[DF] Fast NPC stats notation

[Peter V. Dell'Orto]

I actually do everything in a compressed statline. I was about halfway through writing a blog post about it, but I'll excerpt it here. Say I have a DFM1 Troll:

Trolls (ST 20 DX 13 IQ 10 HT 12 HP 20 Will 10 Per 10 FP 12 Speed 6.25 Move 6 SM+1 Dodge 10 Parry 11(x2) DR 0 Bite-15 2d cutting C grapple on SM+0 Claws(x2)-15 2d+1 cutting C-2 IT(NB,NV) Regen Dark Vision Stealth-15 DFM1 p.31)

That's all I need to go on for monster stats. It's long for a generic NPC, but not terribly so. For guys with gear, just note it. I'd write, say, Dodge 10+DB, Parry 10+DB, Block 9+DB and add "medium shield DB2" to the end of the writeup.

While the "Ninja-17" thing seems like it would work pretty well, I personally needed something for monsters, too.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Toadkiller_Dog

I actually do everything in a compressed statline. I was about halfway through writing a blog post about it, but I'll excerpt it here.

That doesn't seem bad, at least for monsters, you're right. I have my stuff in a 26,000+ word Word document (plus a few other Evernote files for things I haven't integrated yet), so I keep copying and pasting monster stat blocks and editing them. But yours is good for a quick scribble, which is often what you need when you have not planned for an encounter.

Originally Posted by Toadkiller_Dog

While the "Ninja-17" thing seems like it would work pretty well, I personally needed something for monsters, too.

This is what I was thinking for NPCs:

Attribute 12; IQ 15; FP 20; Speed 6.00; Move 4; Dodge 8; Parry 9; DR 1; Wizard!-15; Fighting!-13; Artillery Mage Spells!-19; Magery 4; Quarterstaff-13 1d crushing; Lightning-17 1d-1 burning/FP (up to 4/second) Range 50/100; Fireball-18 1d burning/FP (up to 4/second) Range 25/50; Explosive Fireball-17 1d burning explosive/2 FP (up to 4/second) Range 25/50.

Basically, he casts spells in the idiom of Artillery Mage at 19-(prereq count/3), cast the three listed spells to do damage since they're his favorites (though they seem redundant to me; it's off the top of my head), he fights with his Quarterstaff or other wizardly fighting deals (like Innate Attack) at 13 and does the listed damage, does other wizardly things (like Thaumatology or Hidden Lore) at 15, and, when he needs an attribute for a default or an HT roll, uses 12 unless it's obviously IQ, which uses a 15. I did list his power Advantage, since that also indicates power level too. I wondered how much would be lost at this resolution, which doesn't seem like much for some guy who is going to fight, taunt, and die.

[Peter V. Dell'Orto]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

This is what I was thinking for NPCs:

Attribute 12; IQ 15; FP 20; Speed 6.00; Move 4; Dodge 8; Parry 9; DR 1; Wizard!-15; Fighting!-13; Artillery Mage Spells!-19; Magery 4; Quarterstaff-13 1d crushing; Lightning-17 1d-1 burning/FP (up to 4/second) Range 50/100; Fireball-18 1d burning/FP (up to 4/second) Range 25/50; Explosive Fireball-17 1d burning explosive/2 FP (up to 4/second) Range 25/50.

That's okay, although I'd spell out the attributes. It's way easier to parse out ST 12 DX 12 IQ 15 HT 12 FP 20 than Attribute 12 and then go look for exceptions to that.

Otherwise that's pretty good, I'd use that.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Toadkiller_Dog

That's okay, although I'd spell out the attributes. It's way easier to parse out ST 12 DX 12 IQ 15 HT 12 FP 20 than Attribute 12 and then go look for exceptions to that.

Yes, I think parsing might be problematic too. Best to spell the stuff out, unless much is won by consending it.