Hello fellow GMs, I am in need for a sizable list of premade NPCs. Im probably looking somewhere towards 250 total NPCs, but that is about all the NPCs i should need to fill the entire continent. Perhaps a bit closer to 300 if i decide to have places out in rural areas
I have 4 main citys with around 40-60 diferent shops/inns/taverns/places of interest etc, etc. Each of these places have a semi main NPC with a few side NPCs. I have the list for each place (as in the establishment and not the NPC) and their relations with other places. For each NPC, i just need basic info. Such as race, gender, basic motivations, If i need any more detailed info than that i will come up with it on the spot.
Ive been looking for a generator that would give me the info im looking for, but none of them seem to have all of the bits of info Im looking for.
If you just need an NPC generator, the DMG has tables for that. Add what spits out of there to a name generator and you should have most of your bases covered. I would caution creating 300 NPCs ahead of time though, and maybe only put effort into the ones the party is most likely to cross paths with.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
I figured I would use 300 NPCs and more or less put them into a hat and pick random NPCs to use in diferent shops and such as well as usage in the unexpected.
I also would rather cut down on the work load putting together NPCs from tables and/or using a generator 300 times
If you plan on drawing them randomly as needed, making 300 ahead of time (or counting on such a list already existing) is a waste of effort. You say you don’t need much detail, so just generate them on the fly from the tables in the DMG (or from the links others have provided). That’s how you’re going to cut down on the workload, not by finding an already extant list of NPCs.
So I know this is an old thread, but I am absolutely in love with that NPC generator. I needed to populate a notebook with a bunch of randoms in a very new campaign, and this was *awesome*. Thank you!
Tom the barkeep (owner of Tom's Tavern); human, male, serves excellent beer, wine, & food. A favorite among locals
Archer Eladrin Ranger from Feywild that has come to search for a haven in the material plane (her peeps are in trouble, adds side quests) ;female
Viko (made up that; if that's a word I have no idea what it means) the Italian-accent chef who specializes in burritos, bacon, calamari, shrimp, lobster, sausage, rice, & kimchi; is refugee; goliath, male (surprisingly friendly) cleric
Beivalur Netyoive; blacksmith, statue maker (forgot what they're called), & renowned chicken wrangler; serves as crazy NPC in your campaign; has pet chickens all named Bilbo; male dwarf dual wielding long swords (fighter) asks PCs to help him find his Bilbos because his chicken wrangling failed for the first time (idea) will probably not be that important in the story
I generally don’t bother with stats/skills for the majority of NPCs, I have a list of 300 names I generated at the start of the campaign, split into race/nation groups. I then grab names off this list and make NPC’s on the fly.
I know this is an old post, but thank you. I am just starting out as a DM and I was building character sheets for every single NPC that might see combat and it was DRIVING ME INSANE. This is a godsend, and I love this community. You are all fabuous.
I know this is an old post, but thank you. I am just starting out as a DM and I was building character sheets for every single NPC that might see combat and it was DRIVING ME INSANE. This is a godsend, and I love this community. You are all fabuous.
Any time. ^_^
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
That's really good :) Just a thought: maybe you could put each section of NPC's on a different page tab in the sheet for ease of finding? Or even keep the full list but cross-linked to page tabs?
fyi, there's a thread in the UA forums with three pages of well defined playtest characters which a dm could take inspiration from. named with backstories even.
myself, i like to pick a (usually very minor) character from an old tv show like star trek, futurama, scooby doo, etc. and give that NPC an existing humanoid monster or sidekick stat block plus a sensible profession or hobby. that's it. most NPCs don't need anything even remotely approaching a whole character workup. the benefit is that i have a more solid sense of what that character looks and sounds like which can be miles more identifying to players than a funny haircut or a peculiar stand-out weapon on their back. my personal anecdotal revelation for this came while climbing out of a 4e homebrew campaign shaped crater to finally see what official 5e was up to. i went to look up statistics on a major NPC early in the waterdeep campaign, fully expecting a professional thoroughness to rival my old custom worlds of yore, and all i got was "Renaer uses the statistics of a swashbuckler, with these changes: is chaotic good, speaks common." what, that's it?? well, there's some backstory too. but essentially, yeah, that's it. and that's plenty.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
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Hello fellow GMs, I am in need for a sizable list of premade NPCs. Im probably looking somewhere towards 250 total NPCs, but that is about all the NPCs i should need to fill the entire continent. Perhaps a bit closer to 300 if i decide to have places out in rural areas
I have 4 main citys with around 40-60 diferent shops/inns/taverns/places of interest etc, etc. Each of these places have a semi main NPC with a few side NPCs. I have the list for each place (as in the establishment and not the NPC) and their relations with other places. For each NPC, i just need basic info. Such as race, gender, basic motivations, If i need any more detailed info than that i will come up with it on the spot.
Ive been looking for a generator that would give me the info im looking for, but none of them seem to have all of the bits of info Im looking for.
Hope someone can help me out. Thanks in advance.
If you just need an NPC generator, the DMG has tables for that. Add what spits out of there to a name generator and you should have most of your bases covered. I would caution creating 300 NPCs ahead of time though, and maybe only put effort into the ones the party is most likely to cross paths with.
I figured I would use 300 NPCs and more or less put them into a hat and pick random NPCs to use in diferent shops and such as well as usage in the unexpected.
I also would rather cut down on the work load putting together NPCs from tables and/or using a generator 300 times
Does this website help?
http://www.npcgenerator.com/
If you plan on drawing them randomly as needed, making 300 ahead of time (or counting on such a list already existing) is a waste of effort. You say you don’t need much detail, so just generate them on the fly from the tables in the DMG (or from the links others have provided). That’s how you’re going to cut down on the workload, not by finding an already extant list of NPCs.
So I know this is an old thread, but I am absolutely in love with that NPC generator. I needed to populate a notebook with a bunch of randoms in a very new campaign, and this was *awesome*. Thank you!
I’ve made this spreadsheet your welcome to use
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PwGily3J7vXyd5luNJ8XXfX0UgnY0FrcpzNLca5SDkI/edit
we're working on https://getvibrantgames.com
We've got around 70 or so in the database right now with around 20 that we're reviewing. I hope some of these are helpful to you
When I click that link, it just says the page is unreachable
Tom the barkeep (owner of Tom's Tavern); human, male, serves excellent beer, wine, & food. A favorite among locals
Archer Eladrin Ranger from Feywild that has come to search for a haven in the material plane (her peeps are in trouble, adds side quests) ;female
Viko (made up that; if that's a word I have no idea what it means) the Italian-accent chef who specializes in burritos, bacon, calamari, shrimp, lobster, sausage, rice, & kimchi; is refugee; goliath, male (surprisingly friendly) cleric
Beivalur Netyoive; blacksmith, statue maker (forgot what they're called), & renowned chicken wrangler; serves as crazy NPC in your campaign; has pet chickens all named Bilbo; male dwarf dual wielding long swords (fighter) asks PCs to help him find his Bilbos because his chicken wrangling failed for the first time (idea) will probably not be that important in the story
"Hero of the Heavens" (Title by Drummer)
I generally don’t bother with stats/skills for the majority of NPCs, I have a list of 300 names I generated at the start of the campaign, split into race/nation groups. I then grab names off this list and make NPC’s on the fly.
So I am new to D&D beyond and I am wondering if there is a way to just get a big list of NPCs on here?
I know this is an old post, but thank you. I am just starting out as a DM and I was building character sheets for every single NPC that might see combat and it was DRIVING ME INSANE. This is a godsend, and I love this community. You are all fabuous.
Any time. ^_^
Neyvr Moore, kenku paladin (knight stat block with some extra casting on the side or smthn)
It's not on the site, but I found THIS book of NPCs useful
Rogues Gallery Has been my go to reference for quick NPC's.
https://rpgtinker.com/ more controllable for stats and fighting use
https://www.npcgenerator.com/ good for role-play as they actually have features and quirks
Both are good
That's really good :) Just a thought: maybe you could put each section of NPC's on a different page tab in the sheet for ease of finding? Or even keep the full list but cross-linked to page tabs?
fyi, there's a thread in the UA forums with three pages of well defined playtest characters which a dm could take inspiration from. named with backstories even.
myself, i like to pick a (usually very minor) character from an old tv show like star trek, futurama, scooby doo, etc. and give that NPC an existing humanoid monster or sidekick stat block plus a sensible profession or hobby. that's it. most NPCs don't need anything even remotely approaching a whole character workup. the benefit is that i have a more solid sense of what that character looks and sounds like which can be miles more identifying to players than a funny haircut or a peculiar stand-out weapon on their back. my personal anecdotal revelation for this came while climbing out of a 4e homebrew campaign shaped crater to finally see what official 5e was up to. i went to look up statistics on a major NPC early in the waterdeep campaign, fully expecting a professional thoroughness to rival my old custom worlds of yore, and all i got was "Renaer uses the statistics of a swashbuckler, with these changes: is chaotic good, speaks common." what, that's it?? well, there's some backstory too. but essentially, yeah, that's it. and that's plenty.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!