Musings for the masses

One thing I've learned in my 30+ years of DMing is that it takes only one innocuous trait to create a memorable NPC. And, to those of you that claim "memorable NPC" is an oxymoron or a pointless exercise, I will point you to all my friends that went into fits upon discovering Peter Jackson had left Tom Bombadil out of the Lord of the Rings films.

 

An original and memorable NPC can be a valuable tool for the DM - even so far as to allow the DM a subtle physical presence in the campaign setting itself. While not every peasant or shopkeeper needs to stand out from the crowd, those that do can become full-fledged individuals with just a sentence or two. Consider the following:

"Hudson! This little girl survived longer than that with no weapons and no training."

"And YOU: friendless, brainless, helpless, hopeless! Do you want me to send you back to where you were? Unemployed, in Greenland?"

"Don't like her? What's wrong with her? She's beautiful, she's rich, she's got huge... tracts of land."

The point is that a truly worthwhile NPC can almost always be pinned down in about twenty words or less. We all remember how Newt survived being surrounded by deadly xenomorphs with nothing more than wits and small size. No one is likely to forget the lovable, near-unintelligible behemoth portrayed by Andre the Giant. And we may not recall that chubby little bride's name, but we will never get over the fact she has huge tracts of land. 

That said, here is an incompleat list of NPC traits, both physical and psychological, from my own campaign.

·               Accursed

·          Addict

·          Albino

·          Aloof

·          Always eating or chewing

·          Ambidextrous

·          Arrogant

·          Artistic

·          Atrocious grammar

·          Attention hog

·          Attentive

·          Baby-faced

·          Bad haircut

·          Bad skin

·          Bad smell

·          Bad teeth

·          Belches

·          Big ears

·          Big nose

·          Birdwatcher

·          Birthmark

·          Bookish

·          Boring

·          Bowlegged

·          Brainy

·          Brash

·          Brawler

·          Broken tooth

·          Brooding

·          Burned

·          Bushy brows

·          Can sleep anywhere

·          Can't swim

·          Charismatic

·          Clingy

·          Clumsy

·          Collector

·          Color-blind

·          Complains

·          Contrary

·          Coughs

·          Crooked nose

·          Dainty

·          Damp palms

·          Deep voice

·          Deluded

·          Demanding

·          Different-colored eyes

·          Dirty

·          Doesn't know own strength

·          Doomsayer

·          Down on their luck

·          Dry wit

·          Dynamic

·          Eager

·          Earthy

·          Easily distracted or spooked

·          Eats anything

·          Elegant

·          Exaggerates

·          Fatalist

·          Fidgety

·          Firm grip

·          Flighty

·          Flirty

·          Florid

·          Foolhardy

·          Foppish

·          Forgetful

·          Forked beard

·          Foul-mouthed

·          Frowns

·          Fun-loving

·          Gambler

·          Garish tattoo

·          Gaudy

·          Generous

·          Gestures when speaking

·          Good with animals

·          Grabby

·          Graceful

·          Greedy

·          Hairy

·          Handlebar mustache

·          Hard-headed

·          Homebody

·          Honest

·          Idiot savant

·          Illiterate

·          Ink-spattered

·          Insensitive

·          Itchy

·          Joker

·          Juggles

·          Jumps the gun

·          Keen-eyed

·          Keeps a pet

·          Lanky

·          Law-abiding

·          Lazy eye

·          Licks lips

·          Light-sensitive

·          Limp

·          Loud

·          Lucky

·          Lusty

·          Maternal

·          Meddler

·          Mimic

·          Mismatched clothes

·          Missing limb or appendage

·          Morbid

·          Mouth-breather

·          Multi-tasker

·          Mumbler

·          Naive

·          Natural leader

·          Neat freak

·          Nervous laugh

·          No sense of smell

·          Noise-sensitive

·          Notched ear

·          Obsequious

·          Old-fashioned

·          Opinionated

·          Opportunist

·          Outcast

·          Paranoid

·          Pasty

·          Photographic memory

·          Piercing gaze

·          Poet

·          Poorly dressed

·          Poseur

·          Pot belly

·          Predominant wardrobe color

·          Premature gray or white hair

·          Prissy

·          Pushy

·          Pyromaniac

·          Quiet

·          Quotes

·          Rambler

·          Rangy

·          Rarely blinks

·          Raspy voice

·          Ready smile

·          Receding hairline

·          Religious

·          Repetitive

·          Ringer

·          Ritual scars

·          Runny nose/sneezes

·          Rushed or impatient

·          Rustic

·          Sarcastic

·          Scar

·          Scarred knuckles

·          Secretive

·          Self-conscious

·          Sense of direction

·          Shakes

·          Shameless

·          Shirker

·          Short of breath

·          Short-tempered

·          Showoff

·          Shy

·          Sings, hums, or whistles

·          Skeptical

·          Sketches

·          Skin rash

·          Slouches

·          Smokes

·          Sneaky

·          Solemn

·          Squints

·          Stargazer

·          Stoic

·          Stutter

·          Sunburned

·          Swaggers

·          Sweaty

·          Sweet tooth

·          Teetotaller

·          Talks to self or unseen person(s)

·          Thick accent

·          Thin-lipped

·          Thoughtless

·          Touchy-feely

·          Trivia expert

·          Unflappable

·          Unnerving

·          Vague

·          Vegetarian

·          Wannabe hero

·          Well-traveled

·          Whimsical

·          Whiny

·          Whittles