If you're like me, your players can sometimes test both your patience and your preparedness. I'll spend hours coming up with a cool NPC with a sweet backstory only to have the PCs kill him in 2 rounds flat. But then, when I least expect it, they'll want to know the name and backstory for some poor piece of cannon fodder that I didn't bother to design beyond AC, hp, and attacks. I remember when my group was getting deep into Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, and they captured a mook guard. Of course, they started questioning him, and asked his name. Name? For a mook guard? I quickly blurted out the first name that came to mind: "Wil! Wil... er... Wheaton?" (The shame... oh, the shame!) But now, with the new Pathfinder Chronicles: NPC Guide, I will always be prepared when my players throw me a curve ball!
Save yourself some number crunching and use this collection of 91 fully statted and ready-to-run nonplayer characters. Whether you need a veteran Pathfinder, an eccentric Red Mantis assassin, an undead-hating Nexian mage, or just a rough-and-tumble thug, this book does the dirty work for you!
Characters in this book include thirty unique NPCs native to the myriad nations of Golarion, with illustrations, histories, complete stat blocks, and special boons for PCs who befriend them. While they bear flavor and history tied to their homelands, all 30 NPCs may appear in any part of the world, and in any setting—use them as mentors, allies, cohorts, or sworn enemies of your PCs. There are also more than 50 nameless NPC stat blocks, custom designed for maximum utility in your game, including raiders from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, Katapeshi slavers, spider-riding goblins, Gillmen knife fighters, and evil cultists. Whether you use them as bosses in low-level adventures or minions for high-level enemies, you’ll save yourself hours of work by putting your own names and faces over these premade NPCs. And finally, we give you the seven adventurer PCs played by Paizo staff members, presented as NPCs with illustrations, histories, stat blocks, and player boons. Use one as a quick premade PC, or drop them all into your campaign as a rival adventuring group!
So when my players capture some poor sod that I haven't spent one minute preparing a backstory for, my trusty NPC Guide will deliver! Nevermore will I have Star Trek actors making surprise guest appearances at the gaming table! Instead, my gaming group will meet Ostog the Unslain, a barbarian from Varisia, who betrayed Girt Bear-Wearer and was left for dead by his tribe!
(Psst! Our GameMastery Face Cards make it easy to your new NPCs a face to remember!)
