12
\$\begingroup\$

I've searched the Internet many times to no avail attempting to find a good source of well-made PCs for D&D 3.5 (or Pathfinder). Is there one out there?

As a DM, when I want to throw in an NPC (such as a travelling Dwarven Cleric of Moradin, level 9-11), I would love to see what someone else has done when building such a character, rather than having to think through the minutiae of skills, feats, spell preparation, equipment, etc. Since there's a good chance the NPC will have one conversation with the party and then disappear, I don't want to spend an hour statting out the cleric. But if the party gets into an altercation with the cleric, or if the party manages to get the cleric to accompany them into the next encounter, I'd rather have stats to rely upon that don't leave the cleric utterly un-optimized.

To be clear, "well-built" doesn't mean it has to be exceptional in any way beyond what the majority of players do when building a PC. The PCs described in tables in the 3.5e Dungeon Master's Guide are not well-built, both because they leave large gaps (not everything about the PC is defined) and because they pale in comparison to most real PCs of similar level. So, "well-built" means covering all mechanical aspects of the PC (race, abilities, skills, feats, spell selection, and especially equipment) and showing evidence that a human being put thought into them (something that a random generator usually fails to achieve).

Is there a source out there that might meet my need?

Improve this question
\$\endgroup\$
1
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ I think this question would benefit greatly from a definition (or at least narrowing down) of the term "well built". It is highly subjective as-is. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ernir
    Jun 21, 2013 at 12:26

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
9
\$\begingroup\$

The d20pfsrd has a page for pre-built NPCs. I would start there, at least for Pathfinder needs. I believe it contains all the NPCs from the Pathfinder NPC Codex, as well as many fan-made ones of various CR levels.

Improve this answer
\$\endgroup\$
2
  • \$\begingroup\$ That's a pretty good resource. I'm only finding NPCs that were previously published in some source, so I'm not seeing fan-made NPCs. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dane
    Jun 20, 2013 at 21:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Dane The NPC I first clicked on randomly here didn't have attribution so I assumed it was fan-made... d20pfsrd isn't that great at filtering fan/third-party made content. \$\endgroup\$
    – dlras2
    Jun 20, 2013 at 21:52
6
\$\begingroup\$

DinglesGames, my website, allows people to create their own NPCs. These are all saved and can be viewed online, organised by CR. The generator's repository currently has thousands of NPCs fully statted.

Improve this answer
\$\endgroup\$
1
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for declaring your association with the website you linked, and welcome to RPG.SE! \$\endgroup\$
    – doppelgreener
    Jun 24, 2013 at 0:53
0
\$\begingroup\$

I would recommend DIY for this, but with a small twist.

Take an hour or two and stat up not only the level 9-11 cleric, but that particular cleric from level 1-20. Mark not only what a character has, but what they take at what level; or mark the character down 20 times. This is the DIY part.

Now for the twist. If your PCs talk to him and then part ways after the one conversation, keep and use the same stats for the NEXT cleric that they need to talk to. If your group likes long campaigns, you can even take a little prep/down-time to keep them about the same level as the PCs so you would only need to develop up to PC level (and maybe a few above)

As for resources for powerful characters that will be good in their disciplines, I believe you can't go wrong reading up on Treantmonk's Lab

Improve this answer
\$\endgroup\$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .