Back in the day attunement didn't exist but Larloch did and as such he has amassed a 'cloud' of Ioun stones, rings and so on. With only three attunement slots how's that work then? Is there a mechanic that I've missed, that allows additional attunement slots or a ledgendary feat the allows you to by-pass attunement all together? Or it is just.. 'because Larloch'.

"Because Larloch" His statblock list only 3 Ioun Stones effects anyways. 

Or "because NPC".

Though, very uncommon effects that allow you to attune to additional items have already shown up in 5e. Ones I've seen so far are: being an Artificer (up to 6) or being the host for the spirit of the trickster god Obo'laka (Tomb of Annihilation; 1 additional, which is already consumed by the Ring of Protection that the spirit is in, but still...).

Awesome thanks. Essentially a short list of exceptions then. There must have been big discussions on this when it first became a mechanic, I'm assuming that it turned out in game play not to be an issue for 5e's sweet spot of 5-10th level characters. What did high magic high level games do? Just ignore it or suck it up. I should add haven't played since 3e so as I'm getting up to speed I keep finding things like this and am.. wait.. wut? ;)

The attunement limit is most relevant at high levels. It's really important to limit PC power as they get access to more and better items.

The real factor here is what was mentioned above - PC rules are for PCs. Anything that the DM controls can break any or all of those rules. NPCs literally do not have attunement slots just like they don't have class levels.

Quote from scatterbraind >>

The real factor here is what was mentioned above - PC rules are for PCs. Anything that the DM controls can break any or all of those rules. NPCs literally do not have attunement slots just like they don't have class levels.

 Well... All creatures share most of the same rules as PCs, basically everything except class features/levels/etc. All the rules for actions, equipment, spellcasting, etc is the same, including attunement (very important for PCs with pets/familiars).

But NPCs can and do have specific exceptions to rules more easily than PCs. Monsters are the easiest things to make homebrew changes to because you never have to worry about balancing it for players to use.

Quote from Lyxen >>

Quote from DxJxC>>

Quote from scatterbraind>>

The real factor here is what was mentioned above - PC rules are for PCs. Anything that the DM controls can break any or all of those rules. NPCs literally do not have attunement slots just like they don't have class levels.

 Well... All creatures share most of the same rules as PCs, basically everything except class features/levels/etc. All the rules for actions, equipment, spellcasting, etc is the same, including attunement (very important for PCs with pets/familiars).

You mean that they share most the combat resolution rules (but not all, see death saves, legendaries, etc.), but in terms of creation they share absolutely nothing with the PCs. Many have at will spells, more than actual spellcasting ones, for example.

And at high level (which is what we are talking about), there are legendary actions and powers that the PCs will never ever have.

Personally, I never look at this when creating a monster, in general they have few items anyway.

But NPCs can and do have specific exceptions to rules more easily than PCs. Monsters are the easiest things to make homebrew changes to because you never have to worry about balancing it for players to use.

Exactly.

 Ok. NPCs share the PC rules except for PC creation rules, some specific exceptions, and NPC specific rules. That is what I said. As for death saves (the only thing you mentioned that overlaps with my comment), NPCs generally don't have them only for time saving and ease of bookkeeping purposes, and absolutely can have death saves if the DM wants per RAW.

The whole reason I made that reply in the first place was to address the attunement slot comment, which you don't seem to have a problem with (frankly, you don't actually seem to have an argument about anything I said, and just wanted to argue my own points back at me.)

Okay going off topic from my post but the comments have perked my interest.

When I've DMed in the (distant) past I always created NPCs as if I was making a PC. So and so was a High Priest of Iuz... hmm okay that's a cleric then. Circe the evil enchantress turning people into animals, right well that's gonna be based on a Wizard.. They had a 'character sheet' in a ring binder and a 5x5 card summary and 5x5 'resources' card. They might have unique abilities and at will magic, as was appropriate which I guess is like 5e's ledgendary and lair actions.

So if you don't create your NPCs as if they're a PC, what do you actually do? I mean I used to roll their stats or point buy for them, pick a class or multiclass and go from there. It took ages but they subsequentally had all the usual saves and abilities of a PC plus additional tailored capabilities.

Quote from firstuser >>

So if you don't create your NPCs as if they're a PC, what do you actually do? I mean I used to roll their stats or point buy for them, pick a class or multiclass and go from there. It took ages but they subsequentally had all the usual saves and abilities of a PC plus additional tailored capabilities.

Grab an existing (humanoid) monster stat block and slap on a quick coat of paint. Grab a vaguely related creature around the desired challenge rating and quickly amend a few random abilities, swap some spells or tack on a magic item. Takes a few minutes at most. 

Look at Jarlaxle Baenre.

Where can i find larloch stat block?

where is the larloch statblock