Quickly Managing NPCs
If there is one thing that tends to bother, perplex, or trouble Dungeon Masters in D&D 5th Edition, I've noticed that it very often is how to make NPCs on the fly. DMing is stressful. It's a lot of organizing and arranging details mixed with careful preparation. Then suddenly, your players need or want to talk to a character that you never bothered creating. What do you do? Well, you'll usually try to come up with a name on the fly, as you establish what race the character is, and try to make the name match the race that you have chosen. Though, the question is, do you need to have actual stats for this character. The answer is: Maybe. If this character is going to essentially be a mechanism to getting something done, you probably don't need to stat the character out. If he is some random shopkeeper, messenger, errand-boy, probably not.
Easy Skill Checks, No Stats
Though, you may be thinking, "What if the players roll a skill check against this character?" Well, in most cases, if there is little chance you will ever see this character again, just set a DC based on what the character is trying to do. Moreover, based on that character, their skills, nature, attitude, etc., the way they are attempting to do whatever it is they are doing, establish the DC from there. My wife's character Calliope is a half-nymph, a gorgeous, sweet, kindly, half-nymph. When interacting with an NPC, I don't make the assumption that Calliope always gets what she wants. I assume that there is a good chance or a much better chance that Calliope has an easier time interacting with people, whether it is her goodly nature or sex appeal, because, let's face it, if we're being "realistic", that's a factor in her interactions. Her teammate Arrador, the hot headed, Eldritch Knight with the penchant for pyromancy is not a people person. His one social skill is Intimidate. I am naturally going to assume, Calliope can much more easily talk down a price than Arrador. So a DC for Arrador, as he is curt, rude, and even hostile, will be higher if he says, "Let's make that longsword 300 rather than 400 gold pieces," will probably be higher. He's coming off as stingy, because he is. Calliope on the other hand, would probably while flirting a little, and while being bubbly and sweet, she might express that she wants to contribute to the seller's business, but can't exactly afford a 400 gold piece longsword. Instead, she tries to strike up a trade while paying half the price. The item she offers is valuable but of no use to her, and could be easily re-sold maybe for more, and the seller gets at least least half the price and can now potentially turn a profit. Calliope's DC for this negotiation could be lower than Arrador's. Her tactic (negotiation), her attitude towards the NPC, and her personality, all could factor in. Now the fun part: Does the NPC automatically accept this offer? If you answer yes, then you're done. No rolling required. If he has to debate it, or think it over, ask yourself is it Likely or Unlikely that the NPC will take the deal? On a scale of 1 to 10, how much convincing would it be for this NPC to accept the offer, 10 being a lot of convincing? As you choose, keep the factors of the situation in mind, and who you have established the NPC to be. After you answer both those questions do this: If you answered Likely, add the number you chose to the base number 10. If you chose 1, then it's a DC 11 Charisma (Persuasion) check. A character like Calliope who has a +5 in Charisma and Expertise in Persuasion giving her a total of +11 to her roll, can't really fail this. Even if you chose 6, (DC 16) she'd have to roll at least a 5 on a d20 to succeed. If you answered Unlikely, then multiply the number you chose by 2 and add it to the base number of 10. If the NPC is stubborn, or stingy, or is pretty callous to people as lovely and magnetic as Calliope, it could be more difficult. If you choose the number 5, the DC is then 20. Calliope needs to roll at least a 9. If you feel that any factor of the situation bears a strong enough weight to help the outcome, granting advantage on the player's roll is always an option. If there is a factor towards the opposite, disadvantage is also a tool. Sure, Arrador could have made the same argument, but he has bad reputation around town as being a violent and unpredictable ruffian. Any other time, the merchant might be Likely to take the deal, but he is dealing with this particular "miscreant". If Arrador was making an Intimidation check, it might be a different story, but that also is beholden to consequences. Classic Skill Checks, No Stats To create a character closer to having a stat block, imagine your NPC; you have his name, his personality, his motivations, etc. figured out. However, you decide that you want to determine what his ability scores are. No random shopkeeper is going to have an amazing set of ability scores unless they were a former adventurer and something forced them to give it up.
(Retirement is something we all do)
In that case, they may have decent stats, those you might want to establish in the usual way, but chances are, if you just started creating this guy mid-session, they weren't an adventurer. The process to create this NPC is pretty simple. Pick an ability score that is their best. Pick one or two that are decent, then pick one that is bad. Then the rest are simply OK. For the bad one, they have a -1 modifier, OK ones get a +0, decent gets a +1, and the best a +2. Then, pick a proficiency bonus for them. This may not matter much, except for skill checks if necessary but if your characters are buying something like a device, or some other product from this character, it could easily help you determine a DC, if it is called for. Choose between two to four skills for this NPC to be proficient in and one or two tools. Pick an extra language outside of it's racial languages for every positive modifier. It is generally a good idea to make extra languages appropriate to the NPC's daily life, region, or business. Don't be afraid to change this formula a little, if you do, this NPC won't take over your game. Remember, this guy is effectively a glorified extra. If characters come back to this NPC, sure flesh them out a little more, but you can go into greater detail after, if you need.
Note, I never mentioned hit points? What if the players decide to kill this NPC? Every living thing in the game needs hit points right? If your party is a bunch of murderhobos, then it needs hit points! Needs! Don't worry, I have a reasonable solution in case your players not only lack self-control, but morals as well. The solution is simple:
(Dramatic music)
I'm kidding. The real question is: How many hits is it reasonable to kill this character because your players are murdering sociopaths? I'm serious this time. This guy is a shop keeper, a baker, or what have you. Your "chaotic neutral" rogue that has the habit of tickling people with a knife will obviously make quick work of this NPC. Don't worry about hit points. Characters do not equal hit points do not equal an encounter. All else, your NPC will get the job done. Now you can go back to running your games and not worry about this character you just brought into existence. Special thanks to my Twitter pal, Litza (@Litzabronwyn). Once again, she kinda put this article into my head. I may have to put her on payroll one of these days. Next week we'll be delving into creating Monsters and Combative NPCs, an in-depth weapon system to build upon 5e's system, a subtype, and we'll ponder the question: "What game are you playing?"