I need NPCs!

[DerianCypher]

Hello everyone,
I need some help coming up with NPCs. For those who'd like to help please please Email them to DerianCypher@Yahoo.com . I can use as many as I possibly can get. Here are the parameters:

-32 point buy
-Use NPC classes or PC classes as neccassary
-Make them Shop owners, Tavern runners, government officials etc.
-Include traits and physical features.
-If You want include a very brief history

THANK YOU to everyone who helps. I am just under a lot of pressure to come up with NPCs for a city based campaign. I've got a healthy amount now but I am running dry on ideas. Mainly I want to get the main shops/inns/buildings done in the event my PCs want to go in and see whats happening.

BTW- I've tried NPC generators and haven't really found anything that works well enough.

Again, Thanks!

JW

 

[Oni]

Just one question you might want to ask yourself before you get into all the work of creating these NPC's. Do they really need to be all stat'd out, are the PC's going to be interacting with them on the level that all that depth is really required?

Just food for thought.

 

[DerianCypher]

Short Answer: Yes
Long Answer: My PCs have the bad tendency of trying to... do things to NPCs, Lie, cheat steal from them. I am prolly going to need stats for saves/skills/etc.

 

[LostSoul]

Why not just use a general table of skills?

ie. Skills:
utter crap: -2
average untrained: +0
average apprentice: +4
average journeyman: +6
average trained worker: +8
highly skilled: +12
local guru: +14
etc.

When the PCs interact with an NPC, figure out where they might fall on the table for the skill (or save or attack value) needed and just use those modifiers.

 

[Sodalis]

that is when you BS rolls. Just ball park a number.

Say, if a PC wants to pickpocket a waitress, set the DC at 10. not hard, but not agimme. No listen, spot check required.

If your PC wants to fight with an NPC, have him take a couple shots- with... ooohhh sayyyyy, +5 melee.

I have finally learned the true use of the DM's rule Zero- the entire game is a rule Zero. By that, I mean that you are the final arbitor of the game. If you want the barkeep to be in the game from beginning to the end, and the PCs want to fight with him... well surprise to them. They can deal 100000 pts of damage and he will still live. If they ask why, just say that he has a special aura around him that you cannot detect.

DMing is fun, and your job is to keep the game moving. If the PC wants to slow down the story with meaningless babble and pickpocket and tripping the waitress and pickin fights with hobos. Then make it one for them to remember. the waitress is actually a rogue trying to hide form the law. The hobo is a monk that abandoned society long ago and lives his life as a hermit...

If they are doing little thinkgs like pickpocket, let them a couple times a game. After that, just kill them for interfering. If they need an explaination why they dies, then say that Nerull willed them to die.

 

[LostSoul]

If they are doing little thinkgs like pickpocket, let them a couple times a game. After that, just kill them for interfering. If they need an explaination why they dies, then say that Nerull willed them to die.

Err, stuff like this really annoys me when I'm a player. If I do something that the DM doesn't want me to, it fails. Nothing I can do can influence the world if the DM doesn't want it. The DM doesn't want to watch the world change and grow with the input of the players.

If your players are doing things that you just can't stand, maybe you shouldn't DM with that group.

 

[Deadguy]

I think Sodalis has conflated two things here, LostSoul:

1. Dealing Quickly with Irrelevancies: the PC wants to pick the landlord's pocket, for whatever reason. Sometimes it's because the players are barking up the wrong tree, and they're convinced they can find the proff that really he is the disguised Lord Evil; other times PCs do these things for kicks (I have seen ti done to get back at a DM when he's made a call they didn't like!). Either way, the DM knows that it isn't important (e.g. the landlord is just a landlord, and it's coincidence that they're in this tavern). In that case, it's fine to just eyeball things, applying Rule Zero. and quickly resolving the matter. It's just a timesaver for all concerned.
   
2. Preserving the Plotline: this is a lot more tricky and can be downright dubious. Some DMs are very strong on plotline, so a iittle fudging can help preserve the story which he hopes the players will enjoy; others (and their players) prefer to let the world unfold as the dice fall, so it would be anathema. But even if you are a strongly story-driven DM, you have to use care. The example of the landlord with the magic aura that absorbs all blows is crass, and is going to get up the nose of almost any player. But even if the story requires the landlord to survive, there are ways of doing it that seem natural (maybe one of the patrons of the tavern protects him from the PCs, or the Watch come by and break things up, or a fire breaks out threatening the PCs so they must retreat). Better still, ask yourself whether you actually need the landlord to survive; maybe someone else can stand in in his stead, or a better story unfolds because of his death. You have a point, LostSoul, that leaving a PC feeling helpless to change anything is a surefire way to turn him off the game; but it is possible to actually achieve that effect whilst giving the impression of total free will (it just takes a lot of practice!
   [/list=1]

 

[S'mon]

Any GM who arbitrarily uses million-hp invulnerable barkeeps is a sh*tty GM who doesn't deserve players IMO. OTOH arbitraily giving him 30 hp & a +5 Attack bonus is fine, it _could_ be justified easily enough in the rules, but doesn't have to be.

BTW 32-point buy for mundane storekeeper-type NPCs seems ridiculous, that means they get 14+ on most stats! Simply makes '14' the average stat instead of '10' and cheapens the PC's own stats. They should be done on 15 or 18 point buy or rolled on 3d6.

 

[LostSoul]

I think Sodalis has conflated two things here, LostSoul:

I understood that, that's why I only quoted the part I disagreed with. The first part (dealing with the trivial) I agree with. Might as well just eyeball a +0 for any NPC with a skill that they don't reasonably have any ranks in.

I don't agree with preserving the plotline. All you are doing is saying, "Sorry guys, this is the way I want the game to go, there's nothing you can do about it." Maybe some players don't mind, but it gets on my nerves.

I've been guilty of this more than once, and I've learned my lesson the hard way.

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

*Cough* Request was for NPCs not opinions *Cough*
I'll see what I can do for you. How many levels do you want these NPCs to have? A ballpark figure would be cool.
What's the setting like? Urban, obviously, but is there high magic, low magic? Who runs the city? Who REALLY runs the city? Are the people treated fairly, is there corruption? A little background will help ensure that the NPCs people submit (When they finish telling you how to stat out your characters. *sigh* They mean well.) fit better into your campaign.




Edit: Spaces between words are good.