Alright, I'm prepping a Kingmaker campaign, and one of the things I want to do is insert some additional NPC's into the first adventure, so the PC's will feel like they have some options when appointing leaders.
I'm sure I'm not the only person with this idea; I thought we could have a DM idea-swap to populate the region.
Here are some ideas of mine:
Horace of Golka: (N Dwarf expert 2 / witch 2)
Once a dweller in the Golushkin mountains, young Horace's life was changed when he was approached in a dream by a powerful fey from the First World, who offered him power and gave no mention of a price. The naive dwarf accepted, and enjoyed a few short months of ease - until the winter solstice of the same year, when he awoke to find that every dwarf in the mountain, save for him, was gone.
Horace intuitively understands that their disappearance is his fault to some degree, and that knowledge has given him nightmares for years. Recently, however, his nightmares have been focused increasingly onto the stolen lands, and the poor dwarf has been drawn like a moth to a candle.
I like this guy because it's an interesting concept - you don't see a lot of dwarf witches - and because he's an easy way to foreshadow Narissa's coming, which is something this AP DESPERATELY needs.
Bion: (NG faun expert 2 / adept 1)
Bion appears to be a typical faun, although still very young. Bion's mother was a wizard who was living among a community of fairies (Perlivash and Tyg being members of said community) as a sort of anthropologist. Her mother has disappeared long before the start of the adventure, but not before she had instilled in Bion a deep and abiding love for reading and learning from books. Compared to the fairies, Bion comes off as mature and serious, and would much rather be reading than pranking.
If you want to make things even juicier, one could even make Bion's mother a direct descendent of House Rogarvia (according to the background, Rogarvia disappeared over 100 years ago; you could account for this by shortening that period drastically, or by citing fauns' long,elf-like life-spans, or handwaving in some First-World-interefering-with-time shenanigans). Yes, it's kind of a hassle, but I just know my players would be all over the possibilities of knowing a real, live Rogarvian! Such as he is.
So what about you guys? Did you make any exciting NPC's?
So what about you guys? Did you make any exciting NPC's?
Yes.
So what about you guys? Did you make any exciting NPC's?Yes.
That's what I get for wording it the way I did. Would you like to talk about them?
I'll get to this thread... I've got some NPCs you might dig.
Feedback for yours:
Horace of Golka is interesting. Were I to use him I might create a side quest to where the dwarves can be rescued. The dancing lady plot seems like a great spot for that, as there's room in that keep and you could say add a 4th critter with a few sorc levels and charm person to upgrade that encounter to something more memorable.
Bion would be hard to use. He'd rather read a book than deal with adventuring, thus when are the PCs going to interact with him. You'd have to force a situation where he has knowledge the PCs need to seek him out or give him a motive like a lead on his mom's location so he seeks them out. He'd also be easy for Lady N to seduce as there's a specific bit about their attraction to a certain type in the entry about them...
I'll get to this thread... I've got some NPCs you might dig.
Feedback for yours:
Horace of Golka is interesting. Were I to use him I might create a side quest to where the dwarves can be rescued. The dancing lady plot seems like a great spot for that, as there's room in that keep and you could say add a 4th critter with a few sorc levels and charm person to upgrade that encounter to something more memorable.
I'm assuming you mean a Charm monster besides the lady herself, correct? If I'm understanding you correctly, you're suggesting that one could add an encounter where some fey is controlling Horace, and the PC's have to kill the monster to set him free. Or would Horace himself be the monster?
Bion would be hard to use. He'd rather read a book than deal with adventuring, thus when are the PCs going to interact with him. You'd have to force a situation where he has knowledge the PCs need to seek him out or give him a motive like a lead on his mom's location so he seeks them out. He'd also be easy for Lady N to seduce as there's a specific bit about their attraction to a certain type in the entry about them...
Oh, you're right! I didn't even think about the business with lady N. I'm mostly attached to the weird connection between him and the Rogarvian throne. The way I was going to have it turn out, Bion's mother was somehow responsible for the Rogarvias' disappearance, just as Horace was for the dwarves, but because of Bion's unusual bloodline, the spell didn't target him.
I had always meant for him to be something of a reluctant hero, dragged in to politics he wanted no business with. And you're absolutely right, it'd be hard to get him to sign off on anything beyond perhaps "study at the Wizards' Tower". Which I might do. Or maybe I'll just rework the character. Make him a 200 year-old philosopher-wizard, a fairy-town elder of sorts. That would fit in with the Rogarvian timeline better, and it sounds like somebody more amicable to a leadership position. And I'd imagine an elder faun would be tougher for N to seduce, anyway.
Hey, thanks for the feedback! I'm a big fan of the stuff you've been posting on the Kingmaker boards, so I'm really looking forward to seeing your NPC's!
I'm saying charm person for the missing dwarves. I'm suggesting running Horrace, and adding a sidequest in book 2 to rescue his clan... At that point a dwarf clan would be useful with bith the gold and silver mines about.
As for adding more, Book 1 is chock full of decent NPCs, and you don't need more until book 2, unless you have a short party and need extra adventurers.
Here's some of mine in a nutshell:
-High level Varissian Sorc Tatooist- he's in the Pcs kingdom because he believes sorcerer talent can be guided and fostered if not schooled like wizards and the area is rife with fey bloods. He lost a lover by being less then accurate with an area of effect spell and has vowed to nonviolenc for a morning period of 7 years. He represents a lesson in being careless with power.
-Cleric of Abadar politician. He basically is a banker type lobbyist for his church, will make as many quid pro quo deals with the PCs as he can to advance his church. He is there to show that no one runs a kingdom without some compromises.
-Cleric of Asmodeus barrister. She's a Samsarian who serves a different god in some way with each life. In this life she defends criminals and low income people in the kingdom using her superior knowledge of contracts to her advantage. She is there as a check against the PCs going meglo on me, she can easily turn into a far more competent and dangerous Gregori if the PCs fall from grace.
I have tons more those are a few of my favs.
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Countess Tiziana Muraro Jolle was the eldest daughter of the wealthy leader of a stone mason's guild. The guild is a haven and cover for criminals and smugglers in the River Kingdoms and brought her father much wealth. This wealth attracted the eye of Count Erwin Jolle, an Ulfen man, that had claimed his own kingdom within the River Kingdoms. For five years they prospered and bore a single son. Then they were betrayed by Jolle's brother. She fled the small kingdom with her child and has since acquired her father's wealth and contacts. Now with nobles moving into the player kingdom she sees an opportunity as establishing herself in their kingdom and give her son the life she believes he deserves. She often adopts orphans and trains them up.(Designed as an ally/antagonist for our spymaster)
Commander Grayzin of the Steel Falcons One of our players recently made a character that had been fighting with his company of knights up into the Slough, and Commander Grayzin managed to save what members of his company manage. The Paladin PC is now this group's liaison to the council while Commander settles in to wait for reinforcements. Should be fun to see how having a small group of Andoran's effect the PCs. I see a splinter order in the future.
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Silouette : human female rogue that is a master of disguise. Current "known" leader of the thieves guild in the pcs kingdom (originally from Restov; long story on how she got their but the pcs actions caused the creation of her and her position). She is the current acting Spy Mistress. Does have the pcs interests at heart as she wants the kingdom to thrive (greater profits that way), and is actually fond of the pcs. However she does the things that the pcs wont do, like having Grigori assassinated after the pcs judgement was passed down on him being expelled from their country (assassination took place just outside of their kingdom's borders).
@Solspiral: Hey, those are neat. I like how they're thematic characters. I might use the idea of the Abadar politician - I can see him trying to get agents into PC leadership positions, who might try to divert the kingdom's interests for the church's. And the cleric is a smart choice, too. It's an interesting decision to make her a cleric of Asmodeus, as opposed to, say, Iomedae, who seems like a natural fit (but is admittedly less interesting). I get the "contracts" bit, but I figured Asmodeus would be all over exploiting "weak" people. But then again, Asmodeus is the more memorable of the two.
@Othniel Do you have much intrigue with Brevoy to the North? It's got a lot of political intrigue, but I think the countess would give an interesting new dimension to the political field - a rogue element, so to speak.
@Duskrunner: Is she your royal assassin? Or is that position occupied by a PC? I'm interested to see how her story is tied to the PC's. Have you ever had her acting at odds to the PC's interests?
Abadar Cleric has secured rights to exclusive temple access to what will be a key city. He also tends to hammer home the power always comes at a price end. Without spoiling my thread my PCs have 2 NPCS they will want raised from the dead soon so he's going to come up again. He also managed to get himself appointed as treasurer over Oleg who is off to run a trading post between Varnhold and the PCs. Svetlana has a little one on the way and Oleg dislikes cities (though they have a mansion in the posh district of Elk's Run (temple hex.)
Asodeus cleric is going to be an advocate for prisioners of war soon. She's adefense attourney and LN, either the law applies to everyone or no one. Her alignment is kosher for a cleric of Asmodeus and given her backstory she fits well into themes coming later in my game. IT'll get real interesting as various forms of the criminal element end up walking because of her talents and I suspect a lynch mob will eventually target her or one of her clients (I in fact added it to my random events table: scandlous trial.)
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Silouette is basically a “Spy Master”. Her talents are focused in more on gaining information. Originally the Spy master role was filled by a PC. However said PC perished when she went exploring the “abandoned” Lizardman encampment in Rivers Run Red by herself (I had greatly altered that part of the module). She isn’t an assassin by any means, but does realize the truth that as certain times there are people who need a killing.
Here is how she came about. Please keep in mind that I am working off of what I remember of what took place months ago.
Silouette came about around the end of Stolen Lands. The pcs were expecting to finish up exploration (they had just turned in the Stag Lord’s head to the Swordlords in Restov), and as such decided to prepare themselves for the goods that they were going to need. As such they started purchasing vast sums of horses, building materials, livestock, etc. They did this purchasing over the course of a couple of days in Restov. With the exchange of vast sums of money it drew the attention of Restov’s Thieves Guild, and the eye of “The Man” (current ruler of the Thieves Guild). Everything was going along smoothly as the PCs saw it until they got to Oleg and did their post inventory travels. It was at this point when they realized that they were missing 15% of the goods that they had purchased. It was at this point that the rogue in the party who was from Restov that this was the work of the Guild. The party decided not much could be done about it then, and finished with their exploration.
Upon returning to Restov to complete the charter, the PCs asked the Sword Lords if they had any connections to the local guild, as they had issues in the past moving goods and didn’t want the same thing to occur again. Of course officially the Sword Lords denied any connection, but in private quarters I had the leader of the five man council (whose name I created and don’t remember at this point) state that he would ask the guild to send someone to talk with them. The Pcs then returned to the upscale inn, The Bronzed Dragon, in order to figure out how to transport the 50 BPs worth of stuff to their new nation of Tulessa.
During the evening there was a letter placed in the Pcs bedroom stating that a contact would be meeting with them in the dining room around lunchtime, her name would be Silouette. At that time only three Pcs went to the meeting as most of the rest of the party had other things they needed to do before leaving Restov. The three consisted of the newly appointed leader (fighter), the Magister (sorcerer), and the ranger (treasurer). I had the dining room designed with enclosed booths as I figured this would be a place where businessmen would gather and would not want their discussions overheard by others. The three PCs basically ordered their lunch from the waitress and proceeded to wait.
After 20 minutes the waitress returned with their lunch, and then proceeded to sit down beside them. She introduced herself as Silhouette and the discussion took place on how not to have the Thieves Guild take a cut from the resources being sent. Silhouette proceeded to negotiate terms with the PCs, as the PCs realized that the guild would be dipping their hands into their business in some shape or form. The agreement they struck was the Thieves Guild would be established in Olegs’ Fall (pcs temporary capital: Oleg died in my campaign). The guild would not be actively hunted down, but instead would provide any information to the ruling body that threatened the newly found kingdom. In exchange for this service the Guild wanted a guild controlled brothel in any and every town, village, or city that the PCs were to have, as well as an orphanage in each as well. The Pcs had a hard time with the orphanage at first, as they saw it as a nesting ground of future thieves. However terms were met that the Guild would offer the opportunity to any that might have the talent, as well as those whose skills might be useful in other areas. In regards to thieves being caught, it was mentioned that thieves have to test their skills, and if they are caught then they made a mistake and should be punished. However there would be no overtly harsh penalties made (mostly fines, community services, etc). The rational was if they were good they wouldn’t get caught, and those would be the ones that are needed to do the daring information seeking.
Silouette basically was put in charge of the Thieves Guild in the pcs kingdom, and has had various interactions with the PCs. Her physical description is that of being a tall very attractive blonde, but she has appeared to the pcs with different hair colors, body types, and ages (had the Magister expecting her so he was looking for a young beautiful woman, was surprised when an older hunched over lady came to offer advice to him). During the events with Grigori she planted “evidence” in his belonging to be able to give the PCs a way to work within their laws to deal with him. Without her they couldn’t do anything. However the evidence points to Bevroy possibly being the one who sent Grigori. The PCs decided to expel Grigori from their country (escorted by the paladin of the group), with a death penalty facing him for treason if he returned. Here is where Silouette did that which needed to be done. She ordered a hit on Grigori to occur in the wilderness and have it look like a beast of the forest got him. She didn’t want him to reappear at all, as he was threatening her livelihood. She was put in charge of being the Spy Mistress when the party’s rogue (mentioned above went insane and had multiple personality disorder).
Hope this helps some.
McSnip
That is a very cool story. Consider it borrowed from!
Have you added any ramifications for having a thieves' guild freely operating in the city? I would think an increase to corruption and unrest would be appropriate. Of course, a pt thieves' guild come with its own advantages as well!
I'll introduce some more NPCs of mine own shortly (you may recognize a few common points with your own). But there are some really cool ideas coming here! You guys rock!
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Right now there really isnt much in the way of ramifications. I have altered the campaign significantly in that the gods are going to sleep with new gods awakening. One of the new gods is a goddess of corruption. I removed the werewolf encounter and switched it with an outbreak of Drekavacs. I also altered them so during the killing blow they would revert back to their child like state begging for Mommy or Daddy not to hurt them, etc. I also changed the cult of Gyronna over to the corruption goddess, rezzed a dumb paladin pc that they had in the beginning of the game (which is now a anti-paladin), and had that temple under the temple of one of the new good gods. The PCS wiped out that cult. As such the Guild knows better to break the established rules that were set before them. Besides they are making an assload of money from the brothels, considering one of the PCs tend to frequent the establishment quite a bit.
I do have other npcs, but they are more geared toward the godswar that is about to take place rather than the overarcing Kingmaker story.
Looking forward to reading about the NPCs.
We have a few interesting NPCs although Charles rinNovak has been one of the most useful...
Charles was minor functionary in Restov who was assigned to be the party's guide when they visited Restov for a ceremony at the end of book one. He is a Wizard2/Expert2 - with profession Barrister, and knowledge skills coming out of his ears. He is intelligent, well read and diplomatic.
He managed to wangle a job as the Party's Magister and has since become the chief administrator for their main city - and pretty much runs the place while they are away. He is a great NPC for introducing academic research and knowledge, reading contracts and introducing laws. When the PCs want something - I let 'Charles' write a paper a with a number of options and they can choose the one they want :)
He makes running the country so much easier - particularly for me :)
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Another really useful NPC has been Dabur Golka (Like yours) a disenfranchised Dwarf bard who became the lands official Executioner (assassin in the books) He doesn't carry out any secret assassinations - but he can make an execution into a great Show, which really reinforces the lessons behind it. (which is why a lot of executions were public in the first place)
He also has the advantage of maintaining the equilibrium when the party are away. Just recently the party have been away from home for a while.
Charles has been getting Dabur the bard to tell everyone how lucky they are to have leaders like they have.
In my game, Clan Golka may well be a focus of the game after book 6 - and Dabur could really earn his crust then: )