May have to write a story... Where are they now: Elvaleryn!

A friend of mine, who's created several good pcs, complete with mannerisms and accents, has two that just take the cake.

One, a deranged druid wolf-monstery thing, is actually a former member of our adventuring guild's founder's former party. Apparantly corrupted by the artifact that was the object of their last quest together, she's basically trapped in hybrid werewolf form and has assumed much of that mentality, though she's more chaotic druidic than chaotic evil. Terrifying, yet not consistently so. Sometimes she only seems to want to talk, or get information, or share information... but she holds grudges. MAN does she hold grudges. Upon somehow figuring out that my character was having a crisis about his warlock nature (CG, rather frightened that he's going to end up damned for all eternity), she decided to help him out while she was poking around on a spying trip to the guild's inn. She left him a book about a guy who escaped hell. By becoming an archfiend. She's forced the party's LG cleric to share her curse, and seems to delight in tormenting the wizard (who she, incidentally, hacked an arm off of to attempt to give the cleric a taste for human flesh). And yet, despite all this, she's not completely unsympathetic.

Obitus is probably the most memorable npc I have created and that has been seen in any of my games. Basically, I have created several massive NPCs but either they get flopped or never make an appearance. This one did, although only once or twice, but man I loved my player's reaction

We were playing Werewolf: the Apocalypse. The group was traveling through a small camp when they noticed that nobody was there. They entered all the houses, seeing the residents nailed to the walls, floors and the ceiling with their tongues and eyes ripped out. When they got to the end of the camp they saw the "chief" nailed to a cross, but alive and watching in shock his own young daughter dead by the cross. A figure entered from the woods which surrounded the camp. Two of the PCs recognized the figure as Obitus, their father the Black Spiral Dancer. Obitus told the group how he and his men had killed every man in the camp, raped the little girl to death in front of the chief and taken all the women so the Spirals could bear children with them. And he said all this calmly and with a smile. Oh, how the group wanted to kill this guy. Probably would have if they hadn't been surrounded by his men. Obitus told them that the women might not have gotten far yet, so the PCs could still save them if they'd hurry. Point is, Obitus let them leave with them knowing that they probably could never get this guy.

His second appearance also involved the PCs being surrounded by Spirals, but this time they were saved by them. Obitus killed another group of werewolves who were attacking the PCs and then he dragged one of the group away to join him. One PC as good as dead to save the rest. Kinda poetic ending, although the plan was for the ex-PC to come back as a twisted, yet badass, NPC to fight the rest.

Still, I have been planning an Obitus come-back in many games.

he was possible one of my best creations.
his name was zek. he was a purple cat the had a touge attack to could paralize on a successful hit (if a save was failed of course)and was pycic, but the best part was till near the end of the campaine on one new he was inteligent and the rouge of the group would consently demand to fight the cat and get struck by the tounge.
witch was god considering how much trouble he always got himself into. the best part was the group was inthe fight of there live (still belive zek to be a normal cat) fighting and the enemy throws this insanly powerful fire ball @ the group and one of the player in effort to keep the atk. form killing the rouge (the only one who failed the save) throws zek. zek has like three pycic powers.
one teleport,two telekentic, three a barrier.
so, zek makes the barrier. then turns and faces the warrior who trew his picks up the theif (pycicly) and throws him at the worrior and hit with a crit. the group kept him and he just made the rouges life hell ,but at the requst from the res of the group (to keep him out of trouble)

i think we all know of the npc's that every dm inevitably has that his players will remember forever mine happened to be one particular dwarf that ran a tavern in some small rinky dink town. Well his little quirk was that he was so much of a dwarf and so much of a drunk that only dwarves could understand him and then only just a little... i think my chars loved this char so much because it was one of the first voices that i started using while dming.... eventually farfingnugin became apart of almost every town simply because of the char's request

In my world there's a need for Magical Maintainers, a class of individual that is skilled in the ways of combating a magical seepage that drains magic items. My players have a favorite that they'll travel across the continent just to bring back. I don't know whether it is that they like my crazy Scotsman accent, his mannerisms, or the huge, lazy mountain lion that is his pet, but they keep coming back. He has no name: they refer to him as The Hermit, and he is completely whacko. He has short term memory loss...really short term. He turns around to go into his hollow tree home and inevitably hits his head on the low doorway. This causes him to turn back around, and when he sees the PCs he screams and will turn to run back into his tree...knocking himself out in the process. When he wakes up, the player characters spend a good hour or more trying to convince him that he knows them, and that he is a magical maintainer who will take care of their magic items: the giant dinner platter (shield) conversation is still talked about fondly as it began with:

"Ack! You've come t' steal me nose hairs! I'll no' 'ave you stealin' me nose hairs ya fiends!"

Our party was traveling through the woods, and suddenly, our DM put on a wicked smile, and said: A strange green mist starts to swirl around you, what do you do?" I was druid at the time, and tried to cast, gust of wind, to blow it away, but that didn't work. Then, the DM said "It starts forming into a strange shape in front of you, but you can't tell what it is yet." I asked our ranger if he could try something. Then, he said, "I put a stick in it, kinda the upper leftish." I groaned, thinking it was a dumb idea. The DM asked, "It's left, of your left?" My friend replied "it's left."

Suddenly, and old man forms in front of us, with a stick stuck right in his left side of the chest, where a heart would be. Gasping for air, he said "Who ruins an entrance like that?" Then died. Turns out, this was the big bad evil guy of the whole campaign, who turned out to be a 28th level wizard, who we were supposed to fight at about 20th level. We all received enough xp to get to 16th level, and were forced on to an entirely different adventure.

So kids, always remember - sticks are friends. Not things used to whack other friends with.

It wasnt so much taht I was dazzled by these NPC's, since I was the one controling them. My friend and I have devised a spin off of D&D that runs quite differently, so I wont get into particulars, but there were six villians from my book that made everyone hate them, even though they wernt real. Although, they wernt all bad. Here they are, in order of appearence:

Nydus: Probabaly the most evil, sadistic, and terrifying person you'll ever meet. Nydus is a Despria Draconis or a Despair Dragon. In the campiagn, Dragons have the ability to tranform into humans, much like in D&D. So I'll describe both of his forms.
Nydus' human form is about eight or nine feet tall. He is huge. He is not particulallry unatracvtive, but there is something about him that kind of wards away potential intrest. He always has a prepetual five o' clock shadow, which surrounds his square chin. His teeth are dyed a light yellow. He is of average skin tone, but his eyes are a souless black. His hair is somewhat in a flatop style, dark and slick. His lower body is massive. If it wasnt for the unique make of his armor, his muscles would tear it open. Nydus posseses the strenght of ten men. His armor is heavier than that of any mans, thick and sturdy. His only weak point is his lower obdomen, on his right side. The sword he carries is to source of his evil. It is a massive two handed beast of a terrifylingly wretched appearence. The blade is a light puke green. Side blades protude at regular intervals from the main blade, and a chain it attacked to the tip of the sword. The cahin runs back down and into the handle, where it can be removed and used as a ranged weapon.
Nydus, dragon form is reminiscnt of the D&D Black Dragon. However he does not posses the forward curving horns and his build is much stockier. Aside from that, the rotting flesh, sadistic attitude and choice of habitat is spot on.

Vladimeir: Vladimeir is not so much as active villian as many people think, but he hides a dark secret. Vladimeir is the young king od the Schlecta Empire. His main general and advisor Nydus, has taken advantage of Vladimeirs naive leadership skills and now has control of an entire country. Vladimeir just thinks hes in charge, but its really Nydus who is pulling the strings.

Vladimeir is a short child. He seems to young for his actaully age, looking to be about 16 when he is actaully 21. Vladimeir has no real outstanding traits except his unrelentless thrist for conquest in his late fathers name. He hungers for the secret of immortality. Vladimeir has hazel eyes that reflect his mood. His hair is a dirty blonde, and very messy. He is somewhat skinny, with his cheekbones high on his face, but he is not hideous by any means.

The Hunter: The Hunter is worlds swiftest assassin and bounty hunter. Every contract he has ever taken has been fufilled. The Hunter is power hungry, along with his desire for wealth. However he knows who is the greater evil when the time befits him, and he is not to be trusted. His only goal is his own intrest.

He is exceedingly tall and skiny, with pasty white skin and light black eyes. Mnay claim he is a vampire, but he refuses these accusations, and then kills those who accused him. His face is sallow, it looks like he has not eaten for several days. The Hunter is proficiant at Drak Magic, and can easily teloport short distances to confuse his enemy. The air around him is cold, he does not emit a heat signiture because of his black heart.

The Apprentice: The Apprentice is the Hunters burly sidekick. Unlike the Hunter, the Apprentice prefers a straight fight to guile and stealth. This does not make him any less dangerous however. He is a powerful earth magician, so strong he can even bend ores into metals and alloys. Also unlike the Hunter, the Apprentice is trustworthy and stalwart, even though he is corrupt. He will never backstab a client, but will never turn on the Hunter for fear of death...or worse...

The Apprentice is bald, and has been since birth. He is somewhat neandertalish in appearence, but is far from un-intelligent. He weilds a mighty greataxe which he rarley uses. His bare hands and his magical skills are enough to snap someones neck or break them in half. He has strenght comporable to Nydus, but unlike Nydus, he actaully does dirty work. He is tall, muscualr, and ugly. The perfect bodyguard.

Antony: General Antony, once the most revered commander in the Schlectan Military, was disgraced after his utter defeat at Emerald Castle. He returned a failure, and as a pusnihment, had his hand lopped off. He seeks to restore his honor in the eyes of his people and his lord Vladimeir. Nydus, seeing another chance to gain a pwan at his disposal, consolodated Antony. He used magic to give him a new hand. This hand is fashinod of a dark indestructible energy that can mold into anything Antony wishes. It is weightless. Nydus also gave Antony a terrifying steel horse as a mount. With that he sent Antony to reclaim his lost "honor" and bring the PC's to Nydus alive.

Antony is tall much like the Hunter, but his skin is a burnt tan. He is blind in his left eye because of a horrid battle at Emerald Castle. The eye is glazed blue and fixed permanatly in one location. He is tall, but not slender like the Hunter. He is respectably stocky, but not overly muscualr. His face is regal, and his cheekbones are high on his countenence.

The Final Villian I wont tell you about. I dont want to spoil anything really cool. Sorry, but I can let you know that the final villian=OMG.

Almerian's NPCs are really great, Lady Quilanday in Chakran Portal is one of my favorites, even if she did try to kill me in my Blademaster test. He also did pretty well with a juvenile Moonsteed named Comrade that followed my character all around, into keeps and the High Druid's tower even up stairs. My character was his guardian, I think his mother told him to stay with me and her did. It lead to a number of funny moments.

In my saturday games, the (usual) DM brought out an interesting NPC. We were collecting followers for a god, and recruited a total of 25 brute squad people to help us fight the evils in the world. The evils, most specifically, were these demons who were working together to gain an immunity to silver, meaning only magical weapons could affect them.

Among these recruits, were several npcs of note. The most interesting of them, though, was the "grenader". This kid was strapped from head to toe in alchemist's fires and juggled them to keep himself entertained. We purchased a boat and he would dangle from the sail of the boat juggling upside-down. He was crap for hitpoints or "brute" style fighting, but man that kid had some dex, and he was completely nuts. We were constantly on the watch trying to stop him overdoing stuff. "Attack that guy--WAIT! DON'T THROW A BARREL OF ALCHEMIST'S FIRE AT HIM!!!"

It was hillarious how often we had to stop this kid from blowing us all up. But what really made him memorable was a PC's actions. We finally found the center where the demons were working on the immunity to silver and managed to break into the tower in the middle of the town (think sodom) without much of a fight (who's gonna believe that a bunch of goods just walked it, has got to be an obscure alignment spell...they seem to belong here with their actions). The kid and rest of this small army were with us.

We found the gnomish device that was working on the immunity, and the ranger of the group got ticked. He turned to the grenader, who was under his charge, and said "Make it as big as you want" He was told to give us 30 minutes. We met back up with him in 10 minutes and teleported a few miles from the tower in just the nick of time.

Let me explain to you this kid's device. He had robbed (blind) the dread necromancer who had just become a lich and then left the group. The guy was a crafter, so he was loaded down with magic items and they were all clearly labeled (player's decision). He had barrels upon barrels of alchemist's fire and acid, and he had set up the explosion to force a portable hole into a bag of holding right next to this massive gnomish device.

As it turns out, the tower was also filled with a large number of magical artifacts that we didn't have time to search for. When the explosion went off, the tower collapsed and the entire city (port town) sank low enough that the water filled it in.

This was the ultimate action in this campaign and resulted in a hefty "congratz" from the gods followed by a "You're going back." and new level 1 characters to fix the rest of the world. The really sick part was when our new characters met a kid who was juggling daggers....

This was actually one of my PCs. However the DM of the game ended that campaign and would never let me play him again. So he has become an NPC in several of my own games.

Alastaire was a young man who suffered a mental breakdown after seeing his mother and father kill one another. His father was a sorcerer and his mother a warrior. This mental breakdown caused Alastaire to acquire a split personality disorder.

In game terms Alastaire was multiclassed as a Fighter/Sorcerer. He was either led by his mother or his father on any given day. This was randomly decided by dice roll.

If he was led by his mother he functioned as a Chaotic Good Warrior.

If he was led by his father he functioned as a Lawful Evil Sorcerer.

There was a third force that helped to keep the two personalities from meeting. Each day depending on the dominant personality, this third force would hide all the trappings of the other (armor, weapons, etc...) in a special bag of holding that required a command word to retrieve its contents. Neither his mother's nor his father's influences knew the command word, or about one another.

He was fun to play, but has made an even funner NPC to throw in the games.

A current DM whom I game with, both on and offline, clockwork demise, has made some fairly notable NPCs in his games. From the hilarious to the unusual to the flat out cruel.

I think, all things said and done, though, his most notable NPC to me is probably Grendar (or Grendarr, I'm not sure). A drow and an uncle to an ex-NPC now player character (long story) that I now play. Impossible to predict, ranging from unusual changes of heart from bouts of guilt or goodwill to acts so harsh they deserve the title of evil, the only thing that is certain about the one-eyed evil uncle is that you can't be certain of him.

In the past, he has successfully tricked us into giving him a powerful artifact, shot his niece (my character) with two crossbow bolts having seen straight through her Cloud of Darkness with his magical artificial eye when she tried to escape, been seen allied or pitted against several other villains and giving us key pieces of information even as he hinders our allies.

Basically, he's done little to harm us directly (I should point out by now that this is an ongoing game that he's from), but much to slaughter the people who are on our side.

She was a DEEP NPC. An archmage of untouchable power that wanted to perform a ritual that required the Nine Swords (as in the Book of Nine Swords). We all had trouble nailing down her alignment. In her quest for power, she managed to convince the party that all she did whether is seemed evil or good, was in the best interests of the world in which we lived, and done with the best of intentions. Isn't that what the road to Hell is paved with?

Most of the party wrestled with our consciences, while others out right defied her, lost their lives in doing so, only to be brought back to life so they could renew their pledge of loyalty to her cause.

It felt kind of like the Mafia and she was the Godmother. I keep thinking,"Every time I try to leave, she pulls me right back in!"

I even expressed my unwillingness to kill those I thought were allies, and innocents.

She said,"You will do what you are told to do or die. I'm sorry Talibos. I have grown quite fond of you and you've come a long way, but I have waited many of your lifetimes for this ritual, and I cannot abide obstacles and others who would stand in my way, not when the time is so close. If you decide to leave, I will kill you. I cannot take the chance that you will have a change of heart, and try and stop me."

Beauty. Power. She just about had it all.

We as a party found out too late, or was it just in time, that if we wished to stop her, the only way would be is with our deaths at the last possible moment. The last mission was a failure and we lost all the sword we had procured. She could not perform her ritual.