🎭 NPC Prompt Ideas

Use these prompts as creative starting points when generating NPCs. Each one suggests a rough place in a campaign’s arc — from early troublemakers to late-game power players — without locking you into specifics.

Early Campaign NPCs

• A nervous town guard stationed somewhere no one wants to patrol.
• A dockworker who has learned to survive street fights after dark.
• A courier carrying a message she clearly does not understand — but fears.
• A small-time gang enforcer desperate to prove he belongs.
• A caravan guard whose confidence exceeds their experience.
• A reanimated laborer that still performs familiar tasks out of habit.

Established Campaign NPCs

• A seasoned bounty hunter known for bringing targets in alive.
• A veteran sergeant who can hold a defensive line through sheer discipline.
• A noble’s personal bodyguard trained to end fights quickly and quietly.
• A criminal fixer who never fights unless escape is impossible.
• A battlefield scout who specializes in ambushes and withdrawals.
• An undead lieutenant trusted with enforcing order among lesser minions.

Late Campaign NPCs

• A warlord whose reputation alone can scatter lesser foes.
• A master tactician who treats combat like a solved equation.
• A ruler’s executioner whose presence signals that mercy is no longer on the table.
• A legendary duelist whose past victories are still whispered about.
• A commander who has survived too many wars to believe in clean victories.
• A once-respected leader now enforcing a brutal vision of order.

Story-Driven Wildcards

• A seemingly unimportant NPC who reveals unexpected competence under pressure.
• A recurring antagonist designed to retreat, adapt, and return better prepared.