NPC Generation

ideas on what to think about when generating npcs.

Titles

The servitude aspect of faith: clerics and paladins lose their names in baptism. Try "sister Ferox" for a Vengence Paladin, "brother Misericors" for a healer, and "revered Verity" for Knowledge domain Cleric.
Defiance or detachment: members of a thieves guild go by Knives, Patch, and Houndsnout.
If the hierarchy is important, the names for its entities are important: sir - lord - baron - count; practitioner - maester - maester-of-school - archmaester.

Culture

Switch it up when tapping for a cultural context.
https://old.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/jrtub2/naming_and_what_it_can_do_for_your_worldbuilding/

Viking orcs and Mongol centaurs are meh – but Arabic elves and Maori dwarves are fresh. Really depends on your taste and how much of those pairings you have seen. I personally like the Arabic elves because Islamic Golden Age almost coincided with Middle Ages – so if my stock humans are European, they might as well look up to the elves for mathematical, medical, or magical insights.

Names

What you need is phonology that sounds different but is consistent within. If you use European names for the "kingdoms of men", make the dragons Aleut (Tulax, Ichaqun, and Iganaadaasis) or the giants Sumerian (Shagshag, Naram-Sin, and Ekur). Remember about conlangs: Klingon was made to sound alien, so would be a better Abyssal name than K'vort or Ba'ktor?

A lot of this is accomplished by consistent use of the fantasy name generator.

Factions

What factions (if any) do they belong to? Having one makes it a lot easier to remember a baseline set of beliefs.

Believable Villain Personalities

Narcissism
Pride + grandiosity + egotism + lack of empathy

Psychopathy
Manipulation/exploitation of others, cynical disregard for morality. Focus on self-interest and deception.

Machiavellianism
Antisocial behaviour + impulsivity, selfishness, callousness, remorselessness.

Specifics

Sadism

Loneliness

When no one around you wants to relate / can’t understand / unwilling to study X.

“It’s seclusive, isolating, and wholly depressing. It’s a downward spiral that sucks you in the longer you keep the behaviour, succumbing inevitably to its grasp unless you find the increasingly rare person who will match your speed / drive / interests. We corner ourselves off, growing less comfortable with things outside a shrinking sphere of influence, fully aware that it’s all our own doing, but incapable of stopping it.”

Arguably madness form this can be attributed to Xanathar with Sylgar.

Unattached replaceability

Extreme views of transience. Use people while they are there. Nihilistic views. Emotions are just a physical response.

“You humans are so concerned with emotions. If you could experience what it feels to be “ASCENDED” / harness the power of X, you would see your priorities shift very quickly.

Can be attributed to most “harvesting” type of villains.

Traits

DM guide has some traits
Svein book has some flaws
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/9bbhgy/how_i_make_npcs/

Examples

Colorful drinker

Drinks everyone under the table
Honest
Uses colorful oaths and exclamations
Shameful or scandalous history

Smart drinker

Great at solving puzzles
Enunciates overly clearly
Nasal voice
Prone to rage

Untrusthworthy drinker

Whispers
Hot tempered
Loyal to owner
Overpowering greed

Rare drinker

Expert cook
Prone to predictions of doom
Protective of a valuable possession (ring common)
Squints