the more i dm vs play other ttrpgs the more frustrated i get with how npcs work in 5e. my game centers around a small town with a recurring cast of npcs, as well as newly introduced npcs each arc that my players frequently adopt, and every time i open my Documents (tone: weary) filled with npcs i just wish 5e npcs were Built Different(tm) to pcs. obviously theres statblocks and stuff you can use but if youre working under the assumption these npcs are Full People who are going to take up space in the pcs lives youre going to be building them like you would a pc and frankly it sucks for a couple reasons
one, if i want to introduce a new batch of npcs of a level that will prove imposing for my pcs to fight, it shouldnt take me 10 hours to make them. two, once the fight is happening it would be great if they didnt have so many abilities and spells that im just hoping and praying i can make them function even a little smartly without grinding the whole fight to a halt every time its a spellcasters turn
and third, which i think deserves its own paragraph(s), i wish npcs didnt have the same set of skills that pcs get
i like trying to give my guys, pcs or npcs alike, pretty high mods on things, bc, you know, good for the game and also big numbers fun. but some skills are either inherently useless for an npc to have, or imply a loss of player agency if i was rolling them
like, charisma skills. deception is really useful for an npc to have, because then pcs have to roll insight against it to learn information. persuasion, however, is not something an npc should really ever roll. if theyre rolling persuasion on a pc, that player is experiencing a loss of agency over how their pc reacts to a request. if theyre rolling it on another npc, youre now just playing dollies with yourself while the pcs watch. if im ever choosing between persuasion and deception for an npc, im always going to give them proficiency in deception even if that makes less sense for their character. same problem for intimidation. either youre telling the pcs how to feel or playing dollies with yourself
stealth and sleight of hand are overall way more helpful for npcs than for pcs who arent rogues. and perception is far more useful for an npc to have than like ... survival. when are your npcs going to be rolling survival? if you have a ranger or ranger-like character whos helping your pcs navigate wilderness then why does it make more sense for them to be rolling survival and potentially mess up something they are meant to be good at, causing potentially unfun complications for your party, than just ... knowing that character can help them navigate, so they do? especially if thats the reason that npc is there?
idk like my players respond very well to the npcs being Full People and i do think theres a level of enjoyment to like. comparing pc and npc stats or players learning what feats an npc took or lore around subclasses but also. also im so miserly and decrepit and my google doc of my four bad guys this arc and their spells is 59 pages long im Tired Save Me
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the reason I'm still like this about tlt is that who else in sff right now is writing character interactions like tazmuir. is anyone else giving me horrible goth nun queen evil mastermind x han solo but goofier and a girl and she's also lesbian jesus? I ask you who else would have written mercymorn. Or pash?? is anyone else giving me women so on purpose irritating and abrasive and putting them ALL in the same room where they can bounce off each other like angry horny little ping pong balls? No they are not. so I'm still here
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Van der Linde Isaac - "CoS is actually a western" is such a concept ever since i saw somebody pointing that out i kept thinking about it
i rant about the redesign a bit:
so i went ahead and redesigned him to fit the rdr2 setting entirely, i cant give him a full on wolf arm, so i gave him burn scars on his face, that he hides all the time with a scarf or a bandana. hat in the back to replace the hoodie's shape. he is most comfortable using the rolling block rifle plus a knife. he would probably play a lot of five finger fillet.
plus, he gets his arm blown off at one point (not from finger fillet!! i swear), probably during the saint denis robbery, then dies during the guarma chapter, bc there is no way he would survive longer than that
also i cant have him choose sides at chapter 6 when i know he has blind loyalty
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This was a funny line to get playing as my cowboy beast master ranger, Quinn. He may be a little idealistic at times and sure they should focus on the creché but these are important details!
[ID: Panel 1: Tav (named Quinn), Lae’zel, Astarion, and Shadowheart walk down the mountain pass towards the crèche. On the top left of the frame is a box with the text “somewhere in the mountain pass”. Quinn looks outward, enjoying the view and not fully focusing. Laezel scans her surroundings, carrying a couple of objects under each arm. Astarion looks tired and disinterested towards some bushes, and Shadowheart looks exhausted. A speech bubble from her mouth has her say “I didn't exactly dress for hiking mountains. Shame we couldn't procure some pack mules, or horses…”
Panel 2: Quinn on a plain background. He looks ahead, towards where Shadowheart would be if more people were in frame. He has an interested, excited expression, and an exclamation point next to his head. Parts of his figure overlap the background and the white paper.
Panel 3: Quinn on the same background closes his eyes and smiles turning more towards where the companions would be. A speech bubble coming from him says: “Why, I’d almost say it's a shame that the mind-flared ship didn't also pick up my- “ A speech bubble with harsher lines comes from off-screen, cutting off Quinn's thought, reading: “Horses?!” Parts of his figure and the speech bubbles overlap the background and the white paper.
Panel 4: All four companions are back in frame in the mountain pass. Astarion is in the center of the frame with an indignant expression, eyes closed and head tilted slightly upward. Shadowheart looks over to him from the right of the frame with an annoyed expression. Lae’zel, still carrying the object over her shoulder, looks to Astarion in between the two, also annoyed but mildly more hostile. Quinn is further back to the left of the frame, and he has a shocked and wounded expression. Astarion has a jagged, harsh speech bubble that says: “Perish the thought! Those ill-tempered beasts are prone to biting.” Overlapping his speech bubble and next to Quinn is a heart breaking.
Panel 5: Quinn looking distraught on a plain background with a dark vignette around him. He looks down, pushing his hat up his face and lost in anxious thought. Two thought bubbles appear from his head, one on the left and right. The left thought bubble has an illustration of the horse standing on the beach with the text “MAN” above it, except the horse is replaced with Quinn’s pain horse, and Quinn is also standing on the beach. The right thought bubble, which splits in half between Quinn and Astarion, has Quinn excitedly holding the noses of a paint horse and a mule standing on either side of him. The other half shows a pleasant Astarion looking towards him. On the bottom left of the game is the text: “Hells, he doesn't like horses?” and on the bottom right are two speech bubbles showing the conversation continue. One speech hubble is rounder, and has the word “Well,” written in it before devolving to scribbles. The second speech bubble is harsher, and is full of scribbles.
Panel 6: Astarion on a plain background looking over his right shoulder, a confused and worried expression on his face. A question mark is next to him. Parts of his figure overlap the background and the white paper.
Panel 7: Astarion and Quinn on a plain background, parts of both of their figures overlapping the white paper. Astarion falls back, leaning back and towards Quinn with a wary and concerned expression. Quinn looks down at the ground sadly.
Panels 8-10: Three separate panels of Astarion and Quinn on plain background. Astarion is on the right in each frame, and Quinn on the left. In the first frame, Quinn continues to look down sadly, while Astarion turns towards him nervously with a wobbly speech bubble saying: “Are you alright darling? You look… not quite yourself.” In the second frame, Quinn looks up with his eyes closed, taking in a deep breath. the words “*Inhale*” are above his head. Astarion looks towards him, but not directly at him, frowning, concerned, and wary. In the final frame, Quinn looks at Astarion with the wettest, saddest eyes, a shaking speech bubble and small text coming from him saying: “You don't like horses?” Astarion looks towards him and down slightly, mildly annoyed and his hands in front of him in exasperation saying with a slightly jagged speech bubble: “We’re walking straight into a horrid death trap and you’re concerned I don't like horses?”./end ID]
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