Aberrant RPG - New ST here. NPC Creation Help Requested.

[Furious Angle]

Hey all. I'm about to start my own Aberrant game and I'm having a tricky time making NPCs and Extras. My history lies MOSTLY in Dungeons and Dragons (2nd Edition for about six years, 3rd Edition for about 1 year, and 4th Edition for the last year and a half or so) so the change in system is really throwing me off.

I've basically got three questions:

1) How do you guys make NPCs and Extras quickly?

2) Are there any templates or character sheets for NPCs/Extras or should I just make a regular (2-sided) character sheet for each NPC?

3) Does anyone have any methods for creating NPCs that are in any way balanced against the characters? Like, should an NPC that fights by himself against the entire group get something like 60 nova points? Basically, I don't want to build up this guy as the big bad of the game and have him get dropped before he can even act (although that would be pretty funny).

[SalmonMax]

I have suggestions.

1) PC's have many, MANY stats that NPC's do not need. Omit them from NPC statblocks. Simplify, simplify, simplify. NPC's need attributes noted, any skills that they have dots in, and combat stats. That's -usually- enough. Recurring NPC's may eventually get up to PC levels of detail, but don't hurry to get there.

2) The end of the Aberrant main book has a slew of sample NPC's of various types. Use that format to make NPC statblocks of your own. Each one takes up maybe half a page tops, less if the 'fluff' components like personality and appearance aren't too long.

3) Balance is tricky in Aberrant. Because nova points are super flexible in how they're spent, you can't be sure two 40 pt characters are 'balanced' with each other for any particular contest. A 30pt combat-focused nova will eat a 60pt diplomat for breakfast...assuming the diplomat doesn't flip him from wanting to attack to being a loyal follower.

A good rule of thumb is: Compare attacks to dodges, compare damage output to soak. You need to be familiar with your PC's dice pools. In particular damage vs soak is crucial in Aberrant. It's pretty easy to make 'unhurtable' characters. Powers like Mental Blast can mitigate that. Read up on the rules and make sure you get how they work, and you'll be able to get a 'feel' for battles and how they'll be likely to go based on PC stats vs NPC stats. Actual point values aren't that useful for balancing.

[Kazuo]

What Max said. Nova Point build values really don't tell you much of anything in terms of balance. If you want to know that you have to compare the crunchy numbers with each other.

Here's some crunchy math to help you out:

A 10-sided die in Aberrant normally gives you 1 success on any roll of 7 or higher. That's 7,8,9, and 10, or 4 out of 10 possible results. Statistically, that means that any regular die (such as those granted by Willpower, base Atts, Powers, and Abilities) is equivalent to .4 successes. Now, obviously, in actual game play your results will vary. But overall you will find that a dicepool of 6 regular dice will tend to return 2-3 successes most of the time (6 x .4 = 2.4 = ~3).

Mega-Dice return 2 successes on a 7,8, or 9, and 3 successes on a 10. 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 = 9 potential successes out of 10 possible results, or .9 successes. Again, this is just statistics, and your mega-dice are either going to give you 2sux, 3sux, or no sux - never ".9" sux. But this statistical math is why the game allows you to exchange mega-dice to reduce Difficulty Penalties on a one for one basis.

Why is this important?

Well, if your new NPC villain has Dexterity 5, Martial Arts 5, and Mega-Dexterity 5, then he or she can expect to pretty consistently garner a good 7+ successes for every Attack or Defense roll (not taking into account Multiple Actions and the like of course), and rolls in excess of 10 successes will not be that uncommon. And if the fastest PC in your player group only has Dexterity 5, Martial Arts 4, and Mega-Dex 1 - well then your players are basically screwed as far as straight fist-fights go.

By contrast, if you've put together a real Soak Monster of an NPC who also has a very high Mega-Strength rating, but that NPC also has only, say 8 regular dice in their relevant Attack dice pool, and meanwhile the majority of your players have roughly the same number of dice in their Defense dice pools and some Mega-dice to go along with that - well then you might have a problem. Your Incredible Hulk of an NPC is going to have to roll extremely well on his attack at the same time as the player he's attacking rolls very badly, otherwise all that Mega-Strength isn't going to do him much good, and despite all his soak the players will eventually Ping him to death (see the 2nd paragraph down in the left-hand column of pg. 242).

Of course, maybe you want your NPC to be big and scary, but also slow, in which case the above example is perfect.

These same crunchy (and statistical) numbers are a good gauge of how well your NPC will stand up against your PCs' attacks, and also how well your PCs will stand up against their attacks. If your PCs have an average Lethal Soak of 10, and your NPC is going to be consistently throwing around a Damage Effect of [5]10 (with the bracketed number being automatic levels of damage, such as those given by Mega-Strength), a quick calculation will tell you that your NPC is going to be doing an average of 2 HLs of Lethal damage with every successful attack (Soak of 10 subtracts from the Damage Effect, starting with the auto-levels, leaving 5 dice of Damage Effect. 5 x .4 = 2). If this is more than you feel your players can handle, then adjust accordingly.

[Dave ST]

Originally Posted By: Furious Angle

1) How do you guys make NPCs and Extras quickly?

I simply assign a die pool to the NPC based on his/her power level and assign how many dice want to be mega dice. Like:

Combat: 10 (3)
Social: 6 (1)
Mental: 7 (2)

For the sake of that task the NPC always rolls that amount of dice and that amount mega-dice to match it. It's faster but it assumes the NPC can do everything. Stay true to the NPC in this regard, if you feel they could not complete a particular task, simply assume they fail or do not attempt it.

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2) Are there any templates or character sheets for NPCs/Extras or should I just make a regular (2-sided) character sheet for each NPC?

I make a sheet for ever NPC I make, that's just me though. I treat each one like their own character so when I'm RPing them I can keep them in character and portray that to the group.

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3) Does anyone have any methods for creating NPCs that are in any way balanced against the characters? Like, should an NPC that fights by himself against the entire group get something like 60 nova points? Basically, I don't want to build up this guy as the big bad of the game and have him get dropped before he can even act (although that would be pretty funny).

Easy - Dice pools are 2-3 dice lower than the PCs. Mega-Atts are 1 lower than the PCs, or non existent. Quantum scores of 1-2 with only one offense, one defensive, one 'utility' power, no Extras. Only one enhancement per Mega-Attribute. Calculate soak as normal.

Or just make mock rolls behind a screen and ham up the combat so the PCs think their rolls matter, in truth your just describing a scene where the PC are kicking all kinds of ass and the thugs really can't hope to win. To ham it up a bit, roll and then tell one of them to take a small amount of damage...

Average - Make them from a pool of whatever XP the PCs have currently have earned.

Hard - Make them from a pool of what the PC have earned and add 150XP.

Insane - The PCs total + 300XP.

Impossible - Rocks fall, everyone dies.

[Dawn OOC]

This is all good stuff. I'd only add - go with your gut. Sure you'll make some mistakes, but you know your crew better than anyone else here, and you know what they like. Some of the best plots I ran started as an implusive addition of something I thought was a Kleenix NPC or scene.

[Furious Angle]

Great advice, everyone! I really appreciate the speedy and well-thought out responses.

For anyone else with something to add, I thank you in advance. More food for thought is always welcome!

[Dave ST]

Oh, another bit of advice...

Never listen to a word Dawn says, she's usually hopped up on the souls of young children freshly harvested while they've slept...

[Dawn OOC]

Actually, they're better if you take their souls just as wake, screaming. No nutritional difference, but they just taste better.

[Matt]

Aberrant can be a bit tricky to find a balance if you are looking at it from a character to character perspective. Similar to D&D where a low level mage will get killed quickly if he goes into hand to hand combat, Novas can be vulnerable to lot of different powers. It is partially up to the players to work together to protect the people that are vulnerable to certain effects.

My recommendation is to start off with NPCs that are a little bit weaker than you think they should be. Most players won't complain if they get to kick some ass, but they will quickly despise a game if they get their ass kicked regularly.

Each game/story is different so everyone needs to tailor things to fit their own preferences. For my signature characters I would create them in detail. But for the supporting cast of villains I created 3 basic archetypes based on the primary attributes of physical, mental, social. I initially create 3 separate characters that I think would be typical for the type of character in my game. I then pick a random pool of 6 powers that I think will most exemplify that type of character in my story. I set aside a certain number of nova points for their powers, megas quantum & pool.

As you continue the game whenever you give your PCs XP give it to your NPCs also to improve the base archetype. Then when you are creating the character just decide where you want to put those original nova points to create the character. I then decide if I want the NPC to be a little tougher or weaker, just to vary things and will add or subtract 5-10 nova points.

I try to make at least one distinguishing characteristic about each character with powers. That can just be their aberration or signature power, but then you are only having to deal with 1 or 2 things to think about in more detail.

As you play the game a bit keep track of how much damage the PCs can take and how much they can dish out. Keeping that in balance with the NPCs is much more important than the actual nova points in my opinion.

[VileBill]

Don't bother with points. Know the players and what can challenge them. Just keep that in mind and use as many or as few dots as you need to build an NPC that is fully realized, interesting and fun for you to present to the players.

And they need to know, not everyone is within their grasp. It helps if you can do something to give an NPC a big "You Ain't Tall Enough to Ride This Ride" sort of feel if that's what you want.

[Mr Fox]

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My recommendation is to start off with NPCs that are a little bit weaker than you think they should be. Most players won't complain if they get to kick some ass, but they will quickly despise a game if they get their ass kicked regularly.

QFT!

I hate games/tv shows/books where the good guys are constantly getting punked by everyone who crosses their path. Let the good guy kick some butt, but don't be afraid to hand them their ass now and then too.