“Monstrous” NPCs

[Wolfpack48]

Even AD&D had half-orcs, so there's always been some inkling of an idea that orcs were not completely mindless. And plenty of old school dungeons had monsters who parleyed. I'm guessing some players don't want nuance or roleplay and want to feel free to just hack and slash.

 

[Celebrim]

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.

My players tried to use Speak to Plants on a carnivorous plant. They eventually figured out:

a) Plants are typically very stupid.
b) Plants do not have a lot of sensory organs.
c) The plant was interpreting all the attempts to bargain with it as suggestions to feed it. Yes, it would like if the party walked past it. Of course it would.

 

[R_J_K75]

Even AD&D had half-orcs, so there's always been some inkling of an idea that orcs were not completely mindless.

In one of the 2E Monstrous Compendium Annuals, (which there was 4) there was a sub species of orc from the Forgotten Realms that were peaceful good aligned non-nomadic farmers. Found it.

Ondonti

The ondontis were a rare race of orcs living in an isolated part of the Tortured Lands of north Faerûn. They were brought up to be pacifists in the faith of Eldath, the Goddess of Peace and Quiet Places.[1][2][3] Ondontis looked like typical orcs in all external respects. Both males and females...

forgottenrealms.fandom.com

 

[Bill Zebub]

I like that cosmopolitan approach far better than "all X are evil" approach.

Sure, that works in a make-believe fantasy game.

But we all know that people from the other political party are evil.

 

[the Jester]

If you're not supposed to talk to monsters, why do they have languages?

If you can talk to it, it can tell you what it wants. If it can tell you what it wants, you can try to help it gain that- in other words, it can give you a "quest". (Or a rumor.)

If I ever had a player rage quit over this, I think I would feel like I dodged a bullet.

 

[Tonguez]

I think thats part of my scale of fantasy

1 Human only - Mundane
2 Mostly Human - Lite Fantasy
3 Fey, Talking Animals NPC - Whimsical Fantasy
4 Demihuman Only NPC - Low Fantasy
5 Monster NPCs - Epic Fantasy

Its rough and inaccurate but heh

 

[Fifinjir]

How does he define an “NPC”? The skeleton who gets smashed to pieces in the first turn it appears is still technically an non player character.

 

[John Dallman]

How does he define an “NPC”? The skeleton who gets smashed to pieces in the first turn it appears is still technically an non player character.

I GM fantasy in what seems to be an unusual way. I treat every sapient creature as a PC that I'm looking after because their player isn't participating. None of them are interested in getting pointlessly killed, so I don't have "mooks."

 

[Hriston]

For the edition of D&D I play (5.0), I don't distinguish between monsters and NPCs. I have "encounters". Whether the encountered creature(s) will attack or talk first depends on a few factors:

• If their Int <5 and they aren't surprised, they attack.
• If their Int =5 or greater and the party is surprised but obviously stronger, they try to avoid the party.
• If their Int =5 or greater and the party is surprised and not obviously stronger, they attack.
• If their Int =5 or greater and the party is not surprised, they open a dialogue with the party.

If the party responds with words, I ask for a Cha check from the speaking PC, the result of which sets the starting attitude of the encountered creature(s). A particularly low result could cause them to attack. A very high result could cause them to help unconditionally.

ETA: Of course, there’s another category of fictional entities which could be called NPCs but would not be subject to the “monster” rules given above, which is people, contacts, relatives, etc. with which a PC has an established relationship as part of their build. These operate more as powers to be invoked by the player (subject to ability check in some cases).

 

[Richards]

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

The orc and the pie à la mode?

Johnathan