Questions tagged [npc]
For questions about NPCs (non-player characters). NPC refers to any character in an RPG whose decisions and actions are handled by the game master (or a designated assistant) rather than by a player.
305
questions
16
votes
6answers
615 views
How to show emotions differently for different NPCs?
I'm the DM of the group.
This is more of an acting question rather than one about mechanics.
As my group and I have progressed through our game I've introduced several recurring characters to it. ...
11
votes
1answer
1k views
What kind of ooze does the Pudding King transform into?
In Out of the Abyss, the stats of the Pudding King include the following action (page 233):
However, it does not mention what kind of ooze he transforms into. What kind of ooze does the Pudding King ...
-3
votes
1answer
554 views
Can a PC protected by copyright be used by the DM without player permission? [closed]
A player owns the copyright on their character as long as that character meets copyright criteria and was featured in something before being in the campaign, such as a backstory or drawing. This has ...
10
votes
4answers
614 views
How can I force good NPC reactions to a bad player with Good Stuff?
So, I'm running an Amber Diceless game. One of the characters took 21 points of Good Stuff at the beginning, because they want to save up to 25 to buy Advanced Pattern Imprint after the game starts. ...
asked Sep 6 '18 at 19:53
Please stop being evil
63.6k13 gold badges141 silver badges288 bronze badges
7
votes
2answers
1k views
Is Drizzt an NPC in Storm King's Thunder?
In episode 34 of the Dice, Camera, Action! D&D stream, the legendary elf Drizzt makes an appearance. Is this a custom plotline that Chris Perkins added, or is the drow really one of the NPCs that ...
8
votes
2answers
2k views
Leveling up NPCs in Out of The Abyss
I am about to run Out of the Abyss for the first time and was wondering about how I should manage the NPCs that escape with the party from Velkenvelve. My goals for them are as follows: the NPCs...
...
2
votes
3answers
334 views
How can I level up or use my NPC army?
In my current campaign, I’ve managed to secure myself a fairly large kingdom, with an army of over 10,000 level 10s at my disposal. This would be incredibly useful if we weren’t in a fairly epic level ...
33
votes
3answers
6k views
As a DM, do I have to declare the actions that NPCs ready?
A question arose when I was reading the PHB's section about "Actions in Combat: Ready" that reads:
Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular circumstance before you act. ...
46
votes
6answers
14k views
Players constantly capture enemies and question them, how to deal with it?
I'm running a campaign for five sixth level players and the bard has hypnotic pattern. Whenever the party runs into any fights with enemies who can speak, they always find some way of making an enemy ...
33
votes
6answers
5k views
Does having a recurring NPC ally incur the same risks as having a GMPC?
I'm brand new to table-top RPGs and I am my group's DM (D&D 5e). I've been brainstorming ideas to work into our next campaign after LMoP, and I'm liking the idea of recurrent NPCs who are on their ...
2
votes
0answers
291 views
How do I deal with all the NPCs in Out of the Abyss? [closed]
Most combat tips were to either give them to players or make a background scene where they would be fighting. But how do I keep track of the progression of the living NPC and loot share, etc?
2
votes
0answers
176 views
Character build- Baron Harkonnen [closed]
I want to build an NPC villain inspired from the Dune character, Baron Vladimir Harkonen. Said character is an extremely sadistic, cruel, corrupt noble who is ugly and so fat he uses a flying chair to ...
19
votes
3answers
3k views
What is the “+ 75” in these NPC hit point stats?
I see NPCs with stat blocks that have "Hit Points: 142 (15d8 + 75)" (for example). I was wondering where the "+ 75" (in this case) came from?
11
votes
1answer
336 views
How should I handle signalling & costuming for an “ascended mook”?
I am a crew member with a LARP system. When I'm playing a minor NPC who isn't very important to the wider plot, I have some fairly standard and basic kit that I just throw on. If I'm a labourer, I've ...
26
votes
7answers
6k views
How can I introduce an “enemy” faction NPC without players killing them?
I have a campaign I'm running that heavily involves cultists working to save the planes in a kind of "we live here too and would prefer not to die" motivation. There is a cultist that one of the ...
8
votes
2answers
3k views
What are the stages of influencing Hostile NPCs?
Backstory
I want to make myself a homebrew XP system to better deal with how to reward experience points to my players for roleplay, spellcasting, and combat respectively, with a separate XP track for ...
68
votes
12answers
16k views
How do I indicate to my players that an NPC is no longer useful and that they should move on?
I am a rather new DM, still learning stuff.
So I have noticed that my characters tend to talk too much with the NPCs, trying to get a lot of information, and probably even trying to 'cheat', thinking ...
0
votes
1answer
400 views
Tips for flirting with NPC [closed]
I play a character that's currently in love with an NPC, but it's not working. I wanted some hints about what to do, and what to say (gestures, actions, etc.) to make him fall for me. Apparently he ...
30
votes
2answers
4k views
How can I tell how many damage dice to roll for an NPCs cantrip?
For PCs, cantrip damage increases with their total character level and not their class level (see this question for reference).
However, NPCs do not normally have class levels, and their stat blocks ...
6
votes
2answers
248 views
How can I get PCs to care about NPCs in trouble?
I am running a game where I would prefer the characters personally feel invested in some NPCs and want to help them. I can near force the mission on them as "will of the gods," but I'd rather not.
...
8
votes
1answer
248 views
Can NPCs have fight-or-flight reactions to intimidation instead of just submitting?
I was DMing the second session of my first game a few weeks ago and I started thinking about how I should have handled a particular situation. We had 3 PCs being assisted by a cleric NPC; this same ...
14
votes
3answers
4k views
How to make deception by NPCs work in an engaging manner
We are playing in a world with a certain degree of realism. For me, this includes deception.
Deception can be found anywhere:
Making a small and probably inconsequential lie to make yourself look ...
26
votes
13answers
18k views
How to create a villain for level 1 players
I want to build a cool devil overlord as a villain for a group of three level 1 PCs.
How would I go about making a villain who's more powerful than them without going overboard?
Should I be scared to ...
19
votes
4answers
3k views
How is the contradiction in this NPC's backstory in Curse of Strahd resolved?
This question includes NPC lore spoilers for Curse of Strahd, proceed at your own risk.
While running Curse of Strahd and prepping ahead, I have happened upon a rather glaring contradiction in the ...
27
votes
7answers
7k views
Curing NPC phobia
This is a another version of Curing trap phobia, but as you can guess, the party is now using Insight checks on all NPCs they meet!
I've cut down encounters with unnecessary NPCs, so every NPC they ...
8
votes
5answers
2k views
Having trouble roleplaying as a DM [duplicate]
So, this is my first time DMing a continuous campaign. I'm finally (after five or so sessions) getting good grips on a lot of the stuff, but I'm very much still struggling with the role-playing ...
4
votes
1answer
339 views
Identifying and invoking enemy aspects
In Fate Core i know that you can invoke the aspect of your enemies against them like making someone who has Trouble Controlling Strength get the Aspect Overextended by invoking it and saying due to ...
16
votes
4answers
3k views
NPC-only interactions by player request
So, my players want the NPCs to communicate with one another more, and I don't know how to handle that without taking spotlight away from the PCs... Anything I can do to compromise?
2
votes
2answers
4k views
Does the player have control of a Ranger's Companion?
There are many ways to create new creatures in D&D 5e, one of which is animate objects which gives the player full control of the creatures when he/she uses a bonus action:
As a bonus action, ...
5
votes
3answers
4k views
Does a player have control of a familiar?
There are many ways to create new creatures in D&D 5e, one of which is animate objects which gives the player full control of the creatures when he/she uses a bonus action:
As a bonus action, ...
20
votes
7answers
10k views
What do NPCs do with gained XP?
I'm the DM of our group with several player characters, and often there are NPCs with the party as well (partly because the party really likes persuading friendly creatures to come join them, and ...
4
votes
4answers
340 views
Could Tasslehoff Burrfoot have stolen a belt buckle without anyone noticing? [closed]
My uncle had Tasslehoff Burrfoot steal my freind's belt buckle and replace it with string before he could notice. Was this actually reasonably possible for him? What are Tasslehoff Burrfoot's stats?
13
votes
4answers
816 views
How do I track NPC relationships with each other?
My players are big on Character Development and have a list of NPCs they regularly interact with (they are rulers). I know there are many ways to handle my question, but I'm at a loss.
So, how do I ...
8
votes
2answers
19k views
Do legendary actions allow multiple reactions prior the next turn?
Legendary Action in the Monster Manual says:
A legendary creature can take a certain number of special actions — called legendary actions — outside its turn. Only one legendary action option can be ...
2
votes
2answers
236 views
Should single-encounter allied NPCs be monsters or have class levels? [closed]
I'm building an encounter in which a party of 4 PCs has recruited another adventuring party to help them fight in a single battle against a powerful enemy.
What should I consider when deciding ...
4
votes
1answer
1k views
How long would it take this Curse of Strahd NPC to take over a town?
I am running the Curse of Strahd campaign, for 5e Dungeons & Dragons.
The question is, how long would it logically take for him to be able to do this?
I guess a logical subquestion would be, ...
10
votes
6answers
8k views
How do I make a god ally NPC for the party?
I have this idea for a godlike NPC.
They will most likely be a noncombatant neutral party to the players.
Basically an NPC that exists for the sake of introducing or advanding the plot.
But there is ...
10
votes
2answers
877 views
How to showcase NPC's rich backstory?
In an upcoming game I have an NPC whom I've picked from a previous game. The NPC in question has already had an interesting background, and was evolved from the endgame state to suit the new campaign ...
49
votes
2answers
103k views
How much should NPCs charge for spells cast as services to PCs?
As the title suggests, I need to know how to compute the appropriate cost for spells that NPCs provide as services (components included) to the party.
My search has come up with the following:
...
13
votes
2answers
1k views
Taking out main NPCs without exhausting all their stress and consequences
In my last session I had my players in combat against two of their NPC friends, which were being mind-controlled to fight them. These NPCs had been appearing a lot in the previous sessions and were ...
5
votes
4answers
941 views
How can I make this campaign less NPC oriented? [closed]
I'm the GM this time, playing D&D 5e, I have planned an NPC that would serve some use to the plot and at the end of the campaign but I started noticing that, if he dies or the party screws with ...
16
votes
5answers
32k views
How do you make an NPC villain to battle high level characters in 5e?
I am building a campaign centered around the machinations of this one old elf wizard. I'm planning for the dramatic final encounter to be the PCs against him. The problem with this is that the PCs are ...
2
votes
1answer
621 views
Pathfinder NPC starting money?
I've been searching everywhere but I can't find any information on what the starting funds for a level 1 warrior is. Do they not get any?
3
votes
1answer
585 views
How do I handle an omnipotent NPC as a DM? [closed]
I'm roleplaying for more than half my life now, mainly as a player, DMing only a few one shoots. My regular group and I are playing a D&D 5E campaign that will soon come to an end, and our DM is ...
9
votes
2answers
1k views
How much time would it take for a PC to train NPCs to get class features?
One of the Folk Hero's Defining Events is to have trained peasants against a tyrant's army.
Is it possible to train NPCs (say, peasants) to gain (limited) level 1 features of a given class (say, monk ...
8
votes
3answers
236 views
How can I represent a large body of NPCs in a vote?
I run a large (20+) person Chronicles of Darkness larp. Our story centers primarily on rebuilding the Night Congress, a supernatural organization that keeps the peace between the large population of ...
11
votes
3answers
8k views
What are the options for my restrained and overwhelmed spellcaster NPC?
If my players have grappled, restrained and knocked prone my lone spellcaster NPC (5th level wizard), and then held a blade against his throat, does the NPC have any further options? The NPC had no ...
6
votes
2answers
2k views
In Out of the Abyss, do the NPCs get a full share of XP?
This is my first time GMing. I am unsure as to whether the fellow escapee NPCs could be leveling up with the PCs. I do not see any rules for it, but it doesn't make a great deal of sense for them ...
13
votes
3answers
3k views
Giving Players control of an NPC in combat?
I'm a new DM, currently running a game for two friends. Neither of the PCs like one another, but due to story and their stubbornness they ended up with a group of 6 NPCs. Most of the NPC are basically ...
52
votes
10answers
12k views
How can I use powerful NPCs without overshadowing the player characters?
I’ve been playing P&P for years and have taken my first tentative steps into DM’ing over the last year, mostly leading One-Shots. I am also a passionate world-builder and so I jumped at the chance ...
