Effective NPCs

Nirrum is 100% real

I, On the other hand, have doubts about my own existence.

Part of creating a world is creating people who live in that world. At least usually. People, thankfully, are extremely predictable. Across time and culture, given the same chance, we will do the same thing. They will associate mostly with their social class, they will congregate in villages, live in safe places, eat good food when they can, make do with what they have, delight in the bawdy, the erotic, and the intoxicating. There will also always be outliers to every aspect here and people who dislike people who like any particular thing. In my particular context we just got out of Marijuana prohibition and are near a hundred years removed from nationwide alcohol prohibition. I can personally attest that the use of such items never stopped and was in fact quite widespread. Figuring out what vices are allowed and how many people use them regardless is a matter for Cultural context (read, Bullshit until it's relevant), but outside of a couple of factors, there's some easy guidelines for making NPCs that

• Have easily expressable personalities
• Easily describable Looks
• easily expressed motives
• Quickly cross-referenced classes

The Formula

Here is a rather full example

The Brawny General Atlas Sowelo (INFP)(Growing One)(Bear Totem Barbarian 6, Light Cleric 6, Brawny)

This Goliath lifts, A god grants him higher levels of strength but he probably doesn't need it

Age: 35
Hieght: 7'0

Weight: 400

Atlas Sowelo is almost certainly the strongest mortal to exist on this plane. Capable of carrying extreme loads, with a carrying capacity of 4800. Atlas can literally carry houses. He spends his time in the Maze with a large cart that he uses to carry out people and treasure. He'll act as a Depot for the other maze runners if they ask him and he'll safeguard the people in the maze himself until it becomes an opportune time to leave. He wears a shimmering shirt made of fish scales and heavy brown linen pants. He carries a Spellguard shield but is cursed by a shield of Missile attraction... Voluntarily. He also wears a barbutte that acts as a helm of comprehend languages. He heads into the maze daily to retrieve those lost in it, just as he was once, armed with a War Pick that glows a soft white light constantly, in protecting others he will hold both his shields.

And now the Formula, the elements of which will be explained later
<Title, Name> (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator*)(School, Faction)(Class levels and Archetype if any)
<Quick one liner >

Age
Size descriptors

This paragraph should basically describe

• how the general populus might think of them without context
• What makes them special
• What makes THAT special
• The Character's Context, what they do and probably why they do it.
• What the character is wearing
• Any notable magic items or effects
• A tidbit about their personality.

Quick and Easy

Names should tend to follow a theme. Similar phonemes or even full concepts, have often been used, to convey connection. People who know the Goliath tribe of the eastern Aegis Mountains might make the connection that Atlas here is one of their people. Aside from having a Predone name list which you can pick from on the fly, my most successful technique has been to slam my hands on the keyboard wantonly and try to make a name of the resulting mess. It's how the Svilsbo family came into existence.

Watch

• wgltnb;psgnmj
• ..Wagalton..fuck the b, Posegnomaji
• What? You haven't heard of the Posegnomaji Family? Their (rolls gender table) Patriarch Wagalton is a Famous Cook!
• NO ONE KNOWS THAT PERSON DID NOT EXIST UNTIL JUST NOW
• bask in the glow of the depth and completeness of your world 

Meyer's-Briggs Type Indicator. 

Or More accurately, the stereotypes. This one requires a bit of study to do fluidly and takes some quick googling to do dynamically. You can easily replace this one with the name of someone who you want this NPC to be. People are far more complex than an MBTI can really tell you, but knowing the stereotypes can really help you nail down some reactions that you hadn't thought of already, as an example (and I won't fill all these out, it would take too long), here's a couple

• ENTP - Verbose, Capitious, Snivelling malcontented shitlords, Also adventurous, clever, witty and despite being obtuse and abrasive, quite caring when they're not oblivious, They're also notoriously creative while being absolutely terrible at executing long term plans. They tend to forget a lot of what they're doing. These people have too much energy to argue with and don't really care who wins or loses. You'll find Characters as varied as Jack Sparrow and Deadpool all the way back to Mordin Solace, Nirrum, Doc Brown, Elodin, or Bugs Bunny.  
• INFP - Quiet, caring, the best daydreamers, some joke that they're made of pre-cracked glass emotionally. Where the ENTP can create a solution to a problem, the INFP can make something new, they make fantastic storytellers and unparalleled musicians.  Kermit the frog, Gohan of Dragonball z fame, Hyuuga Hinata, Alphonse Elric, Fred Rogers. They love to be loved and really, don't need much more than support from others.

I really recommend searching around and getting a feel for these characters and stereotypes, Do a bunch of tests yourself. Atlas is actually just based on a friend of mine. Guy doesn't talk much but he'll work himself to death to keep someone safe. And while these are stereotypes, they really help when you're not sure of a character's quirks or what makes them unique. There are 16 types and you could probably break them down into subtypes. Personally, I enjoy experimenting with the dynamics between two types. Making characters with different types interact is how life works and, from an audience perspective, can make worlds seem massive and dynamic, even though they're only thin shells.

School or Faction, Where they is what they be

Atlas here is part of the school of the Growing one From Danzuishan. In this case, it highlights the most key aspect of his character, in that he intends to hone himself and his talents to their highest possible extent. In other cases, it will help keep faction agents separate during political problems. This could be as simple as a country, their military rank, or even their disposition to the players if they've been encountered already.

Classes, Feats, a quick note on the way they fight or don't/

As mentioned in my post on Balance, I frequently level my NPCs like Players, meaning their powers are predictable and that the players know what sort of balance they're facing if they manage to glean that information. It also means that if I give them special power, ability or item, it makes it all that much more dramatic. For other systems outside of 5e, this might just be their archetype or what *sort* of thing they are. I often include race here if it matters. If it's tertiary then I include it in the description.

Snappy One-line description

• An exciting and Charismatic Leader of the Kholirahi's Ground forces
• A wild force of nature, Some say he is the very spirit of the valley 
• The Summer Archfey of Eyes is known to grant nightmares in the form of one's own faults 

This one-liner is a dense description that should tell you the tone they should set and might be something another character says to introduce them

Physical descriptors

There's not much to say for these, but they'll tell you if they look up or down  to your players, if they tip a boat when they get in it, or how to do their voices, should you need to. 

I already covered the Paragraph so I think that's it for now. Next up I'll probably talk about The two best encounters I've ever run

Mishali, betlysvil'u'lo sho oosha saven. 

-Nirrum