I'm a new DM putting together my first campaign and decided to have a hero NPC temporarily join the players early in the games story. I'm wanting him to be more seasoned then the players, but don't want to overpower him for the enemy encounters. Does anyone have any advise on how best to scale a hero NPC/Enemies with the characters as they progress through the campaign?
In scenarios like this I purposefully tweak the character/NPC to be heavily defensive. Limit offensive abilities and spells. Depending on your story, you could also make him/her less inclined to assist in direct fights, or have him occupied by additional forces outside of the current party fight.
It is a good idea to create an NPC to accompany players for the game but I would not allow him to go with the players to encounters, unless he is part of an objective in the adventure. If the NPC joins for an objective, you could always keep him at the same level than the players and role play the indication that he is more 'seasoned' than them. For instance, the NPC could give advice on how to fight a particular foe and his/her weaknesses since the NPC has already been in similar situations, creating advantage for the players on their attack rolls for that encounter.
If you really want to make the difference using stats and levels, I would just buff some attack modifiers so he hits more often or some skills so he is shown to be more proficient. Yet keeping the other attributes base for his level.
Greetings,
I'm a new DM putting together my first campaign and decided to have a hero NPC temporarily join the players early in the games story. I'm wanting him to be more seasoned then the players, but don't want to overpower him for the enemy encounters. Does anyone have any advise on how best to scale a hero NPC/Enemies with the characters as they progress through the campaign?
Thanks in advance!
In scenarios like this I purposefully tweak the character/NPC to be heavily defensive. Limit offensive abilities and spells. Depending on your story, you could also make him/her less inclined to assist in direct fights, or have him occupied by additional forces outside of the current party fight.
Hi TheDrCrisp,
It is a good idea to create an NPC to accompany players for the game but I would not allow him to go with the players to encounters, unless he is part of an objective in the adventure. If the NPC joins for an objective, you could always keep him at the same level than the players and role play the indication that he is more 'seasoned' than them. For instance, the NPC could give advice on how to fight a particular foe and his/her weaknesses since the NPC has already been in similar situations, creating advantage for the players on their attack rolls for that encounter.
If you really want to make the difference using stats and levels, I would just buff some attack modifiers so he hits more often or some skills so he is shown to be more proficient. Yet keeping the other attributes base for his level.
Good luck on your adventures!
Thank you so much for the suggestions, these definitely help answer my questions!