D&D 5E Phandelver Nothic

Lowlin · Feb 9, 2021

I did the Gollum voice. Offering secrets about the hideout for bodies or valuables. One body or 30GP for a small secret(like location of undiscovered enemies) and 3 bodies or 100GP for a big secret(secret door to Glasstaff)
"Strangers give tasssty flessshies or shinies. Put in crevasse for secrets." When they discovered the chest under the bridge it became mad and threatened attack. "NO! My shiniesss. No touch!"

Lowlin · Feb 9, 2021

But I agree with people saying that the Nothic i strangely place. It can gain insight into players secrets. But since my players were new to D&D.. they had not had the time to "become" or symphatise with their characters enough for them to fear the Nothic revealing their secrets.

Democratus · Feb 9, 2021

jayoungr · Feb 9, 2021

Mine sounded more like Peter Lorre.

The 13-year-old player of the rogue said he was "very nice" and worried about him starving to death after we cleared out the bandits. This says more about her than about the nothic...

jgsugden · Feb 9, 2021

I built a tool a ways back. It is an excel spreadsheet. It has columns for:

Name
Source
Intelligence
Charisma
Wisdom
Sanity
Honor
Confidence
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Extravertness
Openness
Stress Tolerance
Melodrama

I treat these like ability scores (ranked 3 to 30). When I see a TV, movie, etc... character I enjoy, I drop them on this sheet and assign them scores for some or all of these categories. I really only use 3, 7, 10, 13, 16, 20, 25 and 30 on the chart. I am trying to remember where all the categories came from, but I can't for the life of me.

Then, when I need an NPC personality and nothing jumps out at me, I filter it down to the right range for the most relevant categories for the NPC and select one to use. I then do my best impression of the character, which is usually unrecognizable, but reminiscent from a style perspective. When writing the adventure, I can just drop in the name in brackets next to the NPC in the notes and I have an instant personality all ready to go.

It has about a thousand characters on it now from Buffy, Marvel, GoT, Gilmore Girls, Critical Role, 1980s Cartoons, Die Hard, the Sopranos ... anything I've seen, and in some case read.

embee · Feb 9, 2021

ASMR Gollum is my go-to for him.

Mull Ponders · Feb 9, 2021

My players came in through the tunnel and the Nothic contacted them (one spoke undercommon). He had a grievance against Glassstaff, who had not been feeding him "fresh" meat. The Nothic told them about the roast chicken they had for dinner, then it threw out an arm and made it boil with necrotic damage as "proof" that Glassstaff was reneging on his deal. The Nothic mostly stayed hidden, they would get the occasional glimpse of a strange green limb or a gigantic eye. In the end they made a deal, it told them of the secret door. In exchange, they would give it Glassstaffs body, then it would give them the sword it owned, which it had no use for.

I played it as alternately enraged and insane with moments of lucidity and supernatural knowledge due to Truesight and it's Weird Insight ability.

Rhenny · Feb 9, 2021

In my campaign, I had the nothic telepathically speak with the Dwarven cleric in the party. He would say how disappointed Moradin was with his performance and such. It creeped the player out. Then, the nothic tried to get the cleric to jump off the cliff to show his faith. The player was really thinking about it. He asked me over and over if he had to roll for anything. I just told him to do what he thought was right. It was one of the most powerful and memorable roleplaying moments that had nothing to do with game mechanics or rules. It was priceless.

Eventually the player decided to have his pc ponder, but then a bunch of Red Brands attacked and the nothic snuck up and tried to take the cleric down. The cleric and the party prevailed in the end.

Charlaquin · Feb 10, 2021

The Nothic in the redbrand hideout is up there with the mimic in Death House in terms of most out-of-place enemies of all time.

Democratus · Feb 10, 2021

I liked having the Nothic there. It served as a reminder that the world below their feet was strange and unsettling.

Anything underground is always in danger of intersecting with the Mythic Underworld. Enter any dungeon at your peril.

D&D 5E Phandelver Nothic

Lowlin

Villager

Lowlin

Villager

Democratus

Adventurer

jayoungr

Legend

jgsugden

Legend

embee

Lawyer by day. Rules lawyer by night.

Mull Ponders

Explorer

Rhenny

Adventurer

Charlaquin

Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)

Democratus

Adventurer

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