Talk:Vile Beard (3.5e NPC)

Familiar

Thanks Sledged. --Calidore Chase 01:18, 10 January 2007 (MST)

You're welcome! —Sledged 09:08, 10 January 2007 (MST)

While on the subject, Sledged, do you have pre-made stats for familiars? See, right now I'm finishing making a Smart Ass NPC, which will have a familiar and cohort, would you have stats for these? --Green Dragon 15:14, 10 January 2007 (MST)

Afraid not. —Sledged 15:38, 10 January 2007 (MST)

Thanks anyway, I guess I will just make them myself. --Green Dragon 18:14, 10 January 2007 (MST)

Just Wanted to say Thanks

I used this NPC during an encounter a few weeks back. The party was chasing Charity (3.5e NPC), who led them right into the mix of a kobold cult. They were in mid summoning. The encounter was one of our best of times. In addition to Vile Beard there were 8 kobold lackies. Also once the Summoning was complete there was a huge snake they had to deal with. It was lots of fun. Thank you!--Mander 17:50, 9 December 2007 (MST)

Glad you enjoyed this little guy, he was a lot of fun to create and I haven't been able to play him yet. --Calidore Chase 07:18, 10 December 2007 (MST)

The back pack has shown to be a lot of fun as well. My Cleric/Druid scooped it up and keeps all her stuff in it. They used it to smuggle stuff into a city. The guard didn't really think there was much in it because it was so light. When he reached inside, he was looking for "anything illegal" so some illegal herbs came right into his hand. They had a heard time explaining that one and had to pay a 20 gold fine.--Mander 15:12, 11 December 2007 (MST)

Just how useful do you find Vile Beard's stat block versus WotC's previous layouts? They designed it with the specific intent of grouping related information together (i.e. identifying, defense, offense, other, and special ability descriptions; see the design diary article). I've yet to DM using one myself, and I'd like to get the opinion of someone who has used it. —Sledged (talk) 15:46, 11 December 2007 (MST)

I use that style of stat block for the NPCs I make. It works very well. Information is quick to find, and if you lay it out right you will never say "oh yeah, the dragon had cold resistance 20". --Aarnott 17:38, 11 December 2007 (MST)

Snikers

Vile Beard looks pretty good overall; definitely usable in a campaign. He looks to be an interesting encounter and should play well. Beyond that there's not much I can tell you; I'm not very good at judging the power or memorability of NPCs. I did go over some of the mechanics, though. Almost all of it is great, except that I have a few, tiny notes.

• Although it doesn't mention this in the note linked in your article, silver weapons in 3.5 suffer a -1 penalty on damage. They say something about weaker metals or something but it's pretty transparently to keep everyone from buying the barely-more-expensive silver editions for every single weapon. Them's the rules, though, so the silver penalty should cancel out Vile Beard's strength bonus for a total of +0 to weapon damage.
• After accounting for the half-fiend/kobold racial modifiers, Vile Beard's abilities come out to Str 13, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 14. Presuming VB increased his charisma at fourth level, that means his original abilities were 13-13-13-13-10-13. This is by no means against the rules or anything - god knows I've got plenty of NPCs with unusual ability sets - but I just thought you'd like to know.
• Something's up with the skills. After accounting for ability, racial and familiar modifiers, Vile Beard seems to have 9 ranks in Spellcraft - well over the racial maximum. Also, he has a total of 49 spent skill points, instead of the 35 a nonhuman Int17 Sor4 would normally possess. Some of this may not be obvious, as one may forget Diplomacy, Intimidate and Search are not class skills - but even then, there are too many points. Either there's a modifier I didn't take into account or someone needs to check their math.

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.99.103.73 (talk • contribs) 13:34, 28 December 2007 (MST). Please sign your posts.

Will address each point in turn:

• Found the information on the silver weapons and have made the apropriate changes. Thank you for pointing this out.
• My villains typically have unusual ability sets, I think it is important to make them a stand out member of their species or race.
• Here is the breakdown for the skill stats, hope this answers any questions on skills:

Bluff 12 (+3 Familiar, +3 Cha, +6 Ranks)

Concentration 6 (+1 Con, +5 Ranks)

Craft 9 (+2 Racial, +3 Int, +4 Ranks)

Diplomacy 5 (+3 Cha, +2 Synergy)

Disguise 3 (+3 Cha)

Hide 8 (+4 Size, +4 Dex)

Intimidate 5 (+3 Cha, +2 Synergy)

Knowledge 10 (+3 Int, +7 Ranks)

Listen 2 (+2 Alertness Feat)

Profession 8 (+2 Racial, +6 Ranks)

Search 5 (+2 Racial, +3 Int)

Spellcraft 12 (+3 Int, +7 Ranks, +2 Synergy)

Spot 2 (+2 Alertness Feat)

Overall I would like to thank you for taking the time to critique my creation. Please feel free to examine my other contributions. --Calidore Chase 16:14, 28 December 2007 (MST)

It's good to know that there are others double checking the NPCs. I went over this NPC myself and broke down the modifiers in the comments (viewable only in the edit page). —Sledged (talk) 22:44, 28 December 2007 (MST)

I wish I had noticed before I had reworked them all :) --Calidore Chase 12:48, 29 December 2007 (MST)