Alrik, the moody guard.
After I mentioned him in my first article https://thedarkeyeblog.wixsite.com/thedarkeyeblog/post/npcs-in-tde I have had a number of requests to give him a full stat block, so let's start to flesh out Alrik (while keeping the values I had already given him):
„Alrik, the moody guard, Perception 7 (12/12/12), Club 12/6 1D6+3 medium, PRO 3 SPI 1 TOU 2“
With a name like this, he is rather ordinary, the Everyman of Aventuria. So we should start with a rather average distribution of attributes: 12 in everything. As we want CON at 13 and STR at 14 (the one attribute we pick to exceed the ordinary limit of 13) we need to reduce one other attribute to 11 and pick DEX.
While he could also appear anywhere to the west, north and east of the Middenrealm we give him the middenrealmer culture package, but this can easily be changed if you need him coming from the Warring Kingdoms for example.
Honeyngton in Albernia would be a nice city to place him. As one of the 4 cities hosting the All-Aventurian Bard-Fair Honeyngton sees quite a few visitors from far away lands, giving Alrik reason to learn a number of languages.
As a profession we picked the obvious guard and to get him moody and open to bribery, we add the bad habit of talks to themselves, a gambling addiction and Avarice.
As an ordinary experience level character the maximum level for a combat technique is 10 and to hit an AT of 12 with a COU of 12 we would need a combat technique of 11, so the advantage "exceptional combat technique" is needed.
We know he wields a club (1D6+2, AT-0, PA-2) so at impact weapons 11 he is still one damage point short. He could have a club that is made from stone oak (+1 DP).
A leather armour equivalent would give us the PRO 3. I envision a Gambeson with Plate armour on the arms/shoulders (which would average out to PRO 3 if you don't use hit zone protection rules as per Aventuria Armory)
He will also use a Halberd, a very common polearm for guard duty and he also trained in crossbows.
There is no suitable combat style special ability but there are quite a few combat special abilities he can have with a STR of 13. Interestingly a lot of these are actually aimed at subduing enemies: With Takedown (Core p.250) he can make an enemy fall prone without killing him. The combination of Grapple (Core p.248) with Headlock (Compendium p.152) are good against unarmed when for example trying to end a Barfight, again without killing. If the enemies are on horseback Knock Down (Compendium p.153) could take them off their horses.
For targets still not giving up, Nail Down (Compendium p.154) after a Takedown could seal their fate, especially if multiple guards work together. Another option to subdue is Stunning Blow (Compendium p.155), which fits nicely with the weapon advantage of a club making Stunning blow more efficient (Armory p.63) . To round it out we have the Shield Splitter (Core p.250) and Inured to Encumbrance I and Forceful Blow I (both Core p.248) from the Guard profession.
On the skill side a lot of the subduing requires competitive skill checks on Feat of Strength, so we give him 10 in it. Also at 10 is Gambling with a trade secret for Boltan (Think Poker but with 6 "colours" for each of the 6 elements)
Other high skills are Perception at 7 as previously defined, which we specialise in Search. A Guard should have a sensible Willpower (7) and a specialisation into resisting Fast Talk certainly helps. Intimidation (8) specialised to Interrogation and with Good Guard, Bad Guard (Compendium p106) seems to be very fitting and a solid Streetwise (7), specialised at asking around is helpful for a guard.
When the Heroes encounter Alrik at the city gates, he can react quite differently:
If he just had an argument at home about his recent gambling losses, he is initially inattentive (-1 on all tests due to being distracted) as he is talking to himself how he could have won the argument. In this situation should he actually detect contraband with the heroes, he would be very inclined to accept a bribe.
When he just won big last night he would be cheerful in a good mood and might just let minor offences pass.
If he is just called in as reinforcements he will dutifully support his comrades in combat, be it to defend the city or to clear out the drunken brawlers from the bar.
