Rules Index | GM Screen

An NPC by Any Other Name

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 254
This chapter provides statistics for all manner of travelers and shopkeeps, guardsmen and drunkards, princesses and high priests, and dozens of other fantasy world residents. Yet, absent are characters such as explorers, mountain climbers, armada admirals, dragon riders, and countless other NPCs a party might encounter in the course of their adventures. The reasons for this are twofold: First, no list of characters could hope to satisfy all the occupants of every GM’s imagination, and thus only a sampling of those that appear most often in Pathfinder RPG adventures appear here. Second, even though a stat block might be titled “guide,” there’s no reason a GM can’t appropriate those statistics for an explorer, outrider, cowboy, or any other similar character he might require.

Thus, along with each NPC comes a description of what the character is, how it might be used in its basic form or as a variety of alternative characters, and even what other NPCs it might be found with (along with increased CRs for such groupings). Equipment suites typical of these characters’ professions and appropriate to the GP value of characters of their level are also provided. Often, the descriptions contain suggested ideas for alternate equipment or replacement feats to better customize the NPCs for varied roles and different campaigns. As with any other aspect of these characters, these elements can be adjusted however the GM sees fit.

In addition, each NPC is grouped into a family of similar characters, both for ease of organization and so GMs seeking a specific type of character find a variety at their disposal (for example, while a CR 1/2 pickpocket might not fit the bill for an encounter, a CR 2 burglar might). Such also serves to make generating encounters using these characters easier, as NPCs with the same backgrounds or from the same walks of life are often found and faced together.

GMs are also encouraged to change the NPCs presented here to better suit their individual campaigns. Most of these characters have abilities suiting archetypical views of their roles and bear neutral alignments. Alignments, of course, are easily altered and skills—especially Craft, Knowledge, and Profession—can be exchanged on the fly to create characters of varying expertise.

The chart on the facing page also lists all of the archetypical characters in this chapter along with their class levels, organized by CR so GMs can more easily find and create challenges appropriate to their party’s level. Overall, just as these characters are presented without personalities or agendas, their presented statistics can be molded by GMs to suit whatever roles they require. Thus, from the dozens of NPCs presented, the true number of characters and encounters that can be based on them is limited only by a GM’s imagination.

Archives of Nethys

Rules Index | GM Screen

An NPC by Any Other Name