Make NPCs Essential in Your D&D Games

In my games I have seen characters develop long lasting relationships with NPCs. Nerdarchist Dave’s dwarven wizard Uthen-Gar crafted a magic item as a gift for the elven librarian who initially looked down on him for being a dwarf. I felt it was a rich relationship built over years of game play. That same dwarven character found a wife, even though we did not play out a romance, and became wed before the campaign was over. While romance can happen we developed that dwarves often wed as political arrangements to strengthen the clan. It was not originally planned that way but that’s how it panned out and it was awesome! I have had non-player characters on my mind and I’m interested in exploring concepts surrounding them from both the Dungeon Master and player perspectives.

Dungeon Masters and NPCs

Player character to player character interactions are very important to a game but establishing a connection between player characters and essential NPCs is equally important. Here is why.

Non-player characters make up over 99% of the population of the world. In order to make the world seem real it should include people who are friendly with the adventurers. These are people willing to help them on their quest. They should be willing to provide a place to rest, to give them quests and help them to figure out information. These NPCs will of course have their own lives and agendas. Let’s face it, even your best friend is not always going to have your back and take your side every time.

These friendly NPCs are only going to be a small percentage of the population and people with whom the adventurers interact. I would estimate the vast majority of the world population either has no clue who the adventurers are or care about what they are doing. Some will be selfish and want only what helps them while others might be good natured and skeptical of what the adventurers are doing.

Equal to those who are friendly are going to be your humanoid antagonists. These are those working directly against the party. Some might even be posing as friendly in hopes of providing false information at the right time, or just waiting for the perfect time to sink the knife.

In order for the players to feel immersed in the world you should be providing all of these archetypes in your game. Building a relationship with, say, a food vendor just as you might do at your regular coffee shop makes the world seem real. And anyone that a relationship is built with can be a target for harassment, kidnapping or murder just because of their association with the party’s player characters. Which is the same in our world if a criminal organization sought to do you harm.

Player Characters and NPCs

In my early days of play my group hardly ever interacted with each other. The only time we communicated in game was dividing loot and trying to plan out battle strategies. To be fair half of the planning was out of game anyway. It is weird seeing this style of play now. There is nothing wrong with it but I am just saying I have a much richer experience building those character relationships with the other PCs. I will emphasize though this should not mean to isolate yourself to only interact with only the other player characters.

The NPCs of the world make up your family, your allies in an organization and so much more. They include others of the same religion, background or other aspect of a character’s life. I feel unless you are a loner who cares nothing for others, your characters should have NPCs they would and should be willing to give their life for or at least attempt it.

We should face the facts that adventurers are heroes. They are the ones willing to run into danger when most others run out. People who see them in action can and should look on in amazement. Your character is blessed with abilities most people will never see again, let alone ever have for themselves. NPCs could fall in love with the one who rescued them. NPCs could keep putting themselves in danger just to get rescued or maybe just for the chance at seeing you again.

NPCs have the potential to be a burden on your time and your coin pouch but they can also be support in times of need, provide a place to hide or reveal the last crucial piece of information needed to be successful in saving the world. After all heroes are meant to save the world, city or whatever portion is in danger.

If you are looking for some key NPCs as minis there are a number of diverse sets you can use to expend your collection from the wonderful people over at WizKids! There are two amazing sets from Strixhaven. D&D Icons of the Realms: Strixhaven Set 2 includes characters from each school as well as generic students. These are great and varied mage type characters able to handle a variety of roles. Meanwhile D&D Icons of the Realms: Strixhaven Set 1 has some spectacular stuff. These are not your typical humanoids. The Daemogoth is a Huge five armed, five eyed monster. I have not read where he is in the adventure but I love the mini and can’t wait to see how I use such a beast. The Cogwork Archivist is a large mini that rides around on two wheels. Lots of uses there.

That is not all. WizKids also has Dragons of Stormwreck Isle set. This five piece collection boasts some iconic looking characters. If you are an old hat to D&D or remember the old cartoon then four of these characters will make you smile. Part of me reminisces so hard I want to make a character and use these minis just to see what the others at the table say when I put my mini down. Waterdeep: Dragon Heist has been out for a long time but set number 1 some killer and iconic minis for use as encounters or for the adventure if you are still playing it. This is an easy way to pick up a beholder mini, a mind flayer and a sweet drow swashbuckler all in one purchase. That drow is none other than the famous, (no not Drizzt) Jarlaxle.

I also personally love Sylgar. This might be telling but I plan on using Sylgar as a magic fish who is really in charge at some point in time in the future. How fun would it be to put it on a battle mat and see what the players do? Oh, you took out all the bad guys and kept the fish alive, and he saw your face? Too bad for you.

Go show some love to the great people at WizKids or pick up some great minis at your local game shop.

Use those NPCs! Get the characters to fall for your NPCs. If you are a player invest in those NPCs. It will hurt but be an awesome story when or if they betray you. After all you want you those game sessions memorable right?

Thanks for reading. Until next time, stay nerdy!

*Featured image — Ultimate NPCs: Skulduggery from Nord Games is a a tool for Games Masters and players alike featuring a full-world character collection, game backstories, character quick-reference stats, NPC or player character options for a variety of thieves, assassins and mercenaries, each with the backstory and statistics necessary to run as an NPC or player character in your favorite tabletop RPG game.

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