NPC dice pools

Player characters have extremely detailed stats but that is because players only have one character to worry about it.   Game Masters have to deal with many characters. When planning stories and encounters, it is generally a waste of time for Game Masters to fully stat out every NPC. Sometimes you can fully stat out very important recurring NPC characters, but even then this is not always necessary or desirable.   If for whatever reason, a NPC needs to take an action where it is unclear if they will succeed or fail, you do not need to know what most NPCs attributes, abilities, or specializations are, you just need to know how many dice they are rolling.  

Statting out Expendable NPCs for Combat

  Lets say the PCs are fighting a small horde of goblins.   If the PCs are fighting a horde of goblins, then you really only need to know what the goblins Dexterity + Melee or Dexterity + Archery pools are. And you need their soak pools are and how much damage they inflict on a successful hit.   Maybe the PCs are fighting 10 “regular” goblins with light armor and spears and three “elite” goblins with shields, medium armor and maces.   (The numbers below factor in that goblins get -1 difficulty on Dexterity rolls and +1 difficulty on Strength rolls)   Regular goblins: attack and parry with five dice (difficulty 5) and inflict six base dice of lethal damage (difficulty 7) on a successful hit. They have a 3 dice soak against lethal and five soak against bashing damage (difficulty 6).   Elite goblins: attack (difficulty 6) with six dice and parry (difficulty 4) with six dice. Inflict seven base damage dice (difficulty 7) on a successful hit. They have a 5 dice soak against lethal and 8 soak against bashing damage (difficulty 6).   The goblins surely have abilities beyond this, and they may have interesting backstories but for the purpose of your game, this is probably all these characters need for your RPG campaign. The goblins are either going to die on an adventurer’s sword or realize the battle is lost and flee.   Maybe if the PCs capture a goblin for interrogation, then you have to figure out other things the goblins can do, but even then in most cases it’s not important to know exactly what the goblin’s attributes and abilities are.  

Statting out NPCs on the fly outside of combat

  Combat encounters should usually have the dice pools planned in advance. You at least need to figure out how well the combatants' dice pools and difficultys for parry rolls, attack rolls, and damage rolls and their soak pools. It can be nerve wracking to improv those pools on the spot and it can be time consuming to look up weapon and armor stats in the middle of a fight.   Outside of combat, it usually preferable to improvise dice pools on the fly rather than try to guess what dice pool might come up ahead of time. Especially since you aren't 100% sure what NPCs the PCs are going to interact until the session starts and the players start making decisions.   Player characters are unique and powerful individuals who are typically skilled at many things. Most Scarterran “normies” are probably only good at a few things, but they probably do the same things over and over again, so they are generally good at their jobs.   Assuming a PC wants to go fishing, casting fishing nets well is Dexterity + Survival, knowing where the fish are is Intelligence + Survival, and driving the boat well is Wits + Sailing or maybe Dexterity + Athletics if it’s a small boat. Most of the time, you don’t need to know how good an NPC fisherman is at various aspects of his job.   If the PCs are interacting with a fisherman they probably either want to buy fish or see if he heard any interesting news at the wharf. It is probably not necessary to know his dice pools for anything, but if it does come up, you’ll have to make it up on the fly.   But if you do need the dice pool of an NPC outside of combat, assume most seasoned professionals have six dice in whatever their core profession is, five dice in closely related skills, and four dice in peripherally related skills that might come up in his/her daily life. Assume they have three dice for anything else.   If this seems a little high for a nobody NPC, consider that an NPC is going to have a lot of specializations for his or her profession. A fisherman is going to have a Survival specialization in "fishing", and a sailing specialization in "fishing vessels", and a Craft specializtions "fishing tackle" and an Athletics specialization in "swimming" Also, in general a character with a name (even a name came up with on the fly) is going to be more competant than a nameless NPC.

Dice Pools of two Sample NPCs

Dice Pools of an NPC fisherman   Let’s make him a human named Cisco. Cisco is in his late twenties, and he is a son of fishermen and a grandson of fisherman, so he has years of experience and an upbringing conducive to fishing.   So assume Cisco has six dice for actions relating to catching fish, steering his boat, and avoiding natural hazards at sea.   Cisco has five dice for haggling over the price of fish, cooking fish, fixing his boat, or swimming.   Cisco has four dice for fixing things around his house, haggling for things not related to fishing, getting the cat to behave, brewing ale, performing basic first aid, or throwing a punch in a bar brawl.   Cisco only has three dice to make a good impression at a formal state banquet, identifyomg the heraldry of a distant elf noble, or safely climbing a rocky mountain.   That’s just a rough estimate. Every wharf probably has one or two people represented as the best fisherman and a couple less skilled fisherman barely getting by. Maybe there is someone good at casting lines and net but bad at steering boats. It is generally not necessary to go into this level of detail, but maybe the PCs need to hire a fisherman to guide them through a treachery coastline to get to the next stage of their adventure. In this case, they are probably seeking out the most skilled and brave fisherman. In which case add a die to all his dice pools.     Dice pools of an NPC merchant   Lets say she is a gnome named Nadwa.   Nadwa probably going to roll six dice to appraise goods, haggle, or locate suppliers/buyers within her chosen specialty. Nadwa is probably going to have five dice when appraising, haggling, or locating goods outside her chosen specialty.   Nadwa is probably going to have five dice to roll for Perception + Empathy to smell out a person's general character or detect falsehoods. Five dice for Perception + Alertness to detect thieves, pickpockets, and scammers. She is probably going to have five dice to navigate the local guild and noble’s bureaucracy and tax code. She is probably going to have five dice on any Seneschal roll related to her business.   On the periphery Nadwa probably has four dice for playing the flute (she plays the flute to have something to do when business is slow), any Investigation roll (she gossips a bit and keeps an ear to the ground), any household crafts or Hearth Wisdom roll, fire a crossbow, or calm a frightened horse.   Nadwa has three dice to swing a sword, find edible mushrooms in the forest, follow a set of tracks, perform first aid, or steer a boat. She understands the core concepts of these things but has no practical experience on them.   Lets say the PCs need to buy or sell something exotic. In this case they are probably dealing with an exceptionally rich and skilled merchant. In which case a Game Master can add a die to all her pools.