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Fellfire
Master of Realmslore
1965 Posts |
 Posted - 02 Apr 2011 : 17:32:32
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Particularly for NPC's. I ran into this quandary awhile back working on my one of my projects, and it has arisen again. How do you other DM's handle this when making a new monster type? It seems to me that advancing an NPC 10 levels for full progression is a little excessive, but in some cases I can see the merits to either approach. Has anybody else encountered this, or is it just me?
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Misanthorpe
Love is a lie. Only hate endures. Light is blinding. Only in darkness do we see clearly.
"Oh, you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but.. blinding. The shadows betray you because they belong to me." - Bane The Dark Knight Rises
Green Dragonscale Dice Bag by Crystalsidyll - check it out
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Edited by - Fellfire on 02 Apr 2011 17:51:19
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4435 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2011 : 22:12:29
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| It really depends on what sort of monster your looking to create. If its a humanoid PC then I'd look to classes and PrCs, but when it comes to actual monsters, then I'd say template. What sort of adversary are you looking to make? |
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Fellfire
Master of Realmslore
1965 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2011 : 23:09:48
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| I can give two examples. The first was when I was making a Quickling NPC. This particular quickling began dabbling in dark magics in an attempt to prolong his life. I decided to combine the Quickling with the Redcap. I still haven't figured out if I should make a Redcap Template or go the PrC route. I just really don't have enough viable abilities to go with the PrC, but from a fluff point-of-view, it seems to make more sense. Secondly, is what I'm working on now. I have a gang of wererats. The leader of the wererats is a necromancer and has been conducting vile experiments on his underlings. One of them, The Taken, are infused with Infernal essence granting them supernatural abilities similar to the Risen Fiend PrC I found at EnWorld. In this instance although the number of abilities seem to warrant giving its own PrC, adding 10 levels may make them far too powerful. |
Misanthorpe
Love is a lie. Only hate endures. Light is blinding. Only in darkness do we see clearly.
"Oh, you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but.. blinding. The shadows betray you because they belong to me." - Bane The Dark Knight Rises
Green Dragonscale Dice Bag by Crystalsidyll - check it out
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2011 : 01:48:59
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| I'd go with template if a monster is needed, PrC for characters, lol, pretty straightforward. The distinction is that a PrC is a bit dynamic and scales up with play; quickling-redcaps (silvercaps? red mercuries?) played as characters could have progression in their abilities, indeed at the epic levels they might surpass the abilities shown in their base creature entries. Templates are more stagnant, just a bunch of stats crunched into various tiers for convenient use, ie: monsters (cause problems, roll dice, get killed, dump some loot and XP, crumple page and throw away). |
[/Ayrik] |
Edited by - Ayrik on 03 Apr 2011 01:49:56 |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2011 : 03:46:39
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Especially since you are doing the Redcap as a 'one shot' - whats the point of writing-up a PrC that will only be used by one single being (theoretically)?
If you were running a fey-campaign, and other people might want to take the Corrupted Fey template, then turn it into a PrC (otherwise just keep it a template). In fact, if you are only going to use it once, you don't even need a template - just call it a 'unique creature' and you're done.
As for the wererats - definitely a template in that instance. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 03 Apr 2011 03:47:13 |
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4211 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2011 : 04:44:21
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I would go with "special" for the Quickling. You could rule that he learned enough magic to force the secret from a Redcap. I REALLY like that idea by the way: a Quickling with a Redcap! That is evil sweet 
As for the Wererats, for sure go with a template. Essentially, you can again go with "special" however and just make them an entirely new creature. You just add what you want your new Wererats to have, and call them "The Taken" and then you have a whole new monster and not something that is a Template.
I prefer creating original monsters over other things like PrCs. |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4435 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2011 : 10:58:43
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| I'd have to agree that a Template is more appropriate for the monsters your looking to create. They're much more easier to scale, often having a CR increase instead of adding levels of a class which will advance their HD by that amount. Going the PrC route is much more preferrable when you want additional spellcasting, special abilitys/powers, etc... where as a template more or less grants you small benefits that work without level progression. |
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Template or PrC
