I am running a futuristic space campaign and I am not sure what to do with NPCs. They are going to be aliens, but what should I base their stats off of? Also, if you have alien monster ideas, that would help too.
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I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Mass Effect, Star Wars and Star Trek have a lot of good alien races you can borrow for your campaign.
Mind flayers and Gith could also be alien enough and are native to D&D. Gith are even available as a playable race in Volos. You could use Gith PCs as basic templates for your NPCs.
And the Dungeon Master Guide has an entire chapter about creating custom monsters.
You probably want to consider the type of planets you have, which will dictate what sorts of alien species you have in your system.
Do you have a waterworld? You'll likely have amphibious water-dwelling species. What about a fire-based or mountainous world? You'll have alien species which are capable of surviving extreme temperatures and which have the hooves and other features which make them capable of existing in a mountainous region. Are your aliens based on an Earthlike world? You'll have bipedal, air-breathing, water-drinking types.
The type of environment your aliens come from dictates how they'll be.
Stat-wise, you don't need full character sheets for these, just stat blocks. So different environs will attribute to different stats. For example, a gas planet with spire mountains will be a Strength and Constitution-based environment, while a waterworld might be more Dexterity and Wisdom. An earthlike planet can go any way.
Naresea has some good advice - looking to Mass Effect and Star Wars as examples never fails. And any space environment will be bereft without Mind Flayers and their Gith servants/runaways. Read up on their history for some great inspiration.
Abominations in general provide some interesting inspiration as well. Consider some of the various abominations and what sorts of environments they might have prospered in, and what that might look like.
You could just re-skin monsters. Like Ogres are Klingons now kind of thing. Then you’ll have the CRs built in and won’t have to worry about them being balanced.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
- Litany Against Fear, Frank Herbert
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I am running a futuristic space campaign and I am not sure what to do with NPCs. They are going to be aliens, but what should I base their stats off of? Also, if you have alien monster ideas, that would help too.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
- Litany Against Fear, Frank Herbert
Mass Effect, Star Wars and Star Trek have a lot of good alien races you can borrow for your campaign.
Mind flayers and Gith could also be alien enough and are native to D&D. Gith are even available as a playable race in Volos. You could use Gith PCs as basic templates for your NPCs.
And the Dungeon Master Guide has an entire chapter about creating custom monsters.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/dungeon-masters-workshop#CreatingaMonster
https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/mind-flayer
https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/gith
You probably want to consider the type of planets you have, which will dictate what sorts of alien species you have in your system.
Do you have a waterworld? You'll likely have amphibious water-dwelling species. What about a fire-based or mountainous world? You'll have alien species which are capable of surviving extreme temperatures and which have the hooves and other features which make them capable of existing in a mountainous region. Are your aliens based on an Earthlike world? You'll have bipedal, air-breathing, water-drinking types.
The type of environment your aliens come from dictates how they'll be.
Stat-wise, you don't need full character sheets for these, just stat blocks. So different environs will attribute to different stats. For example, a gas planet with spire mountains will be a Strength and Constitution-based environment, while a waterworld might be more Dexterity and Wisdom. An earthlike planet can go any way.
Naresea has some good advice - looking to Mass Effect and Star Wars as examples never fails. And any space environment will be bereft without Mind Flayers and their Gith servants/runaways. Read up on their history for some great inspiration.
Abominations in general provide some interesting inspiration as well. Consider some of the various abominations and what sorts of environments they might have prospered in, and what that might look like.
Best of luck to you!
You could just re-skin monsters. Like Ogres are Klingons now kind of thing. Then you’ll have the CRs built in and won’t have to worry about them being balanced.
Just use the current races, but make their skin green or blue. The rest are basically aliens already.
There was a setting published by Fantasy Flight Game called Dragonstar which I found rather compelling.
Thanks, this was really helpful
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
- Litany Against Fear, Frank Herbert