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Basically, how do you stat out dime-a-dozen mooks that your players take on in bulk. The CS Grunts or Bandits who are basically villainous cannon fodder and all that? With the time it takes to stat out one full character, I'm looking for a quick and easy method to make a bunch of bad guys in one go.

i normally make up a number of typical villians and npcs and switch roles when it's needed

I have a number of word documents which have all the basic combat stats for squads of mooks ready to go. When I run a game, I just print out a dozen or so to have on hand for encounters. Basically, the sheets include things like the MDC of their armor, their weapon's damage, their to strike, to dodge, and to parry bonuses, HTH per melee, ground speed, and any special abilities they might have. Only major NPCs get a whole character sheet.

If you looking for just stats use npcs from the books just change the names

For cannon fodder, I just do the most basic stats (H.P., S.D.C., combat bonuses and just what will be used).

Shawn Merrow wrote:For cannon fodder, I just do the most basic stats (H.P., S.D.C., combat bonuses and just what will be used).

Same here...
They are just mooks what more do they need?

Just the basics scribbled on a 3x5 card (HP, armor, weapons and bonuses with said weapons).

Lately I've been using just quick stats that contain just the basics (pretty much the way Shawn does it). I did slightly more detailed stats back in high school and college, about one-side of a page each per monster/red-shirt, and still have those notebooks filled with roll ups of a variety of monsters and one-shot villains. That's useful to have but not essential or even necessary.

My current looks something like this.

(Name) Level: Race: O.C.C.:
HP: SDC: ARMOR:
Attacks: Autos: Bonuses:
(Space for more bonuses)
Weapons/Damage:

Things like P.P.E., I.S.P., spells, etc. I add on to the stat block as needed. I add "autos" in as I like it to be there. It's really not necessary at all as most things will have auto-parry but not-auto-dodge (or any others).

~ Josh

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote: I add "autos" in as I like it to be there. It's really not necessary at all as most things will have auto-parry but not-auto-dodge (or any others).

~ Josh

actually, you'd be surprised at how many demonic (melee-based) creatures don't have hand-to-hand skills at all (and therefore no auto-parry) technically. of course, that's probably an oversight caused by not fully considering the implications of demons etc not having human trained combat skills, so i totally wouldn't argue the point if you ignored that technicality in your games

If you don't want to worry about individual skills, the old GM screen mentioned above has a cool entry that gives generic bonuses for "athletic" characters and maybe a few others. For example, the athletic entry mentioned gives something like +1 to strike and +2 to parry and dodge, maybe a bonus to roll or pull punch. No assigning athletics, boxing, etc. Just make them "athletic" and give 'em those bonuses. My specifics might be slightly off, but that was the concept.

Just be prepared for the most poorly edited monstrosity you have ever seen if you can find a screen. I think palladium believes it better lost and forgotten. But it did have some useful info.

PS (for carrying capacity and damage bonuses, if any), PP (only when it is definitely going to be at least 16 or higher starting off), PE (for base HP and bonuses to saves, if any), Spd (so I know how fast they can move per action), HP and SDC, Attacks per Melee, Hand to Hand damages, combat bonuses (dodge, parry, roll with impact, etc.), gear (including armor and weapons).

I choose attributes one of three ways. Give it a roll of 10. If the OCC has an attribute requirement higher than that, then I set it at that. Or I set it at whatever cybernetics are installed. If the OCC Skills (the skills that all of that OCC always learn) include some physical skills, then I adjust the appropriate stats. For the skills that call for rolling of dice (most of them being bonuses to SDC with Running being the exception), I just use average dice rolls.

I did that with the CS Grunt (I haven't done anything else just yet), Starting with Green Recruits (level 1 characters), all the way up to Elite/Major (level 10). It gave me quick combat stats for 5 different power levels of the same type of character to throw at my players. My file that has the stats written out in it doesn't actually include the gear and those stats because they can be found in the books.

I typically stat out the basic combat info, and physcial stats. This gives me a pretty good indication of what they are capable of . I only do more stats when it is an major villan or NPC. Then I create the character fully, including skills and such.

I count up from zero. I'm not meticulous until I dole out loot. Most people aren't going to waste an action in combat using "Recognize Weapon Quality."

Generally I work up a relatively complete npc of whatever type I may need and use it as a template for any others. I have templates for various demons, random PF style bandits, NEMA NPCs, etc. Once I have a template to go off of I tend to make on the fly adjustments so there is some variety, a plus one or minus one here and there, a difference in number of attacks etc.

My 'Big Bads' are either characters from the books like Desmond Bradford or Thraxus, or characters that I create with the same TLC I show to my PCs. The cannon fodder are basic stats. I make quick characters for the in-between villains.

Grafsburg wrote:Basically, how do you stat out dime-a-dozen mooks that your players take on in bulk. The CS Grunts or Bandits who are basically villainous cannon fodder and all that? With the time it takes to stat out one full character, I'm looking for a quick and easy method to make a bunch of bad guys in one go.

On the last page of the original Rifts Main book you'll find a "typical" CS Grunt, SAMAS, and Headhunter. Of course, that info is a bit dated now, but it still serves as a quick reference.

(Kinda surprised that no one mentioned this already.)

Grafsburg wrote:Basically, how do you stat out dime-a-dozen mooks that your players take on in bulk. The CS Grunts or Bandits who are basically villainous cannon fodder and all that? With the time it takes to stat out one full character, I'm looking for a quick and easy method to make a bunch of bad guys in one go.

stat out Mooks?
In the HUGMG they have some quick stats forms for different types of gangsters. This might give you a basis to make up your own 'quick stat forms'.

Mack wrote:

Grafsburg wrote:Basically, how do you stat out dime-a-dozen mooks that your players take on in bulk. The CS Grunts or Bandits who are basically villainous cannon fodder and all that? With the time it takes to stat out one full character, I'm looking for a quick and easy method to make a bunch of bad guys in one go.

On the last page of the original Rifts Main book you'll find a "typical" CS Grunt, SAMAS, and Headhunter. Of course, that info is a bit dated now, but it still serves as a quick reference.

(Kinda surprised that no one mentioned this already.)

It was the last page of the RMB, of which I only have a digital copy. Granted I have that entire GM section printed out and in a special folder, I haven't ran a Rifts game in over a year, so haven't needed to look at that in ages, which is why I forgot about it.

Attributes rolls are assumed to be average so I dont even roll em. Combat data includes, Attack, Strike, parry, dodge, auto dodge, init, MDC, and primary weapon with number of shots. If a skill is in question, I only consider it if it is in the OCC Skills list, otherwise I assume the character doesnt have it. That list will also determine the combat bonuses as well to include the H2H type (for example, if the OCC gets boxing, i will incorporate it, if not, I dont consider the character having the boxing skill). RPA pilots will be assumed to be in their power armors/robots.

Finally, for spell slingers and psychics, I will pick an offensive, defensive, and "other" spell/ability that the character would have access to and a number next to it which is the number of times the character will be able to cast that spell. That way I dont dork around with ISP or PPE for hundreds of NPCs. For example, a third level LLW has about 130 PPE and its likely he would know firebolt, armor of ithan, and lets say magic net. So I would list "Firebolt (18); Armor of Ithan (13), Magic Net (18)"

The important thing is, you make these NPCs en mass. If you make them individually, you will spend a lot of time. Its easier to make 10 level 3 LLWs and adjust their various spells than it is to make a LLW for this adventure and stop there. If you dont use them this adventure, save the next 9 for the next adventure.