1. first impression, introduction and expectations about this NPC (and, possibly, the opposite features later in the game) 2. voice and behaviour (reinforce the first impression) 3. appearance with at least one outstanding feature (missing an eye, golden skin, enormous nose etc) 4. easy way to flesh them out: ---- 4.1. their goal (find the necronomicon?) ---- 4.2. their fears (gnomes in pink caps and pre-sliced bread?) 5. last thing: statblock (regular commoners and mortals usually have stats of 10 and not much hp, around 10, too)
I usually go 3, 1, then 2 in mass. After that, I make tokens. During which, I decide on details for 4 and 5 along with when and where I want to use them. I like making tokens that pop out of their borders so, while I'm cutting them out of the HD art, it's a great time to look at the little details for ideas to expand on them.
For Tobias, the cage might be easily dispelled with a casting of dispel magic, but it seems too easy. Something must be afoot here. I'll look over the room as thoroughly as I possibly can. (17 on Investigation check) If there doesn't seem to be anything else, I'll cast dispel magic on the cage and get Tobias out of there. For NPCs, these are good bits of advice. As Matt Colville has talked about previously, you don't need to be a voice actor to make good NPCs or make memorable ones. Some of them, you just need to have mannerisms. Things like stutters, speaking in a breathy manner (meaning end your sentences with an exhale), clicking your tongue when the NPC thinks he makes a clever statement or is hinting at something else. I do know how to do accents, and I will say that my NPC game has been off. Not that each of them feels the same or anything, but I do think I need to differentiate better between characters. It's easy out-of-game, but when I'm in-game, the pressure is on. lol
I do the same thing of kinda attaching a real person or actor to a character, kind of cast them to get the idea of their looks and personality. There's an NPC in my game I made to introduce my aunt to DnD based off Inigo Montoya and my aunt thinks he's great.
Looks like Tobias might be stuck in a Forcecage, but I'm gonna try to smash it just to make sure we can't do this the easy way. I swing my maul twice (21 & 18) and hopefully one of those beats the AC for 13 bludgeoning damage or if both hit, a total of 28 damage. If my attacks don't leave a scratch, I'll step aside and let one of the casters take a shot.
Im gonna have to keep this in mind if I ever start running games of my own creation (or at least less scripted) As for Tobias I would like to take a closer look at the cage and try to determine the type of magic that it is.
I have trouble coming up with NPCs so this video will definitely help, thank you! I would like to check for traps, then possibly look for a way to free Tobias
How to help the kitten? Magical cage… floating. Well ask our magic users if it can be safely dispelled (arcana). If magic don’t work then we “investigate” our surroundings. Must be a clue somewhere.
I would love to play DnD , I have the 3 core rule books 2014 (reading them , I'm at the spells of the Player's Handbook) , this christmas, I'll have 2 other dnd books (Monster of the Multiverse and Eberron , still need to buy Curse of Thraud and the starter stet, don't know if to buy other books like Pathinder and etc) but I still didn't played at any DnD game. I want to start as a good DM (maybe it's because of Pointy Hat influence) and maybe worldbuild a bit but with the studies, I don't have time TwT
@@friquite8926 Friend, just get srarted! Sounds like you want to start at the goal. Give yourself permission to fail forward. Find a group online, make your first steps as a player, so you learn, what players want, before making it a big guessing game. Then run a oneshot for a friend or two. No need to read loads of books and go all in, before you‘ve even dipped a toe in the water.
@@MenschWerdeWesentlich Yeah but first a need to find a group , maybe a group online how I'm in France and a free group that we don't pay for playing it but I don't know where to find something like this. Their is to the problem of studies that don't give me a lot of time
@ Make time, look around, you can do it and will (probably) not regret it! I’ve just googled online ttrpg france and found a few options. r/LFG_Europe looks promising.
I'll never understand why i like watching you talk about a game i don't play.
LOL I appreciate the love either way!
U should play it tho
Bro is a great talker
Get stuck in mate. D&D is great fun.
i happen to be in the same boat there...
1. first impression, introduction and expectations about this NPC (and, possibly, the opposite features later in the game)
2. voice and behaviour (reinforce the first impression)
3. appearance with at least one outstanding feature (missing an eye, golden skin, enormous nose etc)
4. easy way to flesh them out:
---- 4.1. their goal (find the necronomicon?)
---- 4.2. their fears (gnomes in pink caps and pre-sliced bread?)
5. last thing: statblock (regular commoners and mortals usually have stats of 10 and not much hp, around 10, too)
I usually go 3, 1, then 2 in mass. After that, I make tokens. During which, I decide on details for 4 and 5 along with when and where I want to use them. I like making tokens that pop out of their borders so, while I'm cutting them out of the HD art, it's a great time to look at the little details for ideas to expand on them.
For Tobias, the cage might be easily dispelled with a casting of dispel magic, but it seems too easy. Something must be afoot here. I'll look over the room as thoroughly as I possibly can. (17 on Investigation check) If there doesn't seem to be anything else, I'll cast dispel magic on the cage and get Tobias out of there.
For NPCs, these are good bits of advice. As Matt Colville has talked about previously, you don't need to be a voice actor to make good NPCs or make memorable ones. Some of them, you just need to have mannerisms. Things like stutters, speaking in a breathy manner (meaning end your sentences with an exhale), clicking your tongue when the NPC thinks he makes a clever statement or is hinting at something else. I do know how to do accents, and I will say that my NPC game has been off. Not that each of them feels the same or anything, but I do think I need to differentiate better between characters. It's easy out-of-game, but when I'm in-game, the pressure is on. lol
Tobias! At last! I'll check for traps. But I rolled a 4. +1 Dex, +2 proficiency in thieves tools... total of 7. I'm not very good at this, clearly. :(
I do the same thing of kinda attaching a real person or actor to a character, kind of cast them to get the idea of their looks and personality. There's an NPC in my game I made to introduce my aunt to DnD based off Inigo Montoya and my aunt thinks he's great.
Looks like Tobias might be stuck in a Forcecage, but I'm gonna try to smash it just to make sure we can't do this the easy way. I swing my maul twice (21 & 18) and hopefully one of those beats the AC for 13 bludgeoning damage or if both hit, a total of 28 damage. If my attacks don't leave a scratch, I'll step aside and let one of the casters take a shot.
Both strikes hit...but the cage is still standing.
and uuhh...you hear some rumbling nearby.
Im gonna have to keep this in mind if I ever start running games of my own creation (or at least less scripted)
As for Tobias I would like to take a closer look at the cage and try to determine the type of magic that it is.
I have trouble coming up with NPCs so this video will definitely help, thank you!
I would like to check for traps, then possibly look for a way to free Tobias
How to help the kitten? Magical cage… floating. Well ask our magic users if it can be safely dispelled (arcana). If magic don’t work then we “investigate” our surroundings. Must be a clue somewhere.
I would love to play DnD , I have the 3 core rule books 2014 (reading them , I'm at the spells of the Player's Handbook) , this christmas, I'll have 2 other dnd books (Monster of the Multiverse and Eberron , still need to buy Curse of Thraud and the starter stet, don't know if to buy other books like Pathinder and etc) but I still didn't played at any DnD game. I want to start as a good DM (maybe it's because of Pointy Hat influence) and maybe worldbuild a bit but with the studies, I don't have time TwT
@@friquite8926 Friend, just get srarted!
Sounds like you want to start at the goal.
Give yourself permission to fail forward. Find a group online, make your first steps as a player, so you learn, what players want, before making it a big guessing game. Then run a oneshot for a friend or two.
No need to read loads of books and go all in, before you‘ve even dipped a toe in the water.
@@MenschWerdeWesentlich Yeah but first a need to find a group , maybe a group online how I'm in France and a free group that we don't pay for playing it but I don't know where to find something like this. Their is to the problem of studies that don't give me a lot of time
@ Make time, look around, you can do it and will (probably) not regret it!
I’ve just googled online ttrpg france and found a few options. r/LFG_Europe looks promising.
1:06 arcane spotted... it would appear that nobody can escape it.
This is great advice, I'm trying to come up with some interesting side characters.
would you consider making a tutorial for descryb, ive triend it ad its very useful, but also a little confusing to work out, i
Definitely! I’ll see what I can cook up
Ima look for a power source or anything that I could see generating the field, with a 14 :D maybe -1 tho cause my wisdom is a lil low
❤
Tobias....use a metal to ground the cage - short it out.....
someones been watching parks and rec
I mean yes, but what made you say that lol
Don’t let my players know about that stat block thing, haha
LOL don't tell mine