Monster of the Month - Basic Humans NPCs

Kayla Bayens

17 Sep 2019 • 7 min read

We are all familiar with the Bandit, the Pirate Captain, the Thug, etc. All variations on the Basic Human combat encounter. But we don't have to have what is broadly a very diverse group come off so bland and boring in our games. Which is why I do these posts so buckle in and get ready as we get ready to PUMP *hits chest* YOU UP.

That Little Giants reference aside this is going to be an interesting one because something I want to focus on with this set of "monsters" in particular is the fact that higher thinking would lead to tactics. These are humans so the pure instinctual reflex or actions that were present in previous MotM posts like Spiders, or emotional responsive ones like Ghosts, CAN BE CONTROLLED BY LOGIC AND INTELLIGENCE. You can goad them to try and break their line but they will know what you are doing and resist. If they take a PC down they may want to make sure that PC stays down for good.

But first lets tackle looking at the options currently available to us from the WotC books. This list is definitely longer then most of ours so I apologize ahead of time. You may notice that just a plain Pirate is missing, that is not a mistake on my part. I looked through the Monster Manual, Ghosts of Saltmarsh and searched DnD Beyond and couldn't find just a Pirate crew member. I'm assuming that this is because most of the time DMs pull either commoner stats or Bandit stats into place for the crew. But it does bring up a weirdly random gap in what is a pretty extensive list.

Please note that according to RAW the Variant: Familiar is a common add in-

"Any spellcaster that can cast the find familiar spell (such as an archmage or mage) is likely to have a familiar. The familiar can be one of the creatures described in the spell (see the Player’s Handbook) or some other Tiny monster, such as a crawling claw, imp, pseudodragon, or quasit."

Now I'm going to say it before you do loudly and aggressively in the comments. Technically~ these can be applied to any race. In which you are correct it even says so in the stat blocks. So any of the variations we talk about can also, in turn, be applied to any race as can most of the RP and Tactics suggestions below. But I keep seeing this problem in D&D with humans because we are in such a heavy fantasy setting that tends to see them as bland and flat characterless cutouts. I just think there is a better way to handle them and breath a little bit of life into the situation. I also just have a ton of fun coming up with new things to throw players for loops so enjoy this combination of those two ideologies.

But from the list we can see that most of what we are talking about revolves around a job or duty of sometime, what they do versus what they are. You'll see this is something I play with later on in a few variants. Which while it makes it a quick and easy reference to pull and go for an encounter can kind of encourage the very cardboard cutout approach to their personalities and in turn their interactions with the PCs. I dare even say that alot of encounters with these tend to end a bit murder hobo-y as a flat NPC has no real motivation to do anything but attack the players, and therefore no reason to stop or discuss mutually beneficial opportunities.

Let's start to give these NPCs some depth for interacting with the rest of the table. For my NPCs I tend to have a goal that they hold more important then anything else, this lets them bend on just about anything else with the promise of their goal. BOOM negotiations and social roll opportunities are now available even if not expected. I then tend to write down one or two things that they hold in high regard and then another one or two things they hold in low regard. These can vastly change up how the same NPC block interacts - a Noble who values power and respect and looks down on rudeness might come off as uppity to the players and then down right vindictive if a PC is rude to them, a perceived slight that must be met with swift death as an example to others. However a Noble who values honesty and trustworthiness and looks down on bullies might instead befriend the group and take that overly frank Paladin who bunched out their bodyguard that just pushed a beggar out of the way as a true friend, lending a hand to the party in anyway that they can.

Now you have a few NPC pillars to play by lets talk about a little more flavoring. Quirks or ticks are a great way to flavor NPCs on the fly. A Knight who always have to have polished shiny armor, an Archmage who is constantly fiddling with their arcane focus, or a Priest who uses perfume to hide the stench of the outside world. You can even link the ticks to things like lying if the players are trying to information out of them. Suddenly a shady encounter in a back alley turns into a trove of information when you can tell that the bandit is lying whenever he tugs his ear. I know we don't all do voices as DMs but I would say even without putting on a voice that speech pattern is important. A noble who use contractions and speaks like a peasant might be down to earth or isn't what they seem. A thug using proper etiquette and grammar is probably smarter then you originally assumed and not likely to have the wool pulled over their eyes.

Side note: Want to still do these things on the fly? Then make a few roll charts before hand to put with your NPC names. You can never have too many roll charts.

Here is where we really deviate from things we have talked about in our MotM posts so far. Humans and other humanoids are capable of higher thinking. It means the problem solve, they learn, they think critically about things. A knight who is skilled in battle can look over the field and read how the fight is going, calling out orders and recognizing enemy tactics and adjusts to cut through the weak point they've created. A Pirate Captain knows that the winds can be fickle so that lead you think you have on him won't last long so he prepares the cannons and holds his action. They'll make decisions most other creatures, monsters, etc that you encounter in the world wouldn't. If you live in the world you know how it works. You know that magic exists and it can heal people, but it can also cause devastating effects for those bunched up together in a group.

What does that mean for us and our tables? If you truly make enemies of these, or they are truly evil you might be effed. A Knight working for a mad king might slay PCs, taking them out while they are down instead of risking them being brought back up by magic. A group of Bandits spread out to circle around the party instead of bunch up together, forcing the players close in a circle before releasing their own fireball cast by the Archmage they've hired on. They won't always come at the players head on either especially not if they aren't suppose to be out and open with their actions. An Assassin isn't going to come at you in broad daylight on the street, but they may slip purple worm poison into that bottle of ale you just purchased at the tavern.

I know to make it simple to follow for the players alot of the time we try to make things direct and predictable to veterans. Doing that lets us allow for those more experienced to help guide and teach the new players what's going on and what to look for. However this also does us a disservice in making it bland after several rinse and repeats in new campaigns. We want to make sure all of our players are engaged, we want them to always be thinking about what the best way to go at a problem may be. So why don't we let our NPCs help with that? Why do we limit them to bland cookie cutter interactions? We certainly don't have to and I hope that this helps with that some.

Look I know you all love this part, I do too. But I'm not going to include quite as many as I normally do this time around. Instead I want to encourage you to come up with some yourself and tweet them to @JustThinkingKay with the #DMDalliance because I want to see what you think the world needs in terms of its NPCs. I look forward to seeing what you come up with but lets make sure we get a few tossed out there for you to play with as well.

Serial Killer - Some people just get a taste for the killing but don't want to taint the joy with something as simple as money. So they perfect their art and wait for recognition. Should it not come perhaps they will find a worthy adversary to taunt instead. Should we play a game Holmes?

Corrupted - A dark magic has infested them and is slowly rotting them from the inside. It twists their mind and blackens their soul even as their flesh begins to fall off. They will serve their purpose to the corrupting magic before they will be released into death.

Soldier - Less noble then a knight but no less brave these are the ones or the front line and in the trenches doing most of the fighting. They are also the ones that leave the battlefield with the most wounds, if they leave at all, and the worst wounds aren't even visible. Prove yourself brave and part of the unit though and you will have a friend for life.

With that little rambling over with, I’m JustKay your regular DM Dalliance on the web and I’ll see you next post.