Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs
Doing a character sheet for a generic combatant takes me maybe 15 minutes.
And as for improvising on the spot, that's for a different purpose entirely. The generic character sheet is there for a combatant. The ad hoc improv character is there for conversation and minor transactions. Different aspects are important in the two cases.
Bill Stoddard
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It is for precisely this reason that I find it unhelpful to use the character creation system designed for PCs to create NPCs.
It may be possible to design a system which acts as a sort of checklist for NPCs and walks novice GMs through their mechanical capabilities as well as their personalities, place in the campaign world and narrative purpose. That system, however, would not necessarily be anything similar to the PC creation system.
In my opinion, the differences are too great for that system to be of much use for NPCs and for novice GMs, there is a real risk that they will be deceived by those differences into doing things that are harmful to their enjoyment and/or the consistency and plausibility of their campaign worlds.