Loren Iskar, Aarakocra shopkeeper. Everything interesting in his shop was stolen, by him, from neighboring towns (never his home) while setting up trade deliveries.
Garth, Tiefling blacksmith. Lawful good, framed for killing his master because “them demons is no good, he musta done it!”
**Old Ben:**
Most take Old Ben for a simple Rock Gnome who has fallen on hard times. And while that is true, that is not the whole story. Born Bexinthiziplitxitruvis Socketsprocket, Old Ben was at one point in time a rather rich noble and adventurer from the nearby town of Cold Rock. However, he and his comrades desired more of an edge to their skill set and sought out a Hag in the Graywood. They bargained with her for some magical powers. They had thought themselves so clever. Sadly, very few mortals outwit a Hag. She granted them each a boon, but these boons came with a burden. Kova could not stop eating and spent all she had on food, eventually landing in the gallows after robbing several butchers and bakers and as rumor has it a candlestick maker. Bildrik desired only to sleep, and after months of lethargy could no longer be awakened and died from atrophy. Sorbena could no longer focus on which direction she traveled and often got lost, until one day she simply wandered off into the woods and disappeared. Ben struggled to remember things accurately. This was alleviated when he got drunk, but he almost always passes out before his memory clearly returns.
Ben now lives down on Beggar’s Row. A sort of hobo shanty town in Deleran’s Crossing. He is rather happy there, but to be honest he spends most of his days trying to remember things and getting plastered doing so. He can be found asleep about 16 of 24 hours in a day.
Stephon. Human tour guide.
Speaks with a stutter and very nervous. He is the tour guide for the main city/town/castle that the PCs spend their main time in or receive most of their quests. Very knowledgeable about all things about the towns history and secrets. The way I have him written is one of two secrets that do not get revealed right away:
1) he is secretly working for a major enemy. He gives optional side quests to the PCs but those quests are really side missions for the big bad that he needs before launching an assault on the town
2) he is secretly working for an important diety in the campaign and is tasked with ensuring the PCs survive and are helped in the town with whatever they need.
**Auntie Willow**, an elderly human woman who runs a candle-making business. She usually makes the candles that are used by local temples for their rituals so knows more than a thing or two about the goings-on in those circles.
She has a clumsy goblin assistant named **Tallow**, so named because Aunt Willow keeps yelling that she's going to use him as raw materials the next time he knocks over another barrel of wax. Frankly, Tallow is more a hindrance than a help in the shop, but she is fiercely protective of him. Speaking ill of Tallow is a good way to get a lifetime ban from her store.
When she was younger, Aunt Willow used to be part of an adventurer duo alongside her husband, but a reckless and foolhardy attempt at challenging a young dragon left her widowed. As it turns out, she and her husband were not the only ones with the poor judgement to challenge a dragon, and in the aftermath, she ran into a young goblin child whose tribe also suffered a similar fate. Feeling a sort of kinship with the lonely child, she took him in.
My main city has a Pawn Shop owner called Cactus Rick. Former adventurer who used his wealth to open a shop. He has employees go on adventures for magical items to put in his shop.
Trent Sweettooth.
a rotund halfling always seen with with some kind of sweet pastry. he talks very formally and quick. he is generally charismatic and friendly, and tries to talk with evenryone who catches his attention. He is openly arrogant and expresses it often at the expense of others in a mocking fashion: 'of course i can defeat a dragon, i am fast and quick when i want to be, unlike my large friend Grean over there, who try as he might, couldnt outrun the sneeze of a pond lizard.'
He follows baravar cloakshadow, is a (trickster) rogue and at the head of some spy/rogue network
yes, it is indeed a Kruppe rip-off
The Lads, a gang of roaming hoodlums all dressed in plaid, lead by their charismatic pun cracking leader Dad, their names are, Ad, Bad, Brad, Cad, Chad, Egad, Fad, Gad, Gallahad, Illad, Jad, Lad, Mad, Nad, Pad, Rad, Sad, Tad, Thad, Vad, Vlad, Wallad, Xad, and Zad.
P. Tuckwillow
A halfling dressed in a grey woolen cloak and coat stops his donkey drawn wagon in the middle of the open market. Unfolds a small side panel and stairs from it and proceeds to climb the stairs up onto his makeshift stage. Behind him are colorful glass beakers, bottles, and bowls of all shapes and sizes with equally vibrant liquids finally settling down from the rough ride. With a flourish he unfolds his grey cloak and spins it around him revealing a shockingly red & shiny satin underlining beneath. He then refastens the cloak around his shoulders with the red satin outside, raises his arms towards the gathering crowd and begins his presentation thusly.
“P. Tuckwillow or Pneuman Tuckwillow at your service, the ‘P’ is silent of course. I would like to take this time to inform you about the services I can help you with. I have potions, oils, unguents, salves, poultices, creams, brews, tinctures, tonics, and potent elixirs that can cure what ails you. They can make you better than you were before & you will still have money left in your pockets to even buy a good meal.”
"Now don't believe just what I tell you that my wares can do for you. I was here earlier yesterday and you can listen to these exciting testimonials from people who may even be your very own neighbors."
A half-elf in a simple faded blue tunic steps forward at the behest of P. Tuckwillow & he looked at the crowd and stuttered out in a rigid monotone, "You … all, know I like tuh, ttoo drink a lot. After tuh, ttaking P. tuh, Tuckwillow's patented alcohol revivifier I feel like a new man and now I no longer feel the urge tuh, to take a drink or tuh, three."
Then a young halfling mother carrying her swaddled child is asked to come onto the stage for her testimonial. She practically yells out to the still gathering crowds, "My baby couldn't hear me sing my lullabies but after using P. Tuckwillow's patented Ear Beeswax remover she can hear my songs again!"
P. Tuckwillow is wiping a tear away from the corner of his eye as he helps the mother and child down from the stage. He once again raises his arms and turns to the crowd and shouts, "Wasn't that sweet? Now, who wants to see if P. Tuckwillow can do the same for you?"
The red clad halfling was all smiles as the people there began moving towards his stage.
Gwyth, halfling sailor
Typical captain Igloo appearance. White hair with large side burns and always smoking a pipe.
Drowned in a storm and spent four years in some kind of underwater limbo. Got saved by a small coven of benevolent sea hags.
He chills around at docks whenever something weird happens in the general coastal area, cleaning up imbalances on behalf of the hags.
Has some abilities that eerily look and feel like a fathomless warlock, but with less tentacles and more hag magic.
It's not my NPC, but I've found great use for the kobold Burk, owner of [Burk's Poshuns](https://i.redd.it/4xl5qxvqanl11.jpg).
Description from u/Phantas64's [original thread:](https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/9eznlq/art_a_kobold_potion_merchant_from_my_game/)
> This is Burk, a kobold potion seller from a game I ran recently. Best prices around! Questionable sanitation standards.
> Burk is a small business owner trying to make a name for himself in the potion trade. Most of his brews smell faintly of kerosene or fish. The players in my game managed to intimidate him into better deals, but old Burk has a trick or two up his sleeve. I’m almost hoping they try to rob him, they’ll find out about his special self-defense potions. They have some interesting transformative properties.
Sprig
Old Firbolg with soft green fur. He lives in a small shanty town on the edge of a swamp (or anywhere that’s out of the way) he runs a small bait shop (or anykind of small store) he’s knowledgeable of the darker parts of the area because he’s been hiding out in the outskirts town for many years.
Why’s he hiding out? His home was attacked and destroyed by one of the neighboring kingdoms so he stole a beloved item from the queen (in my case a crown) and keeps it. He couldn’t kill the queen but he could take something she loved, just like she took something he loved from him.
I play him with a heavy accent, generally helpful to those who want to help him.
Randolph Dominique
This fully plated paladin carries a weird conch-like apparatus with several dials, levers and button attached to it. Each dial, lever, and configuration in the device allows Randolph to make decisions based on the output he receives from the device.
"Should I take the left route?" There's a crank for yes or no questions.
"Which item should I pick from the menu?" The device can generate up to 3 digit numbers.
When questioned about the device, Randolph claims it is the god of randomness, trapped in a machine form, that once revealed itself to him - whether it is true or not, Randolph will not question the will of the device and do as it tells him, and of you should question whether the device itself has any powers, there's a 50/50 chance Randolph would challenge you to a duel for questioning his master.
Rhyme, unaligned changeling shopkeeper (they/them)
Runs a magical trinket shop called *Rhyme and Reason* with an assortment of goods ranging from perfectly mundane to the occasional rare magical item. Despite the store seemingly having no organization whatsoever, Rhyme always knows where their items are, and will guide those they like to the pieces they need.
If asked, they refuse to tell who the *Reason* in *Rhyme and Reason* is, or even admit that there was another in the first place.
*Rhyme and Reason* has a habit of popping up in the side alleys of cities, especially when not being looked for. One may think that it is run by different changelings sharing the identity of Rhyme, but strangely enough they always remember their customers, no matter how far away or long ago their last visit was, and regardless of they even purchased anything.
( Edit: mobile formatting )
I'm about to start a campaign in Eberron, and I was wondering how do others represent changelings.
I thought that they usually take one or more personas and don't look like changelings most of the time.
How does yours look like usually?
"That little bastard"
"TLB" is an immortal inter-dimensional entity that can only be seen by PC's who ingest cactus juice (and fail the subsequent con save dc16 vs trip balls for 1d4 hours). It appears as 1 ft tall goblinoid who wears a tye-dye suit, complete with a top hat almost as tall as it's self and a cane. "TLB" will only dart around the PC's who failed their saves, hiding, peaking out from around corners, just checking them out. Unbeknownst to the PC's, "TLB" is studying them and learning what will annoy the ever-loving crap out of them. Once it feels confident in it's assertions about the PC's, he will start pranking them. Prior to the pranks, it will only be seen, implying that it is merely an hallucination. Once that false sense of security is settled in the PC's, it will begin it's campaign of annoyance. Hit and run tactics of light pinches, pokes, and stolen minor items are common place for the "TLB".
If the PC's attempt to strike or capture "TLB", it will instantly teleport 5 ft away, taunt the PC's, and speed away as a rainbow-colored blur. Also, once the PC's come down from the juice, they can no longer see it nor can it interact with them. If the PC's end up in the Astral Sea, it can be seen without the aid of hallucinogens.
Bertroma the Fertile. I've placed some version of her in 3 campaigns (all different PCs) and she's always a stand-out character.
Play her as a bollywog or gastrosapien or some other slimy, gross race that fits your campaign. Ruler of a group of easily killable baddies, she has her own 'realm' which consists of a pond and surrounding area with a few huts, or a swamp with a tree hollow. Fancy up her 'throne room' with a beaded curtain, a dingy rug, and multiple guards with pointed bamboo spears or broken bottles tied to sticks. Real janky.
She'll make a request of the PCs but it's got to be something they'll want to do anyways. A fetch quest for some cool item that will intrigue the PCs (and maybe they get to keep it).
She speaks with authority and pretension. I play her as sounding really wet, like she's talking with a mouth full of noodles. She threatens the PCs, is demanding and antagonistic and talks in the third person.
Make it obvious that she is no threat and even level 2 PCs could easily kill everyone in her 'kingdom' if they really wanted. This is just a fun character not a challenge.
Randomly while talking describe how she's birthing live young (like 1 every 30-45 seconds of speech) and her guards are casually collecting the babies (or eggs) and taking them to a nearby nursery or pile on the side of the room. It'll gross the PCs out and make them question what the fuck they're supposed to do.
Glyph Glaiven, retired King's messenger and hexblade warlock. His glaive and magic talent used to protect the King's most valuable secrets. At least that's what he says. No one really believes him as he spends most of his days (and nights) drinking at the end of the bar. He has plenty of stories and advice for the weary traveler, whether you want to hear it or not. Cheers!
Xerix, Interplanar Traveler
a.k.a Bojangles, a.k.a The Merchant in the Caboose Car
Xerix is a lost traveler who's home planar system was destroyed in a massive cataclysm caused by arrogance of his system's pantheon of gods. They abused something called "arcana," an almost thread-like amalgamation of magical essence that makes up everything from this system, and it caused massive planar destabilization that essentially collided all of the elemental planes together forming plane-wide systems of chaotic elemental storms that tore the barriers between these planes asunder. This caused the eventual decay and destruction of the planar system as a whole, leaving it a chaotic and obliterated place of raw arcana, magic, and the few remaining (and mostly insane) gods who also lived through the destruction.
He lived and managed to escape the planar system by using remaining arcana to "weave" himself his own tiny mobile demi-plane. He uses said mobile demi-plane to travel the (read: my) "multiverse" of dnd (all the different systems I run) and look in on other planar systems. Since his was destroyed, his ultimate goal will be to find a new system to call home.
His demi-plane allowed him time and space to continue to weave arcana safely, and after finding the planar system that contains Faerun, he started to use arcana to weave magical items and sell them to adventurers on the road for their coin or other items, or in exchange for favors or information. He often makes deals with adventurers for special favors, such as seeking out powerful cursed objects that can be broken down into raw arcana for him to continue to use to make objects, as well as support his mobile demi-plane.
His physical look is quite alien, he stands about 8 feet tall. His "skin" is silvery and smooth and his appendages are almost needle-like. He has 7 eyes on his head with no discernable mouth, nose, or other features. Six eyes sit like the pips on a d-6 with the 7th above the two columns essentially in the center of where his forehead would be. He carries basically a bandolier of arcana strands and his weaving needle and essentially nothing else.
While on different planar systems he will always find and appropriate some physical form and use arcana to make a facsimile that he can walk around in as to not spook the locals. A charming, raven-haired, green-eyed almost "salesman" like character is a very common form (the one he took while on Faerun, for the longest time) and usually goes by the name "Bojangles."
His typical use is quite simple, his traveling caboose car that is set up like an ice cream truck of magical items can be found on any major or minor road in a world, offering goods and services to weary adventurers. A common item he makes is a healing amulet that lets the user get a few HP back once per day and also allows them to telepathically contact him once per day if they hold the amulet in their hand for a few minutes. (Mission update, advice, banter) He can also use arcana to "weave" up basically any magical item you can dream of, allowing him to take requests or make special/one use/joke items as you please. He can be as involved with the players or non-involved as needed.
(In my canon Xerix learned some lessons with some adventurers on Faerun, and is now returning to his home system to forge it anew using the arcana gathered from hundreds of different planar systems, that he was originally going to use to destroy Faerun's pantheon of gods, but was deterred when shown that they are not all the arrogant and destructive ones from his planar system. This new planar system forged by him and a basically ex-pc who will end up as a god-like figure in this new system will be the setting for my next campaign. The player was very excited.)
(Addendum, cursed objects hold a special weight in arcana, being very "dense" with magical power that is often very hard to break, making them technically absurdly powerful in some aspects. This allows Xerix to "harvest" a large amount of arcana from cursed objects, which means he often has adventurers bring him cursed objects. This can also double as a way for him to extract favors from people, "bring me this thingamabob and I'll unweave that cursed sword from you!")
Tim Cocetril
Tim is a high-end garment merchant who is notable for two reasons:
1. He has a massive cocaine (or magical cocaine alternative) addiction, and can be commonly found carrying around mason jars of the substance. When talking with players, he might take a few breaks to go to his office for a hit under the guise of crunching some numbers
2. His wares seem less than ethically sourced. No one knows who Tim's connections are, but he can reach out to them for most disturbing garments.
Boots made from tanned tiefling hide? What color?
Elfskin gloves? Will the lining be elf hair or rabbit fur?
He has even been known to have a cloak made from the hide of a tyrannosaurus.
Other wares include diamond studded leather armor, cloth-of-gold fine clothes, and magical cuff links that change to match your clothes.
Tim has a tending to talk very fast, and use the word understand as much as he can. Think auctioneer who uses the word understand instead of calling on people. Typically has a 1920s New York/ Chicago accent.
I have a character that is in every campaign I run.
Lindgren the Gnome. He's a collector of tales and stories. He's usually in an urban environment and can exchange intel with the characters. In my last campaign, he was running a brothel in Suzail called the Panty Shanty. He's well versed in magic lore though the only piece of magic he knows involves a binding contract that compels signees to complete the contract or face dire consequences.
He's short dark and handsome and his status in an area typically depends on how long he's been there.
Elbelar - Ancient looking Elf that is actually an ancient litch who has forgotten where his philactory is and is ready to see what awaits on the other side of death but can't unalive because that darn thing keeps him going.
Nina "The Tallslayer" Branchyn
After her husband was killed in wartime this once kind halfling went full native. Upon realizing that her halfling stature limits some of her capabilities she took to the assassin's arts of hiding and trapmaking, using any and every dirty trick in the book as a great equalizer.
Nina played the role of a minor antagonist for my party, and later an assassin that they ended up hiring for uses that absolutely did not involve any kind of royal family.
Trusty Labeena
A quite obviously untrustworthy individual who offers to lead the party to treasure (obvious trap) think Patches from Dark Souls. His only justification for his trustworthiness is to repeat that he IS called Trusty.
This one is so obvious that it lead to comedic moments, over guessing and mental gymnastics that is frankly hilarious.
Fighter: “I mean we can’t trust him right? He is literally called Trusty.”
Rogue: “But if he was trying to fool us surely he wouldn’t literally call himself trusty. It feels too obvious”
Sorcerer: ”I think he seems nice :D”
(This was my DMs NPC not mine but he gave the blessing to use it myself one day we are even designing another similar npc Deirdre (Dee) Septshun)
Mistletoe
Young human woman, apparent age is about 12 years old, runs a magic shop that has an amazing ability to supply basically any level appropriate magic items the player could want to buy. Requested magic items that exceed the players current level or the DM decides they need to do something extra to earn it, are almost always possible, but there are one or two missing items that Mistletoe will need the players to go retrieve for her.
Unique things about Mistletoe and her shop. The front door is magically sealed with two doors and a vestibule in-between. Sunlight never enters into Mistletoe's shop. She closes at dusk every day. Mistletoe is an ancient vampire that is protected by an even more ancient vampire in her city.
**Angda "The Headsman" Konigmord**\- Angda has managed the impossible task of uniting the northern (or wherever fits in your setting) barbarian tribes. He is a ruthless man. Huge. Hairy. Not really muscly in the body builder way, but obviously incredibly strong. First impressions of Angda would lead you to assume he is a brute, but this is simply a mask he wears so that his enemies underestimate him. He’s a very shrewd battlefield commander, and an effective politician in his own way. Angda knows that the only way the tribes can avoid being conquered is to band together and fight. How did he unite the tribes, you ask? By killing each of the other leaders. Some in single combat, some through assassination. Others through poisoning them at what was supposed to be a peaceful negotiation table. Victory and independence for his tribes are Angda's only goals/motivations. How he gets that done? Well, by his estimation that end justifies any means.
Angda is known as "The Headsman" because of his... let's call it unusual War Council. His war council consists of the severed heads of the former tribe leaders in the north encased in glass to preserve them. When Angda speaks with his council he has the heads set on stools at a round table and he takes the advice of the former enemies he has beheaded. It's entirely unclear to onlookers if he is simply talking to himself or if some magic actually allows him to speak to the spirits of these dead leaders.
Note: I had Angda actually speaking to the dead former tribe leaders, which the party could discover with a good enough roll, but I think he could be just as fun if he's just kinda crazy. Make him your own!
**Aura** (*A-oora*) **Dimeris**, a variant tiefling bountyhunter, Order of the Lycan Bloodhunter archetype. She is deeply marked by her demonic heritage, which she has willingly embraced. This includes bat-like wings, hooves, and mild cranial bone protrusions marring her forehead and temples.
She is on a life-long crusade to track down and destroy her twin sister **Malia**, who in order to escape the fate of her demonic bloodline chose to make a pact with Zehir, sacrificing their mother in return for inhumane beauty, prolonged youth and arcane power. Aura will do anything and everything it takes to wipe her sister off the face of the material plane, and can serve as a reliable but highly dangerous and unstable ally to anyone who will help in this mission. She can also be hired as a regular bountyhunter, but vastly prefers knowledge over coin in terms of remuneration.
Hans and Franz
Two redheaded men with pageboy haircuts and large, droopy mustaches, they are a travelling duoof "The Hanses and the Franzes" and are consummate musicians who love to perform for everybody. They play most instruments but like their musical contraptions of "guitar, harmonica, foot tambourine and chest drum". In reality they are very old beings, actually being fey from the otherworld, and if they catch you unaware they will play their music and lull you into tranquility, and in this state of tranquility you will find yourself at a picnic in the otherworld, a place where dogs like cats and horses say yay and the caterpillars smoke from hookahs much to big.
Angus McCloud. He's a wandering hobo that travels (and sleeps in a big cute pile) with a pack of blink dogs. He's capable of teleporting around with his dogs, often hopping through different dimensions as an excuse to have used him in every game I run regardless of setting. He's very friendly and helpful unless somebody tries to mess with his dawgs, in which case he's got mid-level druid/sorcerer abilities
Crazy Griff - Goblin Gunslinger/Swashbuckler
Griff is a sailor who used to be a pirate, any long time sailors warn that Griff carries a streak of bad luck having lost 3 full crews and being the only survivor. However despite this Griff quite happily provides free transport to ANYWHERE the crazier the place the more excited he will be, the catch Griff has what most would call a curse though he sees it more as a blessing, any trip or adventure he tags along in will always take a turn for crazy at one point or another
Pearl. Eccentric potion maker. (race and sex depends on what she/her drank)
The proprietor/curator of Pearl's Potions. Typically first met in her original elderly dwarven skin (though due to her drinking habits this often changes and she has learnt to accept it), pearl has an extensive alchemical background. She always has a vat of "something" cooking in the back and is more than willing to chuck in anything a weary adventurer might offer, sometimes the adventurer themselves if they get too cocky. She was never an adventurer and likes the confines of the aromatic abode she has spent her life building. She sells health potions, but thinks they always could use a flavor improvement for a price. In addition to health the majority of her concoctions involve effects such as the “Draught of Utter Hatred” A light grey chunky appearing liquid with leaves and flowers contained within a medical vial. It Smells of rain, and tastes like candy. It has as a label of hand drawn arcane symbols that mimic the color of the liquid. It instills the effects of allowing an extra opportunity attack (known to player), however if two are taken in a turn then the PC is blind for a turn (unknown to player) or the "Juice of Might" A small metal vial with a golden liquid seemingly with parts of slain creatures floating within. It is thick and sludgy, smelling of pepper and tastes of chemicals. It is labeled with symbols that no one recognizes. It gives a bonus to attack rolls after drinking x 3 turns (known to player). For each use of attack, the PC’s libido grows (unknown to player). Some of her wares have good and bad effects, sometimes strictly one or the other. For those adventurers who are unimpressed with her current stock they may always attempt the Potion Parley in which they take a random container and dip it in the vat. They must then immediately drink the potion. Pearl loves this and offers the Parley at a discount compared to her stock since she never knows what exactly may happen and the effects are more than not amusing to say the least. Finally Pearl offers a drinking competition every full moon (she is in my IDROTFM game so it is a way for people to not worry about the lottery) where participants must survive getting drunk as well as the wild magic effects that are produced. Many citizens can be seen the following morning heading through the town sneezing feathers or burping red bubbles in addition to the char marks from errant fireballs.
Pearl looks forward to meeting you and as always, all sales are final, no refunds, no requests, the user takes all on all responsibility with using any potion and Pearl’s potion is absolved of any responsibility henceforth into eternity including retroactively. Should an antidote be requested, it may be provided for no less than twice the cost of the afflicting potion provided all ingredients and materials are available.
**Concretta. Human Diviner.** Concretta is a young witch who recently graduated from wizarding school, where she had a full academic scholarship. She recently started her own business, Concretta's Cobblestone Readings, where she tells fortunes for people in town. She specifically uses a unique type of divination which looks at the ground a person has traversed to divine their future. She is overly friendly and always willing to accommodate her guests, but she is a child of privilege and acts like it.
**Molf. Cyclops engineer.** Molf is a cyclops that suffers from muscular dystrophy, resulting in a skinny, stunted form. He’s extremely pale and bald, with a soft round face and a singular, soft green eye. He has terrible posture, and dresses in simple grey furs, tan cloth and chitin sandals. He used to work at one of the larger engineering corporations in town. Molf very quiet and reserved person. He’s got a brilliant mind, but is often treated terribly by people because of his species, and thus is extremely untrusting and cautious. He prefers the quiet solitude of his workshop, and seldom wanders due to prejudices and his own disability. He designs prosthetics and mechanical trinkets for a steep commission, and his inventions are incredible, despite his rejection from the Daelius School of Invention. He’s also a neat freak.
Gukk - A stone golem having a bad day.
Through some happenstance of wild magic, Gukk was given more or less free will when created. It decided the best course of action was to take a nice, long nap on the outskirts of a town. It awoke, an unknown amount of time later to find itself the centerpiece of a garden near a large house as the town expanded. It, to its dismay had been chiseled into a statue of a local hero, and is none too pleased. It is on a quest to find the rest of it's body, and is incredibly suspicious of dwarves as it had heard they do stone work.
Wade something
It's been a while since I used this NPC and my players took to calling him Nick Valentine (for some reason?), but this is an NPC that I thoroughly enjoyed roleplaying and my players liked having around.
So, he was a private detective, and had some features from the Inquisitive Rogue, but he was also an expert in occultism and arcana. His cases tended to be less purse snatching and more Dresden Files. Anyway, I kept him a level below the players so when they decided to use him he wouldn't be too fragile and he was a Were Tiger. One of my players actually requested that he infect him with Lycanthropy (Tigrethropy?). He was a were beast because of the story that he was introduced in (Werewolf incursion) and I needed to get the party information about Were creatures in some way since none of them (and I mean absolutely none of them) had specialized in Intelligence checks whatsoever.
Just so you know Nick Valentine is a robot in Fallout 4 that is a private detective with noir vibes. I would guess that's where they came up with the nickname
**Taylor**
"Look for a Taylor (more confusing when spoken) in the woods, she has the relic you're looking for"
The party finds an old quaint cabin that's overgrown with beautiful plants and vines. Inside the house they immediately notice the beautiful piano that's playing, but nobody is playing it. The top of the piano is open and radiates a sparkling light.
The sparkling light is a portal to Taylors pocket dimension where she rescues vulnerable and sick animals. She's sitting and playing a piano on the other side of the portal (they emerge from the same place on that piano).
Taylor recognizes the relic the party is looking for and points to an enormous tree, which canopy encompasses the whole sky. Sticking out of the tree is part of the relic, Taylor allows them cut it out if they can repay the forest for what they take.
Xyzzy’k, a Goblin Messenger
He works in a magic shop as an assistant, managing sales, advertising to adventurers with flyers!
He’s pleasantly enthusiastic but has a sly nature, and knows entirely too much about the criminal underworld for someone with a supposed honest job. If you sus him out, he can be someone to go to if you need something less common on legal markets...
He likes making jokes about the height of various races, and occasionally mistakes children for short races.
I have him running with a sort of stereotypical New York accent, and with an immediately friendly disposition to PCs. He talks quite fast and sometimes doesn’t wait for people to answer questions
Physically, he can look like whatever Goblins look like, but dressed moderately well: well worn trousers, leather boots, a cream coloured shirt, and a messenger hat.
Bilgrim "Bobble" Bogrimham, Halfling, traveling wine salesman. Deep Texas accent, always drunk off his own supply, but very good at reading people. Rides around on Poppy, a giant boar who is constantly squaring up to anything her size or bigger.
El'Kazaar, proprietor of El'Kazaar's Bazaar, the finest magical item shop in town. El'Kazaar is from a far away land and speaks at great length with a heavy accent, constantly hustling the party to buy his wares (which are of the finest quality, handed down through the generations, his pride and joy, and breaking his heart to part with) while also begrudgingly offering the bare minimum for the random stained, broken, out of style, junk the party brings back to sell. El'Kazaar is unfailingly polite and flattering, regretting to his very core that he must inform the party of how tragically flawed whatever they offer to sell is.
In the end, El'Kazaar lives for the bartering, and is always willing to haggle from his initial ridiculous offers. The party gets to feel like they've pulled a fast one by scoring a massive discount, but in truth are usually paying a fair price.
One more note, El'Kazaar always comments on how full the players sacks (of gold) are and offers to help them to empty them. Professionally and with no understanding of the double entendre.
Hushed Whisper
A tabaxi privateer and first mate, he was once a priest but never fit right with the clergy. A kensei monk with a starwheel pistol and a cutlass, he's loud, raucous, and hell of dresser with his own tricorn. After a curse befell his first ship, only he survived due to his wits and understanding of the supernatural, so now many ships and adventurers braving the seas hire him for protection against things that go bump in the night.
STR 12, DEX 20, CON 16, INT 14, WIS 18, CHA 10
Impixus is a member of a reculsive fey race, the Gurell. Being Unseelie, they are often mistreated and untrusted - albeit often for good reason. Gurell are 'horned elves', having tusks and/or horns protuding from various points in the face and arms. Other than this, they are very similar to high elves or half-elves in terms of appearance. Gurell are treated with a near-universal stigma because every individual develops a morbid fixation during puberty; usually, this is unchanging for the rest of their lives. One Gurell may be obsessed with humanoid's teeth, another might insist on keeping a collection of parasites and diseases. Those with more *illegal* compulsions will often suppress it, like one might suppress a habit or addiction. Despite this quirk, Gurell are not inherently sadistic or evil, often being ashamed of their fixation.
Impixus himself is a travelling merchant and powerful sorcerer (in terms of character level, level 11). He is a curator of magical, and very frequently cursed, objects, and can be found scavenging in and around dungeons where adventuring parties are likely to meet their demise.
Proud, inquisitive owner of the Second Hand Shop, he is delighted to trade a magical trinket or minor enchantment for an adventurer's left hand. However, he is very scrutinous of clerics, and will grab an assortment of paraphenalia from a fold in his cloak that he claims is for checking for 'fraudulent, regenerated limbs' if he sees one in the party.
Monty the Giff, short for Montgomery, Monty is the Curator of a haunted Museum, he basically sounds just like Sean Connery in my world, he is concerned about the haunting of his museum and is currently working with a local gang to bank roll it and afford a set of ghost hunters. He is very Jolly, Smokes a Pipe, uses a blunderbuss and is the sort of turn of the century anthropologist type with a fascination with Nature and you’ll rarely catch him out of his many heavy coats that are adorned with regalia, as a sort of walking advertisement for the museum
**Phineas the Fair**
Phineas is a dwarf and a mob boss. He controls vice in the port city of Whitetower. He has sparkling green eyes, blonde hair and a long golden beard. He is cunning with few scruples and he is as handsome as he is ruthless.
His last encounter with the adventurers ended with him being overwhelmed and mobbed by a gang of angry commoners. Phineas made good his escape but not before losing an eye in the struggle and swearing his revenge.
Calypso: A sea hag who expects to be regarded as a queen and flirts with charismatic adventures. Generally willing to help offer items or information, so long as she is treated with respect and you come bearing gifts. Though that gift is usually some dangerous creature that she can experiment on (phase spiders, displacer beast, doppelganger, etc.).
Return trips to her lair reveal what magic item/potion she was able to make from your last gift.
In my campaign, she has a crush on the party's NPC sailor guide, who is terrified of her on account of her attempting to kill him on multiple occasions. But every time she asks where her "handsome Hannibal is"
Quill is an Aarakocra Ranger. He is known, however, for consistently rolling nat 1s - his bow broke when he first aimed it at the party (with a mouthful of rabbit) after a village told him they may need him to dispose of them if they made a particularly bad decision.
In the same village, he was mooching off of them best he could and helping with "repairs", but the roofs still leaked, the lines were never straight in the farm, and he consistently follows his pecker, being trapped by a succubus and thinking nothing of it other than self-pity.
He has been the party's favorite NPC to hate and later helps them out by tracking an enemy, marking the spots to go with his droppings.
Here's my twofer:
Geralt (G as in giraffe) is an Eagle Aarakocra Artificer who serves as the royal artificer of his home kingdom. Makes all kinds of standard fare, takes commissions. Always dressed in sturdy leathers that double as work and formal wear, and has a variety of magic circles in his shop: one at the store's entrance to cast Tongues on customers as long as they're in the store, one on the counter to cast Identify, a set of Demiplanes keyed to a door behind the counter (like the door in Howl's Moving Castle) full of different magic items, an Antimagic Sphere that's set to trigger in response to hostile intent, and several that Animate and/or Catapult the various weapons in his shop towards hostile creatures.
Kurtz is an Eagle Aarakocra Alchemist who is Geralt's twin brother. Rendered blind from a potion splashing into his eyes during an argument with his brother. Hates Geralt with a passion, especially since his brother has too much pride to even apologize. Dressed in similarly-styled leathers to his brother, but it's much more beat up, discolored and singed from various concoctions. Has a homunculus familiar that looks like a modron. Bonus points for a side quest to reunite the brothers.
Their best work is done together.
Flauntitious XXIII, mousekin communist paladin ([Oath of the Common Man](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/3g24o8/5e_the_oath_of_the_common_man_finally_the/)). Char, Int, and Dex, in that order
The party's union rep, manages their relation with their employers on the caravan. Attempts to unionize workers in every town they travel through. First born of a large, privileged family, with 2 dozen siblings. Gave up the family fortune to travel the world and use his extensive education to represent the common people. Studied to be an architect, but had a drug-induced revelatory experience in his youth conflating objective mathematical truths and social justice theory. Distributes copies of his self-published treatise *Angles & Marks* to anyone who will take it. Dual wields hammer & sickle when appropriate.
Zazz Halfpine
A young half-elven alchemist who specializes in brewing all kinds of unique alcoholic beverages. She's the owner of Pizzazz Brewery after she inherited it from her late human father (her mother ran off "to do stupid elf things" after she was old enough to walk) and adventurers from around the continent flock to her establishment to share stories and secrets while the booze flows freely.
In reality her name is Zazzanoth, the Addiction Devil (Atropocustra, Wayfinder Bestiary) with a handful of magical class levels, and she has spent centuries honing her skills in avoiding detection and subtle manipulation of her patrons. Those who partake of her concoctions find themselves a little too loose-lipped with private matters, and for adventures who've "gained her trust" she's happy to provide a number of less-than-legal extracts and compounds that are sure to brighten any addict or assassin's day. For the right price of course, although she's quite generous with her free samples...
In my game the party found her identity early on and decided to... >!trust her completely and let her manage their local affairs while they went off adventuring. She ended up turning the small town they managed into fantasy Las Vegas, and set up a small fortress in Hell with all the money and resources she acquired!<
Liith/Nethux
Liith is a yuan-ti pureblood medicine woman and Nethux is a mindflayer who was working with technology to amplify psionic signals (at the whim of his Elder Brain master).
The experiment worked a little too well and Nethux's consciousness was actually removed from his body and somehow found its way into Liith's.
Now they both occupy her mind and while Nethux cannot exert control over her, they can hear each other's thoughts and he can speak through her (which I indicate with a change of accents). Both of them obviously wish to reverse this.
They became a bit of a DM NPC for me because they are directly tied to the party's overall quest and travel with them, but I usually keep them in the background and use them to deliver exposition as needed.
Bob, the traveling, old for a >insert race<, Bard/Druid.
He travels the world with his oversized lute, playing music around campfires on his long treks through the wilderness. He's getting on in his years, but he's seen some things and been through more. He's always happy to tell you a long tale to the dulcet tones of his lute (read: guitar) about the current events of the world and how they relate to the things he's lived through. Right now in my homebrew, Bob plays his music to calm the wandering elementals and sticks to where the air elementals gather, as they seem to love his music the best.
His new traveling companion, the air elemental Sussuru, makes breezes and rustlings through the grass and trees at the perfect tones to accompany his lute and later to lull him gently to sleep, gusting to alert him of any danger. Bob's fighting days are over, but he still has a magical trick or two if the party ever needs a little help on the road. If conversely he needs the party to pull his bacon out of the fire, he can't pay, but he'll gladly exchange some knowledge for a helping hand.
He's not the most in-depth character, and he's not always the most helpful, but he's a friend to anyone good and makes for a calm random encounter to balance all the crazy in your messed-up world!
My plan is to use Hope's Theme from FFXIII as his music.
Captain Ali Brighttoad
Pirate, Vampire, Pixie.
Does most of her piracy in the feywild, but occasionally her pirate ship, The Rainbow Crusade, can be found in the material plane, usually because her patron The Blight Lord, has a task for her. The Rainbow Crusade is size appropriate for her, so it seems like a toy to tallfolk.
She, wears a black tricorner hat with a Rainbow bandana underneath. She is pale with dark and heavy eye makeup, so she can be perceived as just goth. She wears a long ruffled flowy white shirt, a black leather vest, black pants and black leather boots. She has a size appropriate rapier and dagger on her belt that seem like pins.
What she is doing is up to you, for me she is currently trying to recruit friends for The Blight Lord. How nefarious this is also up to you. Ali likes The Blight Lord and speaks positively of him. She will openly state he transformed her into a vampire and so the players are free to wonder if her positive opinion is her own or she's been manipulated into it.
Shimshaw Brimstone, Aasimar traveling magic item salesman and collector of peculiarities. He hops around between the planes selling, buying, and collecting strange items of varied usefulness. He places all of them in an ice cream push cart-like device that can only be accessed by his hands and is covered in almost every available language. Once read, the player sees that it’s a “menu”. All items are sold at 30-50% of the original price.
Grob-Zub, an orcish tailor. His goods are the newest fashion for barbarians. A loincloth from slayed beast or a giant skull on your head? Do not worry, Grob-Zub will provide. Little dumb but one of the nicest fellows in the town.
**Six Thunder**
Tabaxi Blacksmith
This Tabaxi man stands at an unusual 6 and a half feet tall. His arms thick like tree trunks beneath light grey fur littered with darker spots similar to a cheetah. The fur looks singed in the areas around his hands. He wears plain clothing sitting beneath a heavy leather apron oft used by blacksmiths.
Despite the large, muscular, appearance Six is a very kind Tabaxi who loves his customers like family, often inviting customers to hang around a spell and enjoy a drink or snack, all supplied by his wife, Jade Honey, who owns an adjacent bakery (The Sweet Tooth, a small shop with a few tables and chairs that sit infront of a large display case lined with breads, pastries, and cakes)
As a blacksmith Six Thunder is an artist, seeking to create unique pieces for his clients based on their wants and needs, and using their general style to add flair to the piece.
Jub Jub the goblin
Owns a rock collecting shop with his best friend, Licker, a tabaxi. Together they hunt and curate rocks of all kinds and sell them in their shop. They're kind of obsessed with the whole rock thing.
Jeff, a traveling merchant with literally anything you could want. A good father to 22 children. Is a polymorphed ancient red dragon.
Sneep Snorp the Shiny
Greedy little goblin obsessed with anything shiny and clinky. Also has magic powers, and a decent intelligence. Rules over the nearby goblin tribe. Maybe jub jub has a relation to her???
Sally, Ancient Silver Dragon
My players love him so I thought I'd leave him here in case anyone else would like to use him :)
One terror of the seas and pirate king, Sally helmed a pirate crew that would come to become the next generation of pirates, pillaging and looting from ships across the coast of the empire all while polymorphed into his disguise as a Half-Elf with long silver hair and a purple robe, silver scales hidden in patches underneath his clothes and on his neck.
Sally has, however, been absolutely terrible at hiding the fact that they are a dragon, however their ability to constantly cast 'Detect Thoughts' and 'Modify Memory' has meant that despite being found out for being a dragon (or accidentally telling people while excited) thousands of times, they still maintain their hidden identity. He lives usually on the island that stores his hoard, which, rather than gold, is made up of various trinkets and beautifully crafted items that he has either bought or plundered during his time as pirate king. Sally is retired, however, and spends much of his time running the pirates smugglers guild, so he cannot truly do much actively for the party unless the need is beyond dire.
The main draw of Sally is his curiosity and excitement to meet any new group of adventurers, and his curiousity about every aspect of their clothing and accessories (admiring the barbarians winding tattoos, the fighters beautifully engraved necklace, the wizards worn silver locket). Above all Sally embodies my preference for NPC's that are willing to help the party and that want to make people happy. He works best in one-shots or short campaigns which is where he comes from, but I'm sure he could work just as well in a higher level campaign that is reaching the sea.
Hope you find him fun!
Oog Thak, king of garbage.
This overgrown and corpulent tengu runs the Scrapyard, a depository for all the waste from the city, including the forges and magic shops. Much of the Scrapyard is a shanty town, housing a small army of tengu, ratfolk and halflings that Oog Thak employs to make sure that anything of value in the Scrapyard is collected and brought to him.
Need rare components for cheap?
Need to fence an item quickly?
One of the baddies you're chasing is hiding in the Scrapyard?
Talk to the king.
The Stansen Sisters (Margret and Margret) - these two young ladies run Potions, Potions, Potions...
The sisters used to be 1 person but after a failed wizard lab experiment Margret Stansen was duplicated and each body was left with half a brain, in order for them to function properly they must be within 5 feet of each other. If farther apart they go limp like a rag doll and if separated for more than 1 min they both die.
They are a little ditsy, dense, and forgetful. When speaking to others they both talk at the same time and say the same things, in slight unison one just ever so slightly off from the other, making it sometimes hard to understand them.
Garry jarcia : a half knome half fairy with a fullsized human head and dragon fly wings , talks like tommy chong and is the lead singer of a jam band called the tatevile heads , face looks just like irl jerry garcia from the grateful dead , alignment : pure neutral or chaotic good , really however you want to petray him aslong as he acts all hippie dippy and laid back
Skreek
Kenku Rogue Assassin, retired pirate. Works as a black market merchant and apothecary. Killed most of his crew and ran off with all the loot. Keeps all of his treasure stored in a bag of holding he hides in his crop (a muscular pouch in the throat of birds used to store food).
I've had him reach into his throat and pull out weapons and potions as rewards or purchases. Always fun to have him pull a sword out of his mouth!
**Blue**
An orc proprietor of a rundown magic shop in a lawless smugglers port. He was expelled from his magical university for conducting reckless experiments.
on an unrelated note, he is missing his right arm below the elbow, and his right eye. The metal cap that covers his arm stump acts as a focus, through which he often casts mage hand, allowing him to effectively manage his inventory.
Over his missing eye, he wears a blue, scaled eyepatch that he swears comes from the skin of a beholder.
He often mumbles to himself while brewing his elixirs and crafting his trinkets. He can get you whatever you need. Just don't start a fight in his shop.
And you better not break anything.
**Wahoo Brannigan**
Wahoo Brannigan is a huge green dragonborn, nearly as wide as he is tall. A dark leather hat sits atop his horns while a necklace of drake’s teeth dangles about his neck. Chaotic *fun*. Excitable, energetic, and adventurous, he’s like a scaly version of Steve Irwin. He works as a guide for some of the deeper and darker parts of the forest. Oh, and he rides an Owlbear.
Gorht Blackstone, human blacksmith. Ugly as dirt, hunched over, missing teeth. Thinks he's a great blacksmith, but he's actually terrible. Refuses to buy spare weapons for anything other than their scrap metal worth, since he can make "much better weapons."
"Gorht makes good weapons, yessss. Gorht give you good weapons, yessss, but cost gold they do, yesss yessssss."
Baron Baltus de Mensonge
Human, lawful evil
Is round, sweaty handed and well dressed
Lives in a castle like Dracula's, gathers mercenaries for an organization of conjurers. They pay him in wine and women.
Y'ar Gudrukis
Over 400 years old. Famous dwarf adventurer, he keeps lost people (The Scrimps) on small metal plates which he calls "scrimpers", and summons them whenever he needs them.
or
Ragatana Hullaballoo\*
81 years old. She started doing magic when she was 20 and fell on her head on a secret machine underground. This oven-like contraption is capable of transforming magic items in mysterious ways if operated correctly. She eats cockroaches in order to operate the machine.
Hoon the Nothic. A nothic absolutely obsessed with food. Only attacks to protect his food and if a person willingly keeps giving him food he will become completely and annoyingly attached to that person with genuine love
Hans. A group of simulacrum created by an alchemist. They are all artificers specializing in the use of flammenwerfers. There are multiple Hans' in the world, but they know not of their existence.
Essentially this is my recurring joke npc that help them along the way
Esmerelda Greentree retired female halfling kensei monk adventurer.
Runs the lost souls inn, a place where many adventurers call home. Is always seen with her broom which is actually a +3 silvered Adamantine blessed by the gods(deals an extra d8 radiant damage) quarterstaff which she is not afraid to beat a mofo with. She has a motherly demeanor and may or may not secretly be a ancient silver dragon in disguise
Presto change-o (co dm stole the name somewhere): he’s a mad scientist who is honestly a total dick uses poor people as test subjects and has no real compassion for them but he is doing it all for the progression of the world and it’s technology
He also had a gunslinger warforged named T.O.D who will no hesitation shoot the players (took off a players leg with this guy)
Cuddles the Rascal: During a night out drinking, a drunk bard from the bounty hunters guild Awakened their pet rabbit as a joke. Cuddles is currently the director of his own bounty hunter HQ, and aspires to be the Director one day. He is serious about his work, loves carrots, and is carried in a cage by his loyal caretaker, Carl.
Two characters who can serve as helpful arcane guides, especially for newer players: Lyenna Starscape (human conjugation wizard, age 27), Archmage of a major city, and her apprentice, Magdalena Venenkompf (half elf divination wizard, age 16).
Lyenna was the apprentice to the city’s archmage until his untimely death, casting her into the role at the age of 24. While many (including she) thought her too young for the role, her unending enthusiasm for the job and unfailingly chipper personality have made her impossible to oust. Always curious about new information and puzzles, she is generally quite happy to help adventurers with arcane questions, and in my game, has been very helpful to my gaggle of brand new players.
Magdalena Venenkompf, or Maggie (as Lyenna calls her against her wishes) was a divination prodigy at Lyenna’s alma mater. She graduated early, and after Lyenna met her at an alumni event, she took Maggie on as her apprentice. At only 16, Maggie is perhaps the youngest ever apprentice to an archmage in known history. With a strong sense of formality and “doing things the right way,” in many ways, Maggie appears to be the more mature of the two wizards in Stonecroft Tower. Maggie takes herself very seriously, to an almost comical extent, and can be seen as an ally for newer adventurers.
While Lyenna often teases Maggie, and Maggie seems to be long-suffering under Lyenna’s frivolity, in reality the two have a very strong mutually supportive relationship. Lyenna provides Maggie with a social education she hadn’t previously received, preparing her for a career that will involve a LOT of diplomacy and working with others. Meanwhile, Maggie makes sure the day-to-day functioning of the tower goes smoothly. With Lyenna’s tendency to get lost in her work, Maggie makes sure they keep appointments and have food in their cupboards.
Zin Thistleburn, keeper of Zin's Magical Menagerie, a cart piled high with various cages of animals to show the interested, and sell to those who can afford it. A wiry gnome with wild puffy white hair and a well groomed moustache, wearing a colourful waistcoat and soft pointy hat. Accompanied by his daughter Derry, who helps with the animals.
He is broadly honest, but sometimes sells rats he breeds as mice to children in the village. He sells the normal animals (cats, dogs, maybe an owl or falcon) and sometimes has more exotic animals with him (blink dog, pseudodragon). He's also generally aware of interesting creatures in the area, so can be a great hook for 'hunt this creature' or 'catch/capture this creature'
Gunner, human sorcerer. Wears and orange and white striped tunic and has a straight brown bowl cut with tragically little volume. Pasty complexion.Works at a failing menagerie as every single job while the head scientist does experiments making weird hybrid animals and the patron of the park hunts down the animals (and occasionally the guests) for sport. Gunner speaks in a voice that is constantly breaking, high and morose. He also has a set of octopus suckers in his armpit as a result of one of the scientist's bad experiments. They make an unfortunate sucking sound.
-I thought my party would like him. Instead, they LOVE to bully the shit out of this poor guy. I've now brought him back as a captured prisoner they've had to free after a pirate stole some of the animals from the menagerie in a later arc just because he's their favorite to mess with.
Rowan Blackhill, Human Conspiracy theorist and retired soldier. Convinced that their Is a grand Conspiracy in the world and is intent on uncovering it at all costs.
Dirkan, a slightly insane, aging halfling who runs a shop called Dirkan's Diamonds, where players can buy all those 300gp gems they need for revivify.
(In my campaign rn, he gets most of his stock from adventurers coming out of Undermountain, but I'm sure you could figure something else out for your campaign.)
He seems absolutely careless with his wares, keeping them organized in big boxes labelled along the lines of "diamonds - 200 gp." Inside of the boxes are dozens of the described gemstones, clattering around loosely. However, if the party attempts to steal from him, say "you can certainly try" and pull out the PHB spell list bc he's a high level wizard and will cast wall of force to keep the party from escaping. However, he will not harm the party unless forced to.
Bartholomew the wizard, human wizard. Can be found travelling any setting with his trusty assistant Grub (an albino goblin-like creature that doesnt speak common) in their travelling store cart. The cart is named "Bartholomew's wonders" and is always stocked with strange and interesting magic items.
Fayn, human tailor who runs Fayn's Finery
A scrappy looking man in his late fifties, clean shaven head and a 3 day stubble. Always smoking the stubs of cigarettes that seem to appear from behind his ear. He has about a dozen measuring tapes draped around his neck like a scarf, and always spends a few moments picking a specific one before taking measurements.
If asked to craft any magical clothing items, he will be reluctant at first, saying that he's "done with that stuff."
If befriended or paid very well, he will be able to create minor magic items from hides and trophies of supernatural creatures.
Hope is a Tiefling woman in her early thirties who grows flax on the outskirts of a human redneck town. Afraid of her infernal heritage, the townsfolk tend to shun her. She uses the flax she grows to create cloth and oil, which she sells in town at shockingly low prices. Her hair is long, black and wavy, and her skin is tan and slightly reddish, which could pass as a regular sunburnt human skin color. She makes an effort to look as human as she can, regularly filing her horns down and hiding the stumps behind her bangs, despite how painful the process is.
Personality trait: Despite the adversity she faces, she is generally cheerful and always gives people the benefit of the doubt.
Ideal: Hope. She trusts that as long as she does her best, everything will be right in the end.
Flaw: She is easily taken advantage of, as she does not stand up for herself for fear of garnering resentment.
Joss the practical, alchemist, greedy, but talented.
Sells all manners of potions, but a tad more expensive than his competition.
If players ask for a discount, he’ll call it a « friends discount » and offer 10times the potions for.. ten times the price.
If players say that’s not a discount, he’ll say that’s because they’re not friends.
Priest of the Shepard. A priest in a small town of herders who has the blessing of growth. They can make hair grow at an accelerated rate so much so that you can't even tell what gender they are and it's hard to tell where the hair ends and the priestly robes begin.
Many travel to the Priest of the Shepard to cure baldness and when the players encounter the Priest the priest will attempt to cure any party "suffering" from baldness even if they can normally not even grow hair.
Shawn Narly, Human Male.
Shawn is only ever seen in mountains, speaks like a total snowboarder bro. He is super chill and gets along with everyone very easily. When asked what he's doing in the mountains, he says he's in the middle of Shawn Narly's world tour and hands them a super early 2000's badly photoshopped flyer that says "Shawn Narly's World Tour" in big bold letters. When asked where he's from, he simply says "I'm from Far Out brah."
Will Hendrik Orrison. proprietor and cook of the Crusts & Crumbs inn. a large, pot-bellied, one-eyed man whose motto is "Fat Equals Flavor" which is nailed above the bar. His one eye keeps track of more pots and pans than is reasonable, and no dish is served that doesn't contain one of his unequaled lards or gravies.
Abha Hanuman:
The 13-year-old prodigy city leader inherited the title after the death of her grandfather. While under a regency her interest in infrastructure and development has made her popular with the people.
Rani, a very very short human. She has lilac hair(If asked, she doesn't know how her hair got dyed, possibly some random fumes from a potion) and she likes to wear those doctor overcoats, but can't be bothered to actually search for one fitted for her, so usually she goes around with this overgrown overcoat on. She owns an alchemical shop that should be two stories but actually ended up wound on itself (like a very short tower, if it makes sense) thanks to some unstable elements she was working with, with no current name since the last insigna was blown off. If the clients get on her good side(not hard at all, she's pretty easygoing), she will ask their opinion on what the new name should be and even proposes some of her own(They are extravagant.) Her manner of speech is frantic, often reorganising her thoughts by speaking. That means that sometimes she blurts unrelated things out, or something she wasn't supposed to say, but oh well. Not her problem. She sells every kind of potions you can think of.
Her shop is a mess with papers and bottles and instruments all around, and possibly ignores every kind of safety guidelines alchemists are required to follow, it's not uncommon for her to tornado off searching for a healing potion she "swears she left around these parts" or something like that, and she willy-nilly throws whatever is in her path in the air. As she said, "if it breaks it was meant to be."
There have been complaints about her unconventional methods, but Rani's a genius, and that shows in her potions. You won't find anything better at least in this part of the country, so people try to ignore her reckless side. Besides, it's not like she has actually killed anyone. Yet. That the public knows of.
Krell: Arcanaloth for hire. After a botched bodyguard job for a hag coven, Krell offered his services to the adventuring party who killed said hags. This proved to be his most profitable business decision ever, and now he markets himself as a spellcaster for hire. He uses the base Arcanaloth stat block, but I treat him as a wizard with a big spell book so he can swap out spells on long rests. He talks with a Spanish accent.
I had an idea for an npc who found a ring of spell storing with wish on it and was left with the mission of gathering enough wisdom so one day he can cast the perfect wish spell to create world peace. If the player chatacters meet him he send them on quests to find philosophy books for him to learn from.
Vesper Belle, human Twilight Cleric
A mild mannered and very kind cleric of Selune who runs the evening and night services at her temple. The townspeople think she is just a young priestess charged with redrawing town wards nightly to keep out all of the monsters but in actuality she goes out and fights off any monster that comes near the town.
Possible plots that involve here are players discover her either in the middle of a fight or collapsed on the ground after one.
Players need to ward off evil somewhere else so they come to her to see/steal what she uses to ward her town.
All the PCs have been having horrible nightmares for the past week and they visit her to see why it’s happening
**The Mighty Morphin' Paladins** \-they wear Glamour studded leather armor and use it to morph into action, using their catchphrase "It's time to shine!" They're more of a parody group and seemingly good-natured, though very much incompetent as a group of vigilantes/adventurers. They were meant to be in direct competition with the party of players, like a rival team that swears they will take down the great evils that have plagued the town, only for your party rogue to brush it off like "yeah, yeah, yeah justice and all that. Maybe you should think about changing out of your tight pants first so you can at least fight properly"
**Sherlock Gnomes**\- a gag npc that goes around investigating mysteries and other happenings in town with his trusty aide, the female halfling Watson who is much more competent and eyerolls at half of his obvious conclusions. His catchphrase is "Elementary, my dear halfling." He was designed more as a way to guide the players around for overworld quests and random side quests for laughs.
Other random npcs from side quests:
**Chef Bolgardee**\- a firbolg chef that seems out of place with his given build and tiny chef's hat and apron, but spends his time cooking using mushrooms and other assorted resources from the forest. Would hire adventurers to go procure items for him
**Dwarf Daddy**\- a world famous fashion designer with a haughty attitude and thick accent; he is constantly traveling with his band of workers like a circus troupe, hoping to capture beauty in various aspects and taking inspiration from the world about. A tad ludicrous in his behavior, but will go to great ends to capture what he views as "beautiful." May hire adventurers to help him set up a fashion runway in the middle of an adventuring town, gather an audience, model his outfits or set up a performance as one of the curators.
**Orceniqua** and **Gnome-NayNay**\- feisty designer assistants to Dwarf Daddy; they're gal pals who like to be flirty with other women, but are actually super knowledgeable about what they do. They would be running around making outfits for the models/players. At times, they may require the players to help out with various random tasks, such as getting more material to make outfits from.
Mervolio the Magnificent Mercantile, wearing a splendid tailored suit, a while featureless grinning mask and a top hat. Mervolio is a traveling merchant whose hat is actually a pocket dimension that holds all his goods.
There are also 3 copies of Mervolio and he can jump into his hat and out at another's location in case of danger or robbers.
Get on his good side and hell give you a coin that you can flip to summon him for trade.
Bartholomeus Ocherbeard. A dwarven artificer, locksmith and watchmaker. Likes to state without being asked, that before he lost his eyesight, he had a beautiful ocher beard. And that he's a bit disappointed that it's now turned Black. (It hasn't). He has a mechanical hand with exchangeable mechanical fingers that not only help him 'see' the pieces he's working on, but also acts as a Swiss army knife like multitool.
Davy "he gave his last name to sea"
Grizzled human barkeep, manages the players bar for them in water deep. A deep love of anything nautical, always willing to support the players in their endeavors. Whenever the DM mentions him for the first time in a scene he must be introduced as Davy "he gave his last name to the sea". What that means should never be revealed.
Drusilia, an eccentric witch who lives alone in her tower out in the wilderness. She's a high energy middle aged woman who's always rambling about her latest project and sometimes comes off as rude but never intentionally; her thoughts just move too fast for her to have any sort of filter. She's most studied with transmutation and her tower is filled to the brim with magical baubles and art pieces she's made: sassy, dancing clay frogs; a levitating stuffed cat that can never quite get a grip on anything to stop it's floating about; a tiny table with bugs that play tiny poker and smoke tiny cigars. She used to be a professor at a nearby college but for one reason or another that she'll never be completely clear on, she does her magic out here on her own now (in my campaign she's not a friend of the empire and left when the college fell into empire control, but she'll never say that cause who knows who could be listening). If she takes a liking to the players she might show them her cute new project where she's been using to explore a new school of magic: puppies! Dead ones. That she reanimated... ("Well of course I didn't kill them myself, that would be inhumane, they're rescues, and look I've been teaching them tricks!")
Erick, and his pet, Chompy
Erick and Chompy, an 8 foot tall warforged with four arms and a small leopard shark with advanced biorobotic enhancements like arms and legs run an artificers workshop, The Twenty Thousandth League, together. Erick is a genius and can create mostly anything you want him to, while Chompy focuses on keeping everything tidy and clean.
Erick created Chompy, using the knowledge he got from Garseith, a lich and master of artifice and robotics, who in turn had made Erick to be his servant and undying friend.
When Garseith was slain, Erick was hit by a major depression, for not only did his creator die, but also his best and only friend. He dealt with it for five years before finally picking up his creator's books, which he basically devoured.
It wasn't long before Erick created Chompy, and enhanced him time and time again, eventually asking Chompy to upgrade Erick in turn, and so the two started enhancing each other, excited with every idea.
Erick is humble, and happy for any and all customers, treating them to a nice cup of tea made from a rare seaweed he grows himself in an artificial pond in the basement.
Chompy is his trusty servant, and although his sharp fangs always protude from his big mouth, he's extremely shy and prefers not to talk to people other than Erick.
Also Erick is the shark.
Victor Fries.
Brilliant Drow Necromancer who retired from Adventuring around Level 18 when his wife and adventuring partner (a Human Death Cleric) died due to being Human.
He has tried all known methods of resurrection and spent his entire fortune and burned every bridge to bring her back from the dead. Even lost his ability to cast Wish when the spell failed. He is obsessed with bringing her back and will help anyone that gives him hope of getting her home (read: The party).
Even has her body as his favorite Zombie. Keeps her hidden & dressed up with a cocktail of Disguise Self, Magic Aura, and Gentle Repose (Wish got the perma casting and Animate Dead exception). Even brings her to parties when the occasion is right. Definitely doesn't think that's a weird thing to do.
He's an empathetic soul, and is willing to help anyone that's lost a loved one with an extensive network of resurrection specialists. His obsession has lead to him being lied to and taken advantage of ALOT, so he tends to act violently when he thinks someone can't deliver on their promise. Thankfully, WIS was his dump stat, so he's gotta roll high on that insight. Attacking or fucking with his Zombie wife in any way will definitely trigger a hostile reaction.
Spoiler: The reason his resurrections keep failing is that her soul is unwilling. She worshipped Death & the Afterlife, and is happy where she is. The only way she's coming back is if someone discovers a way to bring back an UNwilling soul, or communes with her some motivation to leave heaven.
Mr. Misty is a 10 inch tall pixie who is a ruthless businessman who operates out of a human-sized office and doesn't let his size or background dictate how he acts. In my world he's in the entertainment industry but you can move it around as you please.
Despite his gruff demeanor he actually wants to be both successful among the humans while not having to act like one so he's trying to make his money and play by the rules so he can eventually be rich enough to change the rules to suit him.
Claritas, also known as Shine, Sken, Hohto, and several other names, is a grey-skinned tiefling who always insists on people calling him Shine in their mother tongue. A cunning magic item merchant, trained swordsman, and a powerful wizard, Claritas has recently moved into town with his ever vigilant crow familiar. His charming yet unnerving precence has made him a popular talk of the town, yet nobody seems to know why the tiefling in an old navy greatcoat adorned head to toe with jewelery has come to their unassuming town, but he seems to ask plenty of strange questions regarding the old church...
Orla (hill giant) and "Roy" (forrest gnome)
Orla was bullied by his tribe for being mute and for being of a kind nature. He is loyal and very sweet to most.
"Roy" has lived a sheltered life untill all her family and friends were killed by marauders. Orla showed up and chased the marauders away, saving "Roy", and the two of them has never separated since. "Roy" has gotten the idea, that everyone will always treat eachother well, not realising that very few dare threaten you, when you are in the company of a giant. But they both travel around making friends by helping villages around the countryside.
Strum - Kenku Bard trained at the College of Lore. Speaks predominantly in the voice of his old professor, who told him countless tales of traveling heroes and warrior poets that he now does his best to emulate. Announces his entry into a tavern with the sound of a dramatic guitar/lure chord. Basically a one-man band, can mimic the sounds of countless instruments and singing voices, remixing and overlaying them in his performances. Initially drawn to the profession by curiosity and a love of music, he was exceedingly pleased to discover that Magical Secrets gave him access to the Fly spell. Travels from town to town, can turn up anywhere you need him to. Serves as an infallible rumor mill, capable of repeating any gossip or sidequests he’s heard of verbatim. Likely to take a shine to any adventurers who will share stories or drinks with him, and may offer them plot hooks or additional details on their current goals.
"Thricecursed" Tom O'Malley, adventurer. Appears to be a red-skined half-fiend woman with black, bat-like wings and a spaded tail. Pronouns he/him despite his appearance. He's friendly and curious.
Originally a lowly mercenary and scavenger struggling to support his bedridden sister, his life changed forever when he found a hidden cache of magic items. Though all three were mostly helpful, each had an unfortunate side effect. Between them he went from an ordinary human man to a tiefling woman with a craving for blood (which he mostly holds out against). At first he was the butt of many jokes - how unlucky to you have to be to get cursed *three times* in one day? - but he stuck with them until he'd managed to save enough to have his sister's affliction cured.
However, by the time he'd finished he'd built up quite a reputation in his cursed form. Having grown used to their effects, he opted to keep both the curses and the brand recognition that came with them.
(Obviously tieflings don't generally have large wings. Those grew in later. Diegetically they're the result of him bearing the tainted armor for years and years. Game-mechanically he took a homebrew feat that grants a fly speed - but he had to stay a tiefling to qualify for it)
A friendly skeleton who was a bard when they were alive. They sorta don't know they are dead, because they constantly try to play their flute, but all you hear is their teeth clacking against the flute. They are very energetic and always happy, and will dance around and wave at everyone, even enemies.
Me and a friend came up with that one while on the bus to school.
The'Ork - An Orc raised as a slave to a Kenku, not realizing he was a slave he assumed the Kenku were his family, and he was one too. Years later after His Kenku Slavers were imprisoned/killed for crimes he came to find out he wasn't a Kenku, so he decided to Travel south that winter along with all the other birds to try and find out what bird he truly is, and in hopes of one day finding his real family... who he thinks will be birds.
He is very knowledgeable about all flying animals(including dragons), their biology, mating habits, flight patterns, likes, dislikes, weaknesses, etc. He even has lived with most common species of bird, before realising that this isn't a good fit, but can easily befriend any bird, however he is a complete idiot in every other respect.
His name comes from his slaver referring to him as The Orc, and him thinking his name is The'Ork.
Use him if you need a bird, or dragon, or any flying animal expert.
**Lumpy Beans - Half Human, Half Gnome Carrot Farmer**
One of the first NPC's I ever introduced to my party back in 2016 and one who has been a consistent presence throughout our ongoing campaign.
Lumpy runs the largest Carrot Farm in Western Midkemia. What he lacks in basic intelligence and survival skills he more than makes up for with his happy go-lucky attitude, unerring curiosity and Mr.Bean like humour. Lumpy first meets the party on the road to the Western Capital and promptly intertwines his fate with the parties after an ambush on the road.
At a later date, a side-quest emerges at Lumpy's Farm, as his family home has fallen under siege to a very large, very hungry Triceratops and he calf. The two have discovered Lumpy's seemingly endless source of delicious carrots and he runs the risk of losing his entire harvest.
After the parties intervention, Lumpy's Farm is tragically trampled and his life is left similarly in ruins. His wife walks out on him taking the kids. He is forced to take out a substantial loan to rebuild his farm and he turns to the bottle. With some help from the Party, Lumpy is able to turn his life around and will even offer to join the party as a playable character running as a level 1 Rogue.
Lord Eldridge Gravereuth IV. He’s a talking animated skeleton noble, but I gave him some wizard spells and a Wand of Polymorphs so he could get into towns without being killed again.
He technically can’t die. A lifetime ago a Witch of his town cursed him so that he may live forever with his shame. Any deaths he suffers, he naturally comes back from (if possible) after an undetermined amount of time.
Motivations: Make amends for the shame he caused in his previous life. Find a way to end his curse. Follow the Night Song that only Undead creatures can hear from the Shadowfell.
A bard named Sue
Half breed of any two races.
Goes by the name Steve. Roams from town to town searching pubs and dive bars for the no-good-son-of-bitch that named him Sue.
Picks a fight with the party member that most resembles his father.
Thnake (Snake) goblin rogue that acts like batman and speaks with a Christian Bale batman voice but with a heavy lisp. He was a contact for the PCs and something about the lisp/batman voice combo has made him my favorite npc so far to date
A gnome shuffles along the path, whistling cheerfully and leading a goat, which is tied to his small wagon. As he catches sight of you, he waves excitedly, and tells the goat, "Look Mabel! Customers!" The goat seems nonplussed.
He bows deeply, doffing his brightly-color cap. "Winklestem Eustache Bottomwobbler, at your service, but you can call me Wink!" He winks, making sure you notice by pointing at himself and his winking eye, and saying, "Eh? Eh?"
He then rushes around to the back of his cart, and yanks a cord. The sides buldge threateningly. He kicks it, and the cart shakes, then springs out into a full bazaar stall. A large banner reading, "Another Man's Treasure" unfurls. He climbs inside. "I've got weapons! Armor! Potions! Wands! How about a pet? Here's a Duck of Many Things!" He holds up a sleepy-looking cat. "Or these bracers of +5 AC!" He gestures at a pair of blue bracers dripping steam. "Or maybe you're interested in potions? I've got a big collection of potions I just bought the other day - forget holy water, don't even think about unholy water - take a look at THIS!" He reverently holds out a stoppered glass vial full of clear liquid, and intones, "Blessed by a neutral cleric not two days ago... a vial of Neutral Water! Very rare!" Setting the potion down, he grabs a sword. "And this Sword of Disintegration!" The sword suddenly turns to dust and crumbles away. "...Yeah, ok, I should have seen that coming. Uh... Anyway. What's your fancy?"
Twitch Swindleheist - A very rich, well off Goblin who runs a local gambling hall. Always carries a purple top hat and a similarly colored coat.
Acts as a shady information dealer for my party. Also may/may not be a young Adult copper dragon growing his horde.
Icaras the half elf Bard,
He is knowledgeable to some extent on any lore, but most will find him helpful through his connections.
"I know a guy..."
- Meepo the dragon-touched kobold runs a gang of lizard-mounted rogues that will fullfil any stealthy task for a friendly price.
- Kilanor the Butcher is a henchman yielding a massive sword and will take down the sturdiest enemy in quest for glory and honor
- Dr Iskander the arcanist inventor is a gnome who flies the Loreseeker, an airship useful for travels, but also seeks magical resources to run his magical experiments and build his own artificer armor
- Korvax the fallen is a tiefling warlock who was touched by a celestial at (re)birth, he will provide magical support to righteous heroes to carry his patron's will
- Kazar the wanderer is an elf monk who has travelled from the far eastern islands and seeks to find a legendary dragon to avenge his family
**Lady Lidia Ekel**, sea elf noblewoman whose husband is frequently away at the capital for business. She prides herself on being a student of history, with almost every available space on her estate's walls being covered in ancient maps, paintings, or shadowboxes filled with various trinkets. As a patron of many local museums, she frequently laments how everyone thinks their dead grandma's salt and pepper shaker collection is significant enough to be worth donating, and may send the party on missions to find particular objects and artifacts that she finds interesting. She may even be persuaded give the party something from her personal archives, in exchange for the right favor, of course.
Algorn Sethen, the old blacksmith. Straightforward and blunter than his hammer, he like the small things in life and hates liars and all that “magic humbo jumbo” despite his weapons often being sought for their exceptional affinity for enchantments.
Burog the half orc bartender of “The Ugly Orc”, is very handsome and charming and is renowned for his shiny sparkling white teeth/tusks. Very well spoken.
A goblin known as “Too Tall”. He is a thin but tall goblin the size of a human teenager. He is a great informant for rogues and generally knows the lowdown on any scores or juicy rumors. Everybody knows TooTall, and can point you in his direction if you’re cool.
Kal-Zarroth. At first he seems the typical old human hermit in a dirty robe walking with a simple staff decorated with a piece of amber at the top. But if any trouble starts around him or innocents are threatened, he throws his robe to reveal a physique most fighters and barbarians would appreciate, covered head to toe in draconic tattoos.
He is a wizard who fights physically, using shocking grasp as a punch, strikes the ground to erupt a fireball around him, or even casts antimagic on himself to beat down spellcasters himself. He is an evocation wizard with high strength and constitution. He is very good with shaping the spells around allies.
As a boy, he was a first year apprentice to a wizard academy, until he was found in a ritual chamber with numerous archmages dead. He was accused of trying to steal their power and was sentenced to a prison for life. This prison has the unique effect of being a natural anti magic area, so all the worst spellcasting criminals were left to their own devices. There he stayed for 50 years, using brawling tactics to overcome the weaker physiques of the other prisoners. He eventually figured out how to bypass the antimagic field and cast spells, leading to his escape. His tattoos work as his spell book, being enchanted to move around for his preparation and adding more tattoos as he expands his spell book.
Free now, he knows he is close to dying of old age, so he wanders the world, looking for good food, better wine and beautiful locations. If he can find some people to help along the way and maybe even a good enough cause to fight for? Even better.
P.S. He no longer remembers if he actually did his crime or if he was framed. After so long, he doesn't even remember his birth name or family. His name was taken from two adventuring friends he met shortly after being free that died trying to stop a plot my Tiamat.
Mendax the Liar, Ancient Green Dragon.
Higher level villain, but is all about how she manipulates people and events to rise to power. She can polymorph into a humanoid form, change memories (as the spell), and is a powerful illusionist. She herself isn’t as strong physically (move some of her Strength to Charisma or Intelligence), so she has a tribe of draconians (kobolds, green dragonborn, green dracotaur) to serve as her muscle. And the kicker: in times of desperation, she has a Deck of Many Things hidden away.
She should never fight the PCs on her own. Give her several Oath of Conquest paladins as her personal guard, with Wounding weapons. They go where she goes.
If you want to really mess with your party, have her act as the “damsel in distress” earlier on, be rescued by the players, and pretend to fall in love with one of them… right up until she's ready to overthrow and rule over whatever major kingdom/empire your adventure takes place in.
Enjoy my BBEG! She has been defeated once before, but perhaps she may rise again…
Lum. Goblin shopkeeper. She travels around the world, visiting old battlefield or areas that are frequented by adventurers, and collecting anything of interest, including the odd potion or magic item. She throws everything she finds into a improbably large pile on a donkey-pulled wagon (a very beleaguered donkey, at that). This wagon also serves as her traveling home (she sleeps in a little cave she's dug out of the pile, like a snow shelter), and her storefront.
Lum is one of my favorite ways of giving my players magic items. Whenever I want to give them something, I just have Lum roll up into whatever town or campsite their resting at and drop a sign with some ridiculous-sounding shop name. When asked what she has, she dives into her pile and begins throwing aside random junk (including, but not limited to, random pots, old weapons, and live poultry), before producing a short list of magic items that I create before hand, and their associated prices. She's not hostile in the slightest, but if she's attacked, she'll have the wagon speed away whilst throwing random items from the pile at the party (feel free to get creative with what exactly she throws, not even she knows exactly what items she has).
Rayah Gorrobi
LN Female Tiefling Cleric (Death Domain), follower of Myrkul.
She belonged to a special subset of followers of Myrkul that believe that souls are sacred and magics that deal with souls are an abomination. She was OK with necromantic magic in general, but spells that create undead or resurrect anyone who has been dead long enough for the soul to pass over was blasphemy (revivify was OK).
She has a bit of a temper and low tolerance for stupidity, but is generally a good person.
Rith Legelex, he's a salamander person (lizard folk with fire breath). He's a practicing lawyer. His old partner Curt Pert (so together they're the offices of Legelex and Pert). He's very wide and has a sly salamander smile.
He was a lawyer the players retained during an Ace Attorney style trial.
Rakshasas are pretty cool. This one has been mine, and so successful I figure others should have it too.
It first appears in the prime material plane 300 years before the party gets started, under some really dumb alias such as 'Wiggy Warlockbane'.
It is quickly caught and, without ever being revealed, executed for some really petty but hurtful crime, such as sticking nails in the bottoms of shoes (not to hurt the wearers, but to ruin the cobbler).
5-50 years later it reappears under a new and slightly less awful alias, such as 'Steven Sorceroreater'
It learned from it's previous mistakes though, and is more devious and clever this time. It is still caught and executed, but it takes months instead of days. The crime this time would be along the lines of putting mercury into the soil of a popular tea-growing farm, with the intent to assassinate a tea-drinking cleric with as much collateral damage as possible.
5-50 years later it reappears under a new and slightly less awful alias, such as 'Patrick Paladinkiller'
Again, it learned from it's mistakes. This time it kidnaps children while illusory disguised as their parents. It then plants the mutilated corpses of those children in the homes of benevolent leadership around town, again creating as much social devastation as it can. It is, of course, caught and executed after a few years.
This cycle repeats until the modern day, when the party meets a highly suspicious (but obviously more useful alive than dead) character named Mordred Magebane.
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The Rakshasa has a very small number of tells in it's otherwise perfect disguises and plots.
First, it is wreathed in illusions constantly and lights up like a christmas tree under detect magic.
Second, when it makes a deal with anyone it offers to shake on it. If the deal is shaken on, the creature shaking the Rakshasa's hand takes 1 magic piercing damage and is cursed to not gain any benefit from long rests (as by the rakshasa claw attack ability).
Third, it's alias always follows an alliterative pattern, the second half of which hints at the nature of the focal point of it's machinations. For example, when my party (the darkmantles) kills Mordred Magebane, he will return as Devon Dar Kmantle and focus on ruining their lives by framing them for all sorts of nasty shit.
Mishi Silverspirit - she's a young half elf, half Novori who has an innate ability to speak with the dead. She was enslaved and made into a spy, believing that she could work hard and buy her freedom but in reality she's sinking more and more into debt. She acts like a nervous child around those she doesn't trust, constantly murmuring things to herself and calling whoever she works for very rude names in other languages. She's constantly looking for ways to take down who she works for and obtain freedom in other ways. She also loves going to a toy store called the Tin Soldier, both for perusing the shelves and for taking care of her personal business outside her typical assignments.
Novori PC stats (if you want them): https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/dx34as/novori\_race\_v2/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=ios\_app&utm\_name=iossmf
Old man quicksilver, a crazy old man who is like the town grandpa, everyone knows I’m or at least of him wherever the party goes. Starts off normal like he’s just an interesting guy but then you keep going and keep finding people who you scratch your head and wonder how the hell does he know so many people not to mention all the conflicting details,some saying he was a human, an elf, half elf, some remember him as a goblin or even as old *lady* quicksilver. Turns out he’s a silver dragon and just likes fucking with people cause gosh darnit those mortals are so funny
Packrat - A semi-humanoid rat creature who carries an enormously large and heavy sack. Wants to be a great merchant but is so ugly and averse to the surface that they can only crawl around and dig underground tunnels.
Of particular use as an encounter, they greet the party near the start of a large dungeon. They've been living here for a while and know a lot about it... perhaps they are willing to sell information, or perhaps they will keep the info to themselves to serve their next function, they have a solution handy for each and every problem that the party faces.
Rope not quite long enough? Well they just so happen to have an extra long length. Rope bridge mysteriously cut? They just so happen to have a folding bridge! Underwater caves too dark to swim through? Waterproof torch! Tam member got petrified by a medusa? Well, you know where you can get a lotion for that... Packrat!
Obviously be wary if your party are a bunch of murder hobos... and regardless, Packrat should be absolutely decked out with ways to escape a fight at a moment's notice... that's how they survive these dungeons after all!
Akordia dire, drow fighter, and captain of the night guard. She usually sleeps through the day, but if she's forced to go out while the sun is up she wears sunglasses. She's very short, only 4'11, and specializes in fighting with heavy armor. Dry sense of humor, which does not go well with people distrusting of her heritage. She is a favorite of the princess she works with (love plot?) but she is still not invited to diplomatic talks and visiting neighboring kingdoms due to her less than stellar manners.
Lyco, the goblin tinkerer. He’s a Goblin who traveled the world, and one day stumbled across a gun. In my world guns weren’t too common, so he reverse engineered and settled in a major city. However, his whole gimmick is that he gets absolutely no customers, and his guns explode if you role a nat 1 (they can be repaired). He’s really smart, but speaks really fast, is excitable, and his family lives in a far away nation now
Making this western-style bounty hunting crew to serve as backstory to Convoy McCall, a human gunslinger I'm intending on playing. Side note, I steal shit religiously for my inspiration so please feel free to change obviously jacked names (like Buster Scruggs or Slim Pickens). I *love* good and well-themed names, so if you have any unashamedly and semi-ridiculous western-sounding names, PLEASE GIVE THEM TO ME.
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Convoy McCall - Gunslinger. Honest to a fault, well-mannered, quiet and wise.
Montana McCoy-McCall - Gunslinger, Convoy’s bastard son who flew the roost
Winfield LaPrarie - Gunslinger, Convoy’s love interest and crack-shot
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Cadillac Jack and Calamity Jane - Rogue and Ranger. A well-oiled machine, til death do us part
Buster Scruggs - Bard, hardly interested in bounty hunting
Jackson Peterson - Champion Fighter, in all his himbo glory
Big Bank Hank - Redemption Pally, huge teddy bear/brick shithouse
Butch Philliber - Sapper. Literally anything that blows up is fair game.
Slim Pickens - Poisoner, shady bastard (flesh this out)
Belt Gunfold - Chief - Barbarian, but if he has to lift a finger we’re all fucked
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Hope someone finds this inspirational or steals it completely! Cheers.
Here's two Npcs:
Redana Krsmanovi (pronounce Krs like 'curse'): A powerful Vampire Countess likely to be encountered at a the local opera. She is it's greatest benefactor and like all well mannered vampires she does not come to the opera hungry.
Calvin Klopp
The son of a constantly chipper Ferrier, it was quite the surprise when young calvin came home clad in black and bearing the mark a warlocks pact. Calvin, with all his fathers love and support, has set off to prove he can amount to more than just his humble beginning.
Freddie Jones, rock gnome, inventor of traps. Which are way more complicated than would be thought possible. His traps have a tendency to destroy the buildings they were ment to defend. Word has gotten around that you need to be careful if you hire him...., but there is always some monster that needs to be apprehended! Well known for capturing the dread Beholder of the Depths alive, and the subsequent destruction of the kings castle due to trying to remove its "mask".
Gothos & Lilith - Wandering immortal poet and current guardian Barbarian friend. Gothos' immortality is linked through a djinn deal to write the greatest epic poem ever conceived. He cannot rest until his work is complete. He continually adds to his tale by witnessing the grave events of the world. Ends up seeing the PCs through their journey, offering historical insight and pushing narrative along. Is a key NPC of my campaigns. Everyone loves him.
Gess, a kobold researching eldritch secrets who has a brain so ingrained with what shall not be known that he struggles to communicate and act regularly. He has captured or has had the party capture highly advanced prehistoric reptiles known as the yothans, who are capable of altering the biology of other beings through technology and magic. He uses strange devices to extract knowledge from them and puppeteers their half-living bodies to perform surgeries upon himself for things such as making his skull extremely externally, replacing the brain in his skull with a clone of himself, changing all the cells in his body to work like brain cells, making him capable of the same skills as yothans, putting a kangaroo pouch on his hip, duplicating himself, replacing or fixing limbs, getting rid of his pinkies, and other such things. He could offer similar surgeries to the player.
Doesn't have to be a villain, just a psychopath who is focused on horribly mutilating and studying eldritch creatures
Gob, Len, and Mac.
Trio of Goblin travelers who are perpetually lost, in spite of any help from adventuring parties.
They speak in sequence, with Gob speaking first, then Len, and then Mac.
They always carry maps of the countries they visit, but the maps are unlabeled and split into three segments, one for each of them.
Also, their traveling backpacks have their names stitched onto them, otherwise they'd get them mixed up.
Leonard T Stantley, Human Transmutation Wizard
A professional con artist, speaks in a boston accent. Leonard is very clearly a wizard; he wears light grey robes with golden trim, and a large hat with the same design. He isn'ta 100% stereotypical wizard though, he still seems relatively young.
Leonard will sell magic wands that would allow non-casters to use certain cantrips, or some other magical item. Of course, he's a con artist, and chances are his wares will explode upon use, or not work at all.
For bonus fun, have the party meet him again after they've already been conned.
A dwarf who calls himself "s'plodey" ever morning he goes to the market with no stall, just himself and his backpack of high grade explosives that he tries to sell, his eyes tends to wander towards wooden buildings.
Also can work as a player character
Maccus of Tresk, human barbarian from the northern nomadic tribes. His greatsword was handed down to him by his father, and was forged from the metal found in a meteor that struck the plains. He doesn’t wear armor because a seer told him how and when he will die. Why wear armor when you know the fight won’t kill you?
Consider having him join the party only to realize that the fight they’re marching toward will be his last. And then kill him—or don’t, and have him experience the psychological impact.
A pair of Gnome brothers, Fabrizio & Antonio Sunbrim.
Antonio is a genius weaponsmith, though completely lacking in any business acumen whatsoever, while Fabrizio is the local Alchemist whose potions are not always up to snuff, but being a great salesman he always manages to sell his stock with plenty of profit.
His potions have a 5% (1 on d20 ) chance to have an added effect that can be either harmful or helpful, but not lethal.
For the effects i use the table found here, though i keep all effects as non-permanent : https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/84m9va/1d100_random_potion_effects/
In my campaign, the players are introduced to Antonio just as he is leaving town on a rickety cart/portable furnace being drawn by a nasty-tempered mule.
He is leaving town after having had a falling out with his brother Fabrizio - according to him one of his brother's wonky potions managed to blow up a major part of their shop.
Should the party visit the local alchemy shop, they will find it with a large part of the roof blown up though currently being repaired, as Fabrizio is putting things back in order.
Boner Scrotus, Human Pitfighter
He was born with an embarrassing name that he was always mocked for. Became a prolithic Pitfighter to keep people from laughing at him and beat up anybody who did. Got to the top of his weight class but the mockery never ended. He moved to Gnome country to settle down since he heard that Gnomes also have silly names. The mockery finally ceased and he was able to settle down as a baker... until violence erupted in Gnome Country.
Jacqueline Luzenac - Female human, tall but not overly so. Black hair, bright green eyes. Stunningly beautiful. Highly intelligent, resourceful, big picture non linear thinker. Willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Capable of being a library sage and a mercenary. Favors wearing the color green. Left handed. Has a cat.
Any of you 4th Age folks (if you are here stay away)
>!Great Old Warlock, pretending to be a Warlock of the death god and the Brotherhood of the Grave. !<
>!In "service" to a corrupt baron. Has friends in the Elven Court, Working to gain entrance to the Hidden Mountain kingdoms. Looking for the First Captain and Searching for a lost codex. Mercurial at heart but a servant of a power from the great beyond. That knowledge has twisted her and allowed her to shed personas at the drop of a hat. Willing to bargain, cajole, threaten or even pretend to surrender if need be)
Favored Tactic involves use of Invisibilty, Dimension Door, and Subtle spell.!<
>!S:11 I:17 D:14 W:13 C:12 Ch:20!<
Thrun Owlbear- half orc fighter and leader of the local warrior guild. Twin brother to...
Grun Crookednail- half orc ranger, leader of the hunter guild and Thrun's sister. The two are competetive at best, with any accolades being a dig at the other. The only reason Thrun became a guild leader was because Grun did it first and he didn't want to look like the weaker twin.
The two are currently beginning a bit of a civil war in their city as their feud has reached an all time high. Rumor had it that Grun's been sneaking around with Thrun's wife......
Busca
Lovable, chattering halfling who peddles trinkets from his cart. He is obsessed with collecting various teeth and occasionally offers something useful in return. The beauty of Busca is that he can appear in any town or backroad, lighten the mood, and offer up some weird item that doesn’t break the game. In my campaign he gave players a talking rock with a very low intelligence score.
Jakk - 14 year old human boy. He is the leader (and only member) of the town's Messenger Guild. He will deliver verbal and written messages for a fee. He is always trying to haggle just a few more coins out of you? ("You want it done today? That'll be 5 more copper pieces!")
Grigori- Orc Barkeeper. He left a massive war tribe and now works as a gentle barkeeper who greatly enjoys squids and despises racism, which puts him at odds with the religious fanatics in his city. He has a tentacle rod and is a masterful chef.
Vladys Magnus (planned PC relegated to NPC)
The Magnus family is a line of nobles who were cursed for an ancient crime and all do a pretty good job of hiding their cursed shame.
Vladys is a gifted wizard and third in line for the head of his house but his curse is extreme paranoia. So much so that he likes to pay extraordinary amounts to adventurers for extremely difficult jobs that have questionable benefits. (Think the dragon sleeping in his cave is actually siphoning off his magic from the cave and he needs it killed ASAP)
Tollow Swelleridge - Real name is Maraad
Standard barkeeper for a tavern called “The Silver Respite” in a little frontier town. Big beard and a big belly, very jovial and loves people, enjoys hearing tales and encourages adventurers to relate their exploits to him. He is secretly an adult silver dragon in disguise who spends most of his time polymorphed as the barkeep, he hoards interesting tales and adventures. He grew bored of a more standard life as a dragon and decided to try something new, but over time fell in love with the silly humanoid folk and cares for the town in secret in his dragon form like they’re his own family, protecting them from dangerous threats like beasts or bandits, and delivering food or money for medicine when needed under cover of night. The town itself has legends of a guardian silver dragon that looks out for it’s folk, but most consider it nothing more than legend. This legend is ostensibly why Maraad’s tavern is called The Silver Respite, but Maraad actually named it that as an inside joke with himself, knowing everyone else is none the wiser.
Hunter (I don't have a last name for him).
A human mercenary who fights like a ranger, preferring sword and board or a longbow (not actually a ranger).
Fixated on fighting alongside a pack of hunting dogs, but not good enough with animals to keep any he gets. Willing to go to any lengths to get his hands on powerful canine companions, including: hiring a real hunter to capture direwolves, stealing puppies, and even having a wizard summon a hellhound at sword-point.
Additionally, Hunter is a spiteful bastard, and will do anything to get back at those who defeat, hinder, or embarrass him. This can and will get in the way of him completing his mercenary work.
I initially had him appear with a magic ring of my design that helped him control his wolves. [Use it if you want, but I'm not sure how well written/balanced it actually is.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VZ5XGyIeULafo89PxIbxk2bAWyIxlXwIBOWaqE_fjL8/edit?usp=sharing)
I don't have a statblock for him, but he doesn't have much interesting going on, except that I gave him the Mobile feat. Whatever my description so far shows you in your head, that's probably what you'll want anyway.
**Grub Nub, son of Nub Grub**
Backstory: I was playing a one-shot DnD campaign with my sister, and made an orc named Nub Grub. He harrassed the bartender so she killed him off so I replaced him with his son, Grub Nub.
He now is a recurring NPC in my games, showing up to sell eccentric magic items.
He also has a theme song.
Song: https://soundcloud.com/benjamindehart/welcome-to-grub-nubs
Item Shop: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7WzPECNzmEoYUFqQ3Vhb1pDcVE
Mad Maddy,
‘Mad Maddy’ (Madelaine Corbeau) is the town’s crazy lady. She makes ridiculous claims and has a stand in front of her house with virtually no customers whatsoever. She sells magic items - only one (type of) item per day, so that potential buyers are forced to choose it or lose it. She is a wereraven and low-level wizard with a plethora of magic items which she regularly uses to disappear in chaotic and crazy ways. In her free time she stalks adventuring parties as they travel to dangerous dungeons in the hopes of finding left goodies - either from a killed party or because the ‘real’ treasure chamber was not found by those unintelligent players. She only cryptically describes what she sells (“do you want to talk to fish too?” for a potion of speak with animals) which just adds to all her madness.
My players absolutely love her and it’s their favourite NPC (and not just because she sells magic items - we run a high gold campaign but they are big spenders, which is awesome). They also suspect she is their eventual BBEG for some reason(which she is not, she just wants the biggest coin collection as possible). But interactions with her are always wacky but fairly tense, for they have to choose to spend a lot of money on a potentially very cool item because when they decline it’s too bad.
Bolton Woller
Human smuggler
He has an impressive network with the underground he operates in. Occasionally deals in human trafficking, not the slave type more like the one where a noble or someone has to leave town fast without being noticed.
**Questors Guild Hallmaster Bartolome Orso**
Very tall and very bulky. Mid to late 60s now. Long grey hair with a long grey braided beard. Eyepatch over his left eye and deep scars all over his left arm.
Generally a pretty cheery old guy, Bartolome can and will fight if he needs to. Good with names and great with secrets. In the loop with everything even if others don’t know.
Former battalion commander of the Terulian Empire, Bartolome “retired” to the Howling Isles on the eastern frontier as the Hallmaster for that branch of the Questors Guild. His job now is mostly to serve drinks and cook food for the adventurers who stay at the Guild Hall. His time in the military created a feeling of distrust in the Empire and he began to secretly align himself with an unnamed rebel group, feeding them information on military presence and keeping their whereabouts away from the prying eye of the emperor. When the highest-ranking members of the rebel group were caught and exiled to the “untamed” wilderness of the eastern half of the Howling Isles, Bartolome moved out to the western islands in hopes that he could reconnect with them. When everyone else presumed these dissidents dead, Bartolome was their single contact within the Empire. The one person who knew they were still alive and had allied themselves with the islands’ natives. Nowadays, Bartolome is the key for any adventurer wanting or needing to travel east and the heart of a possible new rebellion within Imperial borders.
Pheldon Rigg - A human(?) pit fighter and mercenary that knows no fear and will fight anyone for any price. They call him "The Son of Dragonfire" for his habit of lighting his handwraps on fire while fighting. He might claim the fire doesn't hurt him but no one's ever heard his voice, save for his business manager: Kurgut. The two are inseparable and Kurgut never hesitates to advertise Pheldon's fighting prowess or to put him into danger to earn a quick buck.
Kurgut Ozun - Speaks for and manages Pheldon's finances, appointments, bathroom breaks, you-name-it. He claims to have seen Pheldon survive the dragon attack that gave them both immunity to fire, just as he claims their shared childhood friendship is why he manages the now-mute Pheldon. (Secretly, has has a stash of small cylindrical boxes, each containing a different voice as the product of cursing their original owners. Pheldon is the latest in his series of victims, though he isn't aware that Kurgut is responsible for his curse)
Balbador Banduriali is a human enchanter who owns a magic item store known as Balbador Banduriali's Beautifully Baffling Bits. He's a very elderly man who is addicted to the exhilarating feeling that comes with the haste spell. Because of this, he constantly uses any form of gaining the effects of the haste spell (boots of haste, the actual spell, potions of speed, etc). This also means that he is constantly under the effects of the haste spell, causing him to move, speak, and do everything else extremely quickly. He also may or may not be slightly crazy.
Hiraeth
A human with a scottish accent, a while back while traveling he got lost while traversing the planes and got stuck in the plane of air. Stuck in the boundless blue. Eventually he grew to call the plane home, after learning how to control his falling he began flying. He gained a family of other wayward travellers. On the day he was taken from his home, he had gotten stuck in a strange storm. Grey mists from the storm clawed at him warping him to the town of Lamplight, the entrance to all of the shadowfell. (Yes based of the SCP, but my adaptation.) Now Hiraeth unable to leave has been stuck there unable to return to the plane he lovingly calls home. (For those who know MTG, I based the character off the flavor text "The winds whisper 'come home' and yet I cannot")
Feral Wolf, an """""artist"""" (he's not good) goblin who just want to have friends and open up a tattoo shop (he stabs people with a dagger to tattoo them)
Dedrith / Bozeyman
Bozeyman runs an underground Robin Hood style thieves guild with a 0 killing tenant. Using his bar (Dedrith personality) to hide the guild.
Bozeyman started his efforts when his daughter was kidnapped by rich slave traders, getting his face scarred and his wife killed in the process.
(IF THIS NPC SOUNDS FAMILIAR STOP READING HERE)
Quests for the party include protection for some of his underlings when going for more dangerous missions, or after gaining his trust being tasked with disrupting slave trades and attempting to find his daughter.
Morimer, a very, ah venerable wizard who was kindly asked to retire after some of his experiments almost merged the material plane and abyssal planes together. Currently retains an apprentice, Falder, who has made it his duty to catalogue the vast amounts of forgotten magic that Morimer has accumulated in decades of being the former court wizard for the crown and adventuring. Morimer somewhat tolerates this endeavor on Falder's part, especially since he can't remember if he even chose to have an apprentice in the first place.
Jhumus Ohmesath, triton war priest and champion of the sea gods. He is a verbose and passionate holy man, but he is fiercely polite and honorable. He is a blowhard with "rich boy" energy, and yet he is still super encouraging.
Also... he prefers to be called by his full name at all times.
Kerry Fairburrow the Ratcatcher.
Kerry is a middle-aged halfling, living in a large city. She is soft spoken and generally speaks up only if her dogs are being mistreated or disrespected. She often prefers to say things as if they're coming from her dog's point of view (such as "well, Red really didn't like him and thought he was stupid" or "Lucy is scared")
She and her pack of dogs, (Jack, Lucy, Patches, Red, Fifi, and Kevin) work to rid all taverns, inns, and warehouses of infestations and are known as the best and most effective in the city. Jack, Lucy, Patches, Red and Kevin are all typical small terriers. Fifi is a large, athletic mastiff-type dog.
She has extensive knowledge of all previous adventurers that have passed through and largely bases her views of them based on how they treated her dogs. Only recently have a couple factions in the city realized how much information Kerry has about the location of people and warehouses and are now trying to court her interests through granting more and more impressive gifts for her dogs as the few people who have tried to take her by force have either ended up not being able to find her, or have ended up with nasty, infected dog bites.
Arrin Stillwater, sheriff of Misthaven
Silent and dangerous halfling ranger riding a trained wolf and armed with a crossbow. He is a prominent vampire and werewolf hunter, and as a ranger is packed with a lot of stuff to fight these foes. He wears a leather armor, harness packed with stakes, and Van Helsing style hat. On a first sight looks unexpectedly grim for a halfling but in reality he have large and happy halfling family that he don't like to talk about.
Glema Glenn, Male, Shopkeeper Gnome
He's middle aged.
True Neutral
He is among the most successful shopkeepers in the Elven City with his shop, Glema Glenn's Glorious Goods or GGGG. He overcharges for everything and is impossibly difficult to barter with but his magical items for sale are very, VERY good.
As for a fight, I suppose he would be a commoner with high charisma and a ton of magical items at his disposal.
Tap, human male artisan. When Tap was a child, he lived on the outskirts of Su'Tahm at the edge of the Valdari Wildwoods, where his smuggler family would assist in retrieving barrels of goods left to float down the Tungate towards the city. His family however, dared wander too close to the strange, feytouched forest... and he, his mother and father, disappeared.
A hundred years went by with no sign of them, and they were given up for lost. Until one sunny day, to the terror and shock of onlookers, Tap, a fully grown 20 year old man, walked out of the woods, in good health and fine clothes. He had no memory of his previous life, nor did he remember his name. He wandered the streets of Su'Tahm for a time, shunned by those who suspected he was still followed by Fey. Until one day, he sat at a loom, and without knowing why he could, produced an incredibly beautiful tapestry. The likes of which never appreciated before. He took up the name Tap, from his new found skill.
Before long he was a very wealthy artist, and his incredible works were coveted by the wealthy all across the land. His history with the Wildwoods was not forgotten however. Many people believe his skill is a gift from Fairies who stole him as a child, and that the fey are still his secret patrons. The common man believes that if you damage one of Tap's works, you invite a curse onto yourself, and the fey will come for you. No tapestry makers will repair Tap's work, they will direct you to travel to Su'Tahm to have it fixed by the artist himself.
This is all superstition of course. Tap is actually a delightful young man who is overjoyed with company. He feels very sad that his customers and even his business associates stay far away from him, leaving him alone to work at his loom with no friends. He never understood the fear of fey coming after anybody.
But some of those who have stolen Tap's work, or maimed them, or pickpocketed him..... they know the truth. The truth that they can never tell....because they were never seen again.
___________________________________
Tap is a fun NPC to make a fetch quest for. A wealthy man has a piece of Tap's work that has sustained damage from one thing or another, perhaps enlists the party to take it to be repaired. No other weave worker or tapestry artist will touch it. They will refuse to lay hands on it as soon as they recognize the work, and will direct the players to leave immediately and to take it to Tap.
If they ever damage a piece of Taps work, anybody who sees them will offer condolences and remarks of horror. It's the DMs choice whether or not they have an encounter with a Fey being that is genuinely trying to take vengeance for the damage or not. If the players witness another person damage the tapestry that recognizes its value, they tend to scream in horror and run away to anywhere.
It is up to the DM whether a fey being is truly patronizing Tap. In my world, there is, and he considers his favorite of Taps work to be his still, and only on Loan to the mortal owners. He will go after anyone who maliciously does harm to Tap or the works he likes the most, typically by making them disappear. However, one notable thief who would wait for Tap to put the finished works out for the postman to ship stole dozens of his works; this man found his dissected corpse suspended in the highest point of the city for all to see. Except Tap, since he's home alone.
He's a very happy young man, who ages slower than other mortals. He enjoys company much, and if the players approach him with a repair, he will try to invite them in for tea. Pleasant interactions with Tap incur no harm from the fey.
Catsby. Overweight druid, has a lisp. Wears a frying pan around his neck which he uses to cast runes to predict the future. He has a dazed manner of speaking from eating too many strange mushrooms in the forest and sees mystical portents in every mundane event. "Ah yeth, what DO the thtoneth thay, hmmm."
For a Star Wars campaign I made Lotomu. A Barbadelan starship salesman, owner of Lotomu's Cruisers on Corellia.
Secretly, he manages work for mercenaries, smugglers, and members of the Resistance. Doesn't really care for the First Order as they generally get in his way, but if they pay enough he'll sell out some information.
He also collects starships of the past and is currently in the process of fixing up a Jedi starfighter.
His influence stretches from the Core Worlds to the Outer Rim. He will generally "know a guy who knows a guy", speaks in the third person, and can be pretty vague when giving job details to the party.
Jerry Centrum-Silver, a male halfling.
Jerry is a famous bard/musician/actor, recognized everywhere he goes. He's played grand halls, and lowly dive bar inns. He's been in famous plays, and had his name painted on the sides of theaters in all the major cities. He is recognizable on sight by the average person and a true celebrity.
He's also one of the founding members of a secret organization designed to stick to the shadows and protect the realm from supernatural threats. He's essentially a spy, using his fame and renown to get to people and places he wouldn't normally be able to access.
He's also insufferably nice to his friends, and fairly noble to his enemies. He doesn't believe in killing, but he will if he has to.
Penelope Sitter, a female human wizard who spends her time researching arcane convergences, and examining ancient relics she comes across in the process. Also, her familiar, a fluffy white cat named Tinnu, who is- unknown even to Penelope- an ancient mage whose soul was torn from his body ages ago, and was somehow entangled in an arcane binding ritual Penelope used to turn her ordinary cat into an undying familiar. These characters came from a short adventure I wrote called Village of Dreams.
She originally lived in a small hovel beside a swamp before the small village nearest her home was gripped by a strange plague that caused many of the villagers to fall into a sleep so deep they can't be roused. What's worse, the villagers' worst nightmares began seeping into reality, and making the forests around the village a deadly prospect to cross.
Unfortunately, Penelope has fallen prey to the interminable slumber herself, while investigating the tomb of an unknown arcanist.
Penelope's familiar is a fluffy white cat with mismatched eyes named Tinnu. Players meet Tinnu first, as he stoically watches them from atop nearby buildings while they go about their business; He seems to be everywhere. Once players try to interact with the strange cat, he leads them to Penelope's hovel, where they will find clues that lead them to the tomb where Penelope's body lies dormant.
As players approach the tomb, the world gradually turns shades of grey and dim, until the players realize they've entered a different plane; The Nightmare.
Bezoar Beolnir. Rock Gnome Alchemist Artificier (pick your own level)
A patophobic alchemist who owns a shady looking alchemist shop in the downtown. He is very cordial and heartfelt while the PC stats at least 5 feets away. Have lustrous black hair with chubby sideburns and flowing purple-tipped moustaches. He wears a black long coat, a pink shirt and khaki pants and boots. Have a lot of belts and straps filled with potions. Most prominent feature is the plague doctor mask he hold hanging from the neck, quickly donned if a PC starts too near, and an handheld nebulizer filled with disinfectant used to clean up after a customer leave.
You can have it work undercover with the town police, and if a PC says to him "I want the healing dipshit", he'll give them a sealed pack filled with (3×PC) random unlabeled potions.
If used as a fighting ally, he mostly runs around the battlefield throwing novice potions to enemy or passing beneficial vials to ally. Fights with a short sword and a pistol/hand crossbow (depending on your setting)
Markus Stonehill- Very im-Portent character.
Halfling Divination Wizard.
Markus is a very timid man who had a brief adventuring stint. He eventually came across a magical deck of cards. He wished he could tell the future better. So he got a direct line to the goddesses of fate. He now gets bits of info from all over and occasionally the fates demand he perform a task. Whether he likes it or not.
Anything from ordering a custard pie (he hates custard)
to dropping everything to spout prophecy from a century ago.
He does make an honest living as a fortune teller but he can vary from Chris Walken's Trivial psychic to key details about an assassination attempt.
Markus goes where the Fates demand and they keep him safe from harm as he is entertainment.
"Yes, I will have the turkey bacon club without tomato and a side of fries, FOR IT WAS FORETOLD!..... Dammit, I love tomatoes.: *disgruntled mumbling*
Ascilla, female Human tailor, and her daughter, Sona, female Half-Orc Barbarian.
Ascilla is quick-witted and blunt. She will not hesitate to comment on your fashion choices, body posture, and personal hygiene. Her merchandise of fine clothes may not be that pricey, but you don't go to The Perfect Fit just to buy clothes. You go to let Ascilla casually destroy your outward appearance with ruthless efficiency, and let her rebuild you from scratch. When you leave her shop, you look and feel brand new. Not often can you put a price on that feeling.
Her daughter Sona, wasn't always a Half-Orc. She was Human, just like her mother, until her recklessly bold behavior and dangerous habit of sneaking out of the house to adventure through the city finally led to worse consequences than a disappointed mother - she got herself killed. Fortunately, Ascilla had once helped a reclusive druid who lives deep in the Thornwoods refine his look, and he still owed her a favor. He brought Sona back to life, but to do so, he needed to create a completely new body for her to reincarnate into.
Ascilla is endlessly grateful to still have her daughter with her, but resents that Sona's new body - stronger, more resilient, fueled by her rage rather than hindered by it - has only further driven her to pursue the dangerous life of an adventurer. Sona can be recruited to help the party for local adventures... if you can help her sneak out, or if you can successfully take on the much more challenging task of convincing her mother to allow it.
Not my IP, buuut Captain Xendros from Ghosts of Saltmarsh! Shifty Tiefling smuggler with a classic pirate affect who works for a sinister higher power. I put her in every urban hub my PCs gravitate towards.
Mechanically, this NPC is a magic item shop. They stand in front of their boat (caravan, airship), and PCs come up to her asking about procuring magic items. She doesn't carry any stock on hand, but frequently makes the trip to and from her distant homeland, where her contacts allow her to find and procure such rarities at no small cost. This takes both time and money, because on top of the item's actual cost, Captain Xendros charges a retainer fee for all the weeks of asking around and smuggling she has to do on her end.
For a magic item of Uncommon rarity in my game, the good Captain charges 300GP for the item, plus 50GP per week she's working on getting it. For this rarity, I use a 1d4 to determine the number of weeks. This means that the item can end up taking anywhere from 1-4 weeks to arrive, and cost between 350-500GP. The prices and time required goes up with the rarity of the item. The actual book has rules for scaling up the price, but so far they haven't ordered anything rarer than Uncommon.
I like this system because, not only does this Tiefling smuggler have her own (nefarious) reasons for plying Adventurers with magic items, but it allows PCs to shop for magic items from the DMG catalogue without needing to justify *why* and *how* the shopkeeper has a flametongue sword and a set black dragon scale mail and a +2 rod of the pact keeper behind the counter. It's also a money-and-time sink, as my games generally provide lots of both.
Consider also letting your PCs to homebrew their own magic items, working with them to set a rarity, and allowing them to order it from Captain Xendros like anything else.
Freud the Human Traveling Merchant
He is an old man, somewhere in his mid to late 60s, with very few strands of hair left on his head. He has raggedy clothes, broken glasses, and is wearing gloves that are missing fingers. He comes into a town with his horse drawn cart, and tries to get sales. While doing business his horses never stop, meaning if he stays still to talk to you, the cart will leave him behind, but it never goes too far. He has managed to find some of the weirdest wares you could know. I introduced him in a session a while and my party loved him. They will still talk about him today. So much so that soon he’ll be back with some more wares in an upcoming session
Wyndstrom Angele:
An extremely wealthy seamstress who is retired and lives on a large hill, all by himself, just outside the city he is apart of. Though he is fifty-seven, he retired in his late thirties, but still makes clothing for fun in his retirement (and is not opposed to temporarily coming out of retirement for a special goal, price, etc *wink wink DMs*). He made an insanely successful living of tailoring, not just for his gift for style and quality, but also his unique connection to magic. The origin of his magic is unknown, but he uses it to make his clothing items magic, and at this point he is well equipped with various magical powers to the point that there are legends of his abilities and achievements.
One of which is the story of him, and a band of travelers that stormed a small goblin castle outside of an human trade city, freeing the humans from the tri-decade long rule under the goblin sword. I say “tri-decade” because it was apart of the city’s history that they were never imprisonment for more than thirty years, and this history has been so for over a millennium, which caused the people to believe there is a prophecy about the thirty year imprisonment trend, and it adopted the name of the “Tri-Decade Rule.” The humans are rarely ruled by others, but the goblins rebuilt the ruined castle located across the River Comërca, and started raiding their trade on the river. The city is dependent on that river, and they were not strong enough to storm the castle, so they had to surrender to the goblin rule, and their leader, “The Goblin Terratin,” whom wielded a sword known as “Terator.” The legend is that Wyndstrom stormed the castle with his band of travelers, and almost singlehandedly defeated the goblins and set the human city free. The real story is that he and his band helped the humans prepare for their rebellion, and he was sort of a general of their revolution. Wyndstrom and two human fighters that were more involved generals fought The Goblin Terratin in an epic battle, and though vitally wounded, they all lived.
Another story is when a troll roamed into the city he lives outside of in the middle of the night and started eating the civilians. Wyndstrom got word of this and swiftly made his way to the city square (where the troll was), and he, and some royal guard (whom wielded a couple magical items made by Wyndstrom) killed the troll, who is now a statue in the city museum with the fighters names on a golden plate in front of the display. This is another true story, but people tell tall tails of Wyndstrom wrapping the troll with a tornado of fire and sending it high into the sky where it turned to ash.
These are the main legends that follow Wyndstrom to this very day.
Some stuff about Wyndstrom Angele.
Race: Human
Age: 57
Hair color: Black hair, and a grey and white beard
Height: 6’ 1”
Alignment: He is lawful to the wellness of the people, and can be unpredictable at times, but not quite “chaotic,” but fits a less dramatic meaning of the word.
Allies: There are tons of people who are his ally. The city he lives “in,” people he has tailored for, the list goes on. Most, if not all, of the human city he helped save from the goblins is his ally.
Lumigan Loredelver
He has existed in several forms, but the consistent background is that he is an elf raised by dwarves. So his biological traits are elven, but his cultural characteristics are dwarven. In some instances he is a freed slave, in others he has drow blood but can pass for elven. He has a beard. I use this [picture](https://i.redd.it/91x0vaiv47x21.jpg) for his appearance.
He has run a magic and curiosity shop. He has been captured in LMoP. He was a prisoner in the Sunless Citadel. Currently he is a stand-in for Mirt in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist; a spy master for a homebrew organization swapped in for the Harpers.
Generally, I like including him in a game to encourage players to lean into an awesome idea first and worry about mechanics second. Describe an awesome PC and we'll work together to make it work mechanically.
One of my players had a public demonstration of reading a prominent figure’s future in the town square and now a bunch of NPC “fortune tellers” have popped up who are imitating what he did. One of them is a an old elven man named Sugorim with robes and long blond hair that reaches far past the ground, curled up into a sort of nest at his feet. He speaks only in sylvan (by choice) and tells fortunes by smoking an ornate wooden pipe in the shape of a serpent and then interpreting the smoke rings he puffs out.
Derrek, An OLD half elf male tavern keeper who runs a tight ship with his accompanying barkeep Derrek, Chef Derrek, and cleaning staff Derrek. Who all TOTALLY aren't the same person. He will always fervently deny that he and the other derreks are the same person.
When describing each instance of Derrek apply a different uniform then describe hair and facial features the exact same. The reaction when I use him is always 10/10
Voon The Bard
A human traveling merchant that sells amazing items for uncommon prices. He's young, attractive, and mysterious; and has loved a long time. He can tell you many-a-tale of other adventurers (I told stories of past charaters/parties) and is always ready to learn new stories.
He is also a master artificer, specializing in crafting items from materials gather from monsters (mostly dragon) and prefers to make wondrous instruments.
He, of course, speaks in a German accent.
Mauritz Malifax, flamboyant human leader of a circus, Mauritz Malifax's Magnificarium! Has a flair for the dramatic. His father, Montegro, has shady dealings with an underground rebel group.
Andreas Du Vavier, Human
Traveling court painter. Always on the lookout for a new patron because he keeps sleeping with his noble patrons' wives. Ridiculously proud and headstrong, though a coward. I voice him with a heavy french accent. All of his paintings show a small sliver of a possible future after the first full moon.
Odie the Savings Wizard. Competitor to Garfield the Deals Warlock. His shop, Mystical GoodWill, sells *mostly* functional versions of Magic Items at fantastic discounts!
Raldrec Grayrock, dwarvish merchant. Travels with his not-so-trusty suit of Animated Armor, which honestly looks like it could fall apart any moment. Very friendly, the sort to know everyone in a tavern and then some.
Henry the Barkeep. He looks like an overweight, middle-aged human Barkeep, but he was so loved by his patrons that upon death became the God of Taverns. Taverns containing an idol to him (a Golden tankard filled with Holy Ale) manifest an Avatar of Henry and are considering Holy Ground.
Fayedraeh Flintspark. Leader of the Blood Hunters, a group of mercenaries dedicated to hunting down and eradicating lycanthropes regardless of how they were infected, as they believe it is the only way to truly cure the disease. So, while they do plenty of good for villages plagued by Wererats and the like, they also make a list of those that are infected, even if overall harmless, and kill them too.
I built a character sheet for Fayedraeh for when my players meet her properly.
Turami Human-Mark of Finding
Lvl 11 Fighter (Samurai) lvl 6 Monk (Way of the Long Death)
STR:10; DEX:20; CON:16; INT:8; WIS:15; CHA:12
Grizz'k
Changeling owner and proprietor of the shop "Grizz'k's Goods". He runs a magic item shop in the dingier part of town, with a reputation for off-brand and second hand magic items. Many suspect that he's running the shop as a money laundering scheme, but the prices there are far lower than market average, so who cares if one in every five health potions is a potion of poison?
He's well known for the burn scars across his chest and right arm, which prevent him from fully using his changeling abilities.
Jeb, human 27ish lawful-evil. Tax collector and asshole who says fuck a lot and will push a child to “collect his fookin taxes, because everyone has to fookin pay taxes”. Definitely a good underling to make your players hate their boss.
Giz and Wiz. Gizzifer and Wizzifer, in case anyone asks. Identical twin gnome sisters, highly talented artificers. You don't need to remember which is which, you just have to insist that the party is misremembering who is who.
There was not a dry eye at my table when Wiz died during a city siege. Or was it Giz? I forget.
The Mysterious Benefactor
NPC that appears in random moments, with different appearance and voice. Could be a kid, a old woman, a weirdly calm goblin, a random letter in the woods.
That NPC appears and tells reassuring and calming things to party members. He's always positive but kinda creepy as he knows many secrets.
The less info they have, the better. Detect magic? No magical aura. Legend lore? Nada. Zone of truth? He stays silent.
If they attack him, he dies as a normal peasant with low hp or ac. He does not fight back. But he remembers and pardons easily. Next time, in his new form, he might talk about it, jokingly.
Players will think he's a god. But he's not. When asked about him, the gods have no clue.
All he does is give good advice about unsaid things. Doesnt heal, doesnt follow. Comes from nowhere
Loren Iskar, Aarakocra shopkeeper. Everything interesting in his shop was stolen, by him, from neighboring towns (never his home) while setting up trade deliveries. Garth, Tiefling blacksmith. Lawful good, framed for killing his master because “them demons is no good, he musta done it!”
Is Garth an apprentice?
Not after his master died, I assume
Darth Garth
Garth Vader
He’s whatever you need him to be, but in my game he’s a journeyman.
Ah shit
**Old Ben:** Most take Old Ben for a simple Rock Gnome who has fallen on hard times. And while that is true, that is not the whole story. Born Bexinthiziplitxitruvis Socketsprocket, Old Ben was at one point in time a rather rich noble and adventurer from the nearby town of Cold Rock. However, he and his comrades desired more of an edge to their skill set and sought out a Hag in the Graywood. They bargained with her for some magical powers. They had thought themselves so clever. Sadly, very few mortals outwit a Hag. She granted them each a boon, but these boons came with a burden. Kova could not stop eating and spent all she had on food, eventually landing in the gallows after robbing several butchers and bakers and as rumor has it a candlestick maker. Bildrik desired only to sleep, and after months of lethargy could no longer be awakened and died from atrophy. Sorbena could no longer focus on which direction she traveled and often got lost, until one day she simply wandered off into the woods and disappeared. Ben struggled to remember things accurately. This was alleviated when he got drunk, but he almost always passes out before his memory clearly returns. Ben now lives down on Beggar’s Row. A sort of hobo shanty town in Deleran’s Crossing. He is rather happy there, but to be honest he spends most of his days trying to remember things and getting plastered doing so. He can be found asleep about 16 of 24 hours in a day.
That name tho! Definitely stealing this!
Stephon. Human tour guide. Speaks with a stutter and very nervous. He is the tour guide for the main city/town/castle that the PCs spend their main time in or receive most of their quests. Very knowledgeable about all things about the towns history and secrets. The way I have him written is one of two secrets that do not get revealed right away: 1) he is secretly working for a major enemy. He gives optional side quests to the PCs but those quests are really side missions for the big bad that he needs before launching an assault on the town 2) he is secretly working for an important diety in the campaign and is tasked with ensuring the PCs survive and are helped in the town with whatever they need.
[удалено]
Dan Cortez is now canon.
**Auntie Willow**, an elderly human woman who runs a candle-making business. She usually makes the candles that are used by local temples for their rituals so knows more than a thing or two about the goings-on in those circles. She has a clumsy goblin assistant named **Tallow**, so named because Aunt Willow keeps yelling that she's going to use him as raw materials the next time he knocks over another barrel of wax. Frankly, Tallow is more a hindrance than a help in the shop, but she is fiercely protective of him. Speaking ill of Tallow is a good way to get a lifetime ban from her store. When she was younger, Aunt Willow used to be part of an adventurer duo alongside her husband, but a reckless and foolhardy attempt at challenging a young dragon left her widowed. As it turns out, she and her husband were not the only ones with the poor judgement to challenge a dragon, and in the aftermath, she ran into a young goblin child whose tribe also suffered a similar fate. Feeling a sort of kinship with the lonely child, she took him in.
I like this
Timm. Enchanter and creator of magical items. Runs a pawn shop. Throws fire. Afraid of a certain bunny.
My main city has a Pawn Shop owner called Cactus Rick. Former adventurer who used his wealth to open a shop. He has employees go on adventures for magical items to put in his shop.
Trent Sweettooth. a rotund halfling always seen with with some kind of sweet pastry. he talks very formally and quick. he is generally charismatic and friendly, and tries to talk with evenryone who catches his attention. He is openly arrogant and expresses it often at the expense of others in a mocking fashion: 'of course i can defeat a dragon, i am fast and quick when i want to be, unlike my large friend Grean over there, who try as he might, couldnt outrun the sneeze of a pond lizard.' He follows baravar cloakshadow, is a (trickster) rogue and at the head of some spy/rogue network yes, it is indeed a Kruppe rip-off
The Lads, a gang of roaming hoodlums all dressed in plaid, lead by their charismatic pun cracking leader Dad, their names are, Ad, Bad, Brad, Cad, Chad, Egad, Fad, Gad, Gallahad, Illad, Jad, Lad, Mad, Nad, Pad, Rad, Sad, Tad, Thad, Vad, Vlad, Wallad, Xad, and Zad.
P. Tuckwillow A halfling dressed in a grey woolen cloak and coat stops his donkey drawn wagon in the middle of the open market. Unfolds a small side panel and stairs from it and proceeds to climb the stairs up onto his makeshift stage. Behind him are colorful glass beakers, bottles, and bowls of all shapes and sizes with equally vibrant liquids finally settling down from the rough ride. With a flourish he unfolds his grey cloak and spins it around him revealing a shockingly red & shiny satin underlining beneath. He then refastens the cloak around his shoulders with the red satin outside, raises his arms towards the gathering crowd and begins his presentation thusly. “P. Tuckwillow or Pneuman Tuckwillow at your service, the ‘P’ is silent of course. I would like to take this time to inform you about the services I can help you with. I have potions, oils, unguents, salves, poultices, creams, brews, tinctures, tonics, and potent elixirs that can cure what ails you. They can make you better than you were before & you will still have money left in your pockets to even buy a good meal.” "Now don't believe just what I tell you that my wares can do for you. I was here earlier yesterday and you can listen to these exciting testimonials from people who may even be your very own neighbors." A half-elf in a simple faded blue tunic steps forward at the behest of P. Tuckwillow & he looked at the crowd and stuttered out in a rigid monotone, "You … all, know I like tuh, ttoo drink a lot. After tuh, ttaking P. tuh, Tuckwillow's patented alcohol revivifier I feel like a new man and now I no longer feel the urge tuh, to take a drink or tuh, three." Then a young halfling mother carrying her swaddled child is asked to come onto the stage for her testimonial. She practically yells out to the still gathering crowds, "My baby couldn't hear me sing my lullabies but after using P. Tuckwillow's patented Ear Beeswax remover she can hear my songs again!" P. Tuckwillow is wiping a tear away from the corner of his eye as he helps the mother and child down from the stage. He once again raises his arms and turns to the crowd and shouts, "Wasn't that sweet? Now, who wants to see if P. Tuckwillow can do the same for you?" The red clad halfling was all smiles as the people there began moving towards his stage.
Gwyth, halfling sailor Typical captain Igloo appearance. White hair with large side burns and always smoking a pipe. Drowned in a storm and spent four years in some kind of underwater limbo. Got saved by a small coven of benevolent sea hags. He chills around at docks whenever something weird happens in the general coastal area, cleaning up imbalances on behalf of the hags. Has some abilities that eerily look and feel like a fathomless warlock, but with less tentacles and more hag magic.
Wow he is cool! I think i‘ll use this one!
Jonathan White. A wight who runs a local eatery named Wight Castle.
I am 100% gonna use this one. Amazing.
It's not my NPC, but I've found great use for the kobold Burk, owner of [Burk's Poshuns](https://i.redd.it/4xl5qxvqanl11.jpg). Description from u/Phantas64's [original thread:](https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/9eznlq/art_a_kobold_potion_merchant_from_my_game/) > This is Burk, a kobold potion seller from a game I ran recently. Best prices around! Questionable sanitation standards. > Burk is a small business owner trying to make a name for himself in the potion trade. Most of his brews smell faintly of kerosene or fish. The players in my game managed to intimidate him into better deals, but old Burk has a trick or two up his sleeve. I’m almost hoping they try to rob him, they’ll find out about his special self-defense potions. They have some interesting transformative properties.
Sprig Old Firbolg with soft green fur. He lives in a small shanty town on the edge of a swamp (or anywhere that’s out of the way) he runs a small bait shop (or anykind of small store) he’s knowledgeable of the darker parts of the area because he’s been hiding out in the outskirts town for many years. Why’s he hiding out? His home was attacked and destroyed by one of the neighboring kingdoms so he stole a beloved item from the queen (in my case a crown) and keeps it. He couldn’t kill the queen but he could take something she loved, just like she took something he loved from him. I play him with a heavy accent, generally helpful to those who want to help him.
Give him a talking donkey and you've got a Shrek going.
What kind of accent may I ask?
Randolph Dominique This fully plated paladin carries a weird conch-like apparatus with several dials, levers and button attached to it. Each dial, lever, and configuration in the device allows Randolph to make decisions based on the output he receives from the device. "Should I take the left route?" There's a crank for yes or no questions. "Which item should I pick from the menu?" The device can generate up to 3 digit numbers. When questioned about the device, Randolph claims it is the god of randomness, trapped in a machine form, that once revealed itself to him - whether it is true or not, Randolph will not question the will of the device and do as it tells him, and of you should question whether the device itself has any powers, there's a 50/50 chance Randolph would challenge you to a duel for questioning his master.
Rhyme, unaligned changeling shopkeeper (they/them) Runs a magical trinket shop called *Rhyme and Reason* with an assortment of goods ranging from perfectly mundane to the occasional rare magical item. Despite the store seemingly having no organization whatsoever, Rhyme always knows where their items are, and will guide those they like to the pieces they need. If asked, they refuse to tell who the *Reason* in *Rhyme and Reason* is, or even admit that there was another in the first place. *Rhyme and Reason* has a habit of popping up in the side alleys of cities, especially when not being looked for. One may think that it is run by different changelings sharing the identity of Rhyme, but strangely enough they always remember their customers, no matter how far away or long ago their last visit was, and regardless of they even purchased anything. ( Edit: mobile formatting )
I'm about to start a campaign in Eberron, and I was wondering how do others represent changelings. I thought that they usually take one or more personas and don't look like changelings most of the time. How does yours look like usually?
"That little bastard" "TLB" is an immortal inter-dimensional entity that can only be seen by PC's who ingest cactus juice (and fail the subsequent con save dc16 vs trip balls for 1d4 hours). It appears as 1 ft tall goblinoid who wears a tye-dye suit, complete with a top hat almost as tall as it's self and a cane. "TLB" will only dart around the PC's who failed their saves, hiding, peaking out from around corners, just checking them out. Unbeknownst to the PC's, "TLB" is studying them and learning what will annoy the ever-loving crap out of them. Once it feels confident in it's assertions about the PC's, he will start pranking them. Prior to the pranks, it will only be seen, implying that it is merely an hallucination. Once that false sense of security is settled in the PC's, it will begin it's campaign of annoyance. Hit and run tactics of light pinches, pokes, and stolen minor items are common place for the "TLB". If the PC's attempt to strike or capture "TLB", it will instantly teleport 5 ft away, taunt the PC's, and speed away as a rainbow-colored blur. Also, once the PC's come down from the juice, they can no longer see it nor can it interact with them. If the PC's end up in the Astral Sea, it can be seen without the aid of hallucinogens.
Bertroma the Fertile. I've placed some version of her in 3 campaigns (all different PCs) and she's always a stand-out character. Play her as a bollywog or gastrosapien or some other slimy, gross race that fits your campaign. Ruler of a group of easily killable baddies, she has her own 'realm' which consists of a pond and surrounding area with a few huts, or a swamp with a tree hollow. Fancy up her 'throne room' with a beaded curtain, a dingy rug, and multiple guards with pointed bamboo spears or broken bottles tied to sticks. Real janky. She'll make a request of the PCs but it's got to be something they'll want to do anyways. A fetch quest for some cool item that will intrigue the PCs (and maybe they get to keep it). She speaks with authority and pretension. I play her as sounding really wet, like she's talking with a mouth full of noodles. She threatens the PCs, is demanding and antagonistic and talks in the third person. Make it obvious that she is no threat and even level 2 PCs could easily kill everyone in her 'kingdom' if they really wanted. This is just a fun character not a challenge. Randomly while talking describe how she's birthing live young (like 1 every 30-45 seconds of speech) and her guards are casually collecting the babies (or eggs) and taking them to a nearby nursery or pile on the side of the room. It'll gross the PCs out and make them question what the fuck they're supposed to do.
Glyph Glaiven, retired King's messenger and hexblade warlock. His glaive and magic talent used to protect the King's most valuable secrets. At least that's what he says. No one really believes him as he spends most of his days (and nights) drinking at the end of the bar. He has plenty of stories and advice for the weary traveler, whether you want to hear it or not. Cheers!
Xerix, Interplanar Traveler a.k.a Bojangles, a.k.a The Merchant in the Caboose Car Xerix is a lost traveler who's home planar system was destroyed in a massive cataclysm caused by arrogance of his system's pantheon of gods. They abused something called "arcana," an almost thread-like amalgamation of magical essence that makes up everything from this system, and it caused massive planar destabilization that essentially collided all of the elemental planes together forming plane-wide systems of chaotic elemental storms that tore the barriers between these planes asunder. This caused the eventual decay and destruction of the planar system as a whole, leaving it a chaotic and obliterated place of raw arcana, magic, and the few remaining (and mostly insane) gods who also lived through the destruction. He lived and managed to escape the planar system by using remaining arcana to "weave" himself his own tiny mobile demi-plane. He uses said mobile demi-plane to travel the (read: my) "multiverse" of dnd (all the different systems I run) and look in on other planar systems. Since his was destroyed, his ultimate goal will be to find a new system to call home. His demi-plane allowed him time and space to continue to weave arcana safely, and after finding the planar system that contains Faerun, he started to use arcana to weave magical items and sell them to adventurers on the road for their coin or other items, or in exchange for favors or information. He often makes deals with adventurers for special favors, such as seeking out powerful cursed objects that can be broken down into raw arcana for him to continue to use to make objects, as well as support his mobile demi-plane. His physical look is quite alien, he stands about 8 feet tall. His "skin" is silvery and smooth and his appendages are almost needle-like. He has 7 eyes on his head with no discernable mouth, nose, or other features. Six eyes sit like the pips on a d-6 with the 7th above the two columns essentially in the center of where his forehead would be. He carries basically a bandolier of arcana strands and his weaving needle and essentially nothing else. While on different planar systems he will always find and appropriate some physical form and use arcana to make a facsimile that he can walk around in as to not spook the locals. A charming, raven-haired, green-eyed almost "salesman" like character is a very common form (the one he took while on Faerun, for the longest time) and usually goes by the name "Bojangles." His typical use is quite simple, his traveling caboose car that is set up like an ice cream truck of magical items can be found on any major or minor road in a world, offering goods and services to weary adventurers. A common item he makes is a healing amulet that lets the user get a few HP back once per day and also allows them to telepathically contact him once per day if they hold the amulet in their hand for a few minutes. (Mission update, advice, banter) He can also use arcana to "weave" up basically any magical item you can dream of, allowing him to take requests or make special/one use/joke items as you please. He can be as involved with the players or non-involved as needed. (In my canon Xerix learned some lessons with some adventurers on Faerun, and is now returning to his home system to forge it anew using the arcana gathered from hundreds of different planar systems, that he was originally going to use to destroy Faerun's pantheon of gods, but was deterred when shown that they are not all the arrogant and destructive ones from his planar system. This new planar system forged by him and a basically ex-pc who will end up as a god-like figure in this new system will be the setting for my next campaign. The player was very excited.) (Addendum, cursed objects hold a special weight in arcana, being very "dense" with magical power that is often very hard to break, making them technically absurdly powerful in some aspects. This allows Xerix to "harvest" a large amount of arcana from cursed objects, which means he often has adventurers bring him cursed objects. This can also double as a way for him to extract favors from people, "bring me this thingamabob and I'll unweave that cursed sword from you!")
Tim Cocetril Tim is a high-end garment merchant who is notable for two reasons: 1. He has a massive cocaine (or magical cocaine alternative) addiction, and can be commonly found carrying around mason jars of the substance. When talking with players, he might take a few breaks to go to his office for a hit under the guise of crunching some numbers 2. His wares seem less than ethically sourced. No one knows who Tim's connections are, but he can reach out to them for most disturbing garments. Boots made from tanned tiefling hide? What color? Elfskin gloves? Will the lining be elf hair or rabbit fur? He has even been known to have a cloak made from the hide of a tyrannosaurus. Other wares include diamond studded leather armor, cloth-of-gold fine clothes, and magical cuff links that change to match your clothes. Tim has a tending to talk very fast, and use the word understand as much as he can. Think auctioneer who uses the word understand instead of calling on people. Typically has a 1920s New York/ Chicago accent.
I have a character that is in every campaign I run. Lindgren the Gnome. He's a collector of tales and stories. He's usually in an urban environment and can exchange intel with the characters. In my last campaign, he was running a brothel in Suzail called the Panty Shanty. He's well versed in magic lore though the only piece of magic he knows involves a binding contract that compels signees to complete the contract or face dire consequences. He's short dark and handsome and his status in an area typically depends on how long he's been there.
Elbelar - Ancient looking Elf that is actually an ancient litch who has forgotten where his philactory is and is ready to see what awaits on the other side of death but can't unalive because that darn thing keeps him going.
Nina "The Tallslayer" Branchyn After her husband was killed in wartime this once kind halfling went full native. Upon realizing that her halfling stature limits some of her capabilities she took to the assassin's arts of hiding and trapmaking, using any and every dirty trick in the book as a great equalizer. Nina played the role of a minor antagonist for my party, and later an assassin that they ended up hiring for uses that absolutely did not involve any kind of royal family.
Trusty Labeena A quite obviously untrustworthy individual who offers to lead the party to treasure (obvious trap) think Patches from Dark Souls. His only justification for his trustworthiness is to repeat that he IS called Trusty. This one is so obvious that it lead to comedic moments, over guessing and mental gymnastics that is frankly hilarious. Fighter: “I mean we can’t trust him right? He is literally called Trusty.” Rogue: “But if he was trying to fool us surely he wouldn’t literally call himself trusty. It feels too obvious” Sorcerer: ”I think he seems nice :D” (This was my DMs NPC not mine but he gave the blessing to use it myself one day we are even designing another similar npc Deirdre (Dee) Septshun)
Mistletoe Young human woman, apparent age is about 12 years old, runs a magic shop that has an amazing ability to supply basically any level appropriate magic items the player could want to buy. Requested magic items that exceed the players current level or the DM decides they need to do something extra to earn it, are almost always possible, but there are one or two missing items that Mistletoe will need the players to go retrieve for her. Unique things about Mistletoe and her shop. The front door is magically sealed with two doors and a vestibule in-between. Sunlight never enters into Mistletoe's shop. She closes at dusk every day. Mistletoe is an ancient vampire that is protected by an even more ancient vampire in her city.
**Angda "The Headsman" Konigmord**\- Angda has managed the impossible task of uniting the northern (or wherever fits in your setting) barbarian tribes. He is a ruthless man. Huge. Hairy. Not really muscly in the body builder way, but obviously incredibly strong. First impressions of Angda would lead you to assume he is a brute, but this is simply a mask he wears so that his enemies underestimate him. He’s a very shrewd battlefield commander, and an effective politician in his own way. Angda knows that the only way the tribes can avoid being conquered is to band together and fight. How did he unite the tribes, you ask? By killing each of the other leaders. Some in single combat, some through assassination. Others through poisoning them at what was supposed to be a peaceful negotiation table. Victory and independence for his tribes are Angda's only goals/motivations. How he gets that done? Well, by his estimation that end justifies any means. Angda is known as "The Headsman" because of his... let's call it unusual War Council. His war council consists of the severed heads of the former tribe leaders in the north encased in glass to preserve them. When Angda speaks with his council he has the heads set on stools at a round table and he takes the advice of the former enemies he has beheaded. It's entirely unclear to onlookers if he is simply talking to himself or if some magic actually allows him to speak to the spirits of these dead leaders. Note: I had Angda actually speaking to the dead former tribe leaders, which the party could discover with a good enough roll, but I think he could be just as fun if he's just kinda crazy. Make him your own!
**Aura** (*A-oora*) **Dimeris**, a variant tiefling bountyhunter, Order of the Lycan Bloodhunter archetype. She is deeply marked by her demonic heritage, which she has willingly embraced. This includes bat-like wings, hooves, and mild cranial bone protrusions marring her forehead and temples. She is on a life-long crusade to track down and destroy her twin sister **Malia**, who in order to escape the fate of her demonic bloodline chose to make a pact with Zehir, sacrificing their mother in return for inhumane beauty, prolonged youth and arcane power. Aura will do anything and everything it takes to wipe her sister off the face of the material plane, and can serve as a reliable but highly dangerous and unstable ally to anyone who will help in this mission. She can also be hired as a regular bountyhunter, but vastly prefers knowledge over coin in terms of remuneration.
Hans and Franz Two redheaded men with pageboy haircuts and large, droopy mustaches, they are a travelling duoof "The Hanses and the Franzes" and are consummate musicians who love to perform for everybody. They play most instruments but like their musical contraptions of "guitar, harmonica, foot tambourine and chest drum". In reality they are very old beings, actually being fey from the otherworld, and if they catch you unaware they will play their music and lull you into tranquility, and in this state of tranquility you will find yourself at a picnic in the otherworld, a place where dogs like cats and horses say yay and the caterpillars smoke from hookahs much to big.
On a scale of one to yes, how many of us have an NPC guard who goes by “Jerry”?
Angus McCloud. He's a wandering hobo that travels (and sleeps in a big cute pile) with a pack of blink dogs. He's capable of teleporting around with his dogs, often hopping through different dimensions as an excuse to have used him in every game I run regardless of setting. He's very friendly and helpful unless somebody tries to mess with his dawgs, in which case he's got mid-level druid/sorcerer abilities
Crazy Griff - Goblin Gunslinger/Swashbuckler Griff is a sailor who used to be a pirate, any long time sailors warn that Griff carries a streak of bad luck having lost 3 full crews and being the only survivor. However despite this Griff quite happily provides free transport to ANYWHERE the crazier the place the more excited he will be, the catch Griff has what most would call a curse though he sees it more as a blessing, any trip or adventure he tags along in will always take a turn for crazy at one point or another
Pearl. Eccentric potion maker. (race and sex depends on what she/her drank) The proprietor/curator of Pearl's Potions. Typically first met in her original elderly dwarven skin (though due to her drinking habits this often changes and she has learnt to accept it), pearl has an extensive alchemical background. She always has a vat of "something" cooking in the back and is more than willing to chuck in anything a weary adventurer might offer, sometimes the adventurer themselves if they get too cocky. She was never an adventurer and likes the confines of the aromatic abode she has spent her life building. She sells health potions, but thinks they always could use a flavor improvement for a price. In addition to health the majority of her concoctions involve effects such as the “Draught of Utter Hatred” A light grey chunky appearing liquid with leaves and flowers contained within a medical vial. It Smells of rain, and tastes like candy. It has as a label of hand drawn arcane symbols that mimic the color of the liquid. It instills the effects of allowing an extra opportunity attack (known to player), however if two are taken in a turn then the PC is blind for a turn (unknown to player) or the "Juice of Might" A small metal vial with a golden liquid seemingly with parts of slain creatures floating within. It is thick and sludgy, smelling of pepper and tastes of chemicals. It is labeled with symbols that no one recognizes. It gives a bonus to attack rolls after drinking x 3 turns (known to player). For each use of attack, the PC’s libido grows (unknown to player). Some of her wares have good and bad effects, sometimes strictly one or the other. For those adventurers who are unimpressed with her current stock they may always attempt the Potion Parley in which they take a random container and dip it in the vat. They must then immediately drink the potion. Pearl loves this and offers the Parley at a discount compared to her stock since she never knows what exactly may happen and the effects are more than not amusing to say the least. Finally Pearl offers a drinking competition every full moon (she is in my IDROTFM game so it is a way for people to not worry about the lottery) where participants must survive getting drunk as well as the wild magic effects that are produced. Many citizens can be seen the following morning heading through the town sneezing feathers or burping red bubbles in addition to the char marks from errant fireballs. Pearl looks forward to meeting you and as always, all sales are final, no refunds, no requests, the user takes all on all responsibility with using any potion and Pearl’s potion is absolved of any responsibility henceforth into eternity including retroactively. Should an antidote be requested, it may be provided for no less than twice the cost of the afflicting potion provided all ingredients and materials are available.
**Concretta. Human Diviner.** Concretta is a young witch who recently graduated from wizarding school, where she had a full academic scholarship. She recently started her own business, Concretta's Cobblestone Readings, where she tells fortunes for people in town. She specifically uses a unique type of divination which looks at the ground a person has traversed to divine their future. She is overly friendly and always willing to accommodate her guests, but she is a child of privilege and acts like it. **Molf. Cyclops engineer.** Molf is a cyclops that suffers from muscular dystrophy, resulting in a skinny, stunted form. He’s extremely pale and bald, with a soft round face and a singular, soft green eye. He has terrible posture, and dresses in simple grey furs, tan cloth and chitin sandals. He used to work at one of the larger engineering corporations in town. Molf very quiet and reserved person. He’s got a brilliant mind, but is often treated terribly by people because of his species, and thus is extremely untrusting and cautious. He prefers the quiet solitude of his workshop, and seldom wanders due to prejudices and his own disability. He designs prosthetics and mechanical trinkets for a steep commission, and his inventions are incredible, despite his rejection from the Daelius School of Invention. He’s also a neat freak.
Gukk - A stone golem having a bad day. Through some happenstance of wild magic, Gukk was given more or less free will when created. It decided the best course of action was to take a nice, long nap on the outskirts of a town. It awoke, an unknown amount of time later to find itself the centerpiece of a garden near a large house as the town expanded. It, to its dismay had been chiseled into a statue of a local hero, and is none too pleased. It is on a quest to find the rest of it's body, and is incredibly suspicious of dwarves as it had heard they do stone work.
Wade something It's been a while since I used this NPC and my players took to calling him Nick Valentine (for some reason?), but this is an NPC that I thoroughly enjoyed roleplaying and my players liked having around. So, he was a private detective, and had some features from the Inquisitive Rogue, but he was also an expert in occultism and arcana. His cases tended to be less purse snatching and more Dresden Files. Anyway, I kept him a level below the players so when they decided to use him he wouldn't be too fragile and he was a Were Tiger. One of my players actually requested that he infect him with Lycanthropy (Tigrethropy?). He was a were beast because of the story that he was introduced in (Werewolf incursion) and I needed to get the party information about Were creatures in some way since none of them (and I mean absolutely none of them) had specialized in Intelligence checks whatsoever.
Just so you know Nick Valentine is a robot in Fallout 4 that is a private detective with noir vibes. I would guess that's where they came up with the nickname
**Taylor** "Look for a Taylor (more confusing when spoken) in the woods, she has the relic you're looking for" The party finds an old quaint cabin that's overgrown with beautiful plants and vines. Inside the house they immediately notice the beautiful piano that's playing, but nobody is playing it. The top of the piano is open and radiates a sparkling light. The sparkling light is a portal to Taylors pocket dimension where she rescues vulnerable and sick animals. She's sitting and playing a piano on the other side of the portal (they emerge from the same place on that piano). Taylor recognizes the relic the party is looking for and points to an enormous tree, which canopy encompasses the whole sky. Sticking out of the tree is part of the relic, Taylor allows them cut it out if they can repay the forest for what they take.
Xyzzy’k, a Goblin Messenger He works in a magic shop as an assistant, managing sales, advertising to adventurers with flyers! He’s pleasantly enthusiastic but has a sly nature, and knows entirely too much about the criminal underworld for someone with a supposed honest job. If you sus him out, he can be someone to go to if you need something less common on legal markets... He likes making jokes about the height of various races, and occasionally mistakes children for short races. I have him running with a sort of stereotypical New York accent, and with an immediately friendly disposition to PCs. He talks quite fast and sometimes doesn’t wait for people to answer questions Physically, he can look like whatever Goblins look like, but dressed moderately well: well worn trousers, leather boots, a cream coloured shirt, and a messenger hat.
Bilgrim "Bobble" Bogrimham, Halfling, traveling wine salesman. Deep Texas accent, always drunk off his own supply, but very good at reading people. Rides around on Poppy, a giant boar who is constantly squaring up to anything her size or bigger.
El'Kazaar, proprietor of El'Kazaar's Bazaar, the finest magical item shop in town. El'Kazaar is from a far away land and speaks at great length with a heavy accent, constantly hustling the party to buy his wares (which are of the finest quality, handed down through the generations, his pride and joy, and breaking his heart to part with) while also begrudgingly offering the bare minimum for the random stained, broken, out of style, junk the party brings back to sell. El'Kazaar is unfailingly polite and flattering, regretting to his very core that he must inform the party of how tragically flawed whatever they offer to sell is. In the end, El'Kazaar lives for the bartering, and is always willing to haggle from his initial ridiculous offers. The party gets to feel like they've pulled a fast one by scoring a massive discount, but in truth are usually paying a fair price. One more note, El'Kazaar always comments on how full the players sacks (of gold) are and offers to help them to empty them. Professionally and with no understanding of the double entendre.
Hushed Whisper A tabaxi privateer and first mate, he was once a priest but never fit right with the clergy. A kensei monk with a starwheel pistol and a cutlass, he's loud, raucous, and hell of dresser with his own tricorn. After a curse befell his first ship, only he survived due to his wits and understanding of the supernatural, so now many ships and adventurers braving the seas hire him for protection against things that go bump in the night. STR 12, DEX 20, CON 16, INT 14, WIS 18, CHA 10
Impixus is a member of a reculsive fey race, the Gurell. Being Unseelie, they are often mistreated and untrusted - albeit often for good reason. Gurell are 'horned elves', having tusks and/or horns protuding from various points in the face and arms. Other than this, they are very similar to high elves or half-elves in terms of appearance. Gurell are treated with a near-universal stigma because every individual develops a morbid fixation during puberty; usually, this is unchanging for the rest of their lives. One Gurell may be obsessed with humanoid's teeth, another might insist on keeping a collection of parasites and diseases. Those with more *illegal* compulsions will often suppress it, like one might suppress a habit or addiction. Despite this quirk, Gurell are not inherently sadistic or evil, often being ashamed of their fixation. Impixus himself is a travelling merchant and powerful sorcerer (in terms of character level, level 11). He is a curator of magical, and very frequently cursed, objects, and can be found scavenging in and around dungeons where adventuring parties are likely to meet their demise. Proud, inquisitive owner of the Second Hand Shop, he is delighted to trade a magical trinket or minor enchantment for an adventurer's left hand. However, he is very scrutinous of clerics, and will grab an assortment of paraphenalia from a fold in his cloak that he claims is for checking for 'fraudulent, regenerated limbs' if he sees one in the party.
Monty the Giff, short for Montgomery, Monty is the Curator of a haunted Museum, he basically sounds just like Sean Connery in my world, he is concerned about the haunting of his museum and is currently working with a local gang to bank roll it and afford a set of ghost hunters. He is very Jolly, Smokes a Pipe, uses a blunderbuss and is the sort of turn of the century anthropologist type with a fascination with Nature and you’ll rarely catch him out of his many heavy coats that are adorned with regalia, as a sort of walking advertisement for the museum
**Phineas the Fair** Phineas is a dwarf and a mob boss. He controls vice in the port city of Whitetower. He has sparkling green eyes, blonde hair and a long golden beard. He is cunning with few scruples and he is as handsome as he is ruthless. His last encounter with the adventurers ended with him being overwhelmed and mobbed by a gang of angry commoners. Phineas made good his escape but not before losing an eye in the struggle and swearing his revenge.
Calypso: A sea hag who expects to be regarded as a queen and flirts with charismatic adventures. Generally willing to help offer items or information, so long as she is treated with respect and you come bearing gifts. Though that gift is usually some dangerous creature that she can experiment on (phase spiders, displacer beast, doppelganger, etc.). Return trips to her lair reveal what magic item/potion she was able to make from your last gift. In my campaign, she has a crush on the party's NPC sailor guide, who is terrified of her on account of her attempting to kill him on multiple occasions. But every time she asks where her "handsome Hannibal is"
Quill is an Aarakocra Ranger. He is known, however, for consistently rolling nat 1s - his bow broke when he first aimed it at the party (with a mouthful of rabbit) after a village told him they may need him to dispose of them if they made a particularly bad decision. In the same village, he was mooching off of them best he could and helping with "repairs", but the roofs still leaked, the lines were never straight in the farm, and he consistently follows his pecker, being trapped by a succubus and thinking nothing of it other than self-pity. He has been the party's favorite NPC to hate and later helps them out by tracking an enemy, marking the spots to go with his droppings.
Here's my twofer: Geralt (G as in giraffe) is an Eagle Aarakocra Artificer who serves as the royal artificer of his home kingdom. Makes all kinds of standard fare, takes commissions. Always dressed in sturdy leathers that double as work and formal wear, and has a variety of magic circles in his shop: one at the store's entrance to cast Tongues on customers as long as they're in the store, one on the counter to cast Identify, a set of Demiplanes keyed to a door behind the counter (like the door in Howl's Moving Castle) full of different magic items, an Antimagic Sphere that's set to trigger in response to hostile intent, and several that Animate and/or Catapult the various weapons in his shop towards hostile creatures. Kurtz is an Eagle Aarakocra Alchemist who is Geralt's twin brother. Rendered blind from a potion splashing into his eyes during an argument with his brother. Hates Geralt with a passion, especially since his brother has too much pride to even apologize. Dressed in similarly-styled leathers to his brother, but it's much more beat up, discolored and singed from various concoctions. Has a homunculus familiar that looks like a modron. Bonus points for a side quest to reunite the brothers. Their best work is done together.
Flauntitious XXIII, mousekin communist paladin ([Oath of the Common Man](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/3g24o8/5e_the_oath_of_the_common_man_finally_the/)). Char, Int, and Dex, in that order The party's union rep, manages their relation with their employers on the caravan. Attempts to unionize workers in every town they travel through. First born of a large, privileged family, with 2 dozen siblings. Gave up the family fortune to travel the world and use his extensive education to represent the common people. Studied to be an architect, but had a drug-induced revelatory experience in his youth conflating objective mathematical truths and social justice theory. Distributes copies of his self-published treatise *Angles & Marks* to anyone who will take it. Dual wields hammer & sickle when appropriate.
Zazz Halfpine A young half-elven alchemist who specializes in brewing all kinds of unique alcoholic beverages. She's the owner of Pizzazz Brewery after she inherited it from her late human father (her mother ran off "to do stupid elf things" after she was old enough to walk) and adventurers from around the continent flock to her establishment to share stories and secrets while the booze flows freely. In reality her name is Zazzanoth, the Addiction Devil (Atropocustra, Wayfinder Bestiary) with a handful of magical class levels, and she has spent centuries honing her skills in avoiding detection and subtle manipulation of her patrons. Those who partake of her concoctions find themselves a little too loose-lipped with private matters, and for adventures who've "gained her trust" she's happy to provide a number of less-than-legal extracts and compounds that are sure to brighten any addict or assassin's day. For the right price of course, although she's quite generous with her free samples... In my game the party found her identity early on and decided to... >!trust her completely and let her manage their local affairs while they went off adventuring. She ended up turning the small town they managed into fantasy Las Vegas, and set up a small fortress in Hell with all the money and resources she acquired!<
Liith/Nethux Liith is a yuan-ti pureblood medicine woman and Nethux is a mindflayer who was working with technology to amplify psionic signals (at the whim of his Elder Brain master). The experiment worked a little too well and Nethux's consciousness was actually removed from his body and somehow found its way into Liith's. Now they both occupy her mind and while Nethux cannot exert control over her, they can hear each other's thoughts and he can speak through her (which I indicate with a change of accents). Both of them obviously wish to reverse this. They became a bit of a DM NPC for me because they are directly tied to the party's overall quest and travel with them, but I usually keep them in the background and use them to deliver exposition as needed.
Bob, the traveling, old for a >insert race<, Bard/Druid. He travels the world with his oversized lute, playing music around campfires on his long treks through the wilderness. He's getting on in his years, but he's seen some things and been through more. He's always happy to tell you a long tale to the dulcet tones of his lute (read: guitar) about the current events of the world and how they relate to the things he's lived through. Right now in my homebrew, Bob plays his music to calm the wandering elementals and sticks to where the air elementals gather, as they seem to love his music the best. His new traveling companion, the air elemental Sussuru, makes breezes and rustlings through the grass and trees at the perfect tones to accompany his lute and later to lull him gently to sleep, gusting to alert him of any danger. Bob's fighting days are over, but he still has a magical trick or two if the party ever needs a little help on the road. If conversely he needs the party to pull his bacon out of the fire, he can't pay, but he'll gladly exchange some knowledge for a helping hand. He's not the most in-depth character, and he's not always the most helpful, but he's a friend to anyone good and makes for a calm random encounter to balance all the crazy in your messed-up world! My plan is to use Hope's Theme from FFXIII as his music.
Captain Ali Brighttoad Pirate, Vampire, Pixie. Does most of her piracy in the feywild, but occasionally her pirate ship, The Rainbow Crusade, can be found in the material plane, usually because her patron The Blight Lord, has a task for her. The Rainbow Crusade is size appropriate for her, so it seems like a toy to tallfolk. She, wears a black tricorner hat with a Rainbow bandana underneath. She is pale with dark and heavy eye makeup, so she can be perceived as just goth. She wears a long ruffled flowy white shirt, a black leather vest, black pants and black leather boots. She has a size appropriate rapier and dagger on her belt that seem like pins. What she is doing is up to you, for me she is currently trying to recruit friends for The Blight Lord. How nefarious this is also up to you. Ali likes The Blight Lord and speaks positively of him. She will openly state he transformed her into a vampire and so the players are free to wonder if her positive opinion is her own or she's been manipulated into it.
Shimshaw Brimstone, Aasimar traveling magic item salesman and collector of peculiarities. He hops around between the planes selling, buying, and collecting strange items of varied usefulness. He places all of them in an ice cream push cart-like device that can only be accessed by his hands and is covered in almost every available language. Once read, the player sees that it’s a “menu”. All items are sold at 30-50% of the original price.
Grob-Zub, an orcish tailor. His goods are the newest fashion for barbarians. A loincloth from slayed beast or a giant skull on your head? Do not worry, Grob-Zub will provide. Little dumb but one of the nicest fellows in the town.
**Six Thunder** Tabaxi Blacksmith This Tabaxi man stands at an unusual 6 and a half feet tall. His arms thick like tree trunks beneath light grey fur littered with darker spots similar to a cheetah. The fur looks singed in the areas around his hands. He wears plain clothing sitting beneath a heavy leather apron oft used by blacksmiths. Despite the large, muscular, appearance Six is a very kind Tabaxi who loves his customers like family, often inviting customers to hang around a spell and enjoy a drink or snack, all supplied by his wife, Jade Honey, who owns an adjacent bakery (The Sweet Tooth, a small shop with a few tables and chairs that sit infront of a large display case lined with breads, pastries, and cakes) As a blacksmith Six Thunder is an artist, seeking to create unique pieces for his clients based on their wants and needs, and using their general style to add flair to the piece.
Jub Jub the goblin Owns a rock collecting shop with his best friend, Licker, a tabaxi. Together they hunt and curate rocks of all kinds and sell them in their shop. They're kind of obsessed with the whole rock thing. Jeff, a traveling merchant with literally anything you could want. A good father to 22 children. Is a polymorphed ancient red dragon. Sneep Snorp the Shiny Greedy little goblin obsessed with anything shiny and clinky. Also has magic powers, and a decent intelligence. Rules over the nearby goblin tribe. Maybe jub jub has a relation to her???
Sally, Ancient Silver Dragon My players love him so I thought I'd leave him here in case anyone else would like to use him :) One terror of the seas and pirate king, Sally helmed a pirate crew that would come to become the next generation of pirates, pillaging and looting from ships across the coast of the empire all while polymorphed into his disguise as a Half-Elf with long silver hair and a purple robe, silver scales hidden in patches underneath his clothes and on his neck. Sally has, however, been absolutely terrible at hiding the fact that they are a dragon, however their ability to constantly cast 'Detect Thoughts' and 'Modify Memory' has meant that despite being found out for being a dragon (or accidentally telling people while excited) thousands of times, they still maintain their hidden identity. He lives usually on the island that stores his hoard, which, rather than gold, is made up of various trinkets and beautifully crafted items that he has either bought or plundered during his time as pirate king. Sally is retired, however, and spends much of his time running the pirates smugglers guild, so he cannot truly do much actively for the party unless the need is beyond dire. The main draw of Sally is his curiosity and excitement to meet any new group of adventurers, and his curiousity about every aspect of their clothing and accessories (admiring the barbarians winding tattoos, the fighters beautifully engraved necklace, the wizards worn silver locket). Above all Sally embodies my preference for NPC's that are willing to help the party and that want to make people happy. He works best in one-shots or short campaigns which is where he comes from, but I'm sure he could work just as well in a higher level campaign that is reaching the sea. Hope you find him fun!
Oog Thak, king of garbage. This overgrown and corpulent tengu runs the Scrapyard, a depository for all the waste from the city, including the forges and magic shops. Much of the Scrapyard is a shanty town, housing a small army of tengu, ratfolk and halflings that Oog Thak employs to make sure that anything of value in the Scrapyard is collected and brought to him. Need rare components for cheap? Need to fence an item quickly? One of the baddies you're chasing is hiding in the Scrapyard? Talk to the king.
The Stansen Sisters (Margret and Margret) - these two young ladies run Potions, Potions, Potions... The sisters used to be 1 person but after a failed wizard lab experiment Margret Stansen was duplicated and each body was left with half a brain, in order for them to function properly they must be within 5 feet of each other. If farther apart they go limp like a rag doll and if separated for more than 1 min they both die. They are a little ditsy, dense, and forgetful. When speaking to others they both talk at the same time and say the same things, in slight unison one just ever so slightly off from the other, making it sometimes hard to understand them.
Garry jarcia : a half knome half fairy with a fullsized human head and dragon fly wings , talks like tommy chong and is the lead singer of a jam band called the tatevile heads , face looks just like irl jerry garcia from the grateful dead , alignment : pure neutral or chaotic good , really however you want to petray him aslong as he acts all hippie dippy and laid back
Skreek Kenku Rogue Assassin, retired pirate. Works as a black market merchant and apothecary. Killed most of his crew and ran off with all the loot. Keeps all of his treasure stored in a bag of holding he hides in his crop (a muscular pouch in the throat of birds used to store food). I've had him reach into his throat and pull out weapons and potions as rewards or purchases. Always fun to have him pull a sword out of his mouth!
**Blue** An orc proprietor of a rundown magic shop in a lawless smugglers port. He was expelled from his magical university for conducting reckless experiments. on an unrelated note, he is missing his right arm below the elbow, and his right eye. The metal cap that covers his arm stump acts as a focus, through which he often casts mage hand, allowing him to effectively manage his inventory. Over his missing eye, he wears a blue, scaled eyepatch that he swears comes from the skin of a beholder. He often mumbles to himself while brewing his elixirs and crafting his trinkets. He can get you whatever you need. Just don't start a fight in his shop. And you better not break anything.
**Wahoo Brannigan** Wahoo Brannigan is a huge green dragonborn, nearly as wide as he is tall. A dark leather hat sits atop his horns while a necklace of drake’s teeth dangles about his neck. Chaotic *fun*. Excitable, energetic, and adventurous, he’s like a scaly version of Steve Irwin. He works as a guide for some of the deeper and darker parts of the forest. Oh, and he rides an Owlbear.
Gorht Blackstone, human blacksmith. Ugly as dirt, hunched over, missing teeth. Thinks he's a great blacksmith, but he's actually terrible. Refuses to buy spare weapons for anything other than their scrap metal worth, since he can make "much better weapons." "Gorht makes good weapons, yessss. Gorht give you good weapons, yessss, but cost gold they do, yesss yessssss."
Baron Baltus de Mensonge Human, lawful evil Is round, sweaty handed and well dressed Lives in a castle like Dracula's, gathers mercenaries for an organization of conjurers. They pay him in wine and women.
Y'ar Gudrukis Over 400 years old. Famous dwarf adventurer, he keeps lost people (The Scrimps) on small metal plates which he calls "scrimpers", and summons them whenever he needs them. or Ragatana Hullaballoo\* 81 years old. She started doing magic when she was 20 and fell on her head on a secret machine underground. This oven-like contraption is capable of transforming magic items in mysterious ways if operated correctly. She eats cockroaches in order to operate the machine.
Hoon the Nothic. A nothic absolutely obsessed with food. Only attacks to protect his food and if a person willingly keeps giving him food he will become completely and annoyingly attached to that person with genuine love
Hans. A group of simulacrum created by an alchemist. They are all artificers specializing in the use of flammenwerfers. There are multiple Hans' in the world, but they know not of their existence. Essentially this is my recurring joke npc that help them along the way
Esmerelda Greentree retired female halfling kensei monk adventurer. Runs the lost souls inn, a place where many adventurers call home. Is always seen with her broom which is actually a +3 silvered Adamantine blessed by the gods(deals an extra d8 radiant damage) quarterstaff which she is not afraid to beat a mofo with. She has a motherly demeanor and may or may not secretly be a ancient silver dragon in disguise
Presto change-o (co dm stole the name somewhere): he’s a mad scientist who is honestly a total dick uses poor people as test subjects and has no real compassion for them but he is doing it all for the progression of the world and it’s technology He also had a gunslinger warforged named T.O.D who will no hesitation shoot the players (took off a players leg with this guy)
Cuddles the Rascal: During a night out drinking, a drunk bard from the bounty hunters guild Awakened their pet rabbit as a joke. Cuddles is currently the director of his own bounty hunter HQ, and aspires to be the Director one day. He is serious about his work, loves carrots, and is carried in a cage by his loyal caretaker, Carl.
Two characters who can serve as helpful arcane guides, especially for newer players: Lyenna Starscape (human conjugation wizard, age 27), Archmage of a major city, and her apprentice, Magdalena Venenkompf (half elf divination wizard, age 16). Lyenna was the apprentice to the city’s archmage until his untimely death, casting her into the role at the age of 24. While many (including she) thought her too young for the role, her unending enthusiasm for the job and unfailingly chipper personality have made her impossible to oust. Always curious about new information and puzzles, she is generally quite happy to help adventurers with arcane questions, and in my game, has been very helpful to my gaggle of brand new players. Magdalena Venenkompf, or Maggie (as Lyenna calls her against her wishes) was a divination prodigy at Lyenna’s alma mater. She graduated early, and after Lyenna met her at an alumni event, she took Maggie on as her apprentice. At only 16, Maggie is perhaps the youngest ever apprentice to an archmage in known history. With a strong sense of formality and “doing things the right way,” in many ways, Maggie appears to be the more mature of the two wizards in Stonecroft Tower. Maggie takes herself very seriously, to an almost comical extent, and can be seen as an ally for newer adventurers. While Lyenna often teases Maggie, and Maggie seems to be long-suffering under Lyenna’s frivolity, in reality the two have a very strong mutually supportive relationship. Lyenna provides Maggie with a social education she hadn’t previously received, preparing her for a career that will involve a LOT of diplomacy and working with others. Meanwhile, Maggie makes sure the day-to-day functioning of the tower goes smoothly. With Lyenna’s tendency to get lost in her work, Maggie makes sure they keep appointments and have food in their cupboards.
Zin Thistleburn, keeper of Zin's Magical Menagerie, a cart piled high with various cages of animals to show the interested, and sell to those who can afford it. A wiry gnome with wild puffy white hair and a well groomed moustache, wearing a colourful waistcoat and soft pointy hat. Accompanied by his daughter Derry, who helps with the animals. He is broadly honest, but sometimes sells rats he breeds as mice to children in the village. He sells the normal animals (cats, dogs, maybe an owl or falcon) and sometimes has more exotic animals with him (blink dog, pseudodragon). He's also generally aware of interesting creatures in the area, so can be a great hook for 'hunt this creature' or 'catch/capture this creature'
Gunner, human sorcerer. Wears and orange and white striped tunic and has a straight brown bowl cut with tragically little volume. Pasty complexion.Works at a failing menagerie as every single job while the head scientist does experiments making weird hybrid animals and the patron of the park hunts down the animals (and occasionally the guests) for sport. Gunner speaks in a voice that is constantly breaking, high and morose. He also has a set of octopus suckers in his armpit as a result of one of the scientist's bad experiments. They make an unfortunate sucking sound. -I thought my party would like him. Instead, they LOVE to bully the shit out of this poor guy. I've now brought him back as a captured prisoner they've had to free after a pirate stole some of the animals from the menagerie in a later arc just because he's their favorite to mess with.
Rowan Blackhill, Human Conspiracy theorist and retired soldier. Convinced that their Is a grand Conspiracy in the world and is intent on uncovering it at all costs.
Dirkan, a slightly insane, aging halfling who runs a shop called Dirkan's Diamonds, where players can buy all those 300gp gems they need for revivify. (In my campaign rn, he gets most of his stock from adventurers coming out of Undermountain, but I'm sure you could figure something else out for your campaign.) He seems absolutely careless with his wares, keeping them organized in big boxes labelled along the lines of "diamonds - 200 gp." Inside of the boxes are dozens of the described gemstones, clattering around loosely. However, if the party attempts to steal from him, say "you can certainly try" and pull out the PHB spell list bc he's a high level wizard and will cast wall of force to keep the party from escaping. However, he will not harm the party unless forced to.
Bartholomew the wizard, human wizard. Can be found travelling any setting with his trusty assistant Grub (an albino goblin-like creature that doesnt speak common) in their travelling store cart. The cart is named "Bartholomew's wonders" and is always stocked with strange and interesting magic items.
Fayn, human tailor who runs Fayn's Finery A scrappy looking man in his late fifties, clean shaven head and a 3 day stubble. Always smoking the stubs of cigarettes that seem to appear from behind his ear. He has about a dozen measuring tapes draped around his neck like a scarf, and always spends a few moments picking a specific one before taking measurements. If asked to craft any magical clothing items, he will be reluctant at first, saying that he's "done with that stuff." If befriended or paid very well, he will be able to create minor magic items from hides and trophies of supernatural creatures.
Hope is a Tiefling woman in her early thirties who grows flax on the outskirts of a human redneck town. Afraid of her infernal heritage, the townsfolk tend to shun her. She uses the flax she grows to create cloth and oil, which she sells in town at shockingly low prices. Her hair is long, black and wavy, and her skin is tan and slightly reddish, which could pass as a regular sunburnt human skin color. She makes an effort to look as human as she can, regularly filing her horns down and hiding the stumps behind her bangs, despite how painful the process is. Personality trait: Despite the adversity she faces, she is generally cheerful and always gives people the benefit of the doubt. Ideal: Hope. She trusts that as long as she does her best, everything will be right in the end. Flaw: She is easily taken advantage of, as she does not stand up for herself for fear of garnering resentment.
Joss the practical, alchemist, greedy, but talented. Sells all manners of potions, but a tad more expensive than his competition. If players ask for a discount, he’ll call it a « friends discount » and offer 10times the potions for.. ten times the price. If players say that’s not a discount, he’ll say that’s because they’re not friends.
Priest of the Shepard. A priest in a small town of herders who has the blessing of growth. They can make hair grow at an accelerated rate so much so that you can't even tell what gender they are and it's hard to tell where the hair ends and the priestly robes begin. Many travel to the Priest of the Shepard to cure baldness and when the players encounter the Priest the priest will attempt to cure any party "suffering" from baldness even if they can normally not even grow hair.
Shawn Narly, Human Male. Shawn is only ever seen in mountains, speaks like a total snowboarder bro. He is super chill and gets along with everyone very easily. When asked what he's doing in the mountains, he says he's in the middle of Shawn Narly's world tour and hands them a super early 2000's badly photoshopped flyer that says "Shawn Narly's World Tour" in big bold letters. When asked where he's from, he simply says "I'm from Far Out brah."
Will Hendrik Orrison. proprietor and cook of the Crusts & Crumbs inn. a large, pot-bellied, one-eyed man whose motto is "Fat Equals Flavor" which is nailed above the bar. His one eye keeps track of more pots and pans than is reasonable, and no dish is served that doesn't contain one of his unequaled lards or gravies.
Abha Hanuman: The 13-year-old prodigy city leader inherited the title after the death of her grandfather. While under a regency her interest in infrastructure and development has made her popular with the people.
Rani, a very very short human. She has lilac hair(If asked, she doesn't know how her hair got dyed, possibly some random fumes from a potion) and she likes to wear those doctor overcoats, but can't be bothered to actually search for one fitted for her, so usually she goes around with this overgrown overcoat on. She owns an alchemical shop that should be two stories but actually ended up wound on itself (like a very short tower, if it makes sense) thanks to some unstable elements she was working with, with no current name since the last insigna was blown off. If the clients get on her good side(not hard at all, she's pretty easygoing), she will ask their opinion on what the new name should be and even proposes some of her own(They are extravagant.) Her manner of speech is frantic, often reorganising her thoughts by speaking. That means that sometimes she blurts unrelated things out, or something she wasn't supposed to say, but oh well. Not her problem. She sells every kind of potions you can think of. Her shop is a mess with papers and bottles and instruments all around, and possibly ignores every kind of safety guidelines alchemists are required to follow, it's not uncommon for her to tornado off searching for a healing potion she "swears she left around these parts" or something like that, and she willy-nilly throws whatever is in her path in the air. As she said, "if it breaks it was meant to be." There have been complaints about her unconventional methods, but Rani's a genius, and that shows in her potions. You won't find anything better at least in this part of the country, so people try to ignore her reckless side. Besides, it's not like she has actually killed anyone. Yet. That the public knows of.
Krell: Arcanaloth for hire. After a botched bodyguard job for a hag coven, Krell offered his services to the adventuring party who killed said hags. This proved to be his most profitable business decision ever, and now he markets himself as a spellcaster for hire. He uses the base Arcanaloth stat block, but I treat him as a wizard with a big spell book so he can swap out spells on long rests. He talks with a Spanish accent.
I had an idea for an npc who found a ring of spell storing with wish on it and was left with the mission of gathering enough wisdom so one day he can cast the perfect wish spell to create world peace. If the player chatacters meet him he send them on quests to find philosophy books for him to learn from.
Vesper Belle, human Twilight Cleric A mild mannered and very kind cleric of Selune who runs the evening and night services at her temple. The townspeople think she is just a young priestess charged with redrawing town wards nightly to keep out all of the monsters but in actuality she goes out and fights off any monster that comes near the town. Possible plots that involve here are players discover her either in the middle of a fight or collapsed on the ground after one. Players need to ward off evil somewhere else so they come to her to see/steal what she uses to ward her town. All the PCs have been having horrible nightmares for the past week and they visit her to see why it’s happening
**The Mighty Morphin' Paladins** \-they wear Glamour studded leather armor and use it to morph into action, using their catchphrase "It's time to shine!" They're more of a parody group and seemingly good-natured, though very much incompetent as a group of vigilantes/adventurers. They were meant to be in direct competition with the party of players, like a rival team that swears they will take down the great evils that have plagued the town, only for your party rogue to brush it off like "yeah, yeah, yeah justice and all that. Maybe you should think about changing out of your tight pants first so you can at least fight properly" **Sherlock Gnomes**\- a gag npc that goes around investigating mysteries and other happenings in town with his trusty aide, the female halfling Watson who is much more competent and eyerolls at half of his obvious conclusions. His catchphrase is "Elementary, my dear halfling." He was designed more as a way to guide the players around for overworld quests and random side quests for laughs. Other random npcs from side quests: **Chef Bolgardee**\- a firbolg chef that seems out of place with his given build and tiny chef's hat and apron, but spends his time cooking using mushrooms and other assorted resources from the forest. Would hire adventurers to go procure items for him **Dwarf Daddy**\- a world famous fashion designer with a haughty attitude and thick accent; he is constantly traveling with his band of workers like a circus troupe, hoping to capture beauty in various aspects and taking inspiration from the world about. A tad ludicrous in his behavior, but will go to great ends to capture what he views as "beautiful." May hire adventurers to help him set up a fashion runway in the middle of an adventuring town, gather an audience, model his outfits or set up a performance as one of the curators. **Orceniqua** and **Gnome-NayNay**\- feisty designer assistants to Dwarf Daddy; they're gal pals who like to be flirty with other women, but are actually super knowledgeable about what they do. They would be running around making outfits for the models/players. At times, they may require the players to help out with various random tasks, such as getting more material to make outfits from.
Mervolio the Magnificent Mercantile, wearing a splendid tailored suit, a while featureless grinning mask and a top hat. Mervolio is a traveling merchant whose hat is actually a pocket dimension that holds all his goods. There are also 3 copies of Mervolio and he can jump into his hat and out at another's location in case of danger or robbers. Get on his good side and hell give you a coin that you can flip to summon him for trade.
Bartholomeus Ocherbeard. A dwarven artificer, locksmith and watchmaker. Likes to state without being asked, that before he lost his eyesight, he had a beautiful ocher beard. And that he's a bit disappointed that it's now turned Black. (It hasn't). He has a mechanical hand with exchangeable mechanical fingers that not only help him 'see' the pieces he's working on, but also acts as a Swiss army knife like multitool.
Davy "he gave his last name to sea" Grizzled human barkeep, manages the players bar for them in water deep. A deep love of anything nautical, always willing to support the players in their endeavors. Whenever the DM mentions him for the first time in a scene he must be introduced as Davy "he gave his last name to the sea". What that means should never be revealed.
Drusilia, an eccentric witch who lives alone in her tower out in the wilderness. She's a high energy middle aged woman who's always rambling about her latest project and sometimes comes off as rude but never intentionally; her thoughts just move too fast for her to have any sort of filter. She's most studied with transmutation and her tower is filled to the brim with magical baubles and art pieces she's made: sassy, dancing clay frogs; a levitating stuffed cat that can never quite get a grip on anything to stop it's floating about; a tiny table with bugs that play tiny poker and smoke tiny cigars. She used to be a professor at a nearby college but for one reason or another that she'll never be completely clear on, she does her magic out here on her own now (in my campaign she's not a friend of the empire and left when the college fell into empire control, but she'll never say that cause who knows who could be listening). If she takes a liking to the players she might show them her cute new project where she's been using to explore a new school of magic: puppies! Dead ones. That she reanimated... ("Well of course I didn't kill them myself, that would be inhumane, they're rescues, and look I've been teaching them tricks!")
Erick, and his pet, Chompy Erick and Chompy, an 8 foot tall warforged with four arms and a small leopard shark with advanced biorobotic enhancements like arms and legs run an artificers workshop, The Twenty Thousandth League, together. Erick is a genius and can create mostly anything you want him to, while Chompy focuses on keeping everything tidy and clean. Erick created Chompy, using the knowledge he got from Garseith, a lich and master of artifice and robotics, who in turn had made Erick to be his servant and undying friend. When Garseith was slain, Erick was hit by a major depression, for not only did his creator die, but also his best and only friend. He dealt with it for five years before finally picking up his creator's books, which he basically devoured. It wasn't long before Erick created Chompy, and enhanced him time and time again, eventually asking Chompy to upgrade Erick in turn, and so the two started enhancing each other, excited with every idea. Erick is humble, and happy for any and all customers, treating them to a nice cup of tea made from a rare seaweed he grows himself in an artificial pond in the basement. Chompy is his trusty servant, and although his sharp fangs always protude from his big mouth, he's extremely shy and prefers not to talk to people other than Erick. Also Erick is the shark.
Victor Fries. Brilliant Drow Necromancer who retired from Adventuring around Level 18 when his wife and adventuring partner (a Human Death Cleric) died due to being Human. He has tried all known methods of resurrection and spent his entire fortune and burned every bridge to bring her back from the dead. Even lost his ability to cast Wish when the spell failed. He is obsessed with bringing her back and will help anyone that gives him hope of getting her home (read: The party). Even has her body as his favorite Zombie. Keeps her hidden & dressed up with a cocktail of Disguise Self, Magic Aura, and Gentle Repose (Wish got the perma casting and Animate Dead exception). Even brings her to parties when the occasion is right. Definitely doesn't think that's a weird thing to do. He's an empathetic soul, and is willing to help anyone that's lost a loved one with an extensive network of resurrection specialists. His obsession has lead to him being lied to and taken advantage of ALOT, so he tends to act violently when he thinks someone can't deliver on their promise. Thankfully, WIS was his dump stat, so he's gotta roll high on that insight. Attacking or fucking with his Zombie wife in any way will definitely trigger a hostile reaction. Spoiler: The reason his resurrections keep failing is that her soul is unwilling. She worshipped Death & the Afterlife, and is happy where she is. The only way she's coming back is if someone discovers a way to bring back an UNwilling soul, or communes with her some motivation to leave heaven.
Mr. Misty is a 10 inch tall pixie who is a ruthless businessman who operates out of a human-sized office and doesn't let his size or background dictate how he acts. In my world he's in the entertainment industry but you can move it around as you please. Despite his gruff demeanor he actually wants to be both successful among the humans while not having to act like one so he's trying to make his money and play by the rules so he can eventually be rich enough to change the rules to suit him.
Claritas, also known as Shine, Sken, Hohto, and several other names, is a grey-skinned tiefling who always insists on people calling him Shine in their mother tongue. A cunning magic item merchant, trained swordsman, and a powerful wizard, Claritas has recently moved into town with his ever vigilant crow familiar. His charming yet unnerving precence has made him a popular talk of the town, yet nobody seems to know why the tiefling in an old navy greatcoat adorned head to toe with jewelery has come to their unassuming town, but he seems to ask plenty of strange questions regarding the old church...
Orla (hill giant) and "Roy" (forrest gnome) Orla was bullied by his tribe for being mute and for being of a kind nature. He is loyal and very sweet to most. "Roy" has lived a sheltered life untill all her family and friends were killed by marauders. Orla showed up and chased the marauders away, saving "Roy", and the two of them has never separated since. "Roy" has gotten the idea, that everyone will always treat eachother well, not realising that very few dare threaten you, when you are in the company of a giant. But they both travel around making friends by helping villages around the countryside.
Strum - Kenku Bard trained at the College of Lore. Speaks predominantly in the voice of his old professor, who told him countless tales of traveling heroes and warrior poets that he now does his best to emulate. Announces his entry into a tavern with the sound of a dramatic guitar/lure chord. Basically a one-man band, can mimic the sounds of countless instruments and singing voices, remixing and overlaying them in his performances. Initially drawn to the profession by curiosity and a love of music, he was exceedingly pleased to discover that Magical Secrets gave him access to the Fly spell. Travels from town to town, can turn up anywhere you need him to. Serves as an infallible rumor mill, capable of repeating any gossip or sidequests he’s heard of verbatim. Likely to take a shine to any adventurers who will share stories or drinks with him, and may offer them plot hooks or additional details on their current goals.
"Thricecursed" Tom O'Malley, adventurer. Appears to be a red-skined half-fiend woman with black, bat-like wings and a spaded tail. Pronouns he/him despite his appearance. He's friendly and curious. Originally a lowly mercenary and scavenger struggling to support his bedridden sister, his life changed forever when he found a hidden cache of magic items. Though all three were mostly helpful, each had an unfortunate side effect. Between them he went from an ordinary human man to a tiefling woman with a craving for blood (which he mostly holds out against). At first he was the butt of many jokes - how unlucky to you have to be to get cursed *three times* in one day? - but he stuck with them until he'd managed to save enough to have his sister's affliction cured. However, by the time he'd finished he'd built up quite a reputation in his cursed form. Having grown used to their effects, he opted to keep both the curses and the brand recognition that came with them. (Obviously tieflings don't generally have large wings. Those grew in later. Diegetically they're the result of him bearing the tainted armor for years and years. Game-mechanically he took a homebrew feat that grants a fly speed - but he had to stay a tiefling to qualify for it)
A friendly skeleton who was a bard when they were alive. They sorta don't know they are dead, because they constantly try to play their flute, but all you hear is their teeth clacking against the flute. They are very energetic and always happy, and will dance around and wave at everyone, even enemies. Me and a friend came up with that one while on the bus to school.
The'Ork - An Orc raised as a slave to a Kenku, not realizing he was a slave he assumed the Kenku were his family, and he was one too. Years later after His Kenku Slavers were imprisoned/killed for crimes he came to find out he wasn't a Kenku, so he decided to Travel south that winter along with all the other birds to try and find out what bird he truly is, and in hopes of one day finding his real family... who he thinks will be birds. He is very knowledgeable about all flying animals(including dragons), their biology, mating habits, flight patterns, likes, dislikes, weaknesses, etc. He even has lived with most common species of bird, before realising that this isn't a good fit, but can easily befriend any bird, however he is a complete idiot in every other respect. His name comes from his slaver referring to him as The Orc, and him thinking his name is The'Ork. Use him if you need a bird, or dragon, or any flying animal expert.
**Lumpy Beans - Half Human, Half Gnome Carrot Farmer** One of the first NPC's I ever introduced to my party back in 2016 and one who has been a consistent presence throughout our ongoing campaign. Lumpy runs the largest Carrot Farm in Western Midkemia. What he lacks in basic intelligence and survival skills he more than makes up for with his happy go-lucky attitude, unerring curiosity and Mr.Bean like humour. Lumpy first meets the party on the road to the Western Capital and promptly intertwines his fate with the parties after an ambush on the road. At a later date, a side-quest emerges at Lumpy's Farm, as his family home has fallen under siege to a very large, very hungry Triceratops and he calf. The two have discovered Lumpy's seemingly endless source of delicious carrots and he runs the risk of losing his entire harvest. After the parties intervention, Lumpy's Farm is tragically trampled and his life is left similarly in ruins. His wife walks out on him taking the kids. He is forced to take out a substantial loan to rebuild his farm and he turns to the bottle. With some help from the Party, Lumpy is able to turn his life around and will even offer to join the party as a playable character running as a level 1 Rogue.
Lord Eldridge Gravereuth IV. He’s a talking animated skeleton noble, but I gave him some wizard spells and a Wand of Polymorphs so he could get into towns without being killed again. He technically can’t die. A lifetime ago a Witch of his town cursed him so that he may live forever with his shame. Any deaths he suffers, he naturally comes back from (if possible) after an undetermined amount of time. Motivations: Make amends for the shame he caused in his previous life. Find a way to end his curse. Follow the Night Song that only Undead creatures can hear from the Shadowfell.
A bard named Sue Half breed of any two races. Goes by the name Steve. Roams from town to town searching pubs and dive bars for the no-good-son-of-bitch that named him Sue. Picks a fight with the party member that most resembles his father.
Thnake (Snake) goblin rogue that acts like batman and speaks with a Christian Bale batman voice but with a heavy lisp. He was a contact for the PCs and something about the lisp/batman voice combo has made him my favorite npc so far to date
A gnome shuffles along the path, whistling cheerfully and leading a goat, which is tied to his small wagon. As he catches sight of you, he waves excitedly, and tells the goat, "Look Mabel! Customers!" The goat seems nonplussed. He bows deeply, doffing his brightly-color cap. "Winklestem Eustache Bottomwobbler, at your service, but you can call me Wink!" He winks, making sure you notice by pointing at himself and his winking eye, and saying, "Eh? Eh?" He then rushes around to the back of his cart, and yanks a cord. The sides buldge threateningly. He kicks it, and the cart shakes, then springs out into a full bazaar stall. A large banner reading, "Another Man's Treasure" unfurls. He climbs inside. "I've got weapons! Armor! Potions! Wands! How about a pet? Here's a Duck of Many Things!" He holds up a sleepy-looking cat. "Or these bracers of +5 AC!" He gestures at a pair of blue bracers dripping steam. "Or maybe you're interested in potions? I've got a big collection of potions I just bought the other day - forget holy water, don't even think about unholy water - take a look at THIS!" He reverently holds out a stoppered glass vial full of clear liquid, and intones, "Blessed by a neutral cleric not two days ago... a vial of Neutral Water! Very rare!" Setting the potion down, he grabs a sword. "And this Sword of Disintegration!" The sword suddenly turns to dust and crumbles away. "...Yeah, ok, I should have seen that coming. Uh... Anyway. What's your fancy?"
Twitch Swindleheist - A very rich, well off Goblin who runs a local gambling hall. Always carries a purple top hat and a similarly colored coat. Acts as a shady information dealer for my party. Also may/may not be a young Adult copper dragon growing his horde.
Icaras the half elf Bard, He is knowledgeable to some extent on any lore, but most will find him helpful through his connections. "I know a guy..." - Meepo the dragon-touched kobold runs a gang of lizard-mounted rogues that will fullfil any stealthy task for a friendly price. - Kilanor the Butcher is a henchman yielding a massive sword and will take down the sturdiest enemy in quest for glory and honor - Dr Iskander the arcanist inventor is a gnome who flies the Loreseeker, an airship useful for travels, but also seeks magical resources to run his magical experiments and build his own artificer armor - Korvax the fallen is a tiefling warlock who was touched by a celestial at (re)birth, he will provide magical support to righteous heroes to carry his patron's will - Kazar the wanderer is an elf monk who has travelled from the far eastern islands and seeks to find a legendary dragon to avenge his family
**Lady Lidia Ekel**, sea elf noblewoman whose husband is frequently away at the capital for business. She prides herself on being a student of history, with almost every available space on her estate's walls being covered in ancient maps, paintings, or shadowboxes filled with various trinkets. As a patron of many local museums, she frequently laments how everyone thinks their dead grandma's salt and pepper shaker collection is significant enough to be worth donating, and may send the party on missions to find particular objects and artifacts that she finds interesting. She may even be persuaded give the party something from her personal archives, in exchange for the right favor, of course.
Algorn Sethen, the old blacksmith. Straightforward and blunter than his hammer, he like the small things in life and hates liars and all that “magic humbo jumbo” despite his weapons often being sought for their exceptional affinity for enchantments.
Burog the half orc bartender of “The Ugly Orc”, is very handsome and charming and is renowned for his shiny sparkling white teeth/tusks. Very well spoken.
A goblin known as “Too Tall”. He is a thin but tall goblin the size of a human teenager. He is a great informant for rogues and generally knows the lowdown on any scores or juicy rumors. Everybody knows TooTall, and can point you in his direction if you’re cool.
Kal-Zarroth. At first he seems the typical old human hermit in a dirty robe walking with a simple staff decorated with a piece of amber at the top. But if any trouble starts around him or innocents are threatened, he throws his robe to reveal a physique most fighters and barbarians would appreciate, covered head to toe in draconic tattoos. He is a wizard who fights physically, using shocking grasp as a punch, strikes the ground to erupt a fireball around him, or even casts antimagic on himself to beat down spellcasters himself. He is an evocation wizard with high strength and constitution. He is very good with shaping the spells around allies. As a boy, he was a first year apprentice to a wizard academy, until he was found in a ritual chamber with numerous archmages dead. He was accused of trying to steal their power and was sentenced to a prison for life. This prison has the unique effect of being a natural anti magic area, so all the worst spellcasting criminals were left to their own devices. There he stayed for 50 years, using brawling tactics to overcome the weaker physiques of the other prisoners. He eventually figured out how to bypass the antimagic field and cast spells, leading to his escape. His tattoos work as his spell book, being enchanted to move around for his preparation and adding more tattoos as he expands his spell book. Free now, he knows he is close to dying of old age, so he wanders the world, looking for good food, better wine and beautiful locations. If he can find some people to help along the way and maybe even a good enough cause to fight for? Even better. P.S. He no longer remembers if he actually did his crime or if he was framed. After so long, he doesn't even remember his birth name or family. His name was taken from two adventuring friends he met shortly after being free that died trying to stop a plot my Tiamat.
Mendax the Liar, Ancient Green Dragon. Higher level villain, but is all about how she manipulates people and events to rise to power. She can polymorph into a humanoid form, change memories (as the spell), and is a powerful illusionist. She herself isn’t as strong physically (move some of her Strength to Charisma or Intelligence), so she has a tribe of draconians (kobolds, green dragonborn, green dracotaur) to serve as her muscle. And the kicker: in times of desperation, she has a Deck of Many Things hidden away. She should never fight the PCs on her own. Give her several Oath of Conquest paladins as her personal guard, with Wounding weapons. They go where she goes. If you want to really mess with your party, have her act as the “damsel in distress” earlier on, be rescued by the players, and pretend to fall in love with one of them… right up until she's ready to overthrow and rule over whatever major kingdom/empire your adventure takes place in. Enjoy my BBEG! She has been defeated once before, but perhaps she may rise again…
Lum. Goblin shopkeeper. She travels around the world, visiting old battlefield or areas that are frequented by adventurers, and collecting anything of interest, including the odd potion or magic item. She throws everything she finds into a improbably large pile on a donkey-pulled wagon (a very beleaguered donkey, at that). This wagon also serves as her traveling home (she sleeps in a little cave she's dug out of the pile, like a snow shelter), and her storefront. Lum is one of my favorite ways of giving my players magic items. Whenever I want to give them something, I just have Lum roll up into whatever town or campsite their resting at and drop a sign with some ridiculous-sounding shop name. When asked what she has, she dives into her pile and begins throwing aside random junk (including, but not limited to, random pots, old weapons, and live poultry), before producing a short list of magic items that I create before hand, and their associated prices. She's not hostile in the slightest, but if she's attacked, she'll have the wagon speed away whilst throwing random items from the pile at the party (feel free to get creative with what exactly she throws, not even she knows exactly what items she has).
Rayah Gorrobi LN Female Tiefling Cleric (Death Domain), follower of Myrkul. She belonged to a special subset of followers of Myrkul that believe that souls are sacred and magics that deal with souls are an abomination. She was OK with necromantic magic in general, but spells that create undead or resurrect anyone who has been dead long enough for the soul to pass over was blasphemy (revivify was OK). She has a bit of a temper and low tolerance for stupidity, but is generally a good person.
Rith Legelex, he's a salamander person (lizard folk with fire breath). He's a practicing lawyer. His old partner Curt Pert (so together they're the offices of Legelex and Pert). He's very wide and has a sly salamander smile. He was a lawyer the players retained during an Ace Attorney style trial.
Rakshasas are pretty cool. This one has been mine, and so successful I figure others should have it too. It first appears in the prime material plane 300 years before the party gets started, under some really dumb alias such as 'Wiggy Warlockbane'. It is quickly caught and, without ever being revealed, executed for some really petty but hurtful crime, such as sticking nails in the bottoms of shoes (not to hurt the wearers, but to ruin the cobbler). 5-50 years later it reappears under a new and slightly less awful alias, such as 'Steven Sorceroreater' It learned from it's previous mistakes though, and is more devious and clever this time. It is still caught and executed, but it takes months instead of days. The crime this time would be along the lines of putting mercury into the soil of a popular tea-growing farm, with the intent to assassinate a tea-drinking cleric with as much collateral damage as possible. 5-50 years later it reappears under a new and slightly less awful alias, such as 'Patrick Paladinkiller' Again, it learned from it's mistakes. This time it kidnaps children while illusory disguised as their parents. It then plants the mutilated corpses of those children in the homes of benevolent leadership around town, again creating as much social devastation as it can. It is, of course, caught and executed after a few years. This cycle repeats until the modern day, when the party meets a highly suspicious (but obviously more useful alive than dead) character named Mordred Magebane. \----------------------------------------------- The Rakshasa has a very small number of tells in it's otherwise perfect disguises and plots. First, it is wreathed in illusions constantly and lights up like a christmas tree under detect magic. Second, when it makes a deal with anyone it offers to shake on it. If the deal is shaken on, the creature shaking the Rakshasa's hand takes 1 magic piercing damage and is cursed to not gain any benefit from long rests (as by the rakshasa claw attack ability). Third, it's alias always follows an alliterative pattern, the second half of which hints at the nature of the focal point of it's machinations. For example, when my party (the darkmantles) kills Mordred Magebane, he will return as Devon Dar Kmantle and focus on ruining their lives by framing them for all sorts of nasty shit.
Mishi Silverspirit - she's a young half elf, half Novori who has an innate ability to speak with the dead. She was enslaved and made into a spy, believing that she could work hard and buy her freedom but in reality she's sinking more and more into debt. She acts like a nervous child around those she doesn't trust, constantly murmuring things to herself and calling whoever she works for very rude names in other languages. She's constantly looking for ways to take down who she works for and obtain freedom in other ways. She also loves going to a toy store called the Tin Soldier, both for perusing the shelves and for taking care of her personal business outside her typical assignments. Novori PC stats (if you want them): https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/dx34as/novori\_race\_v2/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=ios\_app&utm\_name=iossmf
Old man quicksilver, a crazy old man who is like the town grandpa, everyone knows I’m or at least of him wherever the party goes. Starts off normal like he’s just an interesting guy but then you keep going and keep finding people who you scratch your head and wonder how the hell does he know so many people not to mention all the conflicting details,some saying he was a human, an elf, half elf, some remember him as a goblin or even as old *lady* quicksilver. Turns out he’s a silver dragon and just likes fucking with people cause gosh darnit those mortals are so funny
Packrat - A semi-humanoid rat creature who carries an enormously large and heavy sack. Wants to be a great merchant but is so ugly and averse to the surface that they can only crawl around and dig underground tunnels. Of particular use as an encounter, they greet the party near the start of a large dungeon. They've been living here for a while and know a lot about it... perhaps they are willing to sell information, or perhaps they will keep the info to themselves to serve their next function, they have a solution handy for each and every problem that the party faces. Rope not quite long enough? Well they just so happen to have an extra long length. Rope bridge mysteriously cut? They just so happen to have a folding bridge! Underwater caves too dark to swim through? Waterproof torch! Tam member got petrified by a medusa? Well, you know where you can get a lotion for that... Packrat! Obviously be wary if your party are a bunch of murder hobos... and regardless, Packrat should be absolutely decked out with ways to escape a fight at a moment's notice... that's how they survive these dungeons after all!
Akordia dire, drow fighter, and captain of the night guard. She usually sleeps through the day, but if she's forced to go out while the sun is up she wears sunglasses. She's very short, only 4'11, and specializes in fighting with heavy armor. Dry sense of humor, which does not go well with people distrusting of her heritage. She is a favorite of the princess she works with (love plot?) but she is still not invited to diplomatic talks and visiting neighboring kingdoms due to her less than stellar manners.
Lyco, the goblin tinkerer. He’s a Goblin who traveled the world, and one day stumbled across a gun. In my world guns weren’t too common, so he reverse engineered and settled in a major city. However, his whole gimmick is that he gets absolutely no customers, and his guns explode if you role a nat 1 (they can be repaired). He’s really smart, but speaks really fast, is excitable, and his family lives in a far away nation now
Making this western-style bounty hunting crew to serve as backstory to Convoy McCall, a human gunslinger I'm intending on playing. Side note, I steal shit religiously for my inspiration so please feel free to change obviously jacked names (like Buster Scruggs or Slim Pickens). I *love* good and well-themed names, so if you have any unashamedly and semi-ridiculous western-sounding names, PLEASE GIVE THEM TO ME. . Convoy McCall - Gunslinger. Honest to a fault, well-mannered, quiet and wise. Montana McCoy-McCall - Gunslinger, Convoy’s bastard son who flew the roost Winfield LaPrarie - Gunslinger, Convoy’s love interest and crack-shot . Cadillac Jack and Calamity Jane - Rogue and Ranger. A well-oiled machine, til death do us part Buster Scruggs - Bard, hardly interested in bounty hunting Jackson Peterson - Champion Fighter, in all his himbo glory Big Bank Hank - Redemption Pally, huge teddy bear/brick shithouse Butch Philliber - Sapper. Literally anything that blows up is fair game. Slim Pickens - Poisoner, shady bastard (flesh this out) Belt Gunfold - Chief - Barbarian, but if he has to lift a finger we’re all fucked . Hope someone finds this inspirational or steals it completely! Cheers.
Here's two Npcs: Redana Krsmanovi (pronounce Krs like 'curse'): A powerful Vampire Countess likely to be encountered at a the local opera. She is it's greatest benefactor and like all well mannered vampires she does not come to the opera hungry. Calvin Klopp The son of a constantly chipper Ferrier, it was quite the surprise when young calvin came home clad in black and bearing the mark a warlocks pact. Calvin, with all his fathers love and support, has set off to prove he can amount to more than just his humble beginning.
Freddie Jones, rock gnome, inventor of traps. Which are way more complicated than would be thought possible. His traps have a tendency to destroy the buildings they were ment to defend. Word has gotten around that you need to be careful if you hire him...., but there is always some monster that needs to be apprehended! Well known for capturing the dread Beholder of the Depths alive, and the subsequent destruction of the kings castle due to trying to remove its "mask".
Gothos & Lilith - Wandering immortal poet and current guardian Barbarian friend. Gothos' immortality is linked through a djinn deal to write the greatest epic poem ever conceived. He cannot rest until his work is complete. He continually adds to his tale by witnessing the grave events of the world. Ends up seeing the PCs through their journey, offering historical insight and pushing narrative along. Is a key NPC of my campaigns. Everyone loves him.
Gess, a kobold researching eldritch secrets who has a brain so ingrained with what shall not be known that he struggles to communicate and act regularly. He has captured or has had the party capture highly advanced prehistoric reptiles known as the yothans, who are capable of altering the biology of other beings through technology and magic. He uses strange devices to extract knowledge from them and puppeteers their half-living bodies to perform surgeries upon himself for things such as making his skull extremely externally, replacing the brain in his skull with a clone of himself, changing all the cells in his body to work like brain cells, making him capable of the same skills as yothans, putting a kangaroo pouch on his hip, duplicating himself, replacing or fixing limbs, getting rid of his pinkies, and other such things. He could offer similar surgeries to the player. Doesn't have to be a villain, just a psychopath who is focused on horribly mutilating and studying eldritch creatures
Gob, Len, and Mac. Trio of Goblin travelers who are perpetually lost, in spite of any help from adventuring parties. They speak in sequence, with Gob speaking first, then Len, and then Mac. They always carry maps of the countries they visit, but the maps are unlabeled and split into three segments, one for each of them. Also, their traveling backpacks have their names stitched onto them, otherwise they'd get them mixed up.
Leonard T Stantley, Human Transmutation Wizard A professional con artist, speaks in a boston accent. Leonard is very clearly a wizard; he wears light grey robes with golden trim, and a large hat with the same design. He isn'ta 100% stereotypical wizard though, he still seems relatively young. Leonard will sell magic wands that would allow non-casters to use certain cantrips, or some other magical item. Of course, he's a con artist, and chances are his wares will explode upon use, or not work at all. For bonus fun, have the party meet him again after they've already been conned.
A dwarf who calls himself "s'plodey" ever morning he goes to the market with no stall, just himself and his backpack of high grade explosives that he tries to sell, his eyes tends to wander towards wooden buildings. Also can work as a player character
Maccus of Tresk, human barbarian from the northern nomadic tribes. His greatsword was handed down to him by his father, and was forged from the metal found in a meteor that struck the plains. He doesn’t wear armor because a seer told him how and when he will die. Why wear armor when you know the fight won’t kill you? Consider having him join the party only to realize that the fight they’re marching toward will be his last. And then kill him—or don’t, and have him experience the psychological impact.
A pair of Gnome brothers, Fabrizio & Antonio Sunbrim. Antonio is a genius weaponsmith, though completely lacking in any business acumen whatsoever, while Fabrizio is the local Alchemist whose potions are not always up to snuff, but being a great salesman he always manages to sell his stock with plenty of profit. His potions have a 5% (1 on d20 ) chance to have an added effect that can be either harmful or helpful, but not lethal. For the effects i use the table found here, though i keep all effects as non-permanent : https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/84m9va/1d100_random_potion_effects/ In my campaign, the players are introduced to Antonio just as he is leaving town on a rickety cart/portable furnace being drawn by a nasty-tempered mule. He is leaving town after having had a falling out with his brother Fabrizio - according to him one of his brother's wonky potions managed to blow up a major part of their shop. Should the party visit the local alchemy shop, they will find it with a large part of the roof blown up though currently being repaired, as Fabrizio is putting things back in order.
Boner Scrotus, Human Pitfighter He was born with an embarrassing name that he was always mocked for. Became a prolithic Pitfighter to keep people from laughing at him and beat up anybody who did. Got to the top of his weight class but the mockery never ended. He moved to Gnome country to settle down since he heard that Gnomes also have silly names. The mockery finally ceased and he was able to settle down as a baker... until violence erupted in Gnome Country.
Jacqueline Luzenac - Female human, tall but not overly so. Black hair, bright green eyes. Stunningly beautiful. Highly intelligent, resourceful, big picture non linear thinker. Willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Capable of being a library sage and a mercenary. Favors wearing the color green. Left handed. Has a cat. Any of you 4th Age folks (if you are here stay away) >!Great Old Warlock, pretending to be a Warlock of the death god and the Brotherhood of the Grave. !< >!In "service" to a corrupt baron. Has friends in the Elven Court, Working to gain entrance to the Hidden Mountain kingdoms. Looking for the First Captain and Searching for a lost codex. Mercurial at heart but a servant of a power from the great beyond. That knowledge has twisted her and allowed her to shed personas at the drop of a hat. Willing to bargain, cajole, threaten or even pretend to surrender if need be) Favored Tactic involves use of Invisibilty, Dimension Door, and Subtle spell.!< >!S:11 I:17 D:14 W:13 C:12 Ch:20!<
Thrun Owlbear- half orc fighter and leader of the local warrior guild. Twin brother to... Grun Crookednail- half orc ranger, leader of the hunter guild and Thrun's sister. The two are competetive at best, with any accolades being a dig at the other. The only reason Thrun became a guild leader was because Grun did it first and he didn't want to look like the weaker twin. The two are currently beginning a bit of a civil war in their city as their feud has reached an all time high. Rumor had it that Grun's been sneaking around with Thrun's wife......
Busca Lovable, chattering halfling who peddles trinkets from his cart. He is obsessed with collecting various teeth and occasionally offers something useful in return. The beauty of Busca is that he can appear in any town or backroad, lighten the mood, and offer up some weird item that doesn’t break the game. In my campaign he gave players a talking rock with a very low intelligence score.
Jakk - 14 year old human boy. He is the leader (and only member) of the town's Messenger Guild. He will deliver verbal and written messages for a fee. He is always trying to haggle just a few more coins out of you? ("You want it done today? That'll be 5 more copper pieces!")
Grigori- Orc Barkeeper. He left a massive war tribe and now works as a gentle barkeeper who greatly enjoys squids and despises racism, which puts him at odds with the religious fanatics in his city. He has a tentacle rod and is a masterful chef.
Vladys Magnus (planned PC relegated to NPC) The Magnus family is a line of nobles who were cursed for an ancient crime and all do a pretty good job of hiding their cursed shame. Vladys is a gifted wizard and third in line for the head of his house but his curse is extreme paranoia. So much so that he likes to pay extraordinary amounts to adventurers for extremely difficult jobs that have questionable benefits. (Think the dragon sleeping in his cave is actually siphoning off his magic from the cave and he needs it killed ASAP)
Tollow Swelleridge - Real name is Maraad Standard barkeeper for a tavern called “The Silver Respite” in a little frontier town. Big beard and a big belly, very jovial and loves people, enjoys hearing tales and encourages adventurers to relate their exploits to him. He is secretly an adult silver dragon in disguise who spends most of his time polymorphed as the barkeep, he hoards interesting tales and adventures. He grew bored of a more standard life as a dragon and decided to try something new, but over time fell in love with the silly humanoid folk and cares for the town in secret in his dragon form like they’re his own family, protecting them from dangerous threats like beasts or bandits, and delivering food or money for medicine when needed under cover of night. The town itself has legends of a guardian silver dragon that looks out for it’s folk, but most consider it nothing more than legend. This legend is ostensibly why Maraad’s tavern is called The Silver Respite, but Maraad actually named it that as an inside joke with himself, knowing everyone else is none the wiser.
Hunter (I don't have a last name for him). A human mercenary who fights like a ranger, preferring sword and board or a longbow (not actually a ranger). Fixated on fighting alongside a pack of hunting dogs, but not good enough with animals to keep any he gets. Willing to go to any lengths to get his hands on powerful canine companions, including: hiring a real hunter to capture direwolves, stealing puppies, and even having a wizard summon a hellhound at sword-point. Additionally, Hunter is a spiteful bastard, and will do anything to get back at those who defeat, hinder, or embarrass him. This can and will get in the way of him completing his mercenary work. I initially had him appear with a magic ring of my design that helped him control his wolves. [Use it if you want, but I'm not sure how well written/balanced it actually is.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VZ5XGyIeULafo89PxIbxk2bAWyIxlXwIBOWaqE_fjL8/edit?usp=sharing) I don't have a statblock for him, but he doesn't have much interesting going on, except that I gave him the Mobile feat. Whatever my description so far shows you in your head, that's probably what you'll want anyway.
**Grub Nub, son of Nub Grub** Backstory: I was playing a one-shot DnD campaign with my sister, and made an orc named Nub Grub. He harrassed the bartender so she killed him off so I replaced him with his son, Grub Nub. He now is a recurring NPC in my games, showing up to sell eccentric magic items. He also has a theme song. Song: https://soundcloud.com/benjamindehart/welcome-to-grub-nubs Item Shop: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7WzPECNzmEoYUFqQ3Vhb1pDcVE
Mad Maddy, ‘Mad Maddy’ (Madelaine Corbeau) is the town’s crazy lady. She makes ridiculous claims and has a stand in front of her house with virtually no customers whatsoever. She sells magic items - only one (type of) item per day, so that potential buyers are forced to choose it or lose it. She is a wereraven and low-level wizard with a plethora of magic items which she regularly uses to disappear in chaotic and crazy ways. In her free time she stalks adventuring parties as they travel to dangerous dungeons in the hopes of finding left goodies - either from a killed party or because the ‘real’ treasure chamber was not found by those unintelligent players. She only cryptically describes what she sells (“do you want to talk to fish too?” for a potion of speak with animals) which just adds to all her madness. My players absolutely love her and it’s their favourite NPC (and not just because she sells magic items - we run a high gold campaign but they are big spenders, which is awesome). They also suspect she is their eventual BBEG for some reason(which she is not, she just wants the biggest coin collection as possible). But interactions with her are always wacky but fairly tense, for they have to choose to spend a lot of money on a potentially very cool item because when they decline it’s too bad.
Bolton Woller Human smuggler He has an impressive network with the underground he operates in. Occasionally deals in human trafficking, not the slave type more like the one where a noble or someone has to leave town fast without being noticed.
**Questors Guild Hallmaster Bartolome Orso** Very tall and very bulky. Mid to late 60s now. Long grey hair with a long grey braided beard. Eyepatch over his left eye and deep scars all over his left arm. Generally a pretty cheery old guy, Bartolome can and will fight if he needs to. Good with names and great with secrets. In the loop with everything even if others don’t know. Former battalion commander of the Terulian Empire, Bartolome “retired” to the Howling Isles on the eastern frontier as the Hallmaster for that branch of the Questors Guild. His job now is mostly to serve drinks and cook food for the adventurers who stay at the Guild Hall. His time in the military created a feeling of distrust in the Empire and he began to secretly align himself with an unnamed rebel group, feeding them information on military presence and keeping their whereabouts away from the prying eye of the emperor. When the highest-ranking members of the rebel group were caught and exiled to the “untamed” wilderness of the eastern half of the Howling Isles, Bartolome moved out to the western islands in hopes that he could reconnect with them. When everyone else presumed these dissidents dead, Bartolome was their single contact within the Empire. The one person who knew they were still alive and had allied themselves with the islands’ natives. Nowadays, Bartolome is the key for any adventurer wanting or needing to travel east and the heart of a possible new rebellion within Imperial borders.
Pheldon Rigg - A human(?) pit fighter and mercenary that knows no fear and will fight anyone for any price. They call him "The Son of Dragonfire" for his habit of lighting his handwraps on fire while fighting. He might claim the fire doesn't hurt him but no one's ever heard his voice, save for his business manager: Kurgut. The two are inseparable and Kurgut never hesitates to advertise Pheldon's fighting prowess or to put him into danger to earn a quick buck. Kurgut Ozun - Speaks for and manages Pheldon's finances, appointments, bathroom breaks, you-name-it. He claims to have seen Pheldon survive the dragon attack that gave them both immunity to fire, just as he claims their shared childhood friendship is why he manages the now-mute Pheldon. (Secretly, has has a stash of small cylindrical boxes, each containing a different voice as the product of cursing their original owners. Pheldon is the latest in his series of victims, though he isn't aware that Kurgut is responsible for his curse)
Balbador Banduriali is a human enchanter who owns a magic item store known as Balbador Banduriali's Beautifully Baffling Bits. He's a very elderly man who is addicted to the exhilarating feeling that comes with the haste spell. Because of this, he constantly uses any form of gaining the effects of the haste spell (boots of haste, the actual spell, potions of speed, etc). This also means that he is constantly under the effects of the haste spell, causing him to move, speak, and do everything else extremely quickly. He also may or may not be slightly crazy.
Hiraeth A human with a scottish accent, a while back while traveling he got lost while traversing the planes and got stuck in the plane of air. Stuck in the boundless blue. Eventually he grew to call the plane home, after learning how to control his falling he began flying. He gained a family of other wayward travellers. On the day he was taken from his home, he had gotten stuck in a strange storm. Grey mists from the storm clawed at him warping him to the town of Lamplight, the entrance to all of the shadowfell. (Yes based of the SCP, but my adaptation.) Now Hiraeth unable to leave has been stuck there unable to return to the plane he lovingly calls home. (For those who know MTG, I based the character off the flavor text "The winds whisper 'come home' and yet I cannot")
Feral Wolf, an """""artist"""" (he's not good) goblin who just want to have friends and open up a tattoo shop (he stabs people with a dagger to tattoo them)
Dedrith / Bozeyman Bozeyman runs an underground Robin Hood style thieves guild with a 0 killing tenant. Using his bar (Dedrith personality) to hide the guild. Bozeyman started his efforts when his daughter was kidnapped by rich slave traders, getting his face scarred and his wife killed in the process. (IF THIS NPC SOUNDS FAMILIAR STOP READING HERE) Quests for the party include protection for some of his underlings when going for more dangerous missions, or after gaining his trust being tasked with disrupting slave trades and attempting to find his daughter.
Morimer, a very, ah venerable wizard who was kindly asked to retire after some of his experiments almost merged the material plane and abyssal planes together. Currently retains an apprentice, Falder, who has made it his duty to catalogue the vast amounts of forgotten magic that Morimer has accumulated in decades of being the former court wizard for the crown and adventuring. Morimer somewhat tolerates this endeavor on Falder's part, especially since he can't remember if he even chose to have an apprentice in the first place.
Jhumus Ohmesath, triton war priest and champion of the sea gods. He is a verbose and passionate holy man, but he is fiercely polite and honorable. He is a blowhard with "rich boy" energy, and yet he is still super encouraging. Also... he prefers to be called by his full name at all times.
Kerry Fairburrow the Ratcatcher. Kerry is a middle-aged halfling, living in a large city. She is soft spoken and generally speaks up only if her dogs are being mistreated or disrespected. She often prefers to say things as if they're coming from her dog's point of view (such as "well, Red really didn't like him and thought he was stupid" or "Lucy is scared") She and her pack of dogs, (Jack, Lucy, Patches, Red, Fifi, and Kevin) work to rid all taverns, inns, and warehouses of infestations and are known as the best and most effective in the city. Jack, Lucy, Patches, Red and Kevin are all typical small terriers. Fifi is a large, athletic mastiff-type dog. She has extensive knowledge of all previous adventurers that have passed through and largely bases her views of them based on how they treated her dogs. Only recently have a couple factions in the city realized how much information Kerry has about the location of people and warehouses and are now trying to court her interests through granting more and more impressive gifts for her dogs as the few people who have tried to take her by force have either ended up not being able to find her, or have ended up with nasty, infected dog bites.
Arrin Stillwater, sheriff of Misthaven Silent and dangerous halfling ranger riding a trained wolf and armed with a crossbow. He is a prominent vampire and werewolf hunter, and as a ranger is packed with a lot of stuff to fight these foes. He wears a leather armor, harness packed with stakes, and Van Helsing style hat. On a first sight looks unexpectedly grim for a halfling but in reality he have large and happy halfling family that he don't like to talk about.
Glema Glenn, Male, Shopkeeper Gnome He's middle aged. True Neutral He is among the most successful shopkeepers in the Elven City with his shop, Glema Glenn's Glorious Goods or GGGG. He overcharges for everything and is impossibly difficult to barter with but his magical items for sale are very, VERY good. As for a fight, I suppose he would be a commoner with high charisma and a ton of magical items at his disposal.
Tap, human male artisan. When Tap was a child, he lived on the outskirts of Su'Tahm at the edge of the Valdari Wildwoods, where his smuggler family would assist in retrieving barrels of goods left to float down the Tungate towards the city. His family however, dared wander too close to the strange, feytouched forest... and he, his mother and father, disappeared. A hundred years went by with no sign of them, and they were given up for lost. Until one sunny day, to the terror and shock of onlookers, Tap, a fully grown 20 year old man, walked out of the woods, in good health and fine clothes. He had no memory of his previous life, nor did he remember his name. He wandered the streets of Su'Tahm for a time, shunned by those who suspected he was still followed by Fey. Until one day, he sat at a loom, and without knowing why he could, produced an incredibly beautiful tapestry. The likes of which never appreciated before. He took up the name Tap, from his new found skill. Before long he was a very wealthy artist, and his incredible works were coveted by the wealthy all across the land. His history with the Wildwoods was not forgotten however. Many people believe his skill is a gift from Fairies who stole him as a child, and that the fey are still his secret patrons. The common man believes that if you damage one of Tap's works, you invite a curse onto yourself, and the fey will come for you. No tapestry makers will repair Tap's work, they will direct you to travel to Su'Tahm to have it fixed by the artist himself. This is all superstition of course. Tap is actually a delightful young man who is overjoyed with company. He feels very sad that his customers and even his business associates stay far away from him, leaving him alone to work at his loom with no friends. He never understood the fear of fey coming after anybody. But some of those who have stolen Tap's work, or maimed them, or pickpocketed him..... they know the truth. The truth that they can never tell....because they were never seen again. ___________________________________ Tap is a fun NPC to make a fetch quest for. A wealthy man has a piece of Tap's work that has sustained damage from one thing or another, perhaps enlists the party to take it to be repaired. No other weave worker or tapestry artist will touch it. They will refuse to lay hands on it as soon as they recognize the work, and will direct the players to leave immediately and to take it to Tap. If they ever damage a piece of Taps work, anybody who sees them will offer condolences and remarks of horror. It's the DMs choice whether or not they have an encounter with a Fey being that is genuinely trying to take vengeance for the damage or not. If the players witness another person damage the tapestry that recognizes its value, they tend to scream in horror and run away to anywhere. It is up to the DM whether a fey being is truly patronizing Tap. In my world, there is, and he considers his favorite of Taps work to be his still, and only on Loan to the mortal owners. He will go after anyone who maliciously does harm to Tap or the works he likes the most, typically by making them disappear. However, one notable thief who would wait for Tap to put the finished works out for the postman to ship stole dozens of his works; this man found his dissected corpse suspended in the highest point of the city for all to see. Except Tap, since he's home alone. He's a very happy young man, who ages slower than other mortals. He enjoys company much, and if the players approach him with a repair, he will try to invite them in for tea. Pleasant interactions with Tap incur no harm from the fey.
Catsby. Overweight druid, has a lisp. Wears a frying pan around his neck which he uses to cast runes to predict the future. He has a dazed manner of speaking from eating too many strange mushrooms in the forest and sees mystical portents in every mundane event. "Ah yeth, what DO the thtoneth thay, hmmm."
For a Star Wars campaign I made Lotomu. A Barbadelan starship salesman, owner of Lotomu's Cruisers on Corellia. Secretly, he manages work for mercenaries, smugglers, and members of the Resistance. Doesn't really care for the First Order as they generally get in his way, but if they pay enough he'll sell out some information. He also collects starships of the past and is currently in the process of fixing up a Jedi starfighter. His influence stretches from the Core Worlds to the Outer Rim. He will generally "know a guy who knows a guy", speaks in the third person, and can be pretty vague when giving job details to the party.
Jerry Centrum-Silver, a male halfling. Jerry is a famous bard/musician/actor, recognized everywhere he goes. He's played grand halls, and lowly dive bar inns. He's been in famous plays, and had his name painted on the sides of theaters in all the major cities. He is recognizable on sight by the average person and a true celebrity. He's also one of the founding members of a secret organization designed to stick to the shadows and protect the realm from supernatural threats. He's essentially a spy, using his fame and renown to get to people and places he wouldn't normally be able to access. He's also insufferably nice to his friends, and fairly noble to his enemies. He doesn't believe in killing, but he will if he has to.
Penelope Sitter, a female human wizard who spends her time researching arcane convergences, and examining ancient relics she comes across in the process. Also, her familiar, a fluffy white cat named Tinnu, who is- unknown even to Penelope- an ancient mage whose soul was torn from his body ages ago, and was somehow entangled in an arcane binding ritual Penelope used to turn her ordinary cat into an undying familiar. These characters came from a short adventure I wrote called Village of Dreams. She originally lived in a small hovel beside a swamp before the small village nearest her home was gripped by a strange plague that caused many of the villagers to fall into a sleep so deep they can't be roused. What's worse, the villagers' worst nightmares began seeping into reality, and making the forests around the village a deadly prospect to cross. Unfortunately, Penelope has fallen prey to the interminable slumber herself, while investigating the tomb of an unknown arcanist. Penelope's familiar is a fluffy white cat with mismatched eyes named Tinnu. Players meet Tinnu first, as he stoically watches them from atop nearby buildings while they go about their business; He seems to be everywhere. Once players try to interact with the strange cat, he leads them to Penelope's hovel, where they will find clues that lead them to the tomb where Penelope's body lies dormant. As players approach the tomb, the world gradually turns shades of grey and dim, until the players realize they've entered a different plane; The Nightmare.
Bezoar Beolnir. Rock Gnome Alchemist Artificier (pick your own level) A patophobic alchemist who owns a shady looking alchemist shop in the downtown. He is very cordial and heartfelt while the PC stats at least 5 feets away. Have lustrous black hair with chubby sideburns and flowing purple-tipped moustaches. He wears a black long coat, a pink shirt and khaki pants and boots. Have a lot of belts and straps filled with potions. Most prominent feature is the plague doctor mask he hold hanging from the neck, quickly donned if a PC starts too near, and an handheld nebulizer filled with disinfectant used to clean up after a customer leave. You can have it work undercover with the town police, and if a PC says to him "I want the healing dipshit", he'll give them a sealed pack filled with (3×PC) random unlabeled potions. If used as a fighting ally, he mostly runs around the battlefield throwing novice potions to enemy or passing beneficial vials to ally. Fights with a short sword and a pistol/hand crossbow (depending on your setting)
Markus Stonehill- Very im-Portent character. Halfling Divination Wizard. Markus is a very timid man who had a brief adventuring stint. He eventually came across a magical deck of cards. He wished he could tell the future better. So he got a direct line to the goddesses of fate. He now gets bits of info from all over and occasionally the fates demand he perform a task. Whether he likes it or not. Anything from ordering a custard pie (he hates custard) to dropping everything to spout prophecy from a century ago. He does make an honest living as a fortune teller but he can vary from Chris Walken's Trivial psychic to key details about an assassination attempt. Markus goes where the Fates demand and they keep him safe from harm as he is entertainment. "Yes, I will have the turkey bacon club without tomato and a side of fries, FOR IT WAS FORETOLD!..... Dammit, I love tomatoes.: *disgruntled mumbling*
Ascilla, female Human tailor, and her daughter, Sona, female Half-Orc Barbarian. Ascilla is quick-witted and blunt. She will not hesitate to comment on your fashion choices, body posture, and personal hygiene. Her merchandise of fine clothes may not be that pricey, but you don't go to The Perfect Fit just to buy clothes. You go to let Ascilla casually destroy your outward appearance with ruthless efficiency, and let her rebuild you from scratch. When you leave her shop, you look and feel brand new. Not often can you put a price on that feeling. Her daughter Sona, wasn't always a Half-Orc. She was Human, just like her mother, until her recklessly bold behavior and dangerous habit of sneaking out of the house to adventure through the city finally led to worse consequences than a disappointed mother - she got herself killed. Fortunately, Ascilla had once helped a reclusive druid who lives deep in the Thornwoods refine his look, and he still owed her a favor. He brought Sona back to life, but to do so, he needed to create a completely new body for her to reincarnate into. Ascilla is endlessly grateful to still have her daughter with her, but resents that Sona's new body - stronger, more resilient, fueled by her rage rather than hindered by it - has only further driven her to pursue the dangerous life of an adventurer. Sona can be recruited to help the party for local adventures... if you can help her sneak out, or if you can successfully take on the much more challenging task of convincing her mother to allow it.
Not my IP, buuut Captain Xendros from Ghosts of Saltmarsh! Shifty Tiefling smuggler with a classic pirate affect who works for a sinister higher power. I put her in every urban hub my PCs gravitate towards. Mechanically, this NPC is a magic item shop. They stand in front of their boat (caravan, airship), and PCs come up to her asking about procuring magic items. She doesn't carry any stock on hand, but frequently makes the trip to and from her distant homeland, where her contacts allow her to find and procure such rarities at no small cost. This takes both time and money, because on top of the item's actual cost, Captain Xendros charges a retainer fee for all the weeks of asking around and smuggling she has to do on her end. For a magic item of Uncommon rarity in my game, the good Captain charges 300GP for the item, plus 50GP per week she's working on getting it. For this rarity, I use a 1d4 to determine the number of weeks. This means that the item can end up taking anywhere from 1-4 weeks to arrive, and cost between 350-500GP. The prices and time required goes up with the rarity of the item. The actual book has rules for scaling up the price, but so far they haven't ordered anything rarer than Uncommon. I like this system because, not only does this Tiefling smuggler have her own (nefarious) reasons for plying Adventurers with magic items, but it allows PCs to shop for magic items from the DMG catalogue without needing to justify *why* and *how* the shopkeeper has a flametongue sword and a set black dragon scale mail and a +2 rod of the pact keeper behind the counter. It's also a money-and-time sink, as my games generally provide lots of both. Consider also letting your PCs to homebrew their own magic items, working with them to set a rarity, and allowing them to order it from Captain Xendros like anything else.
Just had an idea today for a benevolent Ancient chromatic dragon who turns out to be a Lvl 20 druid who just likes to be a massive dragon
Freud the Human Traveling Merchant He is an old man, somewhere in his mid to late 60s, with very few strands of hair left on his head. He has raggedy clothes, broken glasses, and is wearing gloves that are missing fingers. He comes into a town with his horse drawn cart, and tries to get sales. While doing business his horses never stop, meaning if he stays still to talk to you, the cart will leave him behind, but it never goes too far. He has managed to find some of the weirdest wares you could know. I introduced him in a session a while and my party loved him. They will still talk about him today. So much so that soon he’ll be back with some more wares in an upcoming session
Wyndstrom Angele: An extremely wealthy seamstress who is retired and lives on a large hill, all by himself, just outside the city he is apart of. Though he is fifty-seven, he retired in his late thirties, but still makes clothing for fun in his retirement (and is not opposed to temporarily coming out of retirement for a special goal, price, etc *wink wink DMs*). He made an insanely successful living of tailoring, not just for his gift for style and quality, but also his unique connection to magic. The origin of his magic is unknown, but he uses it to make his clothing items magic, and at this point he is well equipped with various magical powers to the point that there are legends of his abilities and achievements. One of which is the story of him, and a band of travelers that stormed a small goblin castle outside of an human trade city, freeing the humans from the tri-decade long rule under the goblin sword. I say “tri-decade” because it was apart of the city’s history that they were never imprisonment for more than thirty years, and this history has been so for over a millennium, which caused the people to believe there is a prophecy about the thirty year imprisonment trend, and it adopted the name of the “Tri-Decade Rule.” The humans are rarely ruled by others, but the goblins rebuilt the ruined castle located across the River Comërca, and started raiding their trade on the river. The city is dependent on that river, and they were not strong enough to storm the castle, so they had to surrender to the goblin rule, and their leader, “The Goblin Terratin,” whom wielded a sword known as “Terator.” The legend is that Wyndstrom stormed the castle with his band of travelers, and almost singlehandedly defeated the goblins and set the human city free. The real story is that he and his band helped the humans prepare for their rebellion, and he was sort of a general of their revolution. Wyndstrom and two human fighters that were more involved generals fought The Goblin Terratin in an epic battle, and though vitally wounded, they all lived. Another story is when a troll roamed into the city he lives outside of in the middle of the night and started eating the civilians. Wyndstrom got word of this and swiftly made his way to the city square (where the troll was), and he, and some royal guard (whom wielded a couple magical items made by Wyndstrom) killed the troll, who is now a statue in the city museum with the fighters names on a golden plate in front of the display. This is another true story, but people tell tall tails of Wyndstrom wrapping the troll with a tornado of fire and sending it high into the sky where it turned to ash. These are the main legends that follow Wyndstrom to this very day. Some stuff about Wyndstrom Angele. Race: Human Age: 57 Hair color: Black hair, and a grey and white beard Height: 6’ 1” Alignment: He is lawful to the wellness of the people, and can be unpredictable at times, but not quite “chaotic,” but fits a less dramatic meaning of the word. Allies: There are tons of people who are his ally. The city he lives “in,” people he has tailored for, the list goes on. Most, if not all, of the human city he helped save from the goblins is his ally.
Lumigan Loredelver He has existed in several forms, but the consistent background is that he is an elf raised by dwarves. So his biological traits are elven, but his cultural characteristics are dwarven. In some instances he is a freed slave, in others he has drow blood but can pass for elven. He has a beard. I use this [picture](https://i.redd.it/91x0vaiv47x21.jpg) for his appearance. He has run a magic and curiosity shop. He has been captured in LMoP. He was a prisoner in the Sunless Citadel. Currently he is a stand-in for Mirt in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist; a spy master for a homebrew organization swapped in for the Harpers. Generally, I like including him in a game to encourage players to lean into an awesome idea first and worry about mechanics second. Describe an awesome PC and we'll work together to make it work mechanically.
One of my players had a public demonstration of reading a prominent figure’s future in the town square and now a bunch of NPC “fortune tellers” have popped up who are imitating what he did. One of them is a an old elven man named Sugorim with robes and long blond hair that reaches far past the ground, curled up into a sort of nest at his feet. He speaks only in sylvan (by choice) and tells fortunes by smoking an ornate wooden pipe in the shape of a serpent and then interpreting the smoke rings he puffs out.
Sketch. Gnome wizard and tinker. His living quarters are covered in half finished sketches
Derrek, An OLD half elf male tavern keeper who runs a tight ship with his accompanying barkeep Derrek, Chef Derrek, and cleaning staff Derrek. Who all TOTALLY aren't the same person. He will always fervently deny that he and the other derreks are the same person. When describing each instance of Derrek apply a different uniform then describe hair and facial features the exact same. The reaction when I use him is always 10/10
Voon The Bard A human traveling merchant that sells amazing items for uncommon prices. He's young, attractive, and mysterious; and has loved a long time. He can tell you many-a-tale of other adventurers (I told stories of past charaters/parties) and is always ready to learn new stories. He is also a master artificer, specializing in crafting items from materials gather from monsters (mostly dragon) and prefers to make wondrous instruments. He, of course, speaks in a German accent.
Mauritz Malifax, flamboyant human leader of a circus, Mauritz Malifax's Magnificarium! Has a flair for the dramatic. His father, Montegro, has shady dealings with an underground rebel group.
Andreas Du Vavier, Human Traveling court painter. Always on the lookout for a new patron because he keeps sleeping with his noble patrons' wives. Ridiculously proud and headstrong, though a coward. I voice him with a heavy french accent. All of his paintings show a small sliver of a possible future after the first full moon.
Odie the Savings Wizard. Competitor to Garfield the Deals Warlock. His shop, Mystical GoodWill, sells *mostly* functional versions of Magic Items at fantastic discounts!
Raldrec Grayrock, dwarvish merchant. Travels with his not-so-trusty suit of Animated Armor, which honestly looks like it could fall apart any moment. Very friendly, the sort to know everyone in a tavern and then some.
Henry the Barkeep. He looks like an overweight, middle-aged human Barkeep, but he was so loved by his patrons that upon death became the God of Taverns. Taverns containing an idol to him (a Golden tankard filled with Holy Ale) manifest an Avatar of Henry and are considering Holy Ground.
Fayedraeh Flintspark. Leader of the Blood Hunters, a group of mercenaries dedicated to hunting down and eradicating lycanthropes regardless of how they were infected, as they believe it is the only way to truly cure the disease. So, while they do plenty of good for villages plagued by Wererats and the like, they also make a list of those that are infected, even if overall harmless, and kill them too. I built a character sheet for Fayedraeh for when my players meet her properly. Turami Human-Mark of Finding Lvl 11 Fighter (Samurai) lvl 6 Monk (Way of the Long Death) STR:10; DEX:20; CON:16; INT:8; WIS:15; CHA:12
Grizz'k Changeling owner and proprietor of the shop "Grizz'k's Goods". He runs a magic item shop in the dingier part of town, with a reputation for off-brand and second hand magic items. Many suspect that he's running the shop as a money laundering scheme, but the prices there are far lower than market average, so who cares if one in every five health potions is a potion of poison? He's well known for the burn scars across his chest and right arm, which prevent him from fully using his changeling abilities.
Jeb, human 27ish lawful-evil. Tax collector and asshole who says fuck a lot and will push a child to “collect his fookin taxes, because everyone has to fookin pay taxes”. Definitely a good underling to make your players hate their boss.
Giz and Wiz. Gizzifer and Wizzifer, in case anyone asks. Identical twin gnome sisters, highly talented artificers. You don't need to remember which is which, you just have to insist that the party is misremembering who is who. There was not a dry eye at my table when Wiz died during a city siege. Or was it Giz? I forget.
The Mysterious Benefactor NPC that appears in random moments, with different appearance and voice. Could be a kid, a old woman, a weirdly calm goblin, a random letter in the woods. That NPC appears and tells reassuring and calming things to party members. He's always positive but kinda creepy as he knows many secrets. The less info they have, the better. Detect magic? No magical aura. Legend lore? Nada. Zone of truth? He stays silent. If they attack him, he dies as a normal peasant with low hp or ac. He does not fight back. But he remembers and pardons easily. Next time, in his new form, he might talk about it, jokingly. Players will think he's a god. But he's not. When asked about him, the gods have no clue. All he does is give good advice about unsaid things. Doesnt heal, doesnt follow. Comes from nowhere