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Player's Guide
Chapter 5: NPC Gallery
Source
Gamemastery Guide pg. 203
Monsters and PCs aren't the only inhabitants of your world. Though they might not be heroes, NPCs can play various roles in your game, such as calling PCs to adventure, serving as obstacles in social encounters, or opposing PCs in battle. This chapter presents almost a hundred NPCs for your game, plus rules to modify them to fit any particular niche.
Using the NPC Gallery
Source
Gamemastery Guide pg. 203
In this section, you'll find all kinds of NPCs across a variety of categories and roles for you to use in your game. Their levels span from –1 to 8, the range you most often need for stock characters. Since high-level opponents, major villains, ruling monarchs, and the like tend to be unique individuals, you'll likely create those NPCs specifically for the role they serve, using the rules for
Building Creatures
. But you can never have too many lower-level NPCs on hand when the PCs unexpectedly take an unusually keen interest in an NPC or pick a fight at a roadside tavern.
The level listed on an NPC's stat block is their level assuming they're used in combat; they should be able to hold their own as well as any other creature of that level. But many of these NPCs are primarily noncombatants who are much more skilled in their occupation than they ever would be in combat. To that end, those specialist NPCs' entries also mention a higher level that you would use when the PCs have to compete against them in their area of expertise.
Chapter Map
The chapter divides NPCs into 18 sections to make it easier for you to find the types of characters you need for your game.
Courtiers
Criminals
Devotees
Downtrodden
Explorers
Foresters
Healers
Laborers
Magistrates
Mercenaries
Mystics
Officers
Performers
Publicans
Scholars
Seafarers
Tradespeople
Villains
Customizing NPCs
Source
Gamemastery Guide pg. 203
The NPCs in this gallery are all
humans
with no languages besides
Common
. In some cases, such as human-centric Taldor where Common is the official language, you can most likely use the NPCs in this section as written. But more often, you'll need to make minor adjustments to the details to portray a particular NPC. Since these stat blocks present the most basic possible version for each character, you shouldn't need to remove any statistics or abilities unless your NPC can't speak Common.
The next few sections provide guidelines and ancestry adjustments you can use to quickly customize a default NPC.
Organization and Deity Templates
In addition to the templates in this book, the
Pathfinder Lost Omens Character Guide
presents theme templates to quickly and easily make these NPCs members of various organizations. If you're looking for adherents of a specific deity,
Pathfinder Lost Omens Gods & Magic
offers a theme template that allows you to customize an NPC to fit any deity, or a deity of your own creation!
Adjusting Level
Source
Gamemastery Guide pg. 203
Sometimes you'll need an NPC that fills a particular role—say an angry drunk— but the level in the stat block presented isn't the right fit for your group. You can start by applying the
elite
or
weak
adjustments to adjust the NPC's level by 1 in either direction.
If you need to change the NPC's level beyond that, use the values from the tables in
Building Creatures
, and add or remove special abilities as necessary to suit the NPC's new level.
Changing Alignment
Source
Gamemastery Guide pg. 203
Aside from some obviously aligned NPCs, like the villains, most of the NPCs in this gallery are presented as neutral. If you want to change an NPC's alignment, all you have to do is change their alignment trait. You might consider how the new alignment affects the NPC's personality and adjust their skills accordingly; for instance, a lawful evil
teacher
might have a higher modifier for
Intimidation
than
Diplomacy
.
Changing Languages
Source
Gamemastery Guide pg. 203
If you need a human character who speaks more languages to fit their backstory, nation of origin, or role, simply add those languages.
NPC Ancestry Adjustments
Source
Gamemastery Guide pg. 204
To use one of the NPCs in this section to represent an NPC of a different ancestry, apply the adjustments below for the desired ancestry. These provide the basic features from that ancestry, like
darkvision
, altered Speed, and unique abilities like a halfling's keen eyes. For other ancestries, you can create similar templates following the same format. In addition to these base changes, you can add the effects of a specific heritage: you might apply the
snow goblin
heritage if your NPC is a Frostfur goblin and you want them to have cold resistance. You can also give them an ancestry feat, or even adjust their ability scores and skills to reflect the new ancestry's strengths and weaknesses. For a
half-elf
,
half-orc
, or any other heritage essential to the character, you should always apply the heritage effect.
Dwarf
Source
Gamemastery Guide pg. 204
Change the
human
trait to
dwarf
.
Add
Dwarven
to the NPC's languages.
Add
darkvision
.
Decrease the NPC's Speed by 5 feet. If the NPC already has a reduced Speed due their armor, consider applying the
Unburdened Iron
ancestry feat.
Elf
Source
Gamemastery Guide pg. 204
Change the
human
trait to
elf
.
Add
Elven
to the NPC's languages.
Add
low-light vision
.
Increase the NPC's Speed by 5 feet.
Gnome
Source
Gamemastery Guide pg. 204
Change the
human
trait to
gnome
.
Add
Gnomish
and
Sylvan
to the NPC's languages.
Add
low-light vision
.
Goblin
Source
Gamemastery Guide pg. 204
Change the
human
trait to
goblin
.
Add
Goblin
to the NPC's languages.
Add
darkvision
.
Halfling
Source
Gamemastery Guide pg. 204
Change the
human
trait to
halfling
.
Add
Halfling
to the NPC's languages.
Add the keen eyes ability below.
Keen Eyes
Your eyes are sharp, allowing you to make out small details about concealed or even invisible creatures that others might miss. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus when using the
Seek
action to find
hidden
or
undetected
creatures within 30 feet of you. When you target an opponent that is
concealed
from you or hidden from you, reduce the DC of the flat check to 3 for a concealed target or 9 for a hidden one.
Making a Specialist
Source
Gamemastery Guide pg. 204
These NPCs contain several specialists, such as barristers and navigators, who are a higher-level challenge at their specialty than in combat, and often have a special ability related to it. To make your own specialists, you can easily switch out skills, but you might want to use the following special abilities to make those NPCs more evocative!
Butter Up
(
emotion
,
mental
) When someone eats a dish or treat made by this NPC, the NPC can attempt a
Baking Lore
, Cooking Lore, or similar check against that creature's Will DC, with the same results as the
Make an Impression
action of
Diplomacy
. If more than one creature partakes, the NPC uses the same check result against each creature's Will DC.
Call Your Bluff
When gambling, the NPC may use
Games Lore
to
Sense Motive
instead of Perception.
Child Care
When treating infants, the NPC can use their
Midwifery Lore
skill in place of
Medicine
, and can use Medicine's trained actions on infants.
Find Footing
(
concentrate
) The NPC attempts an
Architecture Lore
, Engineering Lore, or similar skill check to find a stable path across uneven ground. This grants them and anyone they share this information with a +2 circumstance bonus on
Acrobatics
checks to
Balance
across that ground.
Gone Fishing
The NPC can use
Fishing Lore
to
Track
aquatic creatures or to
Aid
checks to Track them.
Local Lore
When they first meet a given person from their home settlement, the NPC can automatically attempt one check to
Recall Knowledge
about that person. This uses the
Lore
skill for that settlement.
Quick Transcription
The NPC can attempt to copy a document faster than normal, provided they don't alter the content. They attempt a
Scribing Lore
check, completing the task in half the time on a success (one-quarter on a critical success).