Exotic NPCs

[Ghost]

I'm in the later stages of putting together my campaign setting, and I wanted to make up a few NPCs to help give the world some extra flavor. However, I don't want to make them too exotic, as that would lead players to think that they are normal in the world. See, I have a few mindflayers, half-dragons (which actually are not all that rare in my setting), and some ocean striders (MM 2, I think) that are definitely interesting, but would be a little bit too powerful, even when the setting is tailored for 9/10th - level PCs.

What approach do you use when creating NPCs? Not necessarily BBEGs, but just the more interesting denizens of your world(s)?

[SDragon]

what about vampires?

[brainface]

and some ocean striders (MM 2, I think)

awesome[/i].

I'd say using many exotic npcs won't make the races seem commonplace if you stress the uniqueness of the particular npc. Like, if you make a cloud giant npc, he's not "a cloud giant, one of many many cloud giants", but simply "the cloud giant". Not part of a ecosystem but some abberration.

[Lmns Crn]

What approach do you use when creating NPCs? Not necessarily BBEGs, but just the more interesting denizens of your world(s)?

I don't tend to conceive of them in terms of race, class, and level. That creates interesting stat blocks, but the way to create memorable NPCs is to create interesting people. When I'm writing NPCs, I do so through the eyes of a novelist, rather than the eyes of a gamer.

There's usually some kind of an idea-seed that gets me started. One of my most recent NPC brainstorms was based on the title character of Alice's Restaurant. Maybe I'll use the name unchanged, simply modified to fit the naming conventions of the region where I place the character. (Perhaps "Allys." It's an in-joke of sorts.) Maybe I'll change the name until it's unrecognizable, and just use character traits.

I generally write in terms of adjectives. The old priest is gnarled, tough. The young clerk is idealistic, maybe a little ambitious. You see most NPCs in glimpses only, so getting much more detailed than that is usually unnecessary; the players won't pick up on the nuances anyway.

Therefore, I like to get maximum interest out of a very small amount of words and planning. One way to do this is to set up an individual with multiple opposing or conflicting aspects. (This is the way real people operate. No one is based on just one trait, though sometimes people try to appear as if they are.) So we may have the braggart who is secretly a coward, the man who is sarcastic or even cruel but who is nevertheless loyal and protective towards friends, or perhaps the mentor who is wise yet merciless. Conflict (or even apparent conflict) builds interest in characters.

[Tybalt]

I would also suggest having NPCs that contribute to your campaign in a storytelling kind of way. Exotic or not, that's the way to do it. For instance in Tolkien's short story "Farmer Giles of Ham" the farmer/adventurer Giles ends up being the hero who subdues a dragon and gets his treasure. However, the dragon ends up being his servant as well and at one point routes the army of the greedy king who has come for his 'share' of the treasure. There is also a talking dog, Garm, that is Giles' dog, but supposedly of a time when dogs were more intelligent and could talk.

[Raelifin]

LC has taken the cake here, I see. Exotic NPCs depend on being unique, alien and interesting. Now these things can be built using a race/monster, but all you're doing is using a pre-built mold for a personality and hoping it comes out interesting. Better to craft a human NPC with some serious flair or oddities and then decide if it would make him/her more interesting to be a monster. In many cases, humans are more exotic than races the players know, because the alien nature of a human conflicts with the innate understanding of them as a person.

[Wensleydale]

I prefer to create NPCs as Luminous does... not via stat blocks, but writing. Many of my NPCs don't even HAVE stat blocks, unless they'll need them or it's likely they'll be involved in a plot or whatever.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Yeah, I second LC and Golem.  Especially since I've run my setting with more than one game system, I tend to make stats as needed, and focus on motivation.  Complex characters are memorable.

[limetom]

One thing people often forget when making NPCs is that they should have flaws.  LC gave a few examples, but some deeper flaws (along with some other traits) will really give a character some depth.

Mental illness, but not the stereotypical "insane" evil, is often one of the most convincing flaws.

Perhaps the cowardly braggart actually has Narcissistic Personality Disorder and brags not because they are a coward, but because they require attention.  

Perhaps the murderer the characters tracking down actually has Avoidant Personality Disorder, and finally cracked, murderering those who (at least in his mind) rejected him.

Perhaps the the assassin no one can seem to track down actually has Disassociative Identity Disorder and doesn't just disguise himself as someone else after the crime, but becomes someone else.

Just a few off of the top of my head.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Messianic delusions are one's I've used to great extent in both an NPC and one of my PCs.  Of course, now there's questions about whether they were delusions, but that's another story.

Perfect (unflawed) characters are not only boring, they're unlikely to be driven enough to fuel a campaign.