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I am currently running a Kingmaker campaign and instead of using the standard list of NPC's that they can use, they npc's are fine but just all a little vanilla for out party, I was wanting to make a handful of dumb NPC's using weird/fun build that would normally not work.
My thought is that I would like to do weird build that do X thing really well, but as a character would be to MAD or be something that would be so many classes that it wouldn't be great in combat.
For example I made Frank and Scritch. Frank is just some random like Adept 2 commoner. But Scritch is a magic squirrel. Lv 8 Ancient Guardian druid lv 6 Life oracle. Scritch has the Deaf Curse, Metamagic Still spell, and Natural Spell so she can cast while wild shaped. I just enjoyed the idea of having some dude who seems borderline immortal, but is actually just being protected by a druid healbot who spends all their time wildshaped as a diminutive squirrel, secretly healing the guy. In an actual party 8 levels of druid to just be a squirrel would be a waste and dumb, but thats the whole point with these NPC's!
My only real requirement is that I don't want their stats to be too crazy as that determines their rolls for the kingdom stuff. I'd like to stick to the rules for requirements on stuff, but things like alignment restriction or even race restrictions, if their is a reason, dont need to be followed.
Make sure to advance the Faerie Dragon Perlivash, and her Grigg friend Tyg... even if just in NPC class levels... they are fun to keep around.
I made Xamanthe, the Centaur, a bad@$$ two-handed Fighter... gave her decent Charisma and some Intimidate feats. She hasn't seen combat, but has shown up off and on throughout for story reasons.
Make Dragon, the cat in Varnhold, into an ex-Familiar and adjust his stats and abilities to match.
I made Nugrah the Decrepit, the Stag Lord's father, into a Blight Druid... who then became an Incorporeal Lich. Lol. Probably not necessary for every Kingmaker campaign, though.
Make Bokken into a real Alchemist, and give him something odd or unique to make him fun... in my campaign, he invented coffee. It's not tea, this, this here is something different, drink it, drink two, I haven't slept in days, want another?
Give a Satyr a Lyre of Building instead of his Pipes... havw him march around UNbuilding all the kingdoms roads until the party finds him. He can be made into a friend and may be convinced or paid to use his Lyre or Building for the kingdom. Or they can kill him and take it, I suppose.
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I really like the idea of grabbing some of the NPC's and just tweaking them to be a bit weird. I think I might twist Nugrah a bit, I really want to make a site bound oracle at some point, so I might toss a lv of oracle in there so he has the curse. Maybe grab one of the like undead-esq oracles and if they treat him good a rehab him he will level druid, and if bad will get more lich-y
I was actually thinking about making a celebrity bard, have him be super good mechanically, but just the worst person. Make them decide if the want to put up with like a super douchey frat bro to have a good council person. So i may steal the lyre for that.
The fat Bard from Pitax, the nay-sayer, whatever his name is... he can be such a pain if you give him some levels of Charlatan/Guild Agent Rogue, and a bunch of Brazen Deciever Bard... his lies are impossible not to believe. I had him running around saying that the king was dead. Lol.
Kesten Garess ended up saying screw his family, and became the kingdom's first Knight. He comes off as mean, but he is actually quite pleasant when off-duty. He chose Xamanthe as the kingdom's 2nd Knight, his right hand "man" (she's a woman, and a Centaur), and they pal around the Kingdom together quite a bit.
The Sootscale Kobold was changed to Queen Sootscale, and the party's Kobold Cleric ended up marrying her... uniting the Kobold tribe with the kingdom. The Kobold tribe, some surviving Mites, the Spriggands from Varnhold, and a Taltzwyrm all ended up staying in and operating the abandoned mine. They were safe, and self-regulating within the basic principles of the kingdom.
Satinder Morne is a Divine Scourge Cleric of Claristra gestalt with Sylvan Trickster uRogue. Quintessa Maray is a Sandman Bard VMC Rogue/Arcane Trickster. They are part of the Assassin's Guild... ran by the kingdom's assassin (the party's Slayer).
Maestro is an Archeologist Bard, and went with a cured Kundal to study the Kellid barbarian tribe. I made Kundal a Skald. They have a representative from the kingdom with them to try form an alliance/friendship between the tribe and the kingdom.
I made Old Bedlame into a real Witch, a Ley Guardian or whatever. Had her and the Scarecrow thing sitting in the same spot.
Not too far away, I had placed the sawn-off stump of a truly massive tree... the stump is 7' tall, and nearly 30' in diameter. A huge, cold-iron construct with a version of the Ripsaw Glaive stood dormant beside it. His name is Hexxus, and when he comes alive, toxic smoke spews from exhaust pipes on his back.
The tree sits at the intersection of two Ley Lines, and was once considered a Tree of Life. The Witch is very interested in the tree, due to its unique relationship with the Ley Lines... but she can't do anything to the massive construct that clearly cut down the tree.
So, obviously, the party kills the construct. The Witch revives the tree. And everything is fine until the Blooms start. At this point, the tree grows into a gigantic Scythe Tree, impales Old Bedlame, and takes over the area (and the Scarecrow) with creeping, thorny roots/vines.
The party kills the Bloom, but the Tree of Life remains a Scythe Tree. It is, however, awakened with the spirit of Old Bedlame. I literally just gave the tree her character sheet.
Johd or Jhod, whatever it is, is a Crusader Cleric gestalt with Bolt Ace Gunslinger. His name is pronounced "God", which is funny because he is a Cleric. He lives in that temple in the forest with the healing pool.
He has befriended a Unicorn, and it hangs out at the temple, as well. The Spriggands from Varnhold are temple guards... normally in small form acting as ushers/assistants. A group of Kobold Rangers patrol the forest between the temple and the mines.
The talking horse, Windchaser, is now residing at Oleg's and is head stud of a healthy and profitable horse trade.
Auchs and Dovan are now part of the Assassin's Guild. They were originally exiled instead of killed, because Dovan surrended when the party was about to kill Auchs... Auchs is like Lennie-stupid, and Dovan is his guardian/handler/friend. They both swore to never be seen again, but they fled to Pitax. When the party took over Pitax, there they were.
Fun with Pugwampi... I like to run with the Unluck Aura and add themed class levels to these little guys. I have found that these work pretty well:
Channeler of the Unknown Clerics,
Cyclopean Seer Oracles,
Primal Warden Shamans,
Serendipity Shamans,
Sylvan Trickster UnRogues
dumb NPC's using weird/fun build that would normally not work
Hm. Let's see.
A Gnome thief who keeps escaping by turning into a raven... who actually is a raven turned into a Gnome; the real thief is a 3rd level Adept with a Fey-touched Improved Familiar.
gnome paladin 2/gninja X who goes around deliver JUSTICE! by sneak-attack bopping people on the head with their sap.
And sticking to the theme of Gnomes:
A level 1 Gnome Commoner might have the Adopted and Celestial Commmunity traits. Since Gnomes have three SLAs, a simple level 1 commoner can cast Cure Light Wounds three times a day while taking half the damage himself. A truly notable martyr!
Up near the Thousand Breathes, in the nunery with the trapped Nereid... I had a large tribe of Red Orcs, which were all actually Ogrillon with red skin.
Most of them were given ~10 levels in Invulnerable Rager, with a handful of Skalds and Bloodragers, a Scarred Witch Doctor Witch... regardless, I had this wonderful mental image of the party fighting these Red Orcs (with green blood) in the snow.
The end scene was supposed to be super serene like a Christmas show or some $#!+... just with a field of snow littered with red Ogrillon bodies, stained with green blood... light snow, jiggling bells, the party holds hands ans begin to sing. No, none of that happened.
Instead, the party encountered the tribe of Ogrillon just passing through. The tribe wasn't on the attack or anything, just hanging out doing Orc stuff. So the party flies up on their Carpet of Flying and uses Diplomacy to invite the tribe into the kingdom. Legit employment as kingdom rangers to patrol the far reaches of the kingdom. Natural 20 on the Dip-roll. Pull my freaking hair out, screaming on the inside...
I accidentally built over 100 dumb NPC Red Ogrillon.