“Monstrous” NPCs

[Ralif Redhammer]

Going back to old Judges Guild books in the 70s and 80s, those were filled with NPC monsters you could interact with in towns and settlements. Heck, some of the dungeons even had taverns in them.

 

[rhythmsoundmotion]

I don't agree, but I would say beware who you make bargains with. If you make a bargain with something like a dragon that considers conversation with you part of a dining experience, don't be surprised if it goes badly.

I guess it also depends on the players, if bargaining with dragon leads to the expectation of being a new item on the menu. But maybe the players have the expectation that the dragon is helping you because it hurts someone the dragon really dislikes. And if the players don’t figure out why then that someone could be trying to kill them before sunrise.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I was talking with a game master (not on ENWorld) when I realized why I might disagree with many people.
They believed only the “standard” ancestries should be NPCs. In other words if the player characters are getting rumors, quests, or advice it’s going to be a human, dwarf, elf, gnome, halfling or similar.
I don’t have such a prohibition, I think the players can be lead by rumors of a reward to discussing returning an item stolen from a Gnoll settlement. Or the were rats might know who is at the graveyard stealing bodies.
This to me explains why I am so interested in details about certain monsters, because it adds detail to these NPC to party communications. Whereas many others just want the stat block, thank you very much.

I want setting details about every monster, because all of them can be interacted with outside of combat. The more of that we get (from anyone) the happier I am.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Now I want a thread called "Orcs like vanilla ice cream."

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm the same as you on this. I don't care what kin or species or race the NPC comes from. Anyone can be a quest giver, a shopkeeper, a bartender, etc. I like that cosmopolitan approach far better than "all X are evil" approach. That's just boring to me. Especially after dealing with it for 20+ years before abandoning it. But it's not a common approach. I've had D&D5E players rage quit on me because my orcs weren't mindless savages.

I don't see, "any intelligent creature can be a quest-giver" as synonymous with, "everywhere is cosmopolitan". The first I support completely. The second I don't outside of a particular setting concept.

 

[R_J_K75]

I've had D&D5E players rage quit on me because my orcs weren't mindless savages.

This is hilarious, definitely the funniest thing I've read (or heard) all year. I almost choked on my Heineken laughing.

Wow. That's disappointing. I'm not actually surprised, cos people are weird. But still... wow.

Not disappointing, pathetic is the word I'd use. But you are right people are weird. If someone takes the game that seriously and flip out over something that petty, they got more serious problems. I've had people rage quit on me before, "IM NEVER PLAYING HERE AGAIN!!", You'll be missed...

 

[aramis erak]

I was talking with a game master (not on ENWorld) when I realized why I might disagree with many people.
They believed only the “standard” ancestries should be NPCs. In other words if the player characters are getting rumors, quests, or advice it’s going to be a human, dwarf, elf, gnome, halfling or similar.
I don’t have such a prohibition, I think the players can be lead by rumors of a reward to discussing returning an item stolen from a Gnoll settlement. Or the were rats might know who is at the graveyard stealing bodies.
This to me explains why I am so interested in details about certain monsters, because it adds detail to these NPC to party communications. Whereas many others just want the stat block, thank you very much.

I'm of the "Anything as smart as a chimp can be an NPC" type. Sometimes, I've even let less intelligent beings be NPCs.

I['ve even let the occasional PC be something less than human. Alien, one of the adventures has rules for a cat PC (as a replacement PC)...

And, if there's a speak to animals and speak to plants, anything living becomes a potential NPC.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

What a weird distinction to make... Like what? I have never encountered this. Of course you can discuss, negotiate, interact etc with anything that has mental and communicative capacity to do so. Now not every individual is friendly and willing to listen to you, but that goes for PC species as well.

 

[aco175]

I tend to have the majority of questgivers be one the PHB races. These are the races that are in the towns and cities 99% of the time. Heck, they are 80% of the things they meet on the road that do not attack them.

 

[MGibster]

As a general rule, I'd say most of the "quest givers" in any campaign I run are going to be your typical PC species. My next planned scenario for my group has them attempting to broker a peace between an orc tribe and the city of Greyhawk, so there are going to be some orc quest givers there.