More than what they can do, how much they cost, or how loyal they are, NPCs live only when they have personalities. Poorly played, an NPC can easily be reduced to nothing more than a collection of numbers, spells, equipment, and automatic reactions—a role-playing automaton. Vivid NPCs are much more than this. These characters, developed and acted by the DM, are complete. They have quirks, likes, dislikes, habits, ambitions, and desires. In one way or another they fire and remain in the imagination of the players
Some DMs have the naturally ability to create such characters on the spur of the moment, improvising as they go along. This is a rare gift, not possessed by most. However, this doesn't mean any DM can't create good NPCs. All that's required is a little effort.
Walk-On NPCs[]
There are several shortcut methods that can be used when role-playing NPCs who only have brief appearances; the "walk-ons" and "cameos" of a role-playing adventure.
Character Traits: The DM can choose some particular character trait: cowardice, greed, optimism, precision, or whatever and exaggerate it, take it to an extreme. This is most effective for creating comical (or frustrating) situations.
Physical Traits: A particular physical trait (baldness, pot-bellied, bad teeth, wheezy, and more) can be stressed. This helps fix the appearance of the NPC in the players' minds, especially useful if the characters must describe or find the NPC again.
Habits: Like physical traits, simple habits (scratches his head, tugs on his beard, stares at the sky when talking, or mumbles) can be used. The DM can actually act out these simple habits at the table, adding a visual element to the role-playing experience.
Significant NPCs[]
For very important NPCs, hirelings, and henchmen, the DM is going to need more than just a single character feature. Saying that a hireling is greedy is not enough. It doesn't make him any different from all the other greedy NPCs the player characters have met.
Perhaps he struggles to control his natural greediness out of loyalty. He may break into cold sweats and become nervous when the player character accidentally tempts him ("Here, hold my horse while I go see what's making that noise."). Will he remain loyal or will his baser nature get the best of him? The answer to this question should come out through role-playing.
Enough little questions like this—and enough role-played answers—will bring the NPC's true character into focus. And if the DM pays attention to the personality of the NPCs, the players will also learn and study those characters.
Creating an NPC Personality: The best way to create a personality is to use whatever seems right and not worry about carefully constructing a background and rationale for the character. The DM has to keep careful notes about each major NPC, adding to it each play session. After several sessions, the NPC may have a complete background and personality, one that has come out little-by-little during play.
Alternatively, the DM can prepare a personality in advance. This simply means he prepares some background notes before he begins to play that character. This is useful for powerful villains and important officials. However, during play, the DM should be flexible enough to change any part of the NPC's background that just doesn't work.
To aid in the process of creating NPCs, Table 70 lists different types of attitudes, tendencies, and habits. These are organized into major traits, with similar characteristics grouped under each.
The DM can choose a major trait and any appropriate characteristics; he can randomly determine the major trait (rolling 1d20) and select appropriate characteristics; or he can randomly determine everything (1d20 for a major trait, percentile dice for characteristics).
For example, the DM randomly determines a hireling is careless, selects thoughtless from that sub-group and then rolls for an additional characteristic, getting cheerful. The end result is somewhat scatter-brained, happy-go-lucky person.
This table is provided to spur the imagination of the DM, although it can be used to create completely random personalities. However, random methods often lead to confusing and seemingly impossible combinations! If a result seems totally impossible or unplayable, don't use it simply because that's how the dice rolls came up. Whenever possible, the DM should decide the personality of the NPC!
Other NPC Characteristics[]
Of course, NPCs are more than just personalities and character traits. Each NPC, like each player character, has abilities and a unique physical appearance. However, considering NPCs come from the entire range of humanity (and some fantasy races, as well!), no tables are given to fill in these details. A few tables simply cannot do justice to the huge variety of an entire game world.
Furthermore, the physical appearance and abilities should be determined by the needs of the story, not random choice. If the player characters are dealing with an innkeeper, the NPC should be an ordinary person, not a powerful member of a character class. Furthermore, he should act, dress and behave like an innkeeper. Therefore, the DM could decide the innkeeper is fat and florid, over-talkative, with no exceptional ability scores.
On the other hand, say the PCs encounter a mysterious stranger, a character of great power. Here, the DM decides the stranger's mere appearance radiates a powerful charismatic appeal. The stranger's Charisma score is exceptionally high. To make the NPC even more impressive, the DM assigns him a character class and quite a high level.
In both examples above, the DM decided what effect he wanted from the NPC and built the character around that.
Every aspect of an NPC is a tool for the DM. Some are quite obvious, others may arise only in special occasions. Listed below are some of the areas a DM can use to create a distinctive character. Some descriptive words have been listed for each area to spur the imagination. A good thesaurus can provide even more adjectives useful for describing characters.
Game Information: Character class (if any), level (if any), race, alignment.
Age: ancient, child, decrepit, elderly, middle-aged, patriarchal, teen-aged, venerable, youthful.
Height: bean-pole, gangly, gigantic, hulking, lanky, looming, runt, short, small, stumpy, tall, tiny, willowy.
Weight: broad-shouldered, fat, gaunt, obese, plump, pot-bellied, rotund, scarecrow, skinny, slender, slim, statuesque, stout, thin, trim
Hair: bald, braided, color (any), cropped, curly, frazzled, greasy, grizzled, leonine, limp, salt-and-pepper, sparse, straight, thick, thin, wavy, widow's peaked, wiry.
Manner of speech: accented, breathless, crisp, guttural, high-pitched, lisp, loud, nasal, slow, squeaky, stutter, wheezy, whiny, whispery.
Facial characteristics: bearded, buck-toothed, chiseled, doe-eyed, fine-featured, florid, gap-toothed, goggle-eyed, grizzled, jowled, jug-eared, pock-marked, pug nose, ruddy, scarred, squinty, thin-lipped, toothless, weather-beaten, wrinkled.
Of course, there are thousands of possible NPC aspects that could also be used: skin color, stature, bearing, gait, and eye color are only a few more. Sometimes it is useful for a DM to make a list of all the words he can think of that describe a person. Once such a list is made, the DM can keep that with his game notes, ready to use any time he needs to quickly characterize an NPC.
Morale[]
Since NPCs, even henchmen, are supposed to be unique personalities, they are not slavishly obedient or bound to the player characters. Thus, NPCs associated with the player characters in any way must have a morale rating. This rating is for the DM's use only and is always kept secret from the players.
An NPC's morale rating depends on his position, his personality, the quality of his treatment, and the player character. Henchmen and hirelings each have a base morale which is then modified by a number of factors.
The base morale for henchmen is 12 and the base for a hireling is 10. The modifiers to the base morale are given on Table 71 below and on Table 50.
An NPC must roll a morale check when the combat rules call for one (see "Morale" in Chapter 9). In combat situations, the NPC who fails a morale check will retreat or flee as noted under Combat. The DM can require other checks as he feels are appropriate.
Morale checks are also appropriate when an NPC is faced with temptation. A failed roll means the NPC gives in to the temptation. Note that temptation can take many forms other than outright bribes. The opportunity to right an injustice, strike back at a hated employer, work for one's real beliefs, or get revenge for a long-held grudge are all forms of temptation.
For such subtle forms of temptation, the NPC's reaction may not be immediately obvious to the player characters. The NPC may desert in time of need, spy on a player character, rob the character of some valuable item, attempt to assassinate the player character, or directly betray the player character to his enemies. Indeed, he may remain in the service of the player character for a long time after the check has failed, waiting for his opportunity to strike.
| Factor | Modifier |
|---|---|
| NPC is lawful* | +1 |
| NPC is good | +1 |
| NPC is evil | -1 |
| NPC is chaotic* | -1 |
| NPC is different race than PC | -1 |
| NPC has been with PC for one year or more | +2 |
- * These modifiers also appear on Table 50 . Do not apply them twice.