A demonic warlord that has been imprisoned in a magically-sealed chamber for so long, it doesn't remember anything about its existence before being sealed away. It is simply Bound.
When the party encounters it, they have the option of smiting the demon, or releasing it, at which point "Unbound" becomes a reliable Barbarian/Barbarian stand-in for the party as it comes to terms with the world outside its sealed chamber, and its purpose within said outside world..
Bard who writes songs about the party whenever the PCs tell him about what they've been up to. Gives the players an opportunity to improve their reputation. Also sells the party healing potions and goofy magic items.
Preferably this bard would be a scruffy old troubadour named two-eyed Joe, with an eye patch on one eye and a monocle on the other; but that is up to you as a DM.
A disgraced dwarf hunter/ranger looking for the owl bear who took his eye (which ruined his career and lead to his wife leaving). I'd have him help the PCs through a specific stretch of forest. They fight the biggest, meanest owl bear and it turns out to be the one who took the dwarfs eye. The PCs lay down for the night, the dwarf being quieter than usual during dinner. The next morning they find him a few yards from the camp, hanging from a tree.
A demon who's disguised as an inquisitor of a foreign nation. Takes a liking to the party, and offers them a job/accuses them as an escaped prisoner to lure the party to the underworld.
A manic but harmless wizard who manages to save the town from countless disasters.
He's actually cursed with true seeing, and sees the future, along with the solutions to the problem, no matter how nonsensical it seems. But he doesn't know that he's angered some old God with his abilities, and the God is what's causing disasters to strike the town.
A traveling salesman, who keeps popping up wherever the player characters are going. He's actually a thief, and is following the players, sneaking ahead of them when they go into a dungeon, and steals loot the party would find eventually while the occupants are busy dealing with the players. He sells it to the party at a discount.
A king/God/Famous person disguised as a commoner.
The BBEG's right hand, who isn't so evil, but is bound by duty. He helps the PC's with a mission.
A traveling prince, who's followed by hidden gaurdians.
A traveling circus.
They're all Druids and Druid-monks.
Our DM gave us 2 kids whom we adopted. One of them liked the warlock, and became a disciple of sorts and eventually made his own pact when he worked at being relevant and earned a level. The other character fell in with our resident fighter and the fighter drilled him into gaining his first level as a fighter. Then the two urchins made off on their own and had wacky adventures, popping up from time to time while we were on our travels. It was kinda fun.
The Toll Troll, you have to pay him if you want to go into certain caves or cross certain bridges.
Keep your shitty fetishes out of my game
Doth his prices be INSANE???
We were always sad when we had to deal with the Toll Troll.
Sometimes, we'd have to go back and search for loose change along the path because he only took exact change, no extra.
It was Toll Troll Trail Trawl Travail.
>Roll for intimidate
>"Lest ye cross, amidst my mind, pay me toll, to get behi-"
>"SHUT THE FUCK UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP"
>"...Okay"