I've got my next session planned where my players will encounter an NPC and go on a bit of dungeon delve with her. The character is a historian and scholar of folklore and ancient cultures.
Now it's likely she'll end up part of initiative when any combat may arise, so I like to create a basic character sheet for NPCs when the situations arise.
The trouble I'm having is I can't decide what class to make her. I was initially thinking Wizard, being all studied and scholarly, but I wasn't too sure I wanted her to be a magic user. But I also don't foresee her being martial in any way.
If she's not martial in any way hen her thing could be knowledge about the creatures and carrying medicines and healing supplies. have her spend her turn avoiding combat or hiding, and perhaps shouting advice on the nature of the creatures the party is facing!
remember if she's actually in combat, she could die, and that could ruin your plans. Better to keep her safe, and only send attacks at people who can be expended - any assistants she might have, for example.
Character sheets tend toward overly complex for a DM to manage during conflict resoulution. You might find some inspiration here on DDB by running through the monster list with the NPC tag set as a filter.
Without knowing how you've already depicted this NPC, it becomes pretty challenging to understand what abilities and mannerism that the NPC might possess to maybe point to what class this character might be. The only clues left to help decide this are the "The character is a historian and scholar of folklore...", and "...being all studied and scholarly, but...", but this doesn't give much information, as this could be a commoner with the Sage Background added for skills and languages and some character details. This gives you a non-martial, non-magic using NPC that is sure to be someone desperately needing a band of muderhobos honorable adventurers to help them survive the rigors of yet to be explored archeological sites, out in the field. You could add the additional skills to the Acolyte stat block if you wanted to give them the ability to *maybe* help out in a fight, but not so much as to be a spotlight character.
Homebrewing this stat block would be super simple, nothing nearly as complicated as a full character sheet.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I second what Kaavel wrote. Character sheets should (for the most part) be reserved for player characters.
What you want is a statblock. If you want something slightly higher CR than the Acolyte, you might want to go with Priest (you can just ignore the Divine Eminence feature if you don't want the NPC to be religious).
Remember, NPCs exist to fill a role.They are not PCs.
They need not conform to a character sheet. They can and should have as many or as few traits/features as necessary to do their role in the story. Steal liberally from class features, spells, feats and even monster traits if it fits your story.
If the PCs ask why they have X,Y, and Z, handwave the explanation or say they have special training. No, Ms. PC you can't do what the NPC can do, sorry.
You make the world. You make the story. Anything can happen at any time for any or no reason if it moves the story forward.
You are still thinking as a mortal, bound by these puny rules. You are more powerful than a god in your world.
Treat her as what I refer to as a “PNPC,” a “Party NPC.” They don’t actually do anything in combat, you just describe them “fighting heroically” or whatever and then get right back to the actual combatants. In her case, being a scholar and whatnot you could simply say she hides throughout the whole combat and at the end pops her head out and asks if it’s safe. If it helps, here is a similar scholar NPC that is in the campaign I am currently DMing:
Researcher. When Morrison attempts to learn or recall a piece of lore, if he does not know that information, he often* knows where and from whom it can be obtained. Usually, this information comes from a library, scriptorium, university, or a sage or other learned person or creature. *(The knowledge he seeks might be secreted away in an almost inaccessible place, or that it simply cannot be found.)
Gifted Scribe. Whenever Morrison makes an Intelligence (History) check or an ability check using Calligrapher's Supplies, he can add 2 (1d4) to the ability check.
Erudite. Whenever Morrison attempts to read something in a language he doesn't know he can make a DC 13 INT check to figure out the general gist of the text.
Actions
Improvised Weapon. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack:-1 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 1 (1d4-1) bludgeoning damage.
Cower, Beg, and Grovel (1ce/short rest). As an action on his turn, Morrison can cower pathetically and accidentally distract nearby foes. Until the end of his next turn, Morrison’s allies gain advantage on attack rolls against enemies within 10 feet of Morrison that can see him.
Description
Personality Traits. “I use polysyllabic words that convey the impression of great erudition.” ”I’ve read every book in the world’s greatest libraries—or I like to boast that I have.” Ideal. “Knowledge. The path to power and self-improvement is through knowledge.” Bond. “I have an ancient text that holds terrible secrets that must not fall into the wrong hands.“ Flaw. “I speak without really thinking through my words, invariably insulting others.”
They don’t actually do anything in combat, you just describe them “fighting heroically” or whatever and then get right back to the actual combatants.
Do you play on a board/grid? If so, does the PNPC move around on the board? Or are they Schrödinger's NPC (they are there, but it's not decided what they are actually doing unless specifically observed)?
They don’t actually do anything in combat, you just describe them “fighting heroically” or whatever and then get right back to the actual combatants.
Do you play on a board/grid? If so, does the PNPC move around on the board? Or are they Schrödinger's NPC (they are there, but it's not decided what they are actually doing unless specifically observed)?
Thats up to you as the DM - if you want them to get in the way and risk being attacked, then put them on the grid. If they're important enough for plot armour, then that takes the form of "after the dust settles, you see Mogur the Meek emerge from behind a barrel, looking shaken..."
They don’t actually do anything in combat, you just describe them “fighting heroically” or whatever and then get right back to the actual combatants.
Do you play on a board/grid? If so, does the PNPC move around on the board? Or are they Schrödinger's NPC (they are there, but it's not decided what they are actually doing unless specifically observed)?
They don’t actually do anything in combat, you just describe them “fighting heroically” or whatever and then get right back to the actual combatants.
Do you play on a board/grid? If so, does the PNPC move around on the board? Or are they Schrödinger's NPC (they are there, but it's not decided what they are actually doing unless specifically observed)?
Thats up to you as the DM - if you want them to get in the way and risk being attacked, then put them on the grid. If they're important enough for plot armour, then that takes the form of "after the dust settles, you see Mogur the Meek emerge from behind a barrel, looking shaken..."
I was wondering specifically about your recommendation where you said they don't do anything in combat, but you narrate that they are "fighting heroically". How would that play out on the table? Are they fighting "off the grid"? Who are they fighting? Or do you just end combat with "after the dust settles, you see Mogur knocking out a goblin you missed"?
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I've got my next session planned where my players will encounter an NPC and go on a bit of dungeon delve with her. The character is a historian and scholar of folklore and ancient cultures.
Now it's likely she'll end up part of initiative when any combat may arise, so I like to create a basic character sheet for NPCs when the situations arise.
The trouble I'm having is I can't decide what class to make her. I was initially thinking Wizard, being all studied and scholarly, but I wasn't too sure I wanted her to be a magic user. But I also don't foresee her being martial in any way.
Cleric maybe...?
If she's not martial in any way hen her thing could be knowledge about the creatures and carrying medicines and healing supplies. have her spend her turn avoiding combat or hiding, and perhaps shouting advice on the nature of the creatures the party is facing!
remember if she's actually in combat, she could die, and that could ruin your plans. Better to keep her safe, and only send attacks at people who can be expended - any assistants she might have, for example.
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
Character sheets tend toward overly complex for a DM to manage during conflict resoulution. You might find some inspiration here on DDB by running through the monster list with the NPC tag set as a filter.
Without knowing how you've already depicted this NPC, it becomes pretty challenging to understand what abilities and mannerism that the NPC might possess to maybe point to what class this character might be. The only clues left to help decide this are the "The character is a historian and scholar of folklore...", and "...being all studied and scholarly, but...", but this doesn't give much information, as this could be a commoner with the Sage Background added for skills and languages and some character details. This gives you a non-martial, non-magic using NPC that is sure to be someone desperately needing a band of
muderhoboshonorable adventurers to help them survive the rigors of yet to be explored archeological sites, out in the field. You could add the additional skills to the Acolyte stat block if you wanted to give them the ability to *maybe* help out in a fight, but not so much as to be a spotlight character.Homebrewing this stat block would be super simple, nothing nearly as complicated as a full character sheet.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I second what Kaavel wrote. Character sheets should (for the most part) be reserved for player characters.
What you want is a statblock. If you want something slightly higher CR than the Acolyte, you might want to go with Priest (you can just ignore the Divine Eminence feature if you don't want the NPC to be religious).
Remember, NPCs exist to fill a role.They are not PCs.
They need not conform to a character sheet. They can and should have as many or as few traits/features as necessary to do their role in the story. Steal liberally from class features, spells, feats and even monster traits if it fits your story.
If the PCs ask why they have X,Y, and Z, handwave the explanation or say they have special training. No, Ms. PC you can't do what the NPC can do, sorry.
You make the world. You make the story. Anything can happen at any time for any or no reason if it moves the story forward.
You are still thinking as a mortal, bound by these puny rules. You are more powerful than a god in your world.
Live up to your potential.
Treat her as what I refer to as a “PNPC,” a “Party NPC.” They don’t actually do anything in combat, you just describe them “fighting heroically” or whatever and then get right back to the actual combatants. In her case, being a scholar and whatnot you could simply say she hides throughout the whole combat and at the end pops her head out and asks if it’s safe. If it helps, here is a similar scholar NPC that is in the campaign I am currently DMing:
Tool Proficiency. Calligrapher's Supplies
Researcher. When Morrison attempts to learn or recall a piece of lore, if he does not know that information, he often* knows where and from whom it can be obtained. Usually, this information comes from a library, scriptorium, university, or a sage or other learned person or creature.
*(The knowledge he seeks might be secreted away in an almost inaccessible place, or that it simply cannot be found.)
Gifted Scribe. Whenever Morrison makes an Intelligence (History) check or an ability check using Calligrapher's Supplies, he can add 2 (1d4) to the ability check.
Erudite. Whenever Morrison attempts to read something in a language he doesn't know he can make a DC 13 INT check to figure out the general gist of the text.
Improvised Weapon. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: -1 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 1 (1d4-1) bludgeoning damage.
Cower, Beg, and Grovel (1ce/short rest). As an action on his turn, Morrison can cower pathetically and accidentally distract nearby foes. Until the end of his next turn, Morrison’s allies gain advantage on attack rolls against enemies within 10 feet of Morrison that can see him.
Description
Personality Traits. “I use polysyllabic words that convey the impression of great erudition.”
”I’ve read every book in the world’s greatest libraries—or I like to boast that I have.”
Ideal. “Knowledge. The path to power and self-improvement is through knowledge.”
Bond. “I have an ancient text that holds terrible secrets that must not fall into the wrong hands.“
Flaw. “I speak without really thinking through my words, invariably insulting others.”
Tad wears a set of fine clothes, and carries a magnifying glass, a letter from a dead colleague posing a question (that Tad has not yet been able to answer), a journal that has been heavily redacted, a book of lore, a pouch containing 10 gp, and a portable desk (Calligrapher's Supplies) containing: a bottle of black ink, 3 quills, a small knife, a little bag of sand, and 12 sheets of parchment.
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Do you play on a board/grid? If so, does the PNPC move around on the board? Or are they Schrödinger's NPC (they are there, but it's not decided what they are actually doing unless specifically observed)?
Thats up to you as the DM - if you want them to get in the way and risk being attacked, then put them on the grid. If they're important enough for plot armour, then that takes the form of "after the dust settles, you see Mogur the Meek emerge from behind a barrel, looking shaken..."
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
No, TOTM.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
If you have Strixhaven, and the characters are a high enough level as to outshine them, Lorehold Student might work well.
Former Spider Queen of the Spider Guild, and friendly neighborhood scheming creature.
"Made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders."
My pronouns are she/her.
Web Weaver of Everlasting Narrative! (title bestowed by Drummer)
Or perhaps just a Lorehold apprentice, or Lorehold pledgemage.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I was wondering specifically about your recommendation where you said they don't do anything in combat, but you narrate that they are "fighting heroically". How would that play out on the table? Are they fighting "off the grid"? Who are they fighting? Or do you just end combat with "after the dust settles, you see Mogur knocking out a goblin you missed"?