I need NPCs!

[Oni]

Something I forgot to mention yesterday. Maybe someone's mentioned it since then but I'm feeling to lazy to read the whole thread, anywho if you have a computer handy you can just come up with whatever you need on the spot, and if you don't have one handy you could spit out a few ahead of time (npc's that is).

Try Jamis Buck's NPC generator.

http://www.aarg.net/~minam/npc.cgi

 

[Don21584]

I would rather be nice and go along with the campaign my ever so gracious DM spent hours upon making, as opposed to farting around and doing what a 1 month D&D player with the CE Lvl 1 Rogue would do every turn of the road.

 

[S'mon]

Well, I know everyone means well, but here's the deal. So many times I have seen someone post a request like this and, rather than address the request, someone posts their own idea. Then someone says something about how that idea stinks and their own is better. Then the thread becomes a debate between a bunch of people touting their own ideas while the poor person who made the initial request gets ignored.

This is mostly directed towards the well meaning individual who suggested that the 32 point buy was ridiculous (you know who you are). It's not ridiculous if that's what DerianCypher wants, end of story. Why waste his time talking about that when we can chuck out some NPCs?
An NPC is a character, a personality, not a number you reference when you need a save. And that's part of what was asked for, personalities to flesh out the city's population.

So let's quit discussing this and see how we can help, shall we? We all mean well, but the proverbial path to hell is paved with good intentions.
No offense intended of course.

I think the idea that I'm not allowed to post an opinion in response to a post in the GENERAL DISCUSSION FORUM (for Chrissakes!) is also ridiculous.

 

[S'mon]

Off the bat, I must apologize for not coming up with an NPC, but I really feel I must address something someone said that really caught my eye.

"Any GM who arbitrarily uses million-hp invulnerable barkeeps is a sh*tty GM who doesn't deserve players IMO."

This has to be one of the worst sentences I've EVER read. So if you let your players start a new party at, say, 9th level, and they feel they're so powerful, you'd just let them up and KILL the weapon shop keepers, armor shop keepers, and kill anyone they want? I don't think so, sometimes there are people who should NOT be killed, "just because." Yes, it is supposed to be fun for the players, but not to the point where they can feel they can do WHATEVER they want.

If start PCs off at 9th level, yes, that means they're near-legendary warriors & wizards and of course they can take out some shopkeeper if they want to. The shopkeeper might have a few levels if he's an ex-mercenary, he may have guards if the shop has valuable goods, but if the PCs can take out the Great Dragon Wormscather they can certainly take out a bloody shopkeeper! PCs have freedom of choice. Anything else reduces it to the level of a bad computer game.
Of course if they kill a popular NPC there'll be reprisals from the city guard, friends of the NPC, etc. But I won't stop them trashing the campaign setting if that's what they want to do and their PCs are logically capable of doing it. Of course their Alignments will probably become CE or similar if they weren't already.

Oh yeah:

Derak the Weaponsmith: Fighter 4/Expert2, LN, 40 hp, Armoursmithing +8, has 32 STAT pts...

 

[S'mon]

There's a line between suspension and just plain doing whatever the hell you want, and just playing an RPG with no guidelines/campaigns. It's supposed to be an adventure, and there's no adventure in saying "ok, I want that +1 longsword, but I don't have enough for it, I try to kill the weaponsmith with my dagger!"

I have never seen a case where there's an item available for sale that 9th level PCs want but don't have the money to get. That kind of thing happens around 1st-3rd level, and if you want to make a weaponsmith and/or his guards tougher than 3rd level PCs, that's plausible enough. If you've got +5 swords offered for sale in your weapon shops you deserve everything you get, because you've made the shop a more attractive target than the adventure/dungeon. In effect you've made the shop the adventure.

 

[Al]

The balance has to be struck, however, between a realistic level of security and a realistic level of power for the shopkeeper.

It is unrealistic (and downright stupid) to make the general store merchant a 20th level elite combat wizard with an arsenal of Minor Artefacts, Chain Contingencies and a legion of double-HD iron golems out the back.

However, if the store is now stocking +5 longswords, the DM must step back and reconsider. These item are hugely valuable, and are top military-grade hardware for the DnD game. It is highly likely that whilst he may probably be a high-level expert (he is likely to be a rich experienced merchant with that sort of capital) he may well have some retired adventurers as mercenaries and guards. Thus, the million-hp shopkeep is silly. The canny merchant will a level of security proportionate to the value of his items is not.

And besides, if the PCs do go around killing shopkeeps and looting shops, it won't be long before the local militia are contacted. And if they're not too tough, the national army may be called in. There's nothing like the king's personal assault troops teleporting in and annihilating the miscreants to stop troublemakers.

 

[Darkness]

Seems like a Rogues' Gallery thread to me.

 

[DerianCypher]

Thanks for the imput everyone, but really my problem isn't SPECIFICALLY with stats, but with NPC traits. I am running dry on ideas of how characters should act and such. Here is the requested info:

Races: All PHB races
Levels: No more than 4
Area: It's going to be in a moderate to high magic campaign. In fact, the tower of magi (basically the world's Wiz/Sor guild) is in the city.
Government: The city is run by a mayor who is generally good but is influenced by several things. The mage guild has HUGE influence in the city as well as the thieves guild. There was a bargain between the thieves guild and the mayor to keep robbberys down in exchange for money and having guards look the other way every so often.

All the people in the city are treated pretty much the same, which is fair.

All the races will be present in the city. half orcs probably being the least common and humans being the most.

uhm.. this is all I can think of.

 

[S'mon]

Thanks for the imput everyone, but really my problem isn't SPECIFICALLY with stats, but with NPC traits. I am running dry on ideas of how characters should act and such. Here is the requested info:

Races: All PHB races
Levels: No more than 4
Area: It's going to be in a moderate to high magic campaign. In fact, the tower of magi (basically the world's Wiz/Sor guild) is in the city.
Government: The city is run by a mayor who is generally good but is influenced by several things. The mage guild has HUGE influence in the city as well as the thieves guild. There was a bargain between the thieves guild and the mayor to keep robbberys down in exchange for money and having guards look the other way every so often.

All the people in the city are treated pretty much the same, which is fair.

All the races will be present in the city. half orcs probably being the least common and humans being the most.

uhm.. this is all I can think of.

I think most GMs wing this stuff. You can roll a d10 as in 1e AD&D for Alignment:

1 LG
2 NG
3 CG
4 LN
5 N
6 CN
7 LE
8 NE
9 CE
0 N

And go from there, eg possibilities include
LG - just, cautious, law-abiding
CG free-spirited, erratic, joker
N - selfish, disinterested, greedy
NE malicious, spiteful, deceitful
CE vicious, sadistic, hateful

For underworld scum roll eg d6+4, for shopkeepers roll d6, etc.