Help with human adversaries - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Help with human adversaries

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
caran
Jan 22, 2009 2:44:51 I have had a hard time finding stats for human enemies. There is a lot of monsters of all kinds, but what if you want to fight humans?

I would like help to find or create them. Is there someone who made them with stats, attacks, powers, tactics and different levels?

Examples: thug, barfighter, cultist, royal guard, soldier, assassin etc.
#2
kuonji
Jan 22, 2009 11:26:26 Something that might work:

Pick a monstrous humanoid creature. Change the heading from to and now you have a human enemy. This will probably work best with the less fantastic creature types, not that fire breathing humans with bite attacks wouldn't be entertaining.
#3
veritascitor
Jan 22, 2009 11:41:47
Something that might work:

Pick a monstrous humanoid creature. Change the heading from to and now you have a human enemy. This will probably work best with the less fantastic creature types, not that fire breathing humans with bite attacks wouldn't be entertaining.

This. Reflavouring is the name of the game in 4E, and it's so bloody easy that there's no reason not to do it. Orcs, dwarves, elves, goblins, halflings, shadar-kai, dark ones, lizardmen, kuo-toa (or whatever), etc., all make perfectly good "humans" with just different stats. Pick the ones with the flavour you're looking for (a barbarian society might use the orc statblocks, for example), change the name from X to "human", and you're done!

For your examples:

Thugs: already covered by human rabble.

Barfighter: rabble would work here too, as would human beserker, but maybe an orc? not sure off the top of my head (don't have the MM on me)

Cultist: there are a few kinds of cultists in the MM already, snaketongue something or other, and crimson acolytes (found under the Orcus section).

Royal Guard: human guards, or use Eladrin for a more magical flavour.

Soldier: human soldiers.

Assasin: ooh, doppleganger would work nicely, as would shadar-kai, or maybe halflings?
#4
caran
Jan 22, 2009 16:43:41 Thanks for the idea!

I did check out the Humans in the Monster Manual, but they where all low level and not so varied. Changing Monsters to Humans will fix that!
#5
veritascitor
Jan 23, 2009 12:14:13 There's a certain passage in the DMG that goes into the idea of reflavouring, and advocates it in order to help vary your campaigns.

So, when designing your encounters, your best bet is to come up with what sort of enemies you want (that is, a bunch of sneaky targets, some big brutes, a magical blaster, etc), and then find monsters who have powers that help achieve that goal. Once you pick your monsters, you can change their flavour to whatever you want, so as to suit your story and world.

And, if you really want a little more variation, you can tweak monster stats a little. The easiest change is to swap out a monster power with another one, which can thorougly change the way a monster plays. Just try to keep the powers from monsters of about the same level, and you should be fine.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 caran Jan 22, 2009 2:44:51	I have had a hard time finding stats for human enemies. There is a lot of monsters of all kinds, but what if you want to fight humans? I would like help to find or create them. Is there someone who made them with stats, attacks, powers, tactics and different levels? Examples: thug, barfighter, cultist, royal guard, soldier, assassin etc.
#2 kuonji Jan 22, 2009 11:26:26	Something that might work: Pick a monstrous humanoid creature. Change the heading from to and now you have a human enemy. This will probably work best with the less fantastic creature types, not that fire breathing humans with bite attacks wouldn't be entertaining.
#3 veritascitor Jan 22, 2009 11:41:47	Something that might work: Pick a monstrous humanoid creature. Change the heading from to and now you have a human enemy. This will probably work best with the less fantastic creature types, not that fire breathing humans with bite attacks wouldn't be entertaining. This. Reflavouring is the name of the game in 4E, and it's so bloody easy that there's no reason not to do it. Orcs, dwarves, elves, goblins, halflings, shadar-kai, dark ones, lizardmen, kuo-toa (or whatever), etc., all make perfectly good "humans" with just different stats. Pick the ones with the flavour you're looking for (a barbarian society might use the orc statblocks, for example), change the name from X to "human", and you're done! For your examples: Thugs: already covered by human rabble. Barfighter: rabble would work here too, as would human beserker, but maybe an orc? not sure off the top of my head (don't have the MM on me) Cultist: there are a few kinds of cultists in the MM already, snaketongue something or other, and crimson acolytes (found under the Orcus section). Royal Guard: human guards, or use Eladrin for a more magical flavour. Soldier: human soldiers. Assasin: ooh, doppleganger would work nicely, as would shadar-kai, or maybe halflings?
#4 caran Jan 22, 2009 16:43:41	Thanks for the idea! I did check out the Humans in the Monster Manual, but they where all low level and not so varied. Changing Monsters to Humans will fix that!
#5 veritascitor Jan 23, 2009 12:14:13	There's a certain passage in the DMG that goes into the idea of reflavouring, and advocates it in order to help vary your campaigns. So, when designing your encounters, your best bet is to come up with what sort of enemies you want (that is, a bunch of sneaky targets, some big brutes, a magical blaster, etc), and then find monsters who have powers that help achieve that goal. Once you pick your monsters, you can change their flavour to whatever you want, so as to suit your story and world. And, if you really want a little more variation, you can tweak monster stats a little. The easiest change is to swap out a monster power with another one, which can thorougly change the way a monster plays. Just try to keep the powers from monsters of about the same level, and you should be fine.