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D&D 5e: Roleplaying NPCs

Politics have always been a part of D&D whether you know it or not. It plays a huge part in the game! That’s why we have Persuasion, Deception, Insight, and even Intimidation skills! They influence people, and politics is all about influence. Here are some helpful tips for how to successfully pull off a more political campaign.

image credit: Eric Deschamps

Acting

Give your NPC some character as your roleplay them so players familiarize themselves with who they are talking to at any given moment. Use these two lists to combine vocal patterns or motor tics, or roll randomly in a pinch!

Vocal Patterns (roll 1d20)

Deep voice

High-pitched voice

Soft voice

Loud voice

Eloquent vocabulary

Simple vocabulary

Broken English (like an ogre)

Fast speaker

Slow speaker

Interesting accent

Flat voice

Flowery voice

Guttural voice (from throat)

Nasally voice (from nose)

Hoarse, sickly or gravelly voice

Tremulous (shaky, either afraid or excited)

Staccato annunciation (sharply detached sounds)

Legato annunciation (smooth, attached sounds)

Motor Tics (roll 1d20)

Talks with hands

Points a lot

Twirls hair/mustache, tugs on beard

Squints with one eye

Shrugs shoulders every few sentences

Claps hands or snaps fingers to make a point

Winks and grins often

Head is cocked to one side

Always hunched over

Clears throat before talking

Wets lips as if they haven’t spoken in a while

Plays with a ring or other piece of jewelry

Cleans fingernails while talking

Sniffs or snorts intermittently

Pushes up glasses

Spins a strung object around finger (pendant, coinpurse, cord)

Flips a dagger or coin in hand

Twirls a dagger or coin over fingers

Keeps hands in pockets

Looks past people or away from people when talking

The Cardsharps, Valentin de Boulogne

Decision-Making

What do I mean by decision-making? Well, your NPC is not meant to help the players. You don’t walk down the street and everyone you see greets you and offers to join you in your quest. People have their own goals, aspirations, their own LIVES. Give each NPC, especially the important ones, three things:

Goals

Your NPC should have an obvious goal that they work towards. Maybe that goal is to kill the queen and usurp the throne, or maybe it’s just to look out for numero uno and avoid all conflict. Either way, if your NPC has a goal, you can roleplay the character and make decisions based on that goal. If an NPC thinks giving the PCs that info they desperately need will help them further their own goal (or at least won’t interfere with it), then they will dish out the info. If not, then they might lie, give false information, skirt the subject, or even run. Moreover, if the PCs know what an NPC’s goal is, they can react to the DM’s roleplaying accordingly.

Secret Goals

Much like goals, secret goals guide an NPC’s actions. Secret goals, however, are not immediately explained to the PCs through roleplay or conversation. These make NPCs sometimes act contrary to how the players think they will. A merchant’s “goal” might be to make money for their family, but their “secret goal” might be to eliminate the competition by running other merchants out of business, but not so far as to kill for it. They might lie to the PCs about the fishmonger next door and say they are part of a criminal front, despite it not being true. Use secret goals for politics-driven campaigns or low-combat games, or just use them to make more interesting characters.

Personality Traits

You have heard about traits before. There are plenty of lists online where you can find examples of personality traits, especially creative writing articles and blogs, but here I remind you that a character’s traits will dictate how they act. A friendly character might be prone to help the PCs more than a grumpy character, despite any goals at the front or back of their minds.

image credit: Thomas Schmall

Passing Time

When your players leave town and come back, time passes. NPCs don’t stagnate until the players return. They have their own lives! Every new time that players interact with an NPC, make sure something has changed. Even something as simple as having them stub their toe a few minutes ago and they just feel really upset about the whole thing. Players will need to change how they approach the NPC, maybe with sympathy this time over their poor toe. A cleric might even be inclined to bandage it up or use a Cure spell if they are in downtime. Here is a list of alterations to your NPC that could happen in the players’ absence.

NPC Alterations (Roll 1d20)

NPC is injured

NPC’s wealth changes

NPC’s social status changes

NPC’s popularity changes

NPC’s profession/trade changes

NPC’s relationship status changes or progresses

NPC is currently in conversation with someone else

NPC is mad about something

NPC is excited about something

Someone close to the NPC dies or isn’t doing well

The NPC has moved to a new building/new town/new country

The NPC was attacked recently

The NPC witnessed something related to the PC’s plot

The price of tea in Waterdeep has changed

The NPC’s job/business is either doing well or not doing well

The NPC needs help from the PCs with something

The NPC is away at the moment

PCs run into the NPC somewhere else

NPC’s goals have changed slightly

NPC’s personality has changed slightly

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✹Ilo Circulàri✹

Excerpts fom the work I did for l'Atlas des Mondes Fantastiques !

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Never DM'ed for children so I'm level 19 now

Level 17 is respectable

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My dad is dming a campaign I, my sister, and 2 family friends are playing. It’s really fun but he’s really insecure about his dming skills and says he feels everyone at the table gets bored. As an experienced DM, do you have tips on what I should say to convince him we’re having fun? I try to make him see I’m interested, but it doesn’t seem to be working and I feel horrible that he feels that way

This is something all new dms struggle with. I struggle with it even 11 years into dungeon mastering. Confidence comes with experience ive found. Sorry for the late reply I haven't been on Tumblr in ages

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Tech Dragonby yigitkoroglu

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The amazing art of Vance Kovacs

The Art of God of War

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In costumepedia

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Evilbook III illustration by Antonio J. Manzanedo

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Horde by Veronika Kozlova

Illustration for Evilbook II

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Surnames are just as important as given names. So, I compiled a list of the websites I use to find my surnames.

English Surnames

Dutch Surnames

Spanish Surnames

Scottish Surnames

German Surnames

Italian Surnames

Irish Surnames

French Surnames

Scandinavian Surnames

Welsh Surnames

Jewish Surnames

Surnames By Ethnicity

Most Common Surnames in the USA

Most Common Surnames in Great Britan

Most Common Surnames in Asia

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A massive, well-preserved; 1,700 year-old Roman mosaic was recently unearthed while performing city sewer construction