs, etc) and were reverse-engineered from there to get the base stats. The ability scores themselves mostly don't matter as long as the end numbers are in line with the party's abilities.

[grarrrg]

Well, going by this post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=17185279&postcount=2), a CHA of 40 isn't impossible.


44 Charisma (18 base +2 racial +5 from levels +5 from mythic levels + 5 inherent + 6 enchantment, +3 venerable) or a +17 Modifier

And I'm not familiar with the adventure path, but it's probably a "mid-level" boss, so drop some Levels, and it is VERY likely not mythic, so there goes that. But the template probably makes up for some of it...

[Yanisa]

Well, going by this post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=17185279&postcount=2), a CHA of 40 isn't impossible.



And I'm not familiar with the adventure path, but it's probably a "mid-level" boss, so drop some Levels, and it is VERY likely not mythic, so there goes that. But the template probably makes up for some of it...

Hmmm... A half-dragon normally gets +2 cha... something as simple as the advanced template gives +4 cha. I bet we can get 40 charisma around level 12...

Let's see: 18 base +2 racial +6 template +3 from levels + 2 inherent + 6 enchantment + 3 venerable = 40. But even though it's level 12 it leads to CR 14 I believe (11? from class levels + 2 half dragon + 1 advanced).

So it is possible as a mid/midhigh level boss. And if the boss isn't some old crone, you can also drop the age for more inherent bonuses.



And what's with teh pathfinder adventure makers seeming to pull abilities out of their ass just to add to villains (or in WotW, good guys) having abilities teh PC's can't get? No matter what they do.
While I don't write AP's I can understand why it happens. In my group there is a "Rule Lawyer" who reads bestiaries in his free time for fun and then memorizes (poorly) the stats of monsters. When I for the first time DMed for him I quickly realized I needed to spruce up special boss encounters to keep things interesting for him. He didn't meta game strongly or anything, but still called out names and effects of abilities, which kinda ruins the immersion and surprise.

So yeah, I guess part of it is to add surprises for the PC's, especially the ones that have seen (or read) everything already. You want to make those boss fights memorable.

[Hiro]

That all makes sense I suppose

I guess I look at it from a perspective of someone trying to simply go at that campaign solo so I see these challenges like "...****e."

Oh well I guess it's because the writer's can add stuff that isn't available to PC's normally to make for a good challenge.

[NightbringerGGZ]

The character building rules largely exist for players. GMs can (and should) modify the rules and even invent new abilities in order to provide appropriate challenges for their party members. If it can be done within the normal rules, then it is usually best to do so, but if not the Rule of Fun trumps everything.

[goto124]

Not so related, but that NPC's 40 Cha isn't going to convince any PC to do its bidding.

Unless the DM has 40 RL Cha.