HYPERBOREA » npc party generator

gizmomathboy · 6/20/2021 12:15 pm

Making yet another part of Blackadder's Most Excellent Encounter Tables into a web app.

I have it spitting out stuff like:

Chaotic Evil NPC Party, 11 members, 2 classed, 9 mercs
level 2 legerdemainist
ST 9 DX 13 CN 14 IN 15 WS 14 CH 13
level 1 barbarian
ST 16 DX 13 CN 14 IN 12 WS 16 CH 11
9 : 0th level light infantry

Would it be help to add in the gear, spells, etc as well?

Any other tweaks to add?

Last edited by gizmomathboy (6/20/2021 12:16 pm)

gizmomathboy · 6/23/2021 4:47 pm

I have it now doing this:

Neutral NPC Party, 7 members, 4 classed, 3 mercs
level 4 thief
ST 12 DX 17 CN 13 IN 6 WS 7 CH 12 HP 21
Gear: Studded armour, small shield, long sword +1, dagger
Treasure: 6 gp

level 3 thief
ST 10 DX 14 CN 10 IN 13 WS 13 CH 5 HP 15
Gear: Studded armour, small shield, long sword, dagger
Treasure: 3 gp

level 1 shaman
ST 7 DX 3 CN 6 IN 14 WS 15 CH 10 HP 5
Gear: Leather armour, war club, dagger, short bow, quiver of 12 arrows
Treasure: 7 ep

level 3 magician
ST 14 DX 14 CN 9 IN 15 WS 13 CH 13 HP 8
Gear: Quarterstaff, dagger, scroll of friends

Mercs
3 : 0th level light infantry

gizmomathboy · 6/23/2021 4:49 pm

I think I should inputs be like:

alignment
max level (will create random level up to max level)
total number
classed number
merc number

default is random if not specified

I think that seems reasonable

rhialto · 6/24/2021 5:19 am

Nice work gizmo: very handy!

Jimm.Iblis · 6/24/2021 5:30 pm

I hesitate to add random adventurers to encounter tables simply because they are such a pain to generate on the fly — but this makes me look forward to springing the next group of amateurs trying to horn in on the PCs' treasure.
Gear and treasure is a plus! Pulling spellbooks and spells known from that generator for sorcerers would be a stellar addition.

Last edited by Jimm.Iblis (6/24/2021 6:11 pm)

Iron Ranger · 6/24/2021 5:57 pm

Jimm.Iblis wrote:
I hesitate to add random adventurers simply because they are such a pain to generate on the fly — but this makes me look forward to springing the next group of amateurs trying to horn in on the PCs' treasure.
Gear and treasure is a plus! Pulling spellbooks and spells known from that generator for sorcerers would be a stellar addition.

This!!!

gizmomathboy · 6/25/2021 6:58 am

Hmmm, I think that shouldn't be too hard to shoehorn in.

It's a mangled amalgamation of my pc_gen stuff and what I did for Blackadder's Encounter Tables...

gizmomathboy · 6/25/2021 1:55 pm

As for the spell books app I don't have shamans, rangers, runegravers, and those classes that pull from 2 spell lists working yet

Chaotic Good NPC Party, 6 members, 3 classed, 3 mercs
level 2 cleric
ST 7 DX 10 CN 13 IN 16 WS 15 CH 10 HP 17
Gear: Chain mail, small shield, footman's mace
Treasure: 7 ep
Spells: Detect Evil, Detect Magic, Command, Cure Light Wounds, Detect Malady, Remove Fear

level 2 fighter
ST 13 DX 15 CN 11 IN 10 WS 15 CH 11 HP 17
Gear: Chain mail, small shield, battle axe, short bow, quiver of 12 arrows
Treasure: 8 ep

level 4 berserker
ST 16 DX 8 CN 15 IN 11 WS 18 CH 15 HP 37
Gear: Studded armour, small shield, great axe +1, falcata
Treasure: 5 gp

Mercs
3 : 0th level light infantry

gizmomathboy · 6/30/2021 6:40 pm

Ok, good enough to unleash upon the world.

Let me know what changes might be needed

https://www.gizmomathboy.com/npc_party

Jimm.Iblis · 6/30/2021 9:29 pm

I am LOVING this!
Encountering rival adventurers won't make me cringe

and fudge

when they come up in random encounters. Now we have an immediate answer when the PCs crack their knuckles and ask "so, these guys have better gear than us?"

gizmomathboy · 7/01/2021 8:18 am

Good to hear.

Now to think about parts that I want to change.

Mostly because Blackadder did a lot in 14 pages of text.

I *might* be able to figure out something like Appendix P from 1e DMG. That is a probability distribution for equipment, spells, treasure, and magic items.

I think the Hyperborean Encounter Tables are easily 80-90% what anyone needs. I just have a pile of code and data that I can tweak endlessly.

Of course, my time might be better spent refactoring everything since this thing touches literally everything I've written before in some way.

Hmm, actually, I need to revisit the encounter tables stuff and fill out the parts that I "hand wave". The special encounters stuff mostly. Like running into a cleric, cataphract, etc.

Caveman · 7/03/2021 3:06 am

Looking great..

But noticed one problem at least, I tired twice to create a fixed level for Classed and it does random.

Placed, in 5 level, and 6 level, and got an array of different levels...

Brutorz Bill · 7/03/2021 8:57 am

This is a wonderful tool! Thanks for doing this!

gizmomathboy · 7/03/2021 9:43 am

Caveman wrote:
Looking great..

But noticed one problem at least, I tired twice to create a fixed level for Classed and it does random.

Placed, in 5 level, and 6 level, and got an array of different levels...

I need to add some text there I think.

That sets the max level of NPC in the party.

I wasn't sure how I wanted to handle that so I defaulted to that.

Mostly because if you wanted 3 random NPCs of a specific level I would reach for the PC Generator for that. Not quite as quick and easy though.

However, I am open to working through folks' expectation of the interface.

I think the options (I can think of) are:

1) current expectation that choosing a level sets the maximum level of the npc party. (randomly chooses NPC level up to that max)

2) selecting level makes all NPCs that level

3) can select 1 or many levels. If only one is selected then that is the level of all NPCs. If more than one level is selected then that defines the levels to randomly choose from.

4) something else y'all come up with

gizmomathboy · 7/03/2021 10:56 am

Ok, updated the form with some exposition and styled it a bit because it was something I wanted to fix.

Caveman · 7/04/2021 3:02 am

Ah, comprehend now

gizmomathboy · 7/04/2021 9:20 am

Caveman, how would you like it to work?

Sure, I've explained it on the form now, but, input from things other than my brain is helpful.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease after all :-)

Caveman · 7/05/2021 3:06 am

Well what I thought it was, was I was creating a 5th-level group. Sure it fun with a mix group of different levels, but got this when I did:

5th-level group: Assassin 2nd-level, Witch 1st-level, Cataphract 3rd-level, Cleric 3rd-level and Magician 4th-level.

and

6th-level Group: Barbarian 3rd-level, Cleric 5th-level, Fighter 1st-level, Monk 2nd-level, Legerdemainist 4th-level and magician 1st-level.

Thing is I had in my mind as I was creating both groups as an encounter (both were Evil groups) that they be a reasonable match for a delving group (a competing group searching for the sacred Chalice of Blas, Bla, Bla), true we not want TPK, but both group averages in levels did not really come close to the level I wanted?

Because I would not have put cert Evil group again an equal hero group, perhaps hero group would be a level or two higher. NPCs would be as is, no previous encounters (so no loss of hp or spells), so in my mind attempting to balance the encounter I just wanted a reasonable powerful NPC group to oppose my idea of powerful PC group.

Perhaps there is a limit to how low the level is for balance, but a 6th-level group would be between 3rd to 6th level, instead of 1st plus? (perhaps even 4th-level to 6th-level).

I supposed it not matter too much for a Fighter, I could just make him the level I want, but I do enjoy the spell list for cleric and magicians, so it quickly creates what they have and if as above I get a 1st-level Magician in what I thought would be a 6th-level group I got some work to do or keep rolling till I can mix and match some characters from different groups to make the one I want.

Still great stuff Giz, that a lot of work and very helpful and mental stimulating to see cert group once it is created.

gizmomathboy · 7/05/2021 8:49 am

I think that is why option 3 might be a good solution.

If no levels are selected then it is selected at random from 1-12.

If 1 level is selected then all are that level.

If, for example, 3-6 are selected then that is the range randomly selected from.

It should be a relatively "easy" change.

I'll let you know when I've updated it.

gizmomathboy · 7/05/2021 10:05 pm

Ok, made the change so that you can have quite a bit of control of the possible levels in a npc party.

As always I haven't rigorously tested things to let me know if something breaks or such.