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Post by insightfulhedgehog on Mar 5, 2015 23:25:16 GMT
Okay so I wasn't sure what board to post this under but this seemed the mist fitting to me becuase NPC's are a huge aspect of Campaigns.
So let ne start this out with a question to anyone who is reading this right now. What is a memorable NPC you have used in your campaigns in the past? Also, come up with a new NPC which you have not used before.
I'll start it off myself with these two.
Past NPC- I did a one off Halloween campaign that I really enjoyed in which the town mayor was kidnapped by a mysterious gas cloud during a harvest festival. After a lot of halloween hijinks insued the party arrived at an old house and when they went inside found a stairs leading down into a cellar. In the cellar there was a coffin in the middle if the room on a pedestal and on the back wall the mayor tied up and chained. My players opened the coffin thinking they would find a vampire but they found nothing. The rouge of the party went to untie the mayor and was shocked when the mayors hands slipped through his chains and he lunged forward to bite him(him being the rouge). Although This was only for a one off campaign I really enjoyed playing the mayor before the festival knowing all along he was a vampure who was hoping to kill the party. i'm aware that this is more of a villain but villians are NPC's too.
New NPC- So the current campaign i am designing has an NPC who is a canidate to become king. His nation's symbol is a Raven and he has a Raven who is a dear friend of his. The raven's name is Tetrox and he is unique in that he has an extremly high intelligence for an animal. In fact his intelligence is higher then the average person. He is so intelligent that he taught himself to speak when he was a chick by reading the pages of books that his parents had made his nest out of. He is an extremmly helpful charecter because he can use his flight to view an area from an ariel perspective and then advise the king canidate as such. Sadly, Tetrox had a curse put on him that prevents him from speaking so he can only communicate through a written language which he has created and taught to the king Canidate(the irony of an animal who could speak common but is mute was to much to pass up)
So those are some of my ideas. Please share some of yours and tell me what you think of my(and anyone else who posts in this thread) what you think of theirs.
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Post by joatmoniac on Mar 6, 2015 8:13:54 GMT
I very much like the hiding in plain sight idea of for the mayor NPC. It would be fun to roleplay that out as a DM, and hopefully do it well enough that there would be genuine surprise for the players. I also like that the truly compelling NPC is the one that players least expect in terms of the raven being potentially more helpful than the candidate for king. Past NPC - My party captured a goblin for questioning, and forced him to take them all the way to the goblin hideout. He stuck around long enough that I felt as if I had to name him, and after digging around on the internet a little I came up with Mugmurch. They continued trying to use him in ever logical way they could, including talking to the other goblins so they wouldn't think anything was wrong. Eventually Mugmurch killed another goblin when it was obvious the characters were going to win, and Stockholm Syndrome set in like no other. He kept adventuring with them long enough to start gaining fighter levels himself. Granted the party then assumed they could try and convince everything they met to join them. New NPC - I believe I mentioned this one a little bit, but my group is very animal-people in nature, and so to give an NPC they could connect with I came up with the idea to have the pre-written wizard NPC to have made his familiar much more intelligent through the use of this spell www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/a/awaken The cat-man became a wizard in his own right and had a dodo as a familiar, but this was to go with his high dex, improved initiative, and initiative trait to build up a +14 on initiative checks. I have him play out as very impulsive and quick to do anything. Hope to see what other people have going in their campaigns, and what they have planned out. |
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Koldik Steelskin
Adventurer
Made a podcast!
Posts: 57
Favorite D&D Class: I Suppose I Should say Sorcerer, but truly i like any full caster
Favorite D&D Race: Dwarfs Rule!
Gender: Male
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Post by Koldik Steelskin on Mar 11, 2021 1:02:42 GMT
Past NPC: Ezedelgruf Timbers CG, Gnome noble librarian double agent of the open door one of my Thives Giuld's bright clothing dart thrower head of speed unit of the bluecourt army has crazy friend's New NPC: rorrik LN, Half-Orc king of a Giant Metropolis he likes to believe that he has power but really those who hold power are the bluebloods (Tieflings), His Gaurd who either inforce his will or don't, the Clergy, And Members of Large group of Working class members. His temper is eratic and he follows my Orc Deity of the sea
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Post by dmslythytoves on Mar 31, 2021 15:10:28 GMT
Ooh! Fun!
Past NPC: Vross. Mystery wrapped in enigma: Vross is an odd merchant who speaks only in the 3rd person, with a deep voice, repeating himself idiosyncratically. He'll trade anything that he owns aside from his clothes and his blanket. The blanket is always lying folded in front of Vross as he sits on the ground. When ready to trade, he'll unfold his blanket, revealing items that are absolutely not as flat as his folded blanket was a moment ago. Some of his prices are exorbitant, but he's often the only one who can find particularly special items. He is willing to trade for non-physical things as well, such as songs, memories, and even his own name...Vross might be tangentially related to the Fey. If the deal is struck, all memory of non-physical trades are forgotten. Most people can't see Vross, but children always can for some reason...they mostly trade jokes with Vross.
New NPC: Mrs. Fusswidge. A charming and sweet old lady who's eye-sight is all but gone. She's treats everyone like her grandchildren (great-grandchildren?), and always has a bit of advice and a boiled-sweet wrapped in wax paper for you. Every day, she makes her way down to her favorite old pub (the Golden Squash) and has lunch with a small glass of sherry (and usually a misplaced wink, because "What lady doesn't like a pick-me-up in the afternoon?"). What she doesn't realize is her favorite old pub closed a long time ago, replaced with a grim, dark, absolutely unsafe bar (the Broken Arms) that mainly caters to monstrous races. No one has the heart to tell her, and the patrons will 'handle' anyone that causes Mrs. Fusswidge trouble. The barman makes a special tray of food for her lunch, even though the bar only offers...'snacks'...that would turn the stomach of most humans. And no one, NO ONE, touches the bottle of sherry.
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drfantasy
Commoner
Fantasy scholar, map afficionado, and worldbuilding fan
Posts: 7
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Post by drfantasy on Apr 5, 2021 6:25:05 GMT
Interesting!
I'm doing a noir-inspired game set in a large city, with plenty of intrigue. The PCs often have to collaborate with, or at least be civil to, their enemies for a greater good. The past NPC is an example of this.
Past (well, current, but she has been in the campaign for six years): Bella af Hornenstöt, LE halfling woman, married to the council member for the halfling clan. Small dumpling-shaped woman of late middle-age, speaks in posh, upper-class accent. Enjoys seducing and having affairs with young men (not too picky about race) and has managed to bed one of the PCs. She is the leader and high priestess of the secret Daughters of Asmodeus cult, a group of rich women striving for power for themselves or, occasionally, their life-partners. Bella and her husband collect antiques, the older the better, she for their possible magic powers, he because he is curious about history (he's a really sweet guy). Bella has become a recurring NPC, sometimes helping the PCs (if she has something to gain), sometimes trying to kill them or betray them. They have even collaborated during a particularly fraught period in creating a joint knighthood (Knights of Asmodeus and Knights of Pelor training together) -- I was very pleased to manage to lure my PCs into going along with that knowingly. She recently teamed up with an uncle of a PC (bad blood in that family) and managed to TPK the party (a device I used to transport them a year ahead in time to move the plot along), so Bella is currently not the the top of their Xmas-card list -- nor is the uncle. (I'm hoping to turn things around again, and have them collaborate with their mortal enemy once more, but suspect they will strike her down where she stands next time they meet.)
New: Rafira no Rasolomafana (human female, monk 10 [Way of Shadow]). Raised as a devout servant of Tiamat but also as a decent person with a strong sense of social justice (thus, I cannot quite settle on an alignment). She leads a double-life, stalking the city as a dark shadow at night, stealing the most impossible and valuable items from righ nobles and merchants and such ilk and dedicating these to Tiamat. She also helps the normal and poor folk by striking down predatory people (robbers) and servants of the city (guards) alike. Thus, she (in this guise as the Black Shadow) is loved by most people and hated by rulers and the rich -- and known by none. She hides as Rafira, trusted and able servant in the household of a family of Elven silk weavers, her identity known only to the head of the House (also a Tiamat devotee) and one of her companions who fight to keep the streets safe for ordinary people at night. The Black Shadow is always very open abouther devotion to her Goddess, and quite reasonable: "I serve Her who gives posessions value and who gives us the strength to use our anger to fight against those who wrong us. What's wrong with that?". I suspect she could be used to steal something that the PCs want, and then explain calmly to them that she has given it to her divine Lady as a holy sacrifice -- would they give something to their God or Goddess only to take it back and give it to someone else? You don't negotiate with the Gods, surely? What kind of faith is that?" (She should probably have some cool magic items, for instance a Ghost Step Tattoo, a Cloak of Elvenkind, and Boots of Striding and Springing, and would be a useful ally or terrible adversary, depending on how the PCs treat her.)
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Post by melloyello on Jun 5, 2021 2:32:53 GMT
Old NPC: Another "mayor villain hiding in plain sight" actually. My first story arc was finding missing villagers. Turns out a dog-themed bandit clan was kidnapping people to fight in an underground
fighting pit.
I initially played the mayor as a fat, uncaring, inept mayor who didn't care much about the missing people. Hindsight being 20/20, seems like the villain type, just not the conniving type. Anyway, after being captured and forced to fight in the pit for several months (unwilling gladiator montage), the PC's escaped and tracked down the "Alpha", who was the contact in the town.
At this point, it's safe to say the mayor was on their radar for this, since the town hall was the meeting place. What they didn't expect was he was a lycanthrope (bwahahaha). After dispatching some corrupt guards, they attacked him and I got to RP the "you should NOT HAVE DONE THAT." *transformation voice change*
Cue the party using a free action to soil themselves.
New NPC: Ghost Rider.
I'm planning on including a modified warlock tracking down the baddie from a future arc, who the party will first meet near the scene of the crime and potentially have some friction/ suspicion with the suspicious af fire skeleton dude standing there aggressively.
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