I have made an NPC that I am going to introduce to my players at the very beginning of session one. The thing is though, all they will get is her description and her name.
If you were giving this introduction to this NPC, what kind of NPC would you think they were?
The guy who has been serving out food from the taverns small kitchen walks up to the table that the party is sat at and puts down four large tankards of the taverns strongest and most expensive beer, and as he does so, he tells the party that the drinks are "complements of the girl by the fireplace." He is about to walk away when he stops, turns back towards the table and in a low voice bearly audible above the background noise tells them that they should be careful now that they have drawn the girls attention.
I am hoping that one of them will ask why and who she is.
The guy will then tell them that she is called Aisaki Tomonatsu and that she is well known to the people of that town. Just as he is about to tell them more about her, he stammers and then straightens up with a bolt as though he can feel the girls eyes on him, tells the party to enjoy their drinks and quickly shuffles off.
When the party looks over at the girl, she raises a tankard of some golden liquid that spills over the sides as she does, and salutes them. She is small and looks like a normal 16-year-old girl with skin as pale as newly fallen snow and long flowing hair as black as a ravens feather. She is dressed in a long flowing robe made of purple velvet trimmed in silver and a matching hood that ends in a point reminiscent of a ravens beak. Under her robes the party gets a glimpse of extremely well made and expensive plate armour, and she carries a sword that looks almost impossibly sized for a girl with such a slight frame. her eyes are also unusual and as they reflect the light of the fire, the party notice that they are an inhumanly deep shade of crimson red.
Next to her is a large kite-shaped, crimson shield, trimmed in silver with the image of a black ravens head in the centre.
After saluting the party, she goes back to drinking and enjoying the fire. At this point, she is not looking at them anymore, but the party can't help but get the feeling that her eyes are fixed upon them. That despite not looking at them, she is studying them intently to see what they will do next.
That's it guys and girls. What kind of NPC would you think this is?
Some sort of warrior, judging by the sword and armor. Probably not someone to casually mess with, given the level of detail you've used to describe her. That usually screams Named Character rather than some mook. Likely has plot hooks and is someone I would approach as a player because I want to buy in to the game and adventure.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Gut reactions from my player side perspective: -This is clearly a questgiver/Main Plot NPC, someone the DM is spending lavish detail budget on. -Extravagantly armed and armored; clearly a very capable combatant, likely some sort of spellblade knight. -Coloring is unusual enough to signify nonhuman status. Immediate gut reaction when I first read it was 'demon of some kind', but a second pass suggests vampire. -Likely to resort to less subtle, and charitable, methods of saying "HEY. C'MERE" if the drinks don't do the trick.
Not knowing anything about the campaign or party, if I just sat down to play and was given this scene, here would be my first thoughts:
- Robes = mage - "Wait, why is she wearing robes AND plate mail?" - Seems a bit like an anime-girl-protagonist; obviously super-powerful - "Hmm, I really hope she won't be actually joining the party and showing up the rest of us throughout the entire campaign" - Her sense of presence isn't normal, yet she has no obvious retainers. Celestial? Fey? Succubus? Magical princess? - She's clearly a plot hook, but with such a non-committal approach on her part, many characters legitimately wouldn't feel obliged to talk with her; hope one of the party does - If the party spent more time analyzing her, I'd eventually pick up on the "Raven Queen" theme, but without committing to gathering any particular meaning from it
So, in summary, I'd just assume she's a powerful named NPC meant to present the plot (or one of many plots) to the party.
Not knowing anything about the campaign or party, if I just sat down to play and was given this scene, here would be my first thoughts:
- Robes = mage - "Wait, why is she wearing robes AND plate mail?" - Seems a bit like an anime-girl-protagonist; obviously super-powerful - "Hmm, I really hope she won't be actually joining the party and showing up the rest of us throughout the entire campaign" - Her sense of presence isn't normal, yet she has no obvious retainers. Celestial? Fey? Succubus? Magical princess? - She's clearly a plot hook, but with such a non-committal approach on her part, many characters legitimately wouldn't feel obliged to talk with her; hope one of the party does - If the party spent more time analyzing her, I'd eventually pick up on the "Raven Queen" theme, but without committing to gathering any particular meaning from it
So, in summary, I'd just assume she's a powerful named NPC meant to present the plot (or one of many plots) to the party.
She isn't going to join the party. When the players first "meet" her she is actually almost done with a quest of her own. She was hired by a rich family to protect their daughter and deliver her to the Tower of Heaven.
The girl she was hired to protect is very young. She is 10 years old and is being delivered to the Tower of Heaven to begin her Cleric training.
The NPC is quite a powerful Paladin of the Raven Queen. I suppose in a way her story is a bit anime. When she was six her family were killed by mercenaries hired by the campaign's big bad, to prevent a prophecy from coming true. The mercanaries were instructed to kill the NPCs mother. Her father tried to protect his family and they killed him too. They then found a small little six year old girl, clutching a sword. One of the mercanaries went to kill her but she side stepped him and stabbed in with the sword. Another stepped up intent on avenging his friend, but their leader was impressed that such a small child showed such bravery and skill and immediately stepped in to defend the girl. He then took her and raised her as his own daughter, training her to be better and stronger ever day.
After ten years of such training, she has become incredibly strong and skilled for her age and earned her place in the mercanaries guild.
She misses her parents still but has come to look upon her adopted father as her saviour. Someone who taught her to defend herself and be strong enough that she would never have to be afraid of anyone again.
When the town is attacked by demons that night, the NPC shows her true martial skills and by her strength as a Paladin, but is seriously injured by a higher level demon - although she manages to kill it.
She is too injured to complete the job she was hired for and impressed by the party. With the demons vanquished and her injuries taking their toll, she hired the party to complete her job as their first quest. The party must then deliver the young girl to the sisters of the Tower of Heaven. They fight s few low level demons along the way but nothing they can't handle and manage to complete the quest.
A few days of game time later, the party receives a package from the NPC. This package contains their portion of the fee for helping the NPC complete her job and a note from her saying that she will keep her eye on them from now on and that she is sure they will meet again.
The party will also pick up their last two members at the Tower of Heaven. A Cleric and a Rogue. One of the sisters and a son of one of the sisters and it's my hope that by the end of the prologue, the scene is set for an epic adventure filled with epic NPCs and quests.
The way you've described her being eerie and having a theme of ravens and purple/red gives her a sinister air, suggesting that she might at some point in the story manipulate the party, our outright confront them. The imagery portrays power, and the party will perceive it as powerlevel. But it's clear she has an interest in them, hence the gift of ale.
I'd regard her as someone potentially very dangerous, and someone I need to learn as much about as possible to better avoid confrontation with.
I seriously have no idea. I’d assume an expert warrior with riches. She is apparently renown but the server warns us to be careful now that we have her attention so we better be careful. She must want or need us for something since she’s getting or trying to get on our good side by offering us very nice drinks for free.
Whether I’d want to or not, I would think it’d be important to go talk to her.
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Hi,
I have made an NPC that I am going to introduce to my players at the very beginning of session one. The thing is though, all they will get is her description and her name.
If you were giving this introduction to this NPC, what kind of NPC would you think they were?
That's it guys and girls. What kind of NPC would you think this is?
Cheers
Foxes XD
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Some sort of warrior, judging by the sword and armor. Probably not someone to casually mess with, given the level of detail you've used to describe her. That usually screams Named Character rather than some mook. Likely has plot hooks and is someone I would approach as a player because I want to buy in to the game and adventure.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Gut reactions from my player side perspective:
-This is clearly a questgiver/Main Plot NPC, someone the DM is spending lavish detail budget on.
-Extravagantly armed and armored; clearly a very capable combatant, likely some sort of spellblade knight.
-Coloring is unusual enough to signify nonhuman status. Immediate gut reaction when I first read it was 'demon of some kind', but a second pass suggests vampire.
-Likely to resort to less subtle, and charitable, methods of saying "HEY. C'MERE" if the drinks don't do the trick.
Please do not contact or message me.
Not knowing anything about the campaign or party, if I just sat down to play and was given this scene, here would be my first thoughts:
- Robes = mage
- "Wait, why is she wearing robes AND plate mail?"
- Seems a bit like an anime-girl-protagonist; obviously super-powerful
- "Hmm, I really hope she won't be actually joining the party and showing up the rest of us throughout the entire campaign"
- Her sense of presence isn't normal, yet she has no obvious retainers. Celestial? Fey? Succubus? Magical princess?
- She's clearly a plot hook, but with such a non-committal approach on her part, many characters legitimately wouldn't feel obliged to talk with her; hope one of the party does
- If the party spent more time analyzing her, I'd eventually pick up on the "Raven Queen" theme, but without committing to gathering any particular meaning from it
So, in summary, I'd just assume she's a powerful named NPC meant to present the plot (or one of many plots) to the party.
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She isn't going to join the party. When the players first "meet" her she is actually almost done with a quest of her own. She was hired by a rich family to protect their daughter and deliver her to the Tower of Heaven.
The girl she was hired to protect is very young. She is 10 years old and is being delivered to the Tower of Heaven to begin her Cleric training.
The NPC is quite a powerful Paladin of the Raven Queen. I suppose in a way her story is a bit anime. When she was six her family were killed by mercenaries hired by the campaign's big bad, to prevent a prophecy from coming true. The mercanaries were instructed to kill the NPCs mother. Her father tried to protect his family and they killed him too. They then found a small little six year old girl, clutching a sword. One of the mercanaries went to kill her but she side stepped him and stabbed in with the sword. Another stepped up intent on avenging his friend, but their leader was impressed that such a small child showed such bravery and skill and immediately stepped in to defend the girl. He then took her and raised her as his own daughter, training her to be better and stronger ever day.
After ten years of such training, she has become incredibly strong and skilled for her age and earned her place in the mercanaries guild.
She misses her parents still but has come to look upon her adopted father as her saviour. Someone who taught her to defend herself and be strong enough that she would never have to be afraid of anyone again.
When the town is attacked by demons that night, the NPC shows her true martial skills and by her strength as a Paladin, but is seriously injured by a higher level demon - although she manages to kill it.
She is too injured to complete the job she was hired for and impressed by the party. With the demons vanquished and her injuries taking their toll, she hired the party to complete her job as their first quest. The party must then deliver the young girl to the sisters of the Tower of Heaven. They fight s few low level demons along the way but nothing they can't handle and manage to complete the quest.
A few days of game time later, the party receives a package from the NPC. This package contains their portion of the fee for helping the NPC complete her job and a note from her saying that she will keep her eye on them from now on and that she is sure they will meet again.
The party will also pick up their last two members at the Tower of Heaven. A Cleric and a Rogue. One of the sisters and a son of one of the sisters and it's my hope that by the end of the prologue, the scene is set for an epic adventure filled with epic NPCs and quests.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
A drunk quixotic girl who just wants to be edgy. She's actually nothing special, but her family are powerful politicians or crime lords or something.
I don't know, I'm more intrigued by the server...
My Boohyah Boohyah Boohyah casts augury-roll wild surge.
The way you've described her being eerie and having a theme of ravens and purple/red gives her a sinister air, suggesting that she might at some point in the story manipulate the party, our outright confront them. The imagery portrays power, and the party will perceive it as powerlevel. But it's clear she has an interest in them, hence the gift of ale.
I'd regard her as someone potentially very dangerous, and someone I need to learn as much about as possible to better avoid confrontation with.
I seriously have no idea. I’d assume an expert warrior with riches. She is apparently renown but the server warns us to be careful now that we have her attention so we better be careful. She must want or need us for something since she’s getting or trying to get on our good side by offering us very nice drinks for free.
Whether I’d want to or not, I would think it’d be important to go talk to her.