Psionic NPC's [Archive] - Wizards Community

Psionic NPC's [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
MindFlayerZoidberg
08-17-07, 02:28 AM I had a question regarding how to play Psionic NPC's. The Comp Psi, in its infinite glory and splendor, offers the variant of NPC's having only half their power points for use in a battle. However, I have heard it criticized on these boards. What do you all suggest?

Second question. One of my favorite parts of DMing is throwing around different builds, but, for CR purposes, should I adjust them if I make a character more 'optimized'? Let say, a character I have modified and refined over the course of 4 months waiting for my other friend to get his freggin campaign going, and, getting frustrated, throw him at my players in my own campaign to see what he can do, thus leading to a character that might be more of a CR than his character lvl +1. Is it somewhat smug to give your players more XP because they played 'your' NPC -gasps-, or reasonable?
InkBlot
08-17-07, 02:39 AM I'm surprised anybody badmouthed the idea of halving psi NPC's power points. It only makes sense that an NPC psion would have used some of his powerpoints dealing with things earlier in the day (even relatively mundane things), and would want to reserve some of his power points for his escape plan or in case he has to deal with something later. It's not that an NPC psion has less powerpoints than a PC psion, but rather than NPCs and PCs alike should be conserving their power points.

As for your second question, yes. In my opinion, the only accurate way to judge CR is by comparing the enemy to the PCs. If your NPC is better at killing the PCs, then his CR should be higher, no matter the reason why he's better. Although I suppose you could just raise the Encounter Level (EL) instead of the NPC's CR, it would have the same net effect.
MindFlayerZoidberg
08-17-07, 02:44 AM I see, the NPC is not specifically designed to kill them, it just has a more feats, variants, powers at its disposal than typical or monster NPC's. Is there a fast way to test it out, or a good rule of thumb, before throwing it at players?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
MindFlayerZoidberg 08-17-07, 02:28 AM	I had a question regarding how to play Psionic NPC's. The Comp Psi, in its infinite glory and splendor, offers the variant of NPC's having only half their power points for use in a battle. However, I have heard it criticized on these boards. What do you all suggest? Second question. One of my favorite parts of DMing is throwing around different builds, but, for CR purposes, should I adjust them if I make a character more 'optimized'? Let say, a character I have modified and refined over the course of 4 months waiting for my other friend to get his freggin campaign going, and, getting frustrated, throw him at my players in my own campaign to see what he can do, thus leading to a character that might be more of a CR than his character lvl +1. Is it somewhat smug to give your players more XP because they played 'your' NPC -gasps-, or reasonable?
InkBlot 08-17-07, 02:39 AM	I'm surprised anybody badmouthed the idea of halving psi NPC's power points. It only makes sense that an NPC psion would have used some of his powerpoints dealing with things earlier in the day (even relatively mundane things), and would want to reserve some of his power points for his escape plan or in case he has to deal with something later. It's not that an NPC psion has less powerpoints than a PC psion, but rather than NPCs and PCs alike should be conserving their power points. As for your second question, yes. In my opinion, the only accurate way to judge CR is by comparing the enemy to the PCs. If your NPC is better at killing the PCs, then his CR should be higher, no matter the reason why he's better. Although I suppose you could just raise the Encounter Level (EL) instead of the NPC's CR, it would have the same net effect.
MindFlayerZoidberg 08-17-07, 02:44 AM	I see, the NPC is not specifically designed to kill them, it just has a more feats, variants, powers at its disposal than typical or monster NPC's. Is there a fast way to test it out, or a good rule of thumb, before throwing it at players?