Let's Make As Many Heroic Monster NPCs As We Can Think Up

[Blightedmarsh]

44. Throg bald the decimator. 1/2 ogre warlord.

Took over from the previous BBEG and elven necromancer Prince Tarqinus the exquisite after his untimely death at the hands of a group of intrepid adventures. Throgs blend of near mindless violence, ruthlessness and a surprisingly high sense motive check has enabled Throg to blossom into one of the most effective rulers Bone keep has known in generation; albeit one with a one track mind and all the subtlety of an angry rhinoceros with a tooth ache.

As long as his mug is full of ale and the wenches are eager Throg is mostly content within his borders; the upshot of this is the longest period of peace in living memory. These days adventures beating on the the doors of bone keep are looking for the reward of a quest already completed and not looking to complete a quest with blood and fire.

Though paunchy and grey of hair, Throg is still able and willing to strap on his halberd (daemons claw) and ride out if he feels the situation call for it (or if he feels the old call for wanton slaughter).

[Doorhandle]

That seems to be more of a neutral monster NPC than a heroic monster NPC, but whatever.


"Donovan the charred:" A former monk, Donovan was eventually captured by the legendary sheik Saul the unsightly, and incarcerated within the Coat of Dealthos: A torture device that can only be described as 1 part full plate, 5 parts iron maiden, and 15 parts hot-plate. After the smoke cleared and the armour went from white-hot to merely excruciating, attendants peels of the armour only to find that Donithin has become a Grave-knight in the meantime, and having red-hot nails impaled into his once-living flesh had done little to dissuade his enthusiasm. Having buried the armour of his death in an undisclosed location, Donovan now works as a scribe in the country that once belonged to Saul... after completing some unfinished business of course.

"Klarz of wyrmblood:" An oddly chatty underworld dragon, who spends his time forging magical arms, armor and other trinkets that are impressive crafted even by the standards of organisms with thumbs. Serves as a dungeon shop that can pop up almost everywhere, underground or otherwise.

[Q. Flestrin]

This puts me in mind of something from the Book of Exalted Deeds: an LG female mind flayer monk, as an illustration of redemption.

Anyways, here are two of mine, who are derived from major NPCs in one of my campaign settings.
45. Ksandro the Golden Spider (humanoid)/Xacaltetlchirrik (natural), NG aranea bard. His humanoid form is a half-elf. He is devoted to improving the lives of monstrous creatures, operating under the assumption that except for outsiders, evil in monsters is a "nurture-not-nature" proposition.
46. Phrax, LG minotaur ... can't decide on cleric, paladin, or fighter. Anyway, he has silver fur and ivory horns, which mean that he is chosen to bring the minotaur race back into the fold of their benevolent-but-mostly-forgotten gods.

[smasher0404]

Don the Lawful Neutral Doppelganger: Originally an assassin, he fell in love with his target and tried to protect her. When this fail, he took her form and joined her adventuring party in order to protect her legacy.

[BootStrapTommy]

43. A wandering human adventurer appears, but he's just interested in saving lives and making things better. He doesn't go around killing monsters and stealing their stuff.

What is this blasphemous bull****?

Urrrnnnaalllggarrrrrahhhgghhjjgghhhvh, (I think that's how it would be spelled) a Half-Platinum Paragon Pseudonatural Tarrasque with a Vow of Poverty who is the absolute paragon of Good, but has the misfortune of being a big, scary Tarrasque and thus incapable of effectively communicating its intentions to anyone who isn't a big, scary Tarrasque. Also is a huge fan of all things cute and fuzzy, much to the horror of all things cute and fuzzy.

[tbok1992]

A chaotic good grell who has turned his race's characteristic gluttony to good use by making it his goal to eat as many demons as he possibly can. He gains more and more abyssal power with each demon he eats, but avoids turning evil due to his Aberrant brain structure. He's starting to gain a minor following amongst other grells as well...

[Q. Flestrin]

Urrrnnnaalllggarrrrrahhhgghhjjgghhhvh, (I think that's how it would be spelled) a Half-Platinum Paragon Pseudonatural Tarrasque with a Vow of Poverty who is the absolute paragon of Good, but has the misfortune of being a big, scary Tarrasque and thus incapable of effectively communicating its intentions to anyone who isn't a big, scary Tarrasque. Also is a huge fan of all things cute and fuzzy, much to the horror of all things cute and fuzzy.

How do you get Half-Platinum?

[AgentofHellfire]

Djurng'ra, Female Fire Giant Barbarian/Frenzied Berserker

Djurng'ra was actually one of the best fighters of her people, a tribe of giants living in the midst of a realm filled with countless monsters--it was thought that the battle-rage filled her to a far greater extent than others.

However, she is currently in a state of self-imposed exile, after a chance encounter with a mind flayer caused her to kill several of her own friends and comrades-in-arms. To this day, her time mind-controlled--and what she did then--haunt her greatly. She still cannot bring herself to enter the rage like she used to.


Devebaal, Great Wyrm Blue Dragon

When word struck the human lands that a dragon of such power as Devebaal had appeared before the orc tribes, many were terrified. Perhaps she was starting an empire--perhaps unearthing some dark artifact to add to her horde--perhaps seeking vengeance on someone who'd stolen something from that horde...

...but the truth was none of the above, for Devebaal had simply decided that she might as well do something with the great wealth of knowledge that she'd amassed. Something that would put it to greater use. The something she ultimately decided on was in fact the civilizing of the orc tribes, which she is doing a very great job of.

[BootStrapTommy]

How do you get Half-Platinum?

I won't go into the exact details but when a mommy and a daddy love each other and one of them is a Platinum dragon...

[Anecronwashere]

I won't go into the exact details but when a mommy and a daddy love each other and one of them is a Platinum dragon...

Where would they get the midwife for that monstrosity?

[AgentofHellfire]

(A note--to understand this character's backstory, you'll need to read about Devebaal)

Spoiler

Show

Devebaal, Great Wyrm Blue Dragon

When word struck the human lands that a dragon of such power as Devebaal had appeared before the orc tribes, many were terrified. Perhaps she was starting an empire--perhaps unearthing some dark artifact to add to her horde--perhaps seeking vengeance on someone who'd stolen something from that horde...

...but the truth was none of the above, for Devebaal had simply decided that she might as well do something with the great wealth of knowledge that she'd amassed. Something that would put it to greater use. The something she ultimately decided on was in fact the civilizing of the orc tribes, which she is doing a very great job of.

Now then...

Auxihlo'ros, Orc Sorcerer
When Auxihlo'ros was born as an orc lad named Trigduzh, very...strange things always happened, just around him. Flowers wilted, game was lost...people died...

Essentially, he was a curse to all who stood near him, and the orcs of his tribe noticed. They also very nearly killed him, driving him out of their camp at first, to let the gods claim him, and when that didn't work out, sending some thugs out to keep him dead.

But then, a great Blue Dragon appeared before him, saved his life, and explained to him the altent potential for magic that caused him to be such a bad omen. In exchange, Auxhilo'ros would come to use that power to help Devebaal with her little project...and Auxhilo'ros very much enjoys this. He doesn't much like orcs, and while what he's doing isn't killing them all, the looks on their faces when he declares a group of them nonpersons for trying to get their grubby hands on a bit of the budding orc nation's food supplies is well worth having to deal with them.

[Q. Flestrin]

I won't go into the exact details but when a mommy and a daddy love each other and one of them is a Platinum dragon...

That is NOT what I mean. There is no other platinum dragon besides Bahamut. So basically Urrrnnnaalllggarrrrrahhhgghhjjgghhhvh is half-god? Would Bahamut even consider a dalliance with a big honking epic insanity-inducing tarrasque?

[tbok1992]

Plus, if we're going by the 4e version, the Tarrasque is essentially a living superweapon made by the Primordials, the gods' enemies. So, how the hell much unholy astral Spanish Fly did Tiamat/Grumuush/Ogremoch/Whoever have to give him before he said "Yeah, I'd hit that."?

[Deepbluediver]

Ok, I'll admit it; I used to play >>WoW<<. (That's World of Warcraft for those of you who have been living under a rock for the last half-decade, aka, World of WarCrack)

One of the playable races, the tauren, are essentially minotaurs with a native-american pastiche for their cultural gimick.
And I loved being a big, beefy Tauren (pun oh so intended )

Taking and running with the idea of minotaurs as something other than canabalistic monsters is Basil the friendly minotaur (with bad PR).

So, how the hell much unholy astral Spanish Fly did Tiamat/Grumuush/Ogremoch/Whoever have to give him before he said "Yeah, I'd hit that."?

Oh god, can't stop laughing....ribs hurt so much...

[Gravitron5000]

Plus, if we're going by the 4e version, the Tarrasque is essentially a living superweapon made by the Primordials, the gods' enemies. So, how the hell much unholy astral Spanish Fly did Tiamat/Grumuush/Ogremoch/Whoever have to give him before he said "Yeah, I'd hit that."?

They designed the ultimate weapon which strikes unerringly for the heart. Unfortunately it turned out more like cupid than Temple of Doom ...

[BootStrapTommy]

That is NOT what I mean. There is no other platinum dragon besides Bahamut. So basically Urrrnnnaalllggarrrrrahhhgghhjjgghhhvh is half-god? Would Bahamut even consider a dalliance with a big honking epic insanity-inducing tarrasque?

All I'm going to say on the matter is that there IS a reason Bahamut has sworn off drink.

Being Lawful Good doesn't make you immune to making mistakes.

They designed the ultimate weapon which strikes unerringly for the heart. Unfortunately it turned out more like cupid than Temple of Doom ...

Exactly. After a few drinks, even Bahamut couldn't resist those voluptuous tarrasque curves.

[Sgt. Cookie]

A Pit Fiend that runs an orphanage for Sorcerers, Favoured Souls and the like, and has been doing so for a long time. He's quite good at it, and even teaches these youngsters to control their abilities.

There is a lot of raw power here, so naturaly it attracts attention, but try to claim it for yourself? You'll soon figure out why the orphanage has been running so long.

[Deepbluediver]

I've got another idea: we have a whole bunch of Moonrats building a monastery from red-colored sandstone, assisted by squirrels otters and badgers, who are all hyper-intelligent from the magical leakage of a nearby sunken castle that used to be home to a long-forgotten tyrant.


Edit: and I also forgot to mention the magic sword, forged from starmetal and passed down through generations of rat-heroes.

Exactly. After a few drinks, even Bahamut couldn't resist those voluptuous tarrasque curves.

oh god, now my brain is attempting to eat itself just so I never have to picture this ever again.

[BootStrapTommy]

I've got another idea: we have a whole bunch of Moonrats building a monastery from red-colored sandstone, assisted by squirrles otters and badgers, who are all hyper-intelligent from the magical leakage of a nearby sunken castle that used to be home to a long-forgotten tyrant.

This.