D&D General Name of the NPCs/Monsters in the Players Handbook/MM? (5E)

[GreatestHonor]

I’ve tried a bit to find an answer to this but have had no luck, so i figured i could ask the many others on this forum. In the players handbook we see art of individuals who represent each class. Do these people have names, lore, or belong to a specific setting?

To add to this, is any of the monster art in the MM depicting a specific individual (ignoring named stats like Demogorgon and Zariel of course)?

 

[the Jester]

I don't think so- 3e had its iconic characters, but I don't believe any other edition does in the same way, where they're named and we know anything about them.

 

[J.Quondam]

I don't think so. As far as I know, there's no set of iconic characters representing core classes in 5e as there were in 3e or Pathfinder.

 

[GreatestHonor]

Aw that’s a shame, would’ve been cool if they did that, even if only small one-shot-sequels characters. Appreciate the quick responses!

 

[Stormonu]

Just makes it easier to come up with your own, and flash the picture to the PCs!

I nominate the 5E wizard as Jarel, a mage of small repute who learned his spells by studying astronomical star charts, and is burdened with the foreknowledge of events yet to come.

<edit> the only named characters I see in the PHB are Breunor, Dritz, and (possibly) Cattie-Bree (p 137) from Salvatore’s stories

 

[Gorck]

I know it’s not the PHB, but on the first page of the Artificer class in TCE, they show a picture of a Gnome Artificer named Vi.

 

[LordEntrails]

I kind of liked the iconic characters from 3E. But not sure it would work well today. Too much social divisiveness that any such characters would upset part of the fan base. We (the D&D community) are not so bad as the k-pop fans, but "we" still seem to complain about everything.

 

[Thommy H-H]

So, on a quick skim of the core books, these are all the named characters I could identify in various art pieces:

PHB

• Cover: fire giant King Snurre (from the Hall of the Fire Giant King adventure)
• Pg 13: Bruenor Battlehammer (Forgotten Realms)
• Pg 21: Drizzt Do'Urden (Forgotten Realms)
• Pg 42: Farideh (Forgotten Realms)
• Pg 137: Catti-brie (Forgotten Realms)
• Pg 179: Alaeros Margaster (Forgotten Realms)
• Pg 200: Possibly Dalamar (Dragonlance)

MM:

• Cover: The Xanathar (Forgotten Realms)
• Pg 47: Lord Soth (Dragonlance)
• Pg 48: Acererak, in demilich form (Greyhawk)
• Pg 127: Nezznar, the Black Spider (Forgotten Realms)
• Pg 202: Szass Tam (Forgotten Realms)
• Pg 232: Psilofyr, the Carrion King (4E default setting, Feywild)
• Pg 295: Strahd von Zarovich (Ravenloft)
• Pg 343: Possibly Rath Modar, but certainly a Red Wizard (Forgotten Realms)

DMG:

• Cover: Acererak, in lich form (Greyhawk)
• Page 7: The dwarf is Barrowin Undurr, but the rest of the party don't precisely match her canon companions or the miniatures in the Icons of the Realm Starter Set that included her (Forgotten Realms)
• Page 70: The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga (all settings, Feywild)
• Page 91: The Xanathar (Forgotten Realms)