NPCs - What I'm Looking For

Hi All,

I have an issue with 99% of the NPC writeups I see in products these days. They should just be called Non-Player Stat Blocks, since there is little or no character involved.

I may be alone in this, but I don't need stat blocks. Tell me Fighter 4, or Rogue 3 / Wizard 4 and I can take it from there. I can pick spells, I can pick skills, I can do that stuff. It's easy.

What I want is Character. What do they look like? What is their personality? What is their motivation (if any)? Info I can use to weave an intresting campaign.

I don't know if there is a product like this out there, but if there is tell me and I'm sold. I'd like a PDF detailing 25-50 NPCs. No stat blocks, just minimal information and any special items they may carry. But give me FULL character descriptions, non-setting specific, that I can introduce into my campaign.

We have a lot of good city settings out there now, but even in Ptolus (which I have and think is great) more space is given to the stats of the NPCs than info telling me anything about them.

So, if any of you PDF producers are looking for a good product to create, this might be it.

Just my 2 cents...

I collect stat blocks. Everytime I see a stat block that I could use and re-use, I grab it and add it to the managerie. I hate making them myself. Character personalities are something I generally assume I can come up with on my own. That said, I think a product like you're talking about would be interesting.

Skreyn's Registry has info about a good number of spellcasters, with stats and background given. As I recall, this book was for 3.0, so the stats would have to be updated.

I saw a lot of NPC collections in the first couple-three years after the d20 movement started, but I haven't seen many since. Most of those had fairly generous background written for each NPCs.

Decidedly different views on the matter. Perhaps a poll?

I see what you're saying, and I'm not opposed to stat blocks, but for the most part I can just create them myself (to be fair, I use E-tools which saves me a lot of work).

I'd just like to see more detailed NPC personalities...