Fanaelialae
Legend
Now you're fully missing my point.Which is better: bland and repetitive or eccentric? I'll follow the lead of a good fiction and go 'eccentric' - or at least with a notable personality - every time.
There is a huge difference between randomly giving enemies defences to thwart PCs on the fly and establishing depth for the NPCs that the players are engaging.
Let's say that the PCs walk up to a guard at a city gate. Prior to that session I had not expected them to go to that city. I had not considered what the gate situation would be. However, their unexpected course of action is putting me into an improvisation mode. As they apprach the gate the sorcerer casts charm person on the guard... who I have only described as, "... a lone human guard in tattered armor sitting on a makeshift stool with a weathered crossbow on his lap." All I know about the town is that they're paranoid about recent werewolf attacks, really.
What is the correct answer as to how this situation should be resolved?
I say there is no one correct answer. Your answer seems to be saying there is unless the DM is effectively cheating, there should be a typical person personality template applied.
In my game, the second the PCs decide to interact with that guard I decide on a personality for him. I don't expect him to be a main character, so I treat him like a secondary character. In most movies, tv, or novels a secondary (or minor) character is given one or two significant personality traits to distinguish them. I can either just pick one or two at random from my brain (or randomly roll them up if I have a table - there are plenty of tables out there), or I can do what I actually do. I think of a minor character from some book, movie, or tv show that was in a similar position and let the guard emulate that character.
I might pick one of the vicious Gold Cloaks from a scene in the Game of Thrones tv show. I might pick a thug from some cop show. I might pick Ted Raimi's minor character from Army of Darkness ("You can count on my steel."). Instant personality. And that instant personality gives me something to play off of on a charm person, or other social interaction.
Gold Cloak: "Eh, now what have we here? Good to see you didn't get torn up out there. Dangerous out there tonight with the wolves so active. I've been told to keep the gates closed til morning. You can hang out here with me - I wouldn't mind the company."
Thug: "What the heck you doing out there, fool? You're going to get killed. It ain't safe with the recent attacks. I'm not supposed to be letting anyone in the city, but... if you have a few coins for me to bribe my boss if he catches us, I can get you in safe now. Interested?"
Ted: "Hail and well met! I'm glad to see fellow brave heroes ready to defend the town. You're here to join me on watch I take it? I don't need the backup, obviously, but if you're here anywa... WHAT WAS THAT... oh, you have a cat. I, uhhh ... it just caught me off guard."
I suggest giving the Critical Role podcast a listen for other examples of on the fly personality (although he also prepares a lot more detail than most DMs).
Pulling back to charm person: If you have one generic personality for minor characters, maybe it will be the 'auto-win' you fear. In my experience, that does not need to be true, nor does it result in complaints from players when it isn't an autowin.
I'm really not missing your point. And I listen to Critical Role all the time.
I never said that you have to create a single, bland, generic personality to use with improvised NPCs. I said that they should generally behave in a typical manner.
Let's say 90% of real world people would accept a hot beverage from a friendly co-worker (a friendly acquaintance). If a significantly higher percentage of your guards refuse that hot beverage on the basis of paranoia (or whatever) then you're distorting the NPC personalities to foil the PCs. They're not realistic reactions and sooner or later your players will notice the pattern. Sure, Lawfulevil City might have a blanket rule that guards may not accept hot beverages while on duty, but if every little town and village has the same rule it begins to strain credulity.
I knew at least one DM back in the day who pulled this kind of stuff on a regular basis. He wasn't considered to be a very good DM and eventually got kicked from the group.
Sure, you can base an NPC on a character from fiction (or even the real world). Handy improvisation tool. But if you find that the personalities you pull from that hat disproportionately nullify what the PCs intend, you might be subconsciously biasing the selection process. And you may want to check that habit before you wreck your game.
There are people out there who won't give the time of day to a friendly acquaintance, but they are few and far between. As long as your request is reasonable, or better yet framed as being helpful towards the target, most people are inclined to go along with it.