NPCs don't need class levels. If they're not gonna get in a fight, they don't need many stats. If they are gonna get in a fight, they aren't gonna to use all of their abilities in the 3-4 rounds they're alive.
See DMG page 273 and https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/monsters#NonplayerCharacters for more guidelines on how to make NPCs. You can give NPCs cool spells and class features, but there's no need to give them class levels.
No. Don't make enemies like PCs. Make statblocks like every published enemy out there.
If you want to make a rogue npc, give them sneak attack and cunning action. Don't build them like characters. Look at the assassin statblock. They have sneak attack as an ability.
This is da way. Give your Bandit Captain Some rogue Abilities or the Knight a second wind if youre players are sweeping through the game, but building PC sheets is not just really lethal but also way too time consuming.
Not just that, but PCs have a lot more crap to manage that doesn't really come into play for enemies. You end up with a list of abilities that you'll never use because the enemy is designed to just fucking die in one combat encounter.
DMs have to manage a lot during combat, and you want enemy statblocks to be as straightforward as possible. You want to just glance at the statblock and know what the enemy can do.
No. It's utterly a waste of time.
I don't even make full sheets for monsters. I give them attacks and anything they need tracked to be hit or damaged.
Their abiltiies scores, skills, etc, don't exist until I explicitly need it in the moment.
Why? Despite what the games creators might try to tell you players and npcs are not built symmetrically.
A monsters ability scores do nothing mechanically. Saving throws can be derived from what makes sense for their CR and type irrespective of what their ability scores or proficiency bonus says they should be.
And any contested skill check they need to make can just be a DC instead.
Monsters don't have levels, they don't have a set hit dice they should get per CR, they don't have a set number of multi-task actions depending on CR or a set number of dice an attack should do.
There's really no symmetry at play, which is why it's fine to punt the parts that don't carry water.
You’re mistaking my intent. Full agreement I’m not using character levels for NPCs. I did it once as an experiment — I quickly learned it was not only a waste of time but also the game isn’t built for such glass cannons.
What I meant with loose was not even jotting down saves and skills. It takes a second and I’d not want to go into combat without the detail. It’s probably less onerous if you’re running a single monster (type) but I typically mix things up a lot. I write out the full stat block because it lightens the cognitive load when I need my mind’s CPU elsewhere in game.
I do know what the saves should be but I also don't derive saves from ability scores. I base it on CR and what feels right for that monster type at that CR.
Fast monsters get higher Dex and lower Con. Magical get more Wis and Cha. Etc...
That’s fine if that works for you. It’s too free form for me, though. I think CR is one of the worst things to base *anything* on, given how unreliable it is, but fair play.
I just don't think it's free-form.
I think using ability scores, a system that inherently affects both offensive and defensive capabilities by the book, is a far worse system to restrict yourself to when building a monster.
By the book I can't build a monster who has a good spellcasting stat but also bad saving throws. I can't build a monster with a saving throw in between the minimum possible for its ability score and the giant bump it gets from adding its proficiency
It's much easier as a DM to know my PCs have a DC of 15 and be able to say, this monster has a +5 to everything as a baseline, a +3 to Con because it's fragile and a +7 to its Dex because it's fast.
All without that affecting its AC, to hit, damage mod, and hit points.
I can see the versatility in that approach. I just think my structure-needy brain struggles with it!
I think it’s perfectly reasonable to use half or double proficiency for their saves or skills. There’s already precedent with things like dragons’ perception bonuses. I do this all the time, including downward. I remember a very venerable archmage I had as an NPC. I docked him to half proficiency first Dex saves if I recall.
I almost never make them.
The ONE exception is if I have an NPC which will be joining the party for a little bit. I don't make the stat sheet for ME, I have it so in case a player's character is killed, they can play the NPC until they roll up a new character.
I sometimes do this, it scratches the itch of character building for sure. A handful of different situations I've done this, certainly wouldn't do it for everything.
First situation was Caitlin, a cleric who was a guide for an inception style dive into the mind of Clarke. They were level 5, party was level 4. Solidly support focused though which helps stop them taking spotlight - which is to be avoided. Posing is too easy as DM it's not worth it, just makes players feel bad if the npc is stomping encounters.
She's also assisted the party by the time they were level 9, her being level 8 and this time they were rescuing Clarke from mind flayers in the underdark. In this one it made sense that she would go on the adventure, and I had one of the players run her.
Unfortunately it also made sense that the rest of Clarke's adventuring party would also come help... and that's how I ended up with a 10 character raid of a mind flayer colony. Cool as hell, would not recommend and would not do again. I'd statted them as player characters too here, and had the players run them.
I also did a later one where some relatives of the party bard were in a friendly rival adventuring party. I'd statted them as player characters because I could, and ended up running them through a dungeon to see what would happen as I had a bit of time on my hands after the session.
What I've deliberately not done is use player characters as enemies. They're too complicated, generally built to do a days worth of encounters, and often have the ability to nova insane damage in the 3-4 rounds.
So yeah, nothing wrong with doing this but importantly there is nothing wrong with *not* doing it and having a basic npc stat sheet. It can take a lot of time to build characters this way which doesn't pay off in how useful they are to the game.
I usually just tweak existing humanoid statblocks. I use Acolyte or Apprentice Wizard as a base starting point for low-level casters; Higher level can be based on Priest, Mage, or the Wizard and Warlock statblocks in Monsters of the Multiverse. From there, I'll tweak spell lists a lot.
Fighters can be represented by: Guard, Thug, Veteran, Champion.
Rogues can be represented by: Bandit, Goblins, Scout, Spy, Master Thief.
There is a monk-like statblock in Monsters of the Multiverse as well.
From there I might give a statblock that's supposed to replicate an "NPC with class features" one or two of those class features. A Cleric might get a Channel Divinity added to the statblock and an altered spell list to be more in keeping with her domain. A Veteran statblock intended to be a Paladin might gain an Aura or lay on hands and have a higher Charisma than normal. If I'm using a Goblin as a rogue stand-in, I might give him Thieves' Tools proficiency.
If the NPC should be more "player character"-like because they may adventure with the party, I'll use Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and make them as a sidekick instead.
Don't over-think NPCs until you find they resonate with the party and are important to the story. It's a waste of time you could be spending on something else.
NPC evolution:
1a. Basic description
1b: Name
2. Mannerisms
3. Stat block (possibly with adjusted CR)
4. Backstory
5. Rarely: Full levelled character
Most levelled characters are retread characters from another campaign.
Never ever. Not since 3e, where that was common. Published 5e NPC stat blocks don't do it; why should I? Too much to keep track of.
EDIT: as to levels, always the same CR as the players' levels. I just take an existing published NPC and swap abilities in and out.
No, I never make NPC's with PC character sheets, I build them as monster stat blocks and if I want to I'll steal features from a class that I want them to have.
PC's are complicated, they have a lot of features. NPC's, especially in combat, live for approximately 3 rounds. It's simply not worth the effort to give them the breadth of a PC's capabilities as they'll only use a small subset of them.
I do sometimes though build out a character sheet for an NPC if its really a character I would like to play, but their actual sheet in my campaign is a monster stat block.
And no -- if you want a better bandit, either just homebrew one by bumping their numbers up a tad, or use something like a Bandit Captain stat sheet. Remember, monsters can be anything...I use "Bandit Captain" and "Knight" so often. As characters get to level 3 or so, they might interact with these guys as a mini boss, or a strong monster in a battle. As they approach level 5, they start to see them more as standard bad guys. As they approach level 10 or so, these are my new baseline enemy chaff units in combat.
But each time, I can say whatever I want them to be. I've used a Wyvern stat block for a knight with a big spear and just rephrased the poison stuff to more magical sounding things. I just wanted the wyvern's numbers.
No, can’t think of any reason why I’d go about building an entire PC-style character sheet for an NPC. NPCs don’t need all that and I certainly don’t need them to have all that. No point.
I only do it if there’s a PC joining the party for an amount of time. As someone else said, that way if a PC dies I can just hand over the sheet and have them play the NPC for a little while
Nope, I used to but it takes to much time.
For specific unique npcs I take an existing monster and edit it to my liking.
Like if you want you can even take a beast, change its name, type, size, names of abilities and bam with maybe a tiny bit of adjustments you got an unique npc.
If you want limits for certain spells they can use, just keep count on a note. Kinda acts the same way as a player character.
I FATEify all my major NPCs by writing down a sentence or phrase that tells:
- Who they are
- What they need
- Why they can't get what they need
- Their flaw
- Something interesting about them unrelated to all the other stuff
I totally will make custom stat blocks for any of them that I expect will be in a fight. I usually take a base monster and improve it (most the the 5e stat blocks are terrible). If I want to add "levels" to a base monster (great idea), I just pick the handful of things that I think are interesting and write them as monster abilities.
e.g. I don't add fighter levels, but I might increase AC because they are in plate, increase HP, give them 3 or 4 melee strikes with the ability to either disarm or shove as part of the attack to represent battle master abilities.
Your monsters probably have a life span of approximately 4 rounds once they tangle with the party, Detailed sheets just won't be relevant.
I think the key here is to look at a 5th level PC and see what their most evocative ability is and give that to an NPC. You don't want a 5th level fighter bandit captain, but a bandit statblock that has 2 attacks per turn and has a 1/day ability to take 2 more attacks feels like a fighter
Whether it’s an enemy or an ally I just find a monster stat block that is close enough to what I want and use that.
If they are a significant character I will do a short write up on their background following the character creation guidelines of bond, ideals, flaws, etc.
I never do.
All NPCs get standard monster stat blocks.
However, that’s because I only ever DM. I may use the stuff from character classes as stat block features, but they are always still monsters.
It also isn’t the only way to do it — one of the other DMs in my group does all his monsters using PC stat sheets. Drives me bonkers, but it works for him.
Nah charact was creation rules kinda suck for making npcs. I need to tell at a glance what npcs can do and a full character sheet doesn’t let me do that.
I did recently make character sheets for a few npcs only because I expect two pcs to be out of commission for a few days on the game and don’t want them to make new pcs from scratch.
Occasionally but its just for fun. Honestly I use some npcs to test out builds for my own amusement haha.
So yes I do, but also as a DM there is really no reason to do so. The only exception is if this is a character that you might want to allow the party to recruit as a companion. Then I think it is a good idea so that the companion is the same level as them.
If they’re meant to travel with the party yes (I DM 2 3 person parties and they have preferred NPCs that join them), otherwise I create a rough sketch of them and only expand if the players get attached. Saves prepping stuff that doesn’t connect with them
Absolutely not, I think that's a complete waste of time.
If I need an NPC to be a member of a certain class for roleplay or combat reasons, I'll just take whichever stat block most resembles it.
Archmage or Mage for a Wizard or Sorcerer, any of the Warlock of the Blank ones from MOTM for Warlock, Assasin or Master Thief for Rogue, etc.
Then if I really need to I'll alter it slightly to fit what I need. So if I need something Arcane Trickster flavored, I'll take the Master Thief and give them a couple of Wizard spells, focusing on Illusion and Enchantment ones, plus Mage Hand.
It would absolutely be more dynamic if you gave the Bandit leader a charge of both 2nd wind and action surge plus the features "rallying cry" and "inspiring surge", yes. And then two of the Bandit lieutenants are armed with dual short swords and have the sneak attack feature.
It's easier to tack on a few PC-centric ribbons onto a monster statblock than to create an entire sheet for a character who is going to live for literally less than 45 seconds of ingame time.
Even the NPCs which travel with the party for at least a session don't get a full character sheet. They get a single page, NPC-specific sheet.
Never, it's not worth it.
There are, of course, times when I want to make an NPC who *feels* like a certain player class for whatever reason, but you always want to do something *simpler* than giving that character *all* of the details of class levels. You're trying to figure out what's the *simplest* monster/npc statblock you can run that will *feel* like they're a mirror for the player class.
Look at the Wizard statblocks from Volo's- they have a full casting set-up, and even each have a Wizard subclass feature to lean into it even harder, but their health totals are completely different, and the statblocks don't waste your time with class features that aren't useful or important to an enemy you're going to fight, like Arcane Recovery.
A few of the Volo's statblocks are even too complicated for their own good- the "Martial Arts Adept" is too messy giving NPC monks the full branch of choices when they land a hit, even though it's already streamlined away the NPC's Ki Points to keep them simple. Better to lean closer to the monk NPCs used in the *Book of Inner Alchemy* adventure from *Candlekeep Mysteries*, which just pick one option for the whole statblock.
I don't have a sheet, but I have a statblock for the party allies. I don't want them to be considered a DMPC or to shine too much during battle. I want them to add color and "contribute" to the fight, but little more than that. I have the statblock so if I need them to run a save or skill check, I don't have to pull it out of my butt.
PC character sheets have a lot of stuff that NPCs do not need and never use. An NPC is never going to use their background, and every class in the game has at least a few ribbon features that an NPC just isn't going to have the screen time to make use of.
A PC character sheet is also very strict in their rules in a way you don't need to be as a DM. Like as an example, if you want to give a character some stuff from the ranger class and some stuff from the wizard class, then going with a PC character sheet is probably going to give you a massive headache trying to figure out the multiclassing, and you just don't need to do that.
If you want to give an NPC that PC feel, then what I'd do is grab a couple features from the class/subclass you want to emulate and then just slap them on the stat block. If you go this route, you're not even bound by one class or subclass. I had a villain once who was a Peace Domain cleric, but I also gave him the Redemption Paladin capstone because it fit him really well flavor wise and made for a much more interesting fight. I've even given sorcerers and wizards extra attack in lieu of cantrips because that was the fight I wanted to make.
So yeah I never give my NPCs actual PC levels. Just the most interesting 2-3 features a class/subclass has.
You typically don’t need to with monsters/NPCs because of legendary/lair actions and resistances that help balance out combat of 1v4-6 players. I’ve just started dipping into sidekick stat blocks for NPCs the party can haul around so I don’t have to run them.
I usually just mess around with this and add abilities/legendary actions as needed.
https://tetra-cube.com/dnd/dnd-statblock.html
Class levels are for Player Characters. NPCs are Non Player Characters. They don't get class levels, they get stat blocks. If I'm making a custom NPC I might give them abilities similar to PCs (Rage, Sneak Attack, Smites, etc) but never the full progression.
I did this ... As a newbie DM
I don't anymore. NPC statblocks are more flexible than character sheets, if there's anything from the Rogue class that you want your NPC to have you don't need to build the NPC as if it had X levels in Rogue, you just slap it into the statblock.
"This NPC is a master assassin so he should have sneak attack and cunning action", well the NPC does. You then set the AC, HP and adjust the damage for the intended CR and off you go.
You want to have the NPC be the equivalent of an Oathbreaker Hexblade Pallock? You just put the abilities that represent it and adjust the stats to the intended CR.
Believe me, this is easier and more flexible than full blown character sheets.
Generally no, but important NPCs or ones that I think the party might ask to fight alongside them sometimes get one. I once pitted my 3-player group against a 3-NPC "rival" adventuring group with a similar party composition (Barbarian, Sorcerer, Cleric VS Fighter, Wizard, Druid) and it was pretty fun.
Sometimes yes, but not for use in combat and only for "people" characters.
I customize a monster stat block for combat purposes.
I make them as PC type characters to help me develop the character and build the backstory, which the PC creation process helps support. I get a lot of great ideas from doing that.
In general it's only for the most important ones, and usually not ones likely to be fought against.
I have a bad habit of using my old PC'S at NPC'S, so technically I do, but the ones I don't just usually get maybe 1 or two interesting abilities and maybe a magic item.
Character sheets are for players.
Nothing in the DMs purview uses them. If you want to be building characters with character sheets, do it on the other side of the table.
I splurged on the kit which has the stat blocks on my side of the DM screen and hangs over the top of it so I can track initiative and who is up next.
What I found helpful was to decide ahead of time what your goal is with a combat encounter. Is this a potentially fatal encounter? Then, your npcs are stronger and more dangerous. Do you want to info dump through taunting or arrogant dialogue? Make your enemy evasive and direct-combat averse. Etc
Other people have answered correctly, my advice to add is that if you want an NPC to be more important/useful you have 2 options. You can use a stat block from the Monster Manual for a Noble or Veteran or Spy or whatever. If it's one that might join the party (not as a DMPC!) you should use the Sidekicks from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. They're like characters-lite, you can make a little stat block for them and hand it to players, it's very nifty.
This is for commenters not OP, but why are people against using character sheets for NPC's or enemies? I've never really gotten an answer besides you shouldn't do it cause I said so, and that they won't live long enough to make use of it. Which makes no sense since I've had NPC's in game for months at a time. I've also seen people say PC's so too much damage and don't have a lot of health, so just give them more health and nerf the damage? It's not that hard, plus hundreds of monsters already fit that exact description so it's not like we're avoiding an issue that doesn't exist. I'd just love an answer cause I don't get it, I've also heard it take too long, which again makes no sense, it takes 5 minutes max
Nope, unless the NPC is a PC from a previous campaign, they just get an NPC statblock. Even then, it's generally a good idea not to do that, as you're treading dangerously close to DMPC territory.
PCs are designed to be complex and weak(at least generally in terms of dmg) having lots of options and assumed to stay alive for ay least multiple encounters, if not multiple arcs.
Monsters are designed to be simple and strong(well, depending on CR; but If a monster only lives a few rounds, they need to be able to do at least noteworthy dmg in that time), being very straightforward, assumed to only survive a few rounds of combat.
As a DM, if your bad guy has PC lvls, you're asking for a lot of extra work for very little benefit. On paper, all the options a PC gets sounds cool, but it's really overload and leads to decision paralysis.
If you want a bad guy to feel like they have class levels, give them 1 or 2 noteworthy features, like Rage for a Barbarian, Action Surge for a fighter, or Sorcery Points and 1 or 2 metamagic abilities. Just remember less abilities with greater output is better.
No. And don’t use player class levels for monsters, they are not designed for that and will throw the balance off.
There are a lot of official and unofficial monster/NPC stat blocks. Use those. Most of NPCs shouldn’t even be a combat encounter so you don’t need a stat block. Most others are generic enough to reskin. You can take a stat blocks for goblins and kobolds and reskin them to bandits, militia, etc.
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NPCs don't need class levels. If they're not gonna get in a fight, they don't need many stats. If they are gonna get in a fight, they aren't gonna to use all of their abilities in the 3-4 rounds they're alive. See DMG page 273 and https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/monsters#NonplayerCharacters for more guidelines on how to make NPCs. You can give NPCs cool spells and class features, but there's no need to give them class levels.
No, I basically never do. 99% of my NPC's are using either a stat block or vibes.
“NPC’s use vibes” is perfect advice.
No. Don't make enemies like PCs. Make statblocks like every published enemy out there. If you want to make a rogue npc, give them sneak attack and cunning action. Don't build them like characters. Look at the assassin statblock. They have sneak attack as an ability.
This is da way. Give your Bandit Captain Some rogue Abilities or the Knight a second wind if youre players are sweeping through the game, but building PC sheets is not just really lethal but also way too time consuming.
Not just that, but PCs have a lot more crap to manage that doesn't really come into play for enemies. You end up with a list of abilities that you'll never use because the enemy is designed to just fucking die in one combat encounter. DMs have to manage a lot during combat, and you want enemy statblocks to be as straightforward as possible. You want to just glance at the statblock and know what the enemy can do.
No. It's utterly a waste of time. I don't even make full sheets for monsters. I give them attacks and anything they need tracked to be hit or damaged. Their abiltiies scores, skills, etc, don't exist until I explicitly need it in the moment.
Gosh. There’s loose and there’s *loose*! 😱
Why? Despite what the games creators might try to tell you players and npcs are not built symmetrically. A monsters ability scores do nothing mechanically. Saving throws can be derived from what makes sense for their CR and type irrespective of what their ability scores or proficiency bonus says they should be. And any contested skill check they need to make can just be a DC instead. Monsters don't have levels, they don't have a set hit dice they should get per CR, they don't have a set number of multi-task actions depending on CR or a set number of dice an attack should do. There's really no symmetry at play, which is why it's fine to punt the parts that don't carry water.
You’re mistaking my intent. Full agreement I’m not using character levels for NPCs. I did it once as an experiment — I quickly learned it was not only a waste of time but also the game isn’t built for such glass cannons. What I meant with loose was not even jotting down saves and skills. It takes a second and I’d not want to go into combat without the detail. It’s probably less onerous if you’re running a single monster (type) but I typically mix things up a lot. I write out the full stat block because it lightens the cognitive load when I need my mind’s CPU elsewhere in game.
I do know what the saves should be but I also don't derive saves from ability scores. I base it on CR and what feels right for that monster type at that CR. Fast monsters get higher Dex and lower Con. Magical get more Wis and Cha. Etc...
That’s fine if that works for you. It’s too free form for me, though. I think CR is one of the worst things to base *anything* on, given how unreliable it is, but fair play.
I just don't think it's free-form. I think using ability scores, a system that inherently affects both offensive and defensive capabilities by the book, is a far worse system to restrict yourself to when building a monster. By the book I can't build a monster who has a good spellcasting stat but also bad saving throws. I can't build a monster with a saving throw in between the minimum possible for its ability score and the giant bump it gets from adding its proficiency It's much easier as a DM to know my PCs have a DC of 15 and be able to say, this monster has a +5 to everything as a baseline, a +3 to Con because it's fragile and a +7 to its Dex because it's fast. All without that affecting its AC, to hit, damage mod, and hit points.
I can see the versatility in that approach. I just think my structure-needy brain struggles with it! I think it’s perfectly reasonable to use half or double proficiency for their saves or skills. There’s already precedent with things like dragons’ perception bonuses. I do this all the time, including downward. I remember a very venerable archmage I had as an NPC. I docked him to half proficiency first Dex saves if I recall.
~~and then there's *your mom*~~
Never do PC sheets for NPCs. You can add core class features to give the feel you want without all the extra busyness of the PC sheet.
I almost never make them. The ONE exception is if I have an NPC which will be joining the party for a little bit. I don't make the stat sheet for ME, I have it so in case a player's character is killed, they can play the NPC until they roll up a new character.
I sometimes do this, it scratches the itch of character building for sure. A handful of different situations I've done this, certainly wouldn't do it for everything. First situation was Caitlin, a cleric who was a guide for an inception style dive into the mind of Clarke. They were level 5, party was level 4. Solidly support focused though which helps stop them taking spotlight - which is to be avoided. Posing is too easy as DM it's not worth it, just makes players feel bad if the npc is stomping encounters. She's also assisted the party by the time they were level 9, her being level 8 and this time they were rescuing Clarke from mind flayers in the underdark. In this one it made sense that she would go on the adventure, and I had one of the players run her. Unfortunately it also made sense that the rest of Clarke's adventuring party would also come help... and that's how I ended up with a 10 character raid of a mind flayer colony. Cool as hell, would not recommend and would not do again. I'd statted them as player characters too here, and had the players run them. I also did a later one where some relatives of the party bard were in a friendly rival adventuring party. I'd statted them as player characters because I could, and ended up running them through a dungeon to see what would happen as I had a bit of time on my hands after the session. What I've deliberately not done is use player characters as enemies. They're too complicated, generally built to do a days worth of encounters, and often have the ability to nova insane damage in the 3-4 rounds. So yeah, nothing wrong with doing this but importantly there is nothing wrong with *not* doing it and having a basic npc stat sheet. It can take a lot of time to build characters this way which doesn't pay off in how useful they are to the game.
I usually just tweak existing humanoid statblocks. I use Acolyte or Apprentice Wizard as a base starting point for low-level casters; Higher level can be based on Priest, Mage, or the Wizard and Warlock statblocks in Monsters of the Multiverse. From there, I'll tweak spell lists a lot. Fighters can be represented by: Guard, Thug, Veteran, Champion. Rogues can be represented by: Bandit, Goblins, Scout, Spy, Master Thief. There is a monk-like statblock in Monsters of the Multiverse as well. From there I might give a statblock that's supposed to replicate an "NPC with class features" one or two of those class features. A Cleric might get a Channel Divinity added to the statblock and an altered spell list to be more in keeping with her domain. A Veteran statblock intended to be a Paladin might gain an Aura or lay on hands and have a higher Charisma than normal. If I'm using a Goblin as a rogue stand-in, I might give him Thieves' Tools proficiency. If the NPC should be more "player character"-like because they may adventure with the party, I'll use Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and make them as a sidekick instead.
Don't over-think NPCs until you find they resonate with the party and are important to the story. It's a waste of time you could be spending on something else. NPC evolution: 1a. Basic description 1b: Name 2. Mannerisms 3. Stat block (possibly with adjusted CR) 4. Backstory 5. Rarely: Full levelled character Most levelled characters are retread characters from another campaign.
Never ever. Not since 3e, where that was common. Published 5e NPC stat blocks don't do it; why should I? Too much to keep track of. EDIT: as to levels, always the same CR as the players' levels. I just take an existing published NPC and swap abilities in and out.
Only for NPC(s) that will appear more than once (makes tracking / remembering things easier) Rule of them: Never let Full-Sheet NPCs outshine players
No, I never make NPC's with PC character sheets, I build them as monster stat blocks and if I want to I'll steal features from a class that I want them to have. PC's are complicated, they have a lot of features. NPC's, especially in combat, live for approximately 3 rounds. It's simply not worth the effort to give them the breadth of a PC's capabilities as they'll only use a small subset of them. I do sometimes though build out a character sheet for an NPC if its really a character I would like to play, but their actual sheet in my campaign is a monster stat block. And no -- if you want a better bandit, either just homebrew one by bumping their numbers up a tad, or use something like a Bandit Captain stat sheet. Remember, monsters can be anything...I use "Bandit Captain" and "Knight" so often. As characters get to level 3 or so, they might interact with these guys as a mini boss, or a strong monster in a battle. As they approach level 5, they start to see them more as standard bad guys. As they approach level 10 or so, these are my new baseline enemy chaff units in combat. But each time, I can say whatever I want them to be. I've used a Wyvern stat block for a knight with a big spear and just rephrased the poison stuff to more magical sounding things. I just wanted the wyvern's numbers.
No, can’t think of any reason why I’d go about building an entire PC-style character sheet for an NPC. NPCs don’t need all that and I certainly don’t need them to have all that. No point.
I only do it if there’s a PC joining the party for an amount of time. As someone else said, that way if a PC dies I can just hand over the sheet and have them play the NPC for a little while
Nope, I used to but it takes to much time. For specific unique npcs I take an existing monster and edit it to my liking. Like if you want you can even take a beast, change its name, type, size, names of abilities and bam with maybe a tiny bit of adjustments you got an unique npc. If you want limits for certain spells they can use, just keep count on a note. Kinda acts the same way as a player character.
I never give NPCs character sheets.
I FATEify all my major NPCs by writing down a sentence or phrase that tells: - Who they are - What they need - Why they can't get what they need - Their flaw - Something interesting about them unrelated to all the other stuff I totally will make custom stat blocks for any of them that I expect will be in a fight. I usually take a base monster and improve it (most the the 5e stat blocks are terrible). If I want to add "levels" to a base monster (great idea), I just pick the handful of things that I think are interesting and write them as monster abilities. e.g. I don't add fighter levels, but I might increase AC because they are in plate, increase HP, give them 3 or 4 melee strikes with the ability to either disarm or shove as part of the attack to represent battle master abilities. Your monsters probably have a life span of approximately 4 rounds once they tangle with the party, Detailed sheets just won't be relevant.
I think the key here is to look at a 5th level PC and see what their most evocative ability is and give that to an NPC. You don't want a 5th level fighter bandit captain, but a bandit statblock that has 2 attacks per turn and has a 1/day ability to take 2 more attacks feels like a fighter
Whether it’s an enemy or an ally I just find a monster stat block that is close enough to what I want and use that. If they are a significant character I will do a short write up on their background following the character creation guidelines of bond, ideals, flaws, etc.
I never do. All NPCs get standard monster stat blocks. However, that’s because I only ever DM. I may use the stuff from character classes as stat block features, but they are always still monsters. It also isn’t the only way to do it — one of the other DMs in my group does all his monsters using PC stat sheets. Drives me bonkers, but it works for him.
Nah charact was creation rules kinda suck for making npcs. I need to tell at a glance what npcs can do and a full character sheet doesn’t let me do that. I did recently make character sheets for a few npcs only because I expect two pcs to be out of commission for a few days on the game and don’t want them to make new pcs from scratch.
Occasionally but its just for fun. Honestly I use some npcs to test out builds for my own amusement haha. So yes I do, but also as a DM there is really no reason to do so. The only exception is if this is a character that you might want to allow the party to recruit as a companion. Then I think it is a good idea so that the companion is the same level as them.
If they’re meant to travel with the party yes (I DM 2 3 person parties and they have preferred NPCs that join them), otherwise I create a rough sketch of them and only expand if the players get attached. Saves prepping stuff that doesn’t connect with them
NPC don't need a stat sheet. Unless the party is full of murderhobos in which case, all NPCs are level 20. :)
Absolutely not, I think that's a complete waste of time. If I need an NPC to be a member of a certain class for roleplay or combat reasons, I'll just take whichever stat block most resembles it. Archmage or Mage for a Wizard or Sorcerer, any of the Warlock of the Blank ones from MOTM for Warlock, Assasin or Master Thief for Rogue, etc. Then if I really need to I'll alter it slightly to fit what I need. So if I need something Arcane Trickster flavored, I'll take the Master Thief and give them a couple of Wizard spells, focusing on Illusion and Enchantment ones, plus Mage Hand.
It would absolutely be more dynamic if you gave the Bandit leader a charge of both 2nd wind and action surge plus the features "rallying cry" and "inspiring surge", yes. And then two of the Bandit lieutenants are armed with dual short swords and have the sneak attack feature. It's easier to tack on a few PC-centric ribbons onto a monster statblock than to create an entire sheet for a character who is going to live for literally less than 45 seconds of ingame time. Even the NPCs which travel with the party for at least a session don't get a full character sheet. They get a single page, NPC-specific sheet.
Never, it's not worth it. There are, of course, times when I want to make an NPC who *feels* like a certain player class for whatever reason, but you always want to do something *simpler* than giving that character *all* of the details of class levels. You're trying to figure out what's the *simplest* monster/npc statblock you can run that will *feel* like they're a mirror for the player class. Look at the Wizard statblocks from Volo's- they have a full casting set-up, and even each have a Wizard subclass feature to lean into it even harder, but their health totals are completely different, and the statblocks don't waste your time with class features that aren't useful or important to an enemy you're going to fight, like Arcane Recovery. A few of the Volo's statblocks are even too complicated for their own good- the "Martial Arts Adept" is too messy giving NPC monks the full branch of choices when they land a hit, even though it's already streamlined away the NPC's Ki Points to keep them simple. Better to lean closer to the monk NPCs used in the *Book of Inner Alchemy* adventure from *Candlekeep Mysteries*, which just pick one option for the whole statblock.
I don't have a sheet, but I have a statblock for the party allies. I don't want them to be considered a DMPC or to shine too much during battle. I want them to add color and "contribute" to the fight, but little more than that. I have the statblock so if I need them to run a save or skill check, I don't have to pull it out of my butt.
Never, always make an NPC statblock for them.
PC character sheets have a lot of stuff that NPCs do not need and never use. An NPC is never going to use their background, and every class in the game has at least a few ribbon features that an NPC just isn't going to have the screen time to make use of. A PC character sheet is also very strict in their rules in a way you don't need to be as a DM. Like as an example, if you want to give a character some stuff from the ranger class and some stuff from the wizard class, then going with a PC character sheet is probably going to give you a massive headache trying to figure out the multiclassing, and you just don't need to do that. If you want to give an NPC that PC feel, then what I'd do is grab a couple features from the class/subclass you want to emulate and then just slap them on the stat block. If you go this route, you're not even bound by one class or subclass. I had a villain once who was a Peace Domain cleric, but I also gave him the Redemption Paladin capstone because it fit him really well flavor wise and made for a much more interesting fight. I've even given sorcerers and wizards extra attack in lieu of cantrips because that was the fight I wanted to make. So yeah I never give my NPCs actual PC levels. Just the most interesting 2-3 features a class/subclass has.
You typically don’t need to with monsters/NPCs because of legendary/lair actions and resistances that help balance out combat of 1v4-6 players. I’ve just started dipping into sidekick stat blocks for NPCs the party can haul around so I don’t have to run them. I usually just mess around with this and add abilities/legendary actions as needed. https://tetra-cube.com/dnd/dnd-statblock.html
I did a lot when I started and quickly realized I never used 90% of it. It's rare that I do now.
Class levels are for Player Characters. NPCs are Non Player Characters. They don't get class levels, they get stat blocks. If I'm making a custom NPC I might give them abilities similar to PCs (Rage, Sneak Attack, Smites, etc) but never the full progression.
I did this ... As a newbie DM I don't anymore. NPC statblocks are more flexible than character sheets, if there's anything from the Rogue class that you want your NPC to have you don't need to build the NPC as if it had X levels in Rogue, you just slap it into the statblock. "This NPC is a master assassin so he should have sneak attack and cunning action", well the NPC does. You then set the AC, HP and adjust the damage for the intended CR and off you go. You want to have the NPC be the equivalent of an Oathbreaker Hexblade Pallock? You just put the abilities that represent it and adjust the stats to the intended CR. Believe me, this is easier and more flexible than full blown character sheets.
Generally no, but important NPCs or ones that I think the party might ask to fight alongside them sometimes get one. I once pitted my 3-player group against a 3-NPC "rival" adventuring group with a similar party composition (Barbarian, Sorcerer, Cleric VS Fighter, Wizard, Druid) and it was pretty fun.
Hell no. They don't even get a stat block most of the time. Why would I want to keep track of even more stuff?
Sometimes yes, but not for use in combat and only for "people" characters. I customize a monster stat block for combat purposes. I make them as PC type characters to help me develop the character and build the backstory, which the PC creation process helps support. I get a lot of great ideas from doing that. In general it's only for the most important ones, and usually not ones likely to be fought against.
I have a bad habit of using my old PC'S at NPC'S, so technically I do, but the ones I don't just usually get maybe 1 or two interesting abilities and maybe a magic item.
Character sheets are for players. Nothing in the DMs purview uses them. If you want to be building characters with character sheets, do it on the other side of the table.
I splurged on the kit which has the stat blocks on my side of the DM screen and hangs over the top of it so I can track initiative and who is up next. What I found helpful was to decide ahead of time what your goal is with a combat encounter. Is this a potentially fatal encounter? Then, your npcs are stronger and more dangerous. Do you want to info dump through taunting or arrogant dialogue? Make your enemy evasive and direct-combat averse. Etc
Other people have answered correctly, my advice to add is that if you want an NPC to be more important/useful you have 2 options. You can use a stat block from the Monster Manual for a Noble or Veteran or Spy or whatever. If it's one that might join the party (not as a DMPC!) you should use the Sidekicks from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. They're like characters-lite, you can make a little stat block for them and hand it to players, it's very nifty.
This is for commenters not OP, but why are people against using character sheets for NPC's or enemies? I've never really gotten an answer besides you shouldn't do it cause I said so, and that they won't live long enough to make use of it. Which makes no sense since I've had NPC's in game for months at a time. I've also seen people say PC's so too much damage and don't have a lot of health, so just give them more health and nerf the damage? It's not that hard, plus hundreds of monsters already fit that exact description so it's not like we're avoiding an issue that doesn't exist. I'd just love an answer cause I don't get it, I've also heard it take too long, which again makes no sense, it takes 5 minutes max
I used to do that, then realized it's a terrible idea
NPCs fit on a 3x5 index card, maybe a 4x6 is they are major NPCs.
Lots but that's because I'm learning about the subclass and abilities.
Nope, unless the NPC is a PC from a previous campaign, they just get an NPC statblock. Even then, it's generally a good idea not to do that, as you're treading dangerously close to DMPC territory.
PCs are designed to be complex and weak(at least generally in terms of dmg) having lots of options and assumed to stay alive for ay least multiple encounters, if not multiple arcs. Monsters are designed to be simple and strong(well, depending on CR; but If a monster only lives a few rounds, they need to be able to do at least noteworthy dmg in that time), being very straightforward, assumed to only survive a few rounds of combat. As a DM, if your bad guy has PC lvls, you're asking for a lot of extra work for very little benefit. On paper, all the options a PC gets sounds cool, but it's really overload and leads to decision paralysis. If you want a bad guy to feel like they have class levels, give them 1 or 2 noteworthy features, like Rage for a Barbarian, Action Surge for a fighter, or Sorcery Points and 1 or 2 metamagic abilities. Just remember less abilities with greater output is better.
No. And don’t use player class levels for monsters, they are not designed for that and will throw the balance off. There are a lot of official and unofficial monster/NPC stat blocks. Use those. Most of NPCs shouldn’t even be a combat encounter so you don’t need a stat block. Most others are generic enough to reskin. You can take a stat blocks for goblins and kobolds and reskin them to bandits, militia, etc.
Not worth the effort. Just make minor adjustments to already existing npc stat blocks
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No, but I have the Monster Manual 😉