D&D General Are NPCs like PCs?
I answered it in my post you quoted: the participants.
Just like you did right there.
Did "named" come up about 1e? (If so, thanks in advance for a link or idea how far back) I only saw it in @Sacrosanct 's #160 about 5e.Hrm, so, what is Lord Soth? An NPC or a Monster? It can't be an NPC because it's not humanoid, it's undead. But, it cannot be a Monster because it has a name. But, it cannot be an NPC because it doesn't use PC build rules. But, it cannot be an NPC...
Congratulations, quantum rules. Pretty much par for the course really. Any discussion about older editions eventually reaches the point where the rules will say anything we want them to say and then claim superiority over other edition rules.
I can't count how many times that has happened, and always a positive outcome.
Helldritch
Hero
To the bolded part. Yep. The accronym NPC is often used for monsters as well but it was not necessarily so. It is from this confusion that many forgot that there were two kind of NPCs. Humanoids that could be PCs and all the rest. So yep, the bolded part is correct and the rule.
Sacrosanct
Legend
Nothing I remember or could find that says NPCs have to be humanoids, even if the rules seem to imply. But humanoid doesn't exclude undead. That claim is....weird at the very least (Hello Ctenmillr, or even Strahd!). They just have to be unique personalities with their own traits. Since the death knight came out in 1981 in Fiend Folio, and the DL modules came after, Soth is statt'd out in those modules as a death knight (with unique attributes and personality). He follows the same rules as PC do. I.e., his fireball does the same thing as a 20th level magic user PC's fireball would do. To argue that a 9 HD PC can't cast a 20th level fireball proves they don't follow the same rules is odd to me, because each class does different things anyway. A 20th level cleric will have different casting ability as a 20th level paladin for instance. If his abilities didn't follow the same rules, then there wouldn't even be any mention of "20th level caster ability", it would just define what the power did right there in the stat block. It's literally comparing his powers to a PC of a certain level.
Sacrosanct
Legend
Is Soth an NPC? (and can monsters be NPCs?) Sure seems that way since the mid 80s at least 
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
The 1e DMG lists monsters under Non-Player Characters (Roles of the DM) on page 103. Monsters have been NPCs from at least 1e on.Is Soth an NPC? (and can monsters be NPCs?) Sure seems that way since the mid 80s at least
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billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
NOT the rules. The physics of the setting are defined by the conventions of the genre whether science fiction, fantasy, super heroic, whatever.
The rules operationalize physics for the game.
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