Interesting NPC design thread. Lets hear who are your players interacting with

Interesting NPC design thread. Lets hear who are your players interacting with.

Lets start with a couple I used.

>Non-PTSD veteran:A skilled and honorable soldier who served with special forces. He fucking loves war and everything that comes with it, the danger, the exertion, the camaraderie, the craftsmanship involved weapons, the joy of victory and respects enemies who feel the same. Despite his age he would be completely ready and willing to fight another war. Never tells any war stories.

>Non-brooding death knight. Completely nihilistic. The other kind of nihilistic. He knows he is going to die so why not make it fun. He knows his god is holding the door on the other side for him. Loves danger, suicide missions and leading charges. Will fight for anyone paying him well enough or providing a suitably interesting experience. When no one is willing to hire an absolute madman in black spiky doomplate he goes and fight orcs and random monsters anyway to relieve the tedium. Also has no problem with getting told what to do, he got over that phase 20 years ago. Also like striking poses, tattoos, elarborately painted armors and glam.

>Retired bodyguard. Barely of drinking age, he hit it big when some adventurers hired him out to guard their camp while they kill an interdimensional lich dragon or something, he wasnt really listening. His share of the loot was a wheelbarrow of gold, a street named after him by a grateful king and a cushy job of walking the beat of a rich district where the biggest crimes are littering and holding hands with elves. This happened years ago. Constantly hungers for adventure but he doesnt really believe that big one can be topped so he feels resigned to a life of boredom and giving directions to foreign wizards.

>Orc philosopher ghost. Possibly the smartest orc ever alive(on par with your average villager), bound in a bag of augury bones. He will gladly tell you glimpses of the future if you can defeat him in a battle of wits. He argues like a highschooler throwing out ad hominems and fallacies and if you beat him too hard he gets mad and calls you names instead. If you manage to beat him without bruising his ego he is amazingly useful but all of his advices lead to (usually) winnable brawls.

>Greedy merchant: His wares have a 100% markup over every other trader in town but he gives a free magic weapon away to every adventurer. They never seem to shop anywhere else after.

>He argues like a highschooler throwing out ad hominems and fallacies and if you beat him too hard he gets mad and calls you names instead.
Huh. So you actually CAN make the concept of /b/ into a useful character. Imagine that.

>adults over the age of majority
>"kids"

Yep. It's all part of the infantilization of the college campus.

Anyone who has been involved in heavy infantry combat has some form of PTSD. Primarily posers and pogues tell war stories to non vets. The more frequent they talk about it the more full of shit they are. I fought at 2nd Fallujah with 3rd LAR spent 9 years in USMC infantry. No one outside my family and a few select friends know this about me.

I heard a 29 year old US Olympic Fencer referee to as a "kid" on NPR yesterday.

So you told us all just to make sure. Ooookay jack.

Something was like that was the intention of the character. I got bored of all the grizzled war veterans showing up in fantasy telling war stories and tried to give a new spin on the archetype. He also got over his issues years ago or they were not public speaking matter.

He also had a pretty good death ingame, scared the PCs shitless. They were trying to rally militia during a siege when enemy artillery opened up on them. They thought they are vastly out of their range but then he threw critical failure.A cannonball bounced off the ground, broke through their palisade and hit the old guy in the face. He died instantly, the enemy gunner probably had no idea he even hit something. It showed it doesnt matter how much of a bad motherfucker you are perfectly trained, equipped, in the right physical and mental condition you can always die completely unexpected in a warzone. It really got the players to get their shit together because shit got serious.

the point of anonymity is...

>Human(???) Mage who acts as a Comedic Relief Villain that pops up often to thwart the party for the BBEG. Determined, mentally out there, and not very wise, but he tries his best at being evil with a loose definition of the term. Most of his plans backfire, indirectly aid the party, or are akin to stealing candy from babies or sitting on a wet bench despite the sign demanding otherwise. He has a very recognizable and maniacal laugh. Despite all that, he is a legitimately tough encounter .

>Rough and hardy yet elegant and proper skeleton pirate with a Scottish accent and emerald rapier. Almost a mentor to the party, he loves tactics and to tell stories of his adventures with his former group, many of which are exaggerated. Really wants to be admired and remembered. Former friends and with Death Knight BBEG and aforementioned comedic villain.

For me NPCs aren't interesting based on their "archetype" but rather how they connect to the plot of the game and how they interact with the party.

>a young man who grew up dreaming of becoming a wizard
>Magic is rare so he spends years looking for a tome
>Finds and old, crusty one from a wandering merchant selling exotic wares
>Buys it and try to learn it's contents
>After years of study he finally translates the contents, excited to see what form of magic he has been studying
>It's a blue mages notebook.
>It's all sex spells
>Shit.
>Becomes a Blue Mage but isn't a pervert, uses the buffs spells and works almost like a cleric
>Actively has to hide that he is a blue mage because he's genuinely embarrassed
>At least he's a wizard now.

>Completely nihilistic
>knows his god is waiting for him

>implying Radical Doubt overrules the word of God and Law.

Yeah though, wrong use of nihilism for the original poster. Also, that character behavior is borderline on metagaming because of how thin the line between "my character doesn't care about dying" and "I don't care if my character dies" is.
>barbarians
Dwarven Slayers still intend to kill the largest beastie they can find before dying. There's motivation there beyond just lack of caring.

>Possibly the smartest orc ever alive(on par with your average villager)

What shitty setting do you play in where the vast majority of orcs are genuinely retarded instead of just kind of dumb?

>funny setting detail
>shitty

/v/ go home

>gimmick NPCs
>good

Also, one-note NPCs who exist for humor are a staple of CRPGs. Anyone who thinks them bad probably is not the /v/ermin boogeyman.

Its dishonourable for a dwarf to commit suicide. Dying in glorious battle is super honourable though. Slayers hope to end their miserable besmirched existence whilst also striving to atone for their shame.

>being pretentious about people having fun

Nah, anyone who does this is almost definitely from /v/.

That or Veeky Forums has really gone to shit over the years for no reason (I'd blame /v/)

Damn dude. You're witchhunting so hard I thought I was in the WHF general.

That made me smile hardcore.

And I've thought about going full PURGE THE HERETICS but I'd rather just tell them to stop being dicks in threads that I like reading.

I haven't been in Veeky Forums for a long fucking time and I do hit up Veeky Forums so I'm not gonna be all "don't be rude" but fuck don't bring that shit into Veeky Forums I remember this place being chill as fuck place where people actually have fun talking about the things they enjoy.

You guys need to kiss to break the tension