A Land Far Away

Sand's NWN2 Guide to making Creatures

Introduction
D&D uses a system called challenge rating to assign a value to a creature that rates how powerful it is. The importance of challenge rating can't really be over emphasised as it decides how many experience points a character receives for defeating that creature and is more often than not the deciding factor in what a DM decides to drop for PCs.

The challenge rating itself is somewhat arbitrary and the only way to really know how tough a creature is going to be is from experience. The calculated challenge rating the game uses can not always be trusted as it does not take into account synergy between feats, adjusted ability scores, adjusted hit points and the like.

How to create creatures and assign them challenge ratings is covered in the Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG) and the Monster Manual (MM), but even with these it can be a long and laborious process with much flicking back and forth between pages and tables to get the required statistics correct. This guide aims to make that process easier and approaches it step by step within the NWN2 toolset to help you arrive at a fair, correctly rated creature within a reasonable amount of time. Note though it still isn't a fast process. But its one that's important we get right, getting it wrong can lead to unfair character deaths and unexpected results for the DM on the ground.

Challenge Rating

Challenge Rating (CR) as stated before can be quite complicated to work out, fortunately you don't need to fully understand it to create creatures for the game. What you need to know is the following, challenge rating makes the following assumptions. A PC is within the wealth and equipment levels laid out in the DMG and a party consists of four balanced PCs (Traditionally one fighter, one cleric, one rogue and one wizard).

A creatures challenge rating indicates what level party of four it is an average challenge for. In D&D an average challenge is listed as “using roughly 20% of the party's resources”. Resources means hit points, spells, potions, etc. It follows that an encounter with a single creature of the same CR as the party level shouldn't result in a PC dying, but if the party does not have the opportunity to rest and resupply the chance of loosing a PC increases with each encounter. So by the time they encounter the fifth creature of equal CR, the part will have used 100% of its resources and should be defeated. Note that for this to be true the creatures must be met individually, five creatures with a CR equal to the party should in theory be an encounter that the PCs will more often than not loose and all die in.

The second rough guide to CR is that in an equal fight of one character versus one creature of an equal CR, it should be 50/50 who wins and who looses. This can be a more useful tool for us in NWN2 to think about CR, as we rarely see parties of four balanced PCs.

A final point to note is that if the above measures of CR do not prove to be true in game, it does not mean the CR system is broken, it means the creatures CR has been set incorrectly. If you encounter a creature during play that regularly does not match the above criteria, then you should inform your HDM who can then see that the creatures CR is adjusted accordingly.



Where to Begin

We're going to work through creating a creature as the statistics appear on the creatures property attributes in the toolset.

To begin with, create a new creature from scratch, this will give you a level one dwarf barbarian with all ability scores at 8 and one hit point. Its default name will be “creature1”.

First, we need to name it and categorise it, we do this now so that if we have to save and leave the toolset for any reason we can get back to the creature promptly. The naming conventions and the different names a creature has are explained here.

Resource Name: This must be unique to the creature you are creating its used by the game to reference a new instance of the creature from the palette. There are various naming conventions but on BG a creatures resource name should follow this system: 010_[builder name]_[descriptor]

Tag is used in game primarily for scripting purposes, many creature resources can share the same tag. In general it should be kept the same as the resource name as scripts which require a change of Tag (such as ALFAs spawn system) will re-tag the creature when it is spwaned.

Template ResRef is the template the creature was copied from, if you make a copy of our “creature1” the new creatures resource name will be “creature2” but its template ResRef will be “creature1”. This tells us where the creature has been copied from and can be useful if we are copying many creatures with similar names. In general, keep it the same as the resource name.

Note that none of these names will show in game to players, the name that shows in the client is called the “Display Name”.

For now that is all we need to do in the properties tab, our creature is set up and ready to be created, move on to the Basics tab.

BASICS

We need to name the creature, the First Name and Second Name fields combine to give the name that display in game. You can use curly brackets ( { and } ) to wrap text in these fields and anything held in those brackets wont display to players, only to DM's in the DM palettes.

I can't think of any reason to use the Last Name field, just put the full name in the First Name field. The Last Name/First Name fields are only used to differentiate between names in conversation files and as NPC's aren't going to be starting conversations there's no need to use it.

The Tag field should already have been set in the properties tab so should show the Tag we set there, no need to touch that for now.

The Sub Race drop down displays all the racial types available from the base game and from hak's. Selecting a sub race will automatically assign the correct base racial type to the creature (Race is greyed out anyway, we cant change it anywhere. This is to prevent conflicts between racial type and inappropriate sub races). Selecting the sub race should be a simple task.


For now we will leave appearance, gender and challenge rating, we are going to come back to them later. Appearance can be anything you want and isn't limited by the choice of sub race. Its only game effect is that appearance holds the information on a creatures size rating. Gender is purely a graphical characteristic and challenge rating we will be calculating at the end of the creation process.

Classes

Here we have the option of assigning any class in the game to the creature. We have far more to choose from than players do. However we are missing some very important classes called NPC classes.

What sets Player Characters and most NPCs apart is that Player Characters have what is called the heroic statistics block. This means they have access to character classes and higher ability scores than most people. A Level 1 PC might not be as powerful as a level 5 Orc, but that PCs has far more potential than the Orc did when it was level 1.

Before we go on, statistics blocks need to be explained.

A PC has 32 points with which to buy ability scores, most NPCs have far fewer than this. There are four statistics blocks, Low, Normal, Elite and Heroic. These have 12, 15, 25 and 32 points with which to buy ability scores respectively.

The Block the NPC uses does not it self affect the classes an NPC can use, though character classes have ability score requirements. Its generally easier to follow these rules:

LOW: Commoner or Racial class
NORMAL: Any except character classes
ELITE: Any
HEROIC: Character classes only

We have a problem here though, as NWN2 is missing some very important NPC classes. These are Warrior, Adept and Expert. As we are going to be building our NPC from scratch this only matters in respect to base attack bonus and spell caster level. For now, if you want the NPC to be an Expert, use the Cleric class, if a Warrior use the Fighter class and if an adept use the Cleric class.

An explanation of all the main NPC classes is in the appendix to help you pick the most appropriate class if you are unsure.

Its normally better the avoid multi-classing with anything except Heroic NPCs, Multi-classing is another major advantage that Characters have over NPCs.

STATISTICS

Ability Scores

As mentioned before, an NPC has different ability scores depending on the block you have chosen for its statistics. Rather than use the point by system every time, this table shows a balanced distribution of pre-bought ability scores for each block.



The Low statistic block as two entries, the all 10's entry is for normal, average, NPCs in the game world, but if you want an NPC who is average, but stronger in some fields than others (for example a farmer may have a higher CON and STR, but a lower CHA as he doesn't meet many other people) use the second block. Both use 12 points to buy abilites.

LOW: Average NPC inhabitants of Faerun
NORMAL: NPCs who are a little above average, anyone who does something a bit out of the ordinary. For example soldiers, craftsmen, scribes, clerks, etc.
ELITE: NPCs who have considerable skills compared to the average. Scholars, Knights, Powerful monsters, etc.
HEORIC: NPCs who are effectively PCs controlled by the DM. This block should be reserved for high end named NPCs and very powerful allies or adversaries. For example Orc Chieftans, Evil Wizards, Other Adventurers, etc.

Saving Throws
Saving throws should have been set correctly by the toolset if you've used the class selection correctly, there shouldn't be anything to do here.

However if you're trying to simulate the Expert NPC class using cleric, you will need to set saving throws manually. If you feel it is important that the NPC has the correct saving throws (if it will see combat) then its saving throws need to be manually set to be the same as the commoner's.

Hit Points
An NPC is normally assigned half it maximum possible hit points from its hit dice in D&D, however this rule assumes that PCs are rolling for their own hit points. In NWN2 a PC receives full hit points on every new level, its there fore safe to assume NPCs should get the same benefit.

The classes all have to the correct hit points assigned to them, so hitting the “reset for max” button will set the NPCs correct hit points. However if you have used simulated NPC classes you need to adjust hit points to 8 per level for Warrior and Expert, and 6 per level for the Adept.

Natural AC
Nothing much to be said about this entry. If the creature has a natural AC add it here.


FEATS
If you've followed the guide so far, the creature should have no feats at all yet.

Hitting the add class granted feats and add race granted feats will give the NPC the appropriate race and class feats, note however that the NPC races don't have any feats assigned to them by default so you'll need to add these manually.
Once racial feats are added you can pick the NPCs other feats. Picking feats has many rules, which can be found in the PHB and DMG. Remember pre-requisites are as applicable to NPCs as they are to PCs.
You need to work how many feats your NPC has. If the NPC has class levels you can use the PHB to look up how many and at what level, for other classes remember the following:

All NPCs get one feat at level 1, Humans get an extra Feat at level 1 in addition.
All NPCs get one feat every three levels.

This should quickly show you how many feats you have to choose. Pick them from the lists up to this limit.

SKILLS
Skills are often less important to NPCs than they are to PCs. Spot, Listen, Search, Hide and Move silently are perhaps the most vital. But try and avoid the temptation to pile all an NPCs skill points into these few skills just to give it an advantage over PCs.

NPCs receive the same skill points as PCs do. Remember at first level and NPC gets 4*(Skill Points+Int modifier) just as PCs do. Skill points for NPC classes are listed below.

Outsider : 8 per level
Dragon, Fey,
Expert : 6 per level
Undead : 4 per level
All Others : 2 per level

Pick skills just as you would for a PC. Most skills are cross-class for NPCs, the exception being the Expert for which all skills can be considered class skills.

more to follow and I'll upload it as a pdf or doc when done

Sandermann wrote:Hit Points
An NPC is normally assigned half it maximum possible hit points from its hit dice in D&D, however this rule assumes that PCs are rolling for their own hit points. In NWN2 a PC receives full hit points on every new level, its there fore safe to assume NPCs should get the same benefit.

A valid assumption, but it's incorrect. ALFA 2 mobs are supposed to have standard HP, compared to maximum HP for players. The argument I believe was to not further weigh into spell and ranged balancing for CvE content. Personally I'm not happy with that - I'd have preferred an "average for all" rule - but that's how we did it.

Of course, this generally lowers creature CRs, especially when stacked with the morale scripts, which further reduce a creature's effective hit points.

But a very helpful tutorial, I like the systematic approach.

But the problem is Veilan many builders have chosen to give NPCs character levels and increased ability arrays they should not have to compensate and increase the creatures or NPCs power. Keeping NPC classes and normal or elite ability arrays but increasing HP increases the threat of a creature without giving it insanely high BAB, saving throws and feats or spells that only those with character levels should have.

OK, a long while over due but after some pressure from Curm heres part 2:AI

The AI in NWN2 is identical to the AI in NWN1, its all the same scripts so all the same switches apply. A switch is simply a variable set on the creature that is read at the begining of every combat round to modify what actions that creature will take next.

Switches are normally set in the on_spawn script and then remain the same for the duration of that NPCs exitence, however they can be modified via script at a time after spawning in which case they will take effect the next time that NPC completes a combat round.

I've compiled all the switches here, with descriptions and some experience from my testing of the actual behaviour they cause:

Integers:

"x2" Switches

X2_SPELL_RANDOM (0-100)
Will make the NPC use some random decision making in its spell use. Without this an NPC will use its spells in a predicatable and definate order. In effect this makes the creatures spell casting much harder to guess for the player. In combination with other variables such as compassion and aid comapnions, it can create some interesting and more realistic behaviour.

X2_L_SPAWN_USE_STEALTH (0/1)
the NPC will acticvate stealth mode when its not in combat. Also enables HiPs usage correctly.

X2_L_SPAWN_USE_SEARCH (0/1)
NPC will use detect mode if available, allowing it to roll spot/listen checks to detect stealth enemies.

X2_L_SPAWN_USE_AMBIENT (0/1)
NPC will randomly wander about and interact with other NPCs/Waypoints

X2_L_AMBIENT_IMMOBILE (0/1)
As Above, but NPC will remain where it is

X2_L_IS_INCORPOREAL (0/1)
The creature will have its dynaic collision diabled, use for incorporeal NPCs (ghosts, etc)

X2_L_NOTREASURE (0/1)
Prevents

X2_L_BEH_MAGIC (0-100)
Chance the creature will use magic (or special abilites) in any given round.

NOTE: the NPC will still not use spells and special abilites without henchman AI, its spell use will be very simplistic and will not take into account allies.

X2_L_BEH_OFFENSE (0-100)
Percentage chance the creature will use offensive abilites in combat (meaning everything from a simple attack command to a major offensive spell). Set at 0 this will cause the creature to flee from combat.

X2_L_BEH_COMPASSION (0-100)
Will the NPC aid companions (creatures in the same faction) if they are in trouble. This could mean a wide range of actions such as switching missile fire target, moving to engage a new enemy or casting a heal or buff spell on the ally

"X4" Switches

X4_L_AI_COMBAT_+ (AMBUSH/RANGED/DEFENSIVE/COWARDLY)
Set only ONE of these, two will break the AI. (for example X4_L_AI_COMBAT_AMBUSH)
Ambush will casue the NPC to attack, then hide/move/flank and attack again. It will attempt to break line of sight and keep NPCs of the same faction between itself and the enemy.
Ranged will cause the NPC to prefer ranged weapons. It will retreat form melee if doing so wont provoke and attack of opportunity (or it has a Dodge or a good Balance skill).
Defensive will cause the NPC to try and defend NPCs of the same faction set to cowardly or ranged
Cowrdly will cause the NPC to try and disengage and keep others of the same faction between itself and an attacker.

X4_L_ASSIST_ALLIES
The creature will move to assist allies in danger. This behaviour wil alter with X2_L_COMPASION, a creature with this switch and compassion will move to assit allies who are in trouble. This will also cause NPCs to respond to the following switch

X4_L_SHOUT_WARNING
The NPC will alert nearby allies to a hostile target, even if the ally can not perceive the target itself. This will cause behaviour such as NPCs moving from one room to another to assist easch other.


Bear in mind the default AI is still not that bright. It will still do stupid things.

I am working on a system that borrows heavily from the henchman AI (which is much better than normal NPC AI.) Your NPC will not use special abilites at all unless it using henchman AI or has a special script telling it what to do.

First, thanks for posting this - these combat AI switches are less than well-publicized in any NWN2 Toolset guide that I've found yet.

Two quick questions:

1:) Should all these variables be set to Integer? 1=On, 0=Off or percentages?

2:) Just how does one get the NPC to use Henchman AI?

Thanks very much - this will make things SO much more interesting.

Experiments seem to indicate that variables are all integer/boolean.

As far as I can tell from scanning the binary and nss files, the above variables are inaccurate.

I've placed all the references to variables that I could find at the creature creation documentation.

A note that this variable:
X2_L_NOTREASURE

Is intentionally excluded from the linked creature documentation page, though it does indeed appear on Sand's lists and OE's documentation (largely in comment lines of the default OnSpawn event script). X2_L_NOTREASURE should be an integer on every module, set to 1; it disables OE's loot drops, and thus ensures that loot comes from the ACR (and is thus standards and wealth guidelines compliant). Once the module is set, the settings on invidivual creatures don't matter.

FoamBats4All wrote:As far as I can tell from scanning the binary and nss files, the above variables are inaccurate.

I've placed all the references to variables that I could find at the creature creation documentation.

Seems they work fine on TSM, but we use Sand's Advanced AI system, at least until something better comes along.

Sand's Advanced AI (sand_advanced_ai.erf) can be downloaded from the DMFTP in NWN2/Modules/Builders Share Folder/

This allows use of the X4_ variables to set creature behaviors among other factors. The scripts are well-commented.