D&D: Five Great Criminal NPCs in the SRD 5.1
Looking for some NPCs to use in your upcoming heists (D&D or otherwise)? Here are five criminal NPCs lurking in the SRD 5.1.
One of the hardest challenges in running a game is figuring out what opponents will be standing in the way of whatever you’re trying to do. And as crimes are soon to be at the forefront of everything, here’s a look at some great criminal-themed NPCs to feature as rivals, rogues, and outright enemies.
And, all of these are freely available in the SRD 5.1, which you can find right here. This means you can use them for anything as long as you include this attribution:
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of
the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The
SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
Bandit
Let’s start with a classic. A bandit is your run-of-the-mill criminal NPC. They might be hiding in the forest, waiting to prey on passers-by. Or they might be bravos and bullies lurking in a dark alley. They could be rivals or if you’re working with the thieves’ guild, they’re handy allies.
Either way, these bandits are not much of a threat on their own. They work best when encountered as a group. They’ll be at their best when they can hang back and fire their crossbows.
Thug
Thugs, on the other hand, are all about getting up close and personal. These are tougher than your typical bandit, making them perfectly suited to be enemies to encounter. They have pack tactics, meaning they fight best in a group. But they love to get in there and unleash multiple attacks with their maces.
Cult Fanatic
Cult fanatics are a great sort of showdown encounter. These are great for when you run into the inevitable secret cult whose plans you foil as you go about robbing whatever it is you’re after. Cult Fanatics are charismatic and given magic from dark powers that let them do all sorts of things. This means a Cult Fanatic can toss out a Spiritual Weapon, wade in to make attacks with a dagger, or can better yet help protect an ally with shield of faith.
Assassin
Here’s the secret threat to any criminal campaign. When you’ve crossed the wrong person, an Assassin is a great way to send that message. Against a lower-level party, they will be deadlier (though you’d be surprised at just what an optimized 3rd level party can do). But they make for a particularly nasty first turn, as long as they get to surprise their opponents. They not only critically hit automatically (dealing just absolutely staggering amounts of damage), but they also are fairly stealthy.
An assassin can make for a great “keep away” encounter as you try and protect the squishier foes from the assassin’s deadly poison. By the time the party hits level 5-7, they’ll be less existential threats, and more just “dangerous encounter,” though.
Guard
You know you’re doing a crime right when the cops show up.
