[3.5] NPC Campaign Help

[AshDesert]

I'm in the midst of planning a campaign for a party of entirely NPC classes, and I've hit a stumbling block. Namely, that there is very little combat ability in the NPC classes. At all. The Warrior is the only one with full BAB, but he's stuck with d8 hit dice.

The party itself is probably going to be 2 Warriors, an Expert, and an Adept. This is probably going to be a fairly low level campaign, out in the rural back-country as a way to explain why the Warriors aren't Fighters (no formal training) or Barbarians (conditions still aren't tough enough to breed that kind of physical toughness).

I've come to you, my fellow Playgrounders, to ask how I can hope to balance encounters against an NPC party so that my players won't get slaughtered, but won't feel lame because they never move past killing packs of rats. Note that I'm looking at mainly balancing combat encounters, since Experts happen to make a pretty good party face. My group is also fairly good at the game, and will be able to squeeze as much effectiveness as possible out of the classes.

Any help you could give me would be very appreciated:smallbiggrin:.

[Yora]

That's why they are NPC classes. :smallbiggrin:
They are not meant to be used to fight monsters.

At very low levels, the difference isn't that large. They lack special attacks, but have similar skills, AC, attack bonus, damage, and hit points. The difference between a 1st level fighter and a 1st level warrior is one feat. For Rogues and Experts its trapfinding and sneak attack.
So as long as you stay at levels 1 to 3, I don't see that many problems, as long as the encounter levels are equal or only very slightly higher than the characters level.

But given that they are not "heroes", maybe you should not set them up for "heroic" encounters. A highway ambush is cool for a group of heroes, but not something normal people like to experience. When setting up encounters, give them a chance to lure the enemies out one by one and whack them over the head with a stick. Or dig a concealed pit for their enemies to fall in. For one thing, it makes the fights easier, and for another, it makes the game feel more "normal".

[AshDesert]

That's why they are NPC classes. :smallbiggrin:
They are not meant to be used to fight monsters.

The player's wanted to try something different, and we're all kind of poor right now (high schoolers with no jobs, what'll you do), so splatbooks or a new system's corebooks are out. One of the players was thinking out loud and asked to do a one-off and we've decided to do a campaign (albeit a short one) from it.

Yeah, it pretty much seems like they're going to rely more on them being Macguyver-y and coming up with plans from somewhat more mundane items to tip the scales in their balance. One idea I've had is severely limiting the amount of magic that enemies have access to. Even the adept's limited BC and buffing would give them a huge advantage over a similar group of goblinoids without access to it. The easiest way to solve it would limit it to skills and RPing encounter, but, you know, the Warriors would get pretty darn bored.

[The Neoclassic]

I see a few options here:
More roleplaying/puzzle-solving/exploring sorts of encounters and adventures. Even better, have these methods help the PCs get cool stuff or allies or circumstances which will aid them in combat.
Have the players be blessed by the gods (either from the start or due to some quest they undertake). Spell-like abilities, resistances to certain energy types, etc. A little can go a long way towards helping the characters feel pretty cool and helping them out in combat.
Lots of anti-magic zones and other obstacles for enemies.

I also have some homebrew spells which might be appropriate for an adept if you're interested (as they're more focused towards NPC sorts).

[Kylarra]

Alternatively, you can use the generic classes (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/genericClasses.htm). That'll keep the sort of homogeneous flavor without being too horrific.


Your monsters shouldn't have too many special abilities, unless you're giving them more magic items to compensate. The party should also be considered a few levels lower than their actual, in terms of ecl, for the purposes of granting exp/judging encounters.

[msully4321]

There is a great module made by Goodman Games called "Heroes are Made, Not Born" that features a party of 6 prebuilt NPC classed characters go to deal with an Ogre who has been harassing their town and in the process uncover a much more sinister danger.

I've had a lot of fun playing in it and running it.

[SinsI]

Try to use Defense Bonus and Armor as Damage Reduction optional rules from Unearthed Arcana - these significantly improve low level NPC survivability.