NPCs - Buzo and more

[Dangersaurus]

Some quick non-spoilery NPCs from my campaign notes, a trainer, the city watch, a merchant and a wizard:

(Looking at the higher level fighters, you may notice some numbers after Combat Dominance: I've changed this so that you gain 1 attack/2 levels against 0-level humanoids and creatures with 1d6 or lower hit dice - much more like the AD&D rule. I also grant it to rangers, barbarians, knights and paladins, but at 1 attack/3 levels).

BUZO GORESNOUT

Male Half-Orc Ftr5/Brb5

Neutral

MOVE: 30 ft.

HP: 50

AC: 14 (chain shirt), 15 (w/buckler)

BtH: +5

ATTACKS: 1 expert two-handed sword (+9, 2d6+4)

XP:

STR: 17 P

DEX: 10

CON: 19 P

INT: 10

WIS: 8

CHA: 6

SPECIAL: Darkvision, enhanced smell, martial prowess (+1), resistant to disease (+2), two-handed sword specialization (+1), combat dominance (2), combat sense, primal force (+2), primal fury, primal might.

LANGUAGES: Orc, common, dwarf.

EQUIPMENT: Chain shirt, buckler, expert two-handed sword (+1 hit/damage).

TREASURE: 22gp, 44sp, 102cp, 3x 50gp gems.

Buzo operates a fighting school in the Training Grounds.. He usually has plenty of room for new students, as his methods take much out of his students - weaker students may not survive. Each week of training at Buzo's school causes 1d6 damage to a student.

Buzo is a humongous half-orc with brown skin and black hair. The enormous tusks and snout which give him his name are frequently flecked with the remains of his meals - whether these were alive or dead when consumed is a subject of much whispered debate at Buzo's school.

Buzo loves animals, but his pets don't last long. He usually has a new pet every few weeks.

CITY WATCH

Male or Female Human

Neutral

MOVE: 30 ft.

HD: 1 (d6)

HP: 5

AC: 14 (ring mail, medium shield)

BtH: +1

ATTACKS: 1 short sword (+2, 1d6+1), or 1 club (+1, 1d6+1)

XP: 5+1

STR: 14 P

DEX: 12 P

CON: 14 P

INT: 9

WIS: 9

CHA: 9

LANGUAGES: Common.

EQUIPMENT: Ring mail or studded leather, medium shield, short sword, club.

TREASURE: 1d6sp.

This is a typical member of the city watch. They are trained in the use of short swords, clubs, glaives and spears. In emergencies they can be called upon to defend the city.

CITY WATCH CAPTAIN

Male or Female Human Ftr5

Neutral

MOVE: 30 ft.

HP: 35

AC: 15 (mail shirt, medium shield)

BtH: +5

ATTACKS: 1 short sword (+7, 1d6+2), or 1 club (+6, 1d6+1)

XP:

STR: 14 P

DEX: 12 P

CON: 14 P

INT: 10

WIS: 10

CHA: 12

SPECIAL: short sword specialization (+1), combat dominance (2).

LANGUAGES: Common.

EQUIPMENT: Mail shirt or scale mail, medium shield, short sword, club, potion of cure light wounds.

TREASURE: 2d8sp, 2d4gp.

This is a typical captain of the city watch that has risen through the ranks. A captain with a different background will typically be specialized in a different weapon.

CITY WATCH LIEUTENANT

Male or Female Human Ftr2

Neutral

MOVE: 30 ft.

HP: 14

AC: 15 (mail shirt, medium shield)

BtH: +2

ATTACKS: 1 short sword (+4, 1d6+2), or 1 club (+3, 1d6+1), or 1 silence stone (+3, 1d2 + special)

XP:

STR: 14 P

DEX: 11 P

CON: 14 P

INT: 9

WIS: 9

CHA: 11

SPECIAL: short sword specialization (+1).

LANGUAGES: Common.

EQUIPMENT: Mail shirt or scale mail, medium shield, short sword, club, 1d3+1 silence stones.

TREASURE: 2d8sp.

This is a typical lieutenant of the city watch that has risen through the ranks. A lieutenant with a different background will typically be specialized in a different weapon. Lieutenants that advance beyond 5th level are typically promoted to captain.

Lieutenants usually carry a handful of silence stones, which they issue out if needed to fight spellcasters. See City Watch Sergeants for a description of silence stones.

CITY WATCH SERGEANT

Male or Female Human Ftr1

Neutral

MOVE: 30 ft.

HP: 7

AC: 14 (ring mail, medium shield)

BtH: +1

ATTACKS: 1 short sword (+3, 1d6+2), or 1 club (+2, 1d6+1), or 1 silence stone (+2, 1d2 + special)

XP:

STR: 14 P

DEX: 11 P

CON: 14 P

INT: 9

WIS: 9

CHA: 10

SPECIAL: short sword specialization (+1).

LANGUAGES: Common.

EQUIPMENT: Ring mail or studded leather, medium shield, short sword, club, silence stone.

TREASURE: 1d12sp.

This is a typical sergeant of the city watch. Sergeants are issued silence stones, which cause 1d2 damage when thrown. The target must also make a wisdom save with a challenge class of 8 or become mute for 1d6 turns.

GAREGH

Human Male Ftr8

Lawful Neutral

MOVE: 20 ft.

HP: 53

AC: 17 (expert banded mail)

BtH: +8

ATTACKS: 1 +1 bearded axe (+13, 3d4+5)

XP:

STR: 16P

DEX: 12

CON: 15P

INT: 13

WIS: 13P

CHA: 14

SPECIAL: Bearded axe specialization (+2), combat dominance (4), detect shoplifters.

LANGUAGES: Common, dwarf, gnome, elf.

EQUIPMENT: Banded mail, +1 bearded axe, ring of mirror images (4 images, 2/day), horn of valhalla (silver), potion of cure serious wounds.

TREASURE: 70gp, 210sp, 3x 50gp gems. Garegh does not keep any more than what wealth he needs on him at any time. Undoubtedly he has much more hidden away.

Garegh is a dwarvish-looking human of middle age. He has black and gray hair, a balding pate, and rock hard muscles. He usually wears his signature expert banded mail, the best to be had in the city-state.

Garegh had a long career as a sellsword around Talarumy Bay. He's always happy to tell stories about his exploits, but never "talks shop" about former employers. Since retiring, he opened up Garegh's Equipment Shoppe, and it has been a success for nearly a decade. His rivalry with Catlob is a friendly one, as Garegh specializes in martial equipment and Catlob concentrates on strange and wondrous items. Garegh has access to many expert and masterwork weapons and armors.

Garegh once saved the life of the wizard Leshpa. In return, the wizard granted Garegh the ability to detect shoplifters at will within the confines of his shoppe.

LESHPA

Male Human Wiz15

Neutral

MOVE: 30 ft.

HP: 35

AC: 17 (bracers, amulet, dex)

BtH: +4

ATTACKS: 1 staff of fire (+3, 1d6-1)

XP:

STR: 8

DEX: 14

CON: 13 P

INT: 18 P

WIS: 16

CHA: 12 P

SPECIAL: Spells.

SPELLS: 6/7/11/6/4/4/3/2/1

*Orisons/Cantrips: Arcane mark, ghost sound, light, mage hand, message, prestidigitation.

*1st: Animate rope, charm person, feather fall, magic missile, shield, mage armor.

*2nd: Detect thoughts, enhance attribute, flaming sphere, fog cloud, forget, invisibility, Leshpa's scorching ray, mirror image, ray of enfeeblement, shatter, vocalize.

*3rd: Deep slumber, dispel magic, fly, hold person, lightning bolt, suggestion.

*4th: Arcane eye, Evard's black tentacles, minor globe of invulnerability, wall of fire.

*5th: Bigby's interposing hand, feeblemind, telekinesis, teleport.

*6th: Eyebite, guards and wards, invisible stalker.

*7th: Finger of death, forcecube.

*8th: Polymorph any object.

*Contigency: Teleport if attacked.

*Permanent: Detect magic, detect poison, read magic.

LANGUAGES: Common, arcane, elven, hobbit, serpentine.

EQUIPMENT: Bracers of armor +4, amulet of Gatamooto +2 (+2 AC, detect lies 1/day), staff of fire (33 ch.), ring of wizardy (2nd), scarab of protection (SR5, 3 charges), potion of heal.

TREASURE: 15gp, 30sp, 3x 100gp jewelry. Leshpa keeps a vast horde hidden somewhere in his mansion, and has a cache hidden in the mountains nearby.

Leshpa is a wizard's wizard. He dresses the part, resplendent in his purple and gold robes, pointed hat, and fine red hair and beard. He is tall but not gangly, and equally prone to grim silences as humorous moods. He wears the blazing sun of the Navisthi in many places on his robe.

Leshpa lives in a mansion on Satin Street, between Gold Street and Jade Lane. Many believe that the mansion is haunted, and some claim the place to be larger within than without.

[Dangersaurus]

Obviously just EGG's Obmi with a twist. I have one question: how do *#$^&! do you figure xp for NPCs like this?

IMBO

Dwarf Male Rog6/Ill5 (dual-classed)

Lawful Evil

MOVE: 20 ft., 60 ft. (boots)

HP: 42

AC: 17 (+1 leather, +1 ring, dex)

BtH: +2

ATTACKS: 1 +2 shortsword (+5, 1d6+3)

XP: 2,236

STR: 14

DEX: 16

CON: 15

INT: 16 P

WIS: 16 P

CHA: 14

SPECIAL: Animosity (elves), deepvision, determine depth/direction, enmity (+1 goblins/orcs), defensive expertise (+4 vs giants/ogres), resist arcane magic (+3), resist fear (+2), resist poison (+2), stonecraft (+2/+4), back attack (x3), cant, climb, decipher script, hide, listen, move silent, pick pockets, traps, sneak attack, disguise, spellcasting, sharp senses (+2).

LANGUAGES: Common, dwarf, gargoyle, giant (earth), orcish, undercommon, thieves' cant.

SPELLS: 5/5/3/1

Cantrips: Arcane mark, dancing lights, magical aura, message, mending, prestidigitation.

1st: Color spray, darkness, obscuring mist, silent image, undetectable aura.

2nd: Alter self, magic mouth, minor image.

3rd: Major image.

Curse: Anyone taking his sack of stuffing immediately triggers a power word stun centered on the sack, as if cast by an 18th level wizard. Imbo is excluded from this effect.

EQUIPMENT: +1 ring of protection, +1 leather armor, +2 shortsword ("Girmful", Will 17, CN, hold person 2/day, 6d6 acid spray as black dragon 1/day, +3 vs. demons), boots of triple speed, necklace of fireballs (Type III), sack of stuffing (EV6).

TREASURE: 1,055gp, 60pp, 4x 1,000gp gems, 2x 500gp gems, 10x 100gp gems.

The evil dwarf Imbo is a lumbering troll of a dwarf. He stands four and a half feet tall, and and bit wider than that. His face is covered in scars and sprouts of black hair. He is nearly blind in the left eye, and it usually appears glassy and wildly darts around against his will.

Imbo is a truly crafty and dangerous dwarf. This is only one reason why the Mad Overlord recruited him as a caretaker for his dungeons. It is also said that Imbo reminds the Overlord of a certain someone...

Imbo takes pride in his job. He maintains many of the traps found on the first four levels of the Proving Grounds, and is also responsible for distributing the occasional treasure. His love for dark humor results in many cursed items being placed among the hoards of the Proving Grounds. He is kept on a short leash however, and is sometimes reprimanded for his cruel nature - as evidenced by his damaged eye.

Always on the lookout for trouble, Imbo will seek to create one or two nasty diversions before fleeing with his boots of triple speed.

Girmful: His sword Girmful is a hateful black blade. It despises demons above all. Girmful misses no opportunity to razz Imbo about his cowardly nature.

GP Value 30,000

XP Value: 6,000

Sack of Stuffing: This is a large (EV6) sack. No matter what is placed within, it will always have a maximum EV of 6. Anything that can be placed through the opening can be stored within, where it is shunted off and sealed away in a timeless demi-limbo. Anything stored within the bag can be recalled with a simple command, and it will be immediately at hand.

GP Value: 92,000

XP Value: 4,500

Edit: Added GP/XP for Girmful and numbers from below.

[DangerDwarf]

Dangersaurus wrote:
Obviously just Obmi with a twist, I still have one question: how do you figure xp for NPCs like this?

Still use the M&T chart. Level is his HD. Add XP for each of his class abilities. Multior Dual class is a little harder to nail down the appropriate HD. In this instance I'd probable go 8.

[Dangersaurus]

How would you figure experience considering he has a quite powerful magical sword that can act on its own? Maybe the item xp of the sword should figure in to that instead?

His dual-class has to be illusionist then rogue, but that's just because I'm using the Zagyg multiclass/dual-class rules.

Here's what I have so far:

I x 8 (3 resistances, back attack, stealth, traps, 1st-3rd level spells, +1 for all others combined)

II x 1 (Curse)

III x 1 (Girmful)

Comes out to 1,700. Seems low. Bumping his back attack up to II makes it 1,675. Pricing the curse as an 18HD Level II (since that's what it is) would add 2,000. 3,700+336 puts him at 4,036. Does that seem right? Seems like most 8HD creatures are in the 500-2000 range.

It shouldn't come up for quite a few more levels - he's built around being able to escape from all but the tighest of traps. If he is trapped, he simply offers up the sack and... BOOM. CL36 Power Word Stun.

Edit: slaps head. Forgot spells. Adjusted numbers.

[DangerDwarf]

Here's what I got:

Base: 250

Hps: 336

Spells: 125

Abilities: 1000

That gives a total of 1711, which sounds about right to me.

If you wanted it to go higher and actually use his two big items as special abilities (I generally don't do that because the party gets Xp for gaining the item later) I'd go this route and break the weapons down by ability:

Hold Person: equivalent to a I (2nd level spell) 125 XP

Acid Spray: Equal to a special II (Single Attack for 4d6 or more) 200 XP

Curse: Equal to a Special II (7th level spell) 200 XP

So that would be an additional 525 XP and bring his total up to 2236. Which is still a decent range.

[Dangersaurus]

DangerDwarf wrote:
Here's what I got:

Base: 250

Hps: 336

Spells: 125

Abilities: 1000

That gives a total of 1711, which sounds about right to me.

If you wanted it to go higher and actually use his two big items as special abilities (I generally don't do that because the party gets Xp for gaining the item later) I'd go this route and break the weapons down by ability:

Hold Person: equivalent to a I 125 XP

Acid Spray: Equal to a special II 200 XP

Curse: Equal to a Special II (7th level spell) 200 XP

So that would be an additional 525 XP and bring his total up to 2236. Which is still a decent range.

I think I'll trim him back 1,800 on the curse to bring him back to 2,236.

Now that I've looked at it though, pricing the curse (a very ad hoc special ability) so high is really attractive to me. By the time a group gets up high enough corner him they'll have worked up a powerful grudge. They won't even have talked to him other than hearing his grunty, "Oh Crap." and a vmmmm as he speeds of with his sack over his shoulder. They're going to have to work to track him down, and when they finally catch him, he just hands over his bag. I'd give good odds that he'll escape again, with or without the bag, possibly killing one PC on the way. They're going to have to work for every one of those xp.

I'll change it as you suggest here though, since others may not want to use these stats in that way, and I can just add some quest xp when/if they finally nail this guy.

[DangerDwarf]

Dangersaurus wrote:
I can just add some quest xp when/if they finally nail this guy.

That's generally how I do it. When they complete an important story plot and smoosh a bad guy they get a Story Bonus to their XP that session.