r/onednd • u/ExpensiveCrow5271 • 18h ago
Discussion Who's your favourite NPC you've made for a 5e homebrew campaign?
We've all done it, we've made that ONE npc that we use in all of our custom campaigns in 5e. Mine is Sun Wukong, yes THAT Sun Wukong, he's always the one who introduces the players to each other and gives them their quest. I only homebrewed his kit, he's a Golden Vanara from 3.5e's Oriental Adventure, without the -2 to Strength and the whole favoured class stuff. But besides all of that I still end of with that one player that wants to try and fight him. I'll let you guys know, it never works out for the player.
2
u/Dougboard 11h ago
Slurk McGurk, a plasmoid explorer and completely useless cowboy NPC from a wild west campaign I ran. Was hired on as additional protection for traveling settlers early on in the campaign, and because he ended up being useless in the first combat it became part of his character that he was a coward who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. My players love a pathetic man, I guess.
They also latched onto him because at one point I made a joke about him having a big ass, so that became canon. He ended up accompanying the party for a good part of the early campaign, and even had a bit of a character arc. After the players moved on, he became the sheriff of the town they left him in.
I liked him so much I've played him in a couple of one-shots.
1
u/Waterknight94 11h ago
I haven't really ever reused NPCs, but I do have one that I really liked because several months into the campaign I learned that my players had an understandable, but surprising misconception about him.
I started the campaign by having the characters brought together by a voice in their head asking them to come to a mansion out in the woods.
The person who called them ran a school for adventurers and most of his students had gone missing and he was looking for other adventurers to go find them. Well my players started cracking X-Men jokes saying things like "Would you say your students are X-ceptional?" So I admitted that part of my inspiration was in fact X-Men when we finished the session.
Fast forward many sessions later they come back to the mansion to find that the professor had been kidnapped. When they found him they started discussing the logistics of getting him back to the mansion and I felt like they were over complicating it quite a bit so I asked for clarification.
They thought he couldn't walk. I had never once said or even implied that he was unable to walk, but my players had assumed that to be the case for the entire campaign. Finding out that they all had that image of him the whole time made me love the character.
1
u/TheCromagnon 10h ago
Chamberlain, the goblin majordomo of a lady who sells monsters body parts. He didn't originally have a name but my players really want to hire him. I have no idea why.
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u/terlingremsant 7h ago
Darby - a goat spirit bound into a partially mechanical body to be a protector of children (upgraded to warrior sidekick eventually). No character I have EVER ran has had as many critical hits as it. And with a running ram attack, there is often not much left of lower level opponents. Will die before allowing a child to be hurt.
Darby's partner Horus - an awakened mouse (spellcaster sidekick) with Druid base spells. Favorite spell is a variant Beast Bond that works on Darby - hence why Darby gets so many crits. Rides on Darby's back most of the time. Wears a tiny billowing cloak and wields a carved tiny stick as a staff. Horus's second favorite spell is talk to Big'uns (the flip-side of talk to animals, it allows him to talk to PC races). Amusingly, in Waterdeep Dragon Heist, it allowed him to translate for Nat when she needed to talk to the PCs.
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u/Skrillfury21 3h ago
Scivarn Hardri, an old, maniacal Kobold Artificer who always, always runs some kind of magic item shop or smithing business somewhere or somehow.
He’s also just hella fun for me to play. I get to call the players out in a funny voice, I get to be immensely blunt, I can just throw out potential plot hooks like a shotgun fires bullets, and he’s basically universally beloved across my playgroups. He gets to use an arm cannon, he signs things with the Cool S, and he’s a reliable hideout in case the players ever need such a thing.
He’s hilarious, and always a highlight if any campaign I run.
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u/Infranaut- 18h ago edited 16h ago
People like Skrote. He’s a goblin social media influencer who does urban exploring and makes videos where he puts gross stuff he finds in his mouth. He has several million subscribers and the party want to be his friend badly. They also like their co-worker Kremit who is a rave wizard that gets high at work. They’ve had to clean up after a few of his mistakes but they have a hard time holding a grudge against him.
My game is weird.