Villains - PC or NPC sheet?

Just a quick question - when rolling up a villain is it better to use the same character sheet as an actual PC or the character sheet for monsters and NPC? Is it a matter of preference or is there a benefit to going one way or another?

Depends on what you want to achieve, and what NPC's are available in your game system.  I used to use PC sheets for all my villains, and allies, and any significant contacts; but now (using DnD 5e) I often use the basic NPC sheets provided (sometimes with modifications as needed).  Only the really significant ones now get a PC sheet.

It depends on which game system you are using and your personal preference. For example, the 5E OGL sheet gives you just what you need for an NPC and nothing more for running NPCs, and there is nothing stopping you from adding a PC class feature to an NPC and describing it as a trait, action, or reaction.

Only problem with that Brian C. is if you like to give your Villain magic items. The 5e OGL PC sheet allows you to drop items on to the sheet that manipulate values (armor/stats/attacks/etc.); the NPC sheet does not. That is pretty much the only functionality that is lost though so if your villain doesn't have special items I would recommend the NPC sheet, but if it does use the PC sheet.

i then to have it both ways for important NPC i have a PC sheet. For monsters NPC sheet. For mooks just a token with an HP and AC filled in. if i need anything else i have it on a notepad IRL. 

Okay yeah, so I'm on the right track. I'm using 5e OGL and have been using NPC sheets for monsters and things but I'm making the first real significant villain of the campaign and went with a PC sheet. Side question - how does one equate CR to PC levels? Like if I made a 6th level Necromancer, is his CR 6 or is there some special way to compute? Does it follow the same as what's in the DMG?

CR is only a guide but to give you&nbsp; an idea a CR of 6 is meant to be used as a guide for at least in my book 4 level 6 players. a good example of a proper Cr encounter builder is using&nbsp; <a href="https://kobold.club/fight/#/encounter-build" rel="nofollow">https://kobold.club/fight/#/encounter-build</a> this way you can set your player levels and work out what CR is needed. as an aside to answer your question&nbsp; down vote Steps for how to calculate a monster's CR can be found on page 274 through to 279 of the DMG&nbsp;&nbsp;another tool&nbsp; <a href="http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/building-" rel="nofollow">http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/building-</a>...

To me it depends on if the villain is a mook type or it is a boss type, mini or big. Mook villains tend to be on the npc sheet while the Boss villain is unique enough to be place on the PC sheet and fleshed out.

Kyle G. said: Only problem with that Brian C. is if you like to give your Villain magic items. The 5e OGL PC sheet allows you to drop items on to the sheet that manipulate values (armor/stats/attacks/etc.); the NPC sheet does not. That is pretty much the only functionality that is lost though so if your villain doesn't have special items I would recommend the NPC sheet, but if it does use the PC sheet. Different priorities I guess. I have used high level NPCs (including using 20th-level powers) in my campaigns and still build them with the NPC sheet so that there is a simplified view at run time. My personal choice is to spend a few more seconds at design time rather than play time

Glenn J. said: Okay yeah, so I'm on the right track. I'm using 5e OGL and have been using NPC sheets for monsters and things but I'm making the first real significant villain of the campaign and went with a PC sheet. Side question - how does one equate CR to PC levels? Like if I made a 6th level Necromancer, is his CR 6 or is there some special way to compute? Does it follow the same as what's in the DMG? In 3.5 an NPC built with levels would usually have the same CR as its PC levels unless it showed up to the battle already wounded and low on hit points. In 5e the CR of an NPC is the average of the offensive and defensive CR which are computed in the way that @lordmage pointed out. The end result is that the CR of an offensive caster is very roughly 2/3 of its spellcaster level. My process for setting up a wizard is: 1. Figure out the ability scores, race, and other high-level stuff. 2. Figure out the most effective damage it is going to do for 3 rounds. For a necromancer that might be casting blight 3 times with the highest level spell slots it will have available. 3. Figure out its save DC. 4. At this point, I know the offensive CR of the wizard. If the offensive CR was 6 and I wanted a final CR of 5, then the defensive CR would need to be 4. 5. Set up the hit points and AC to reach the desired defensive CR and thus the desired CR. It seems like a lot of steps, but I have a spreadsheet that handles all the steps from the DMG so that I only have to type in the relevant information and it gives me the offensive, defensive, and total CR at the bottom. Then I can fill out the NPC character sheet and skip the parts of a 6th-level necromancer that do not affect the encounter. The PC sheet does some nice auto calculation, but it will have a lot of blank space for an NPC.