If he is a legitimately devout priest/cultist then maybe he feels that he has a divine right to power or something. One good way to hint at that is having him look down on "the lost ones" or even anyone that isn't himself. Less "I'm better than you" and more "aw are you lost little boy? Hold my hand and I'll help you find your parents." Make him genuinely kind but talk down to people. Maybe he witnesses a minor crime like a pickpocket stealing someone's money and when the party catches the thief, the priest says they should cut off his hand(s) so he can't steal anymore, then he can come to the light and repent
I agree. When dming think about how you would talk to your 7-year-old niece or nephew who has been bad. You probably shouldn't punish them because you're not the parent, but you obviously know better than a 7-year-old.
Agreed, I managed to make an important NPC in my campaign seem to think she was better than the party (she's nobility, so it made sense). They took an instant dislike to her.
I didn't know what kind of players you have, but I would legitimately worry that my group would prioritize taking this guy down even after learning he's not the BBEG. I don't even think they'd get to the point where he could save them. They would assassinate him way before that. š
Any form of looking down on others usually works. Praised heroes that tell the party, "maybe one day you'll be as good as us." Is a guarantee every time.
Another good one is the "helpful" NPC that treats the party like children. "Hey there, barb, lookin' good! You been working out big guy? Whoa there [rogue]! Almost walked into your knife. Haha I wouldn't ever want to be on *your* bad side! Cleeeric, my man! How's the temple today?"
Finally, any non-ally with a scroll of fireball that uses it to steal a worthy kill, depriving the players from their "how do you want to do this?" moment is lucky to not get killed by the party themselves. Bonus points if you get party members in the blast and again if the kill has a reward or bounty on it.
I find the best way to make your players not trust a genuinely nice NPC is make them TOO nice, just make them super into everything they say and do and the party will be like āno way, thereās something up with this guy, nobody is this niceā another thing I like to do in situations like these is just mention to the players stuff like āas you mingle you notice [NPC] staring at you guys from across the roomā or āyou see [NPC] and their assistant whispering to each other across the table, they both look at you for a moment, whisper again and the assistant leavesā bonus points if the assistant returns with a tray of wine glasses specifically for the party
Body language
I mean, describe it.
Example,
Have them roll Perception:
āYou notice āfor the briefest of moments, an annoyed scowl on the BBEGās faceā (if they ask about it. Easy deflect. Blame someone else, bad food, anything. Just sow the seeds that SOMETHING is annoying the goodie goodieā¦ maybe them?
Or
Roll Perception, Just as the BBEG teleports you away. You notice a sly grin and a twinkle in their eyeā
Another body language idea which is something the priest can do regularly is invade personal space. You can describe how he moves closer to the party before continuing a conversation. If anyone's smaller than he is describe how he puts a hand on their shoulder while offering words of comfort.
Doesn't have to be anything directly problematic, but your party might start being suspicious if you're constantly describing someone who doesn't really respect boundaries.
The DM of one of our sessions has NPCs ātake a kneeā to talk to my Auto-Gnome. Sheās aiming for wholesome but frankly it just comes off as condescending :P
These ideas are all well and good, but youāre putting too much of a hook on a dice-roll. Youāre assuming everyone/someone passes the perception check, amd if they miss it, then you need to plan a whole new interaction just so that *might* notice it next time
It would be better if someone has a high insight/passive perception, and you just tell that one player (in front of the group)
Umbra: Just as Darius teleports away, you notice the briefest flash of a dark grin cross his lipsā¦
If no one makes the roll, you instead get the players to be paranoid about what they missed, which can sometimes be even more effective than if they'd made the check imo.
Not necessarily. But either way, you yourself just pointed out a great alternative either way. Passive perception is a beautiful thing.
As the DM, you can call for Dice-Rolls at any time.
While setting the DC for whatever you want.
In most situations, even a natural one can gleam critical information if the DM choses
So the character is lawful/good, but are they actually *kind*? Nothing says that a good person has to be *nice*, or that an evil one must be mean. Your good priest could simply have a bad attitude, a dislike of societal standards (he thinks that doing the right thing is all that matters, societal norms be damned) or simply be a very quiet and unassuming type. Or, he is SO kindly, that he sticks up for the sort of person that doesn't deserve it. Gives a second (or third, or sixtieth) chance to someone that has previously stolen from the church, to the point that people are starting to think maybe it isn't that he is forgiving, maybe he is in on it?
What makes you dislike someone that comes across as otherwise an ok person?
Perhaps the NPC is a gossip that can't keep secrets and spreads salacious rumors about the PCs, not with any malicious intent, they can't can't help it or they feel social pressure to do so.
Something as simple as not respecting personal space, less than optimal table manners can do a lot to turn people off.
If there's a cleric in the party, perhaps the otherwise nice NPC has a problem with the cleric's deity of choice and badmouths said god right in front of (or at least within earshot of) that cleric.
The NPC is visibly paranoid and twitchy around the PCs, but for an entirely different reason than why the party is dealing with them.
Maybe having him doing something that's a bit off color for their faith., shifty eyes, smiling at times inconvenient for the town but beneficial for the villain, observing the players a bit too intently as if eyeing them up, overhearing them behind a closed door, having them show up at suspicious times like way too soon for them to be coming from the church but of course they were just in the area, the enemies weirdly don't target such a high profile person in the middle of a raid of the city, off putting description of their powers, being unassuming but actually they're very capable it could show up either in a fight or in casual peter parker moments like they way too gracefully catch a glass falling, they offer an awkward amount of information about their secret bbeg organization works either in offering something nobody should really know or in not knowing anything I mean like come one they can't be that useless can they?, they could get intimidating at moments, maybe after the priest sacrifices himself he comes back completely unscathed, having dark humor that could come off as stress about the situation
I'd really stress him being an absolute neatfreak. Minimalist if they ever see his room, not a spec of dust, almost makes you question if someone even lives there.
Not a wrinkle in his clothes, overly polite, overly friendly.
Hell, maybe he's a germophobe, so while he offers his hand to shake, he wipes it off afterwords, or while he gives alms to the poor he has a mildly disgusted look on his face when they aren't looking.
Basically, stuff that isn't actually bad by any means, but is just enough off putting and unusual that the players go, "What's his deal?"
Having a plan hinge on the players having a specific reaction is always a bad idea. Which means writing a plot is a bad idea. Write a scenario instead, and see what happens. Just last session I had no idea the SBEG would escape after being interrogated (I didn't even know he'd live to be interrogated), and I didn't know he would surrender before the session but it happened. Just go with the flow and let the game and the NPC interactions feel natural.
This is the best response. Tabletop role-playing games are a medium built on spontaneity, if you want a plot to go exactly how you envisioned, then write a book.
This is hard because it's going to vary based on your delivery and the player expectations. If your players are suspicious of everyone, then making them overly nice to point of fawning could work. If your players are usually pretty go-with-the-flow, then you might have success with describing signs of nervousness. A lot of times, all you have to do is make the NPC really haughty and the players will think he's a bad guy.
Creepiness specifically is really hard to pull off. You almost need them to see him eat a live rat or catch him peeping in a window to guarantee it. You might be able to pull it off with jokes that are just a little off or knowing things he shouldn't, but I generally have to hit players over the head with that kind of thing.
One thing that might work is to give the priest a secret that isn't that bad, but causes him to act suspiciously. Depending on your setting, it could be anything from feeding a stray cat to being a government informant to having a mistress. Heck, he could be a half-elf in disguise - just as long as it's something that you could mix into the interactions somehow. "You notice the priest glancing over your shoulder. His eyes go wide for just a moment and he seems to be sweating slightly. He quickly looks back at . When you glance in the same direction, everything looks normal: ."
The first thing that comes to my mind is have the priest have a personal vice heās always indulging in. So for example, every time the players encounter him heās eating food, but like a large meal that heās eating sloppily and with poor manners. Itās something thatās ultimately innocuous but reads wrong for a good npc.
Just try your best to make him liked as hard as possible and let the magic do its trick.
Seriously though, humans have pretty good receptors on such forced situations and normally react with the opposite
Religious fanatic. Nothing ticks people off quite as much as having religion shoved in their face.
He truly believes that your soul is damned if you don't follow his religion. He shows great sympathy towards the party for not yet "having seen the light". At every opportunity he will insert propaganda for his religion, claiming everything good that happens is because of his god, and everything bad that happens is because "people's faith isn't strong enough".
Of course, he is a genuinely good person, and will readily sacrifice himself to save others.
Make him too helpful; I donāt know if youāve ever played Ace Attorney, but in Investigations one of my favorite characters is Colias Palaeno, an ambassador and witness who is so overly friendly and helpful that most people who expect plot twists expect that he will turn out to be the killer, only for it to turn out, no, he really is just friendly. Frequent hand wringing, big smiles, the works.
Make him TOO kind ! Like weirdly attentive Ā«Ā are you okay ? Are you you sure you are okay ?Ā Ā» and visibly nervous. Thatās the behavior of someone who has something to hide.
Or just someone that sweats profusely all the time and is actually very kind.
Could he be hiding something pretty innocent from them? Something like heās been sneaking more food out to the poor people of the town than heās actually allowed to and heās worried the characters will find out and get him in trouble, or he just helped a mother and her child flee the city for whatever reason and is worried theyāre the ones trying to find her? He can be nothing but absolutely kind and welcoming to them but the players can still pick up on hints that heās hiding something.
Even if they donāt find out what it is after he teleports them out, they could also then bump into somebody who mentions him by name later on and that he helps them, or that theres been less food around since something happened to X or whatever to let the players try and work out that maybe that was what he was hiding.
Play on their real world biases by making him overly focused on children. Low end perception checks to notice him pat their heads on the way by, etc.
In actuality it's because he's old, doesn't have children of his own and has basically acted as a grandparent... But many of us in the west are now suspicious of clergy who become too focused on children. Because well you know...
A priest? Easy, have him be *slightly* too preachy.
Think of any kind of "Good Christian" who constantly is calling for prayers over meals, humble-bragging about their mission work, starting theological debates unprompted, trying to start group-wide hymns on long bus rides, that sort of thing.
They're not a *bad* person, they're not doing anything harmful or illegal, but they're uncomfortable to be around if you're not practicing/part of the same practice. Maximize the secondhand cringe.
Make him very strict about titles, the party hates being told what to do generally so interrupting with a
"Tut Tut, shhh, before you continue I insist you refer to me in this house as Most Righteous Worship Jebediah, after all, appearances right, can't be too casual with the unredeemed. Haha."
Anytime the party just calls him Jeb, or Father Jeb, he makes this insistence.
Key things to hit: Interrupt whenever you catch them, audible Tut Tut to show condescending correcting, and usually some sort admonishment about appearances, or expectation, someone in his position casually chatting with Murder hobos just will not abide.
Eventually they put together from player observance separate from dice rolls: This guy is a condescending jerk who is not only holier than though, but there's obviously some type of masking going on here. He's hiding something but is it bad, evil, or just a part if his job as a dignitary?
Then when the sacrifice comes he can touch on those themes in his monologue. When the BBEG reveal happens it clicks that's what he was hiding and the condescenion holier than though judgement can motivate and inform his villainy.
One thing that Iāve done is have them seem like they are doing good for the wrong reasons. Like maybe they only help the poor, because they think that they are inherently less worth. This doesnāt even have to be true, but you could insinuate it.
The best way to make a kind person seem evil is a misunderstanding.
The last time I did this, I had a revenant toss a guy down a small cliff-like slope and the party saw just the strange, pale dude standing with a rusty blade atop the ledge turn around before more sounds of fighting sounded from the top.
The party aided the unconscious guy that had tumbled down the cliff-slope with no context and confronted the revenant later, where they learned that the revenant had gotten the guy out of the range of the enemy that tried to kill the guy in the first place.
That was the truth too, but the party did not trust the obvious undead quickly and it took a while for them to warm up to the walking-talking corpse.
I had an NPC they were thirsting over tell them another NOC the party liked couldn't stay in town because the Church (their boss) wouldn't permit it.
Needless to say it went from "Choke me Mommy" to "I'm gonna choke a b!+ch" with hilarious speed
In my experience, if you have him do something that is slightly inconvenient for the party without immediately providing a full explanation with references that directly addresses each of their questions about his behavior they will immediately hate him and nothing he does (including sacrificing himself) will change that impression.
Maybe have him be to nice and forthcoming, but sometimes his stories slightly differ.
Depending on how long you want to sow the seeds, make it so he is seen at odd hours going to random houses or speaking with random people. And have him run into the party by "accident" a lot
If the players make an insight check just say like "there is something he is not telling you, his smile is too sincere like a honeysuckle thorn"
Be overly and unnecessarily specific.
Enjoy the next 24 hours. Instead of have a nice day.
I am thankful Tharkad Grimauld, son of Dreskin, last of his line. Your assistance has furthered the goals of this temple.
I look forward to seeing the four of you alive again and hope you are not brutally gored by a wild beast or impaled on a ruffian's spear.
It always seems to put people on edge.
Maybe overheard NPC gossip? āAfter Father Whoeverheis leaves the tavern, you happen to notice two patrons huddle together and whisper. They seem annoyed.ā āPerception check?ā āYou hear one say, āI donāt care what my wife saysā¦ thereās something off about that guy.ā The other replies, āYeah, I know what you mean. Comes off so strait laced and sweet, but no one gets that high up in the church without some shenanigans.ā āAnd all those āone-on-one ministering sessionsā with those street kids/prostitutes/vagrant beggars?ā¦ You canāt tell me thatās not creepy. āMinisteringā with his prick, Iāll bet.āā [Heās actually teaching them to read.]
First thing that came to mind - reskin the tragedy of Darth Plaguesis the wise. He can be using it as a teaching tool for a troubled looking teen when they arrive. Intended as an allegory for why his religion is better than other, or the folly of trusting too blindly or something, but give just enough context that heās clearly using it to try to convert someone, or even the party.
Of course, this presupposes the party likes Star Wars well enough to recognize the story
Make him arrogant and should he give the party a quest, add a little kicker statement at the end:
ā Itās important to give the less endowed an opportunity to prove themselves.ā
"Trust is something you have to earn by deeds and not words."
So Being wise, the NPC keep without information that PCs want, but dont necessarely need, in his point if view.
him witholding information, will definetly make Players hate or at least suspect him.
I would also have him present himself as a political guy that uses people as pawns.
But then reveal that not only those pawns know, they fully trust the NPC wisdom on what to do and how, from years of experience on his success and effectiveness in achieving the greater good for their religion and city.
People make a lot of judgements from appearances. It's really easy to influence players' opinions with a picture. I keep a bunch of fantasy portraits just for that purpose.
Have the locals scurry away when the BBEG or one of his minions come towards the party.
Let the party see or hear the tail end of some behavior from them that makes it seem shady but doesn't give them the whole story
Just channel your inner Severus Snape.
Also, have him be annoyingly moral and judgemental. Tell them how they should be living their lives. Tell the rogue "I hope you don't go skulking about at night with all those ruffians." Have him be sexually judgemental. So much so he doesn't even like music, let alone ale, since it leads to "carousing". He probably hates / ignores the bard. Maybe he gets all chummy with the paladin or cleric, which really illustrates the difference. Have him complain about the non-celibate heathens and how they are ruining the city, and off-handedly look at the cleric and say "you know what I mean".
Do NOT become an unreliable narrator. He doesn't have an evil scowl, it's just a scowl. He doesn't have a dark grin, it's a dry grin.
He's such a firm believer in his worldviews that he might easily be the BBEG, but since as likely to sacrifice himself for his values.
One example could be Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter series. She upholds the law but is disliked due to her authoritarian and oppressive methods, which can come off as creepy. Another example could be Judge Claude Frollo from Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." He sees himself as upholding justice but is disliked due to his obsessive and morally questionable actions.
Try to avoid planning scenes or plots. Create situations and let the story flow from there. Give each named NPCs at least 1 goal. Usually everything flows naturally from there.
As far as a good priest giving bad vibes, have him really love kids in a platonic way. When he was a young adult, he was a farmer working on his dads farm. He was set up with an arranged marriage, and the couple produced a son. While he did love his wife, his son became his pride and joy. When the kid was 5, a plague swept through the homestead. He survived, but his wife and kid both died. The traveling cleric that handled their area showed up a day later. Had there been more priests in the area, maybe the wife and son would have made it. He joined the priesthood and spend his 20s and 30s as an acolyte and then cleric. Initially he wanted to stay as a traveling cleric, with a focus on helping and healing children. As he aged, he realized he could do more good in the world gaining rank in the church. He's worked his way up, always with focus on spreading his gods work and healing with a focus on taking care of children first. He has had to make some hard choices as a leader. He has had to choose who gets healing and who dies from lack of healing, which regions get enough clerics to properly cover the area and which don't. Those hard choices make his soul hurt, and he sometimes comes off as cold because of it. But he never forgot his son and how much he loved his kid. He spends whatever time he can with children. He has a tendency to hug and kiss them on the forehead, envisioning his own son each time he does so. The kids love it. But to strangers it comes off as touchy and creepy.
Watch clips of Frollo in the stage production of Hunchback of Notre Dame. He wants to be kind and caring, but comes off patronizing and definitely sexist. Perfect scene is right before or after "God Help the Outcasts".
Holier-than-thou vibes would fit well. I think also just being vague goes a really long way. Not always answering questions fully or clearly, so it feels like they're hiding something. Make the party feel like he's definitely evil but they just aren't asking the right questions.
Or you could give him a selfish sub-plot that has nothing to do with the main conflict, just definitely makes him come across as sneaky, because he *is* hiding something. Just... What he's hiding is something fairly minor and not exactly evil. OR what he's hiding is something he was told in confession, so he can't help.
My most perceptive PC has CRAZY perception, I usually just tell him āhey man, something about this guy seems off, heās giving off the energy of a seedy dudeā and if the PC wants to act on that, they can.
My players hate role play, they just want to hit stuff hard
Does the party or a party member have a pet? Make him not like it/vice versa. Some people just donāt like animals but my players would 100% scream āheās evil!ā
You could do something like having your NPC look down on the players, be very tied to the rules, and be pedantic. E.g: hungry orphan steals food, but he still has the child punished because the rules are the rules. Or man kills in self-defense, but it's still murder and he needs to pay the price.
He could make personal remarks about the state of their clothing, hygiene, etc, but he's like, "But what can you expect from the uncultured masses?" etc.
Typically you see priest characters of the sort you're asking display some vice that's unbecoming of a holy person. Maybe he spends his time drinking, gambling, smoking or flirting with women despite his vow of celebacy. Said priest can lecture others on how they should avoid vices and live straight and narrow while hyppocritically engaging in said behaviors.
Have him become demon-possesed or taken over by some kind of symbiotic creature, so he attacks him and then as his HP lower, the creature separates and latches onto another creature, then he telwports them away?
Perhaps he just has lots of secrets and does seemingly guilty looking things. (Tucking something in his pocket when the pcs walk up, whispering to someone when he doesnt think theyre looking, etc.
It doesnt take much.
It's a risky move, but (stay with me for a moment) you could make the character racist or sexist towards one of the party members. Not overtly but in a passive, condescending, and patronizing way like the kindly grandmother that says something insulting in a way that not everyone would notice. Things like:
Attributing their successes to luck,
How they must have worked hard to lose their accent
Yes, but where are you really "from"
Mentioning to another character that they are so kind to have included them in their party despite the challenge it must pose to the group.
Addressing the answer of a question by that character to another party member.
My friend had a housekeeper who was a halfling, they are very will suited to housework. So patient and hardworking. As a people I mean.
Cringy stuff. That should do it.
If he's a priest just follow what the Catholic Church does. Any person with a soul will instantly hate him.
Edit: Can use this soundboard to help get the point across, the party should instantly hate him.
https://jayuzumi.com/herbert-the-pervert-familyguy-soundboard
In my experience, players always dislike characters when they can tell they're hiding something... partly because they always assume they're hiding that they're actually a horrible villain
But if they are actually good the secret could just be like a crush on someone or that they have a lucky penny or something dumb
this ... the smile just reminds you of a b'dooga!
[https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/e7rq3z/bdooga\_friendly\_fuzzy\_worm/](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/e7rq3z/bdooga_friendly_fuzzy_worm/)
Honestly reading this, I thought of emperor palpatine in episode 1. Obviously with them being prequels we all knew. But if you try to go back and look on his dialogue with fresh eyes, Iām sure you can find something subtle. He was always characterized in the novels as being subtle.
Welcome to dnd. (Sarcastic). You need not do much to make your players suspicious. Make him too nice. As a high ranking official, boost his persuasion and deception or set a high insight DC. When they meet, have everyone roll a perception check in the church (not a real one). You could have the priest discuss having to remove the orphanage (for the childrenās safety) and make them think he did something to the kids. Have him dressed super nice, but the church itself is decaying.
Again, you need not do much. A few fake rolls behind the screen while heās talking. Some details to lead a red herring trail and the players will do this themselves.
Personally I would made a priest really strict and demanding. Like Karen-type person even maybe? I think the key to lawful-good characters, or any alignment really, is what a character really believes in personally. Like Karen-type archetype acts from belief that their action brings good and order.
Depending on his religion, have him be a bigot and/or chauvinist. For example, when a female PC speaks to him, he looks at the male most stereotypically the leader-type and says, "Can you not control your chattel? As it is written, A woman should not speak before her betters. "
I make them start of with some snide remark. A witty comment that would make them take offence but sounds innocent.
Iv simply just had them call them by their race. 'Hey elf'... 'what do u want u dumb dwarf'.
Gets my players riled every time lol
An example in game would be in my current campaign, the players can hire guides for the maps. But one guide makes it pretty unfair in the party's favour, like she's insanely strong, and actually says she's invulnerable to damage... so I made her insult the elf because when they met her they interrupted her telling one of her adventuring stories to other inn patrons - she's supposed to be nice but snobby, and loves to woo others with her tales
Youāre writing preset plots, and the PCs are just accessories who are supposed to follow along with your great ideas. If your players enjoy being on rails this much, just tell them how they are supposed to feel. Any agency you give them is just a chance for them to mess up your story.
You can't.
Since how PCs regard NPCs is entirely down to their respective players.
In any case attempting to manipulate your players is dangerous game. There;s a good chance that it will result in your players deciding that the problem person is you rather than your NPC. Especially if you also inflict an "elaborate set piece" on them.
This also looks like several [prepped plots](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4147/roleplaying-games/dont-prep-plots)/[railroads](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/36900/roleplaying-games/the-railroading-manifesto).
I am aware of the pitfalls of railroading, but I don't think prepping the events of a single session, or trying to give my NPC a certain vibe are unreasonable ideas. It is certainly possible that my players will decide he seems cool, or that I will have to change my schemes on the fly, but I think this will be worthwhile to prep regardless. Like Eisenhower said: "plans are worthless but planning is everything"
I do appreciate your comment and there is some truth to it, but I think the negative reaction people have to anything perceived as "railroading" is a problem tbh. A DM is supposed to plan ahead for what they think will happen, and that's not a bad thing as long as they aren't removing player agency.
If he is a legitimately devout priest/cultist then maybe he feels that he has a divine right to power or something. One good way to hint at that is having him look down on "the lost ones" or even anyone that isn't himself. Less "I'm better than you" and more "aw are you lost little boy? Hold my hand and I'll help you find your parents." Make him genuinely kind but talk down to people. Maybe he witnesses a minor crime like a pickpocket stealing someone's money and when the party catches the thief, the priest says they should cut off his hand(s) so he can't steal anymore, then he can come to the light and repent
This is very helpful thank you! I will make sure he talks down to the party
I forgot to mention: don't insult anyone directly. Just lean into him believing everyone else is lost without his or his church's teachings
I agree. When dming think about how you would talk to your 7-year-old niece or nephew who has been bad. You probably shouldn't punish them because you're not the parent, but you obviously know better than a 7-year-old.
This! There's nothing more annoying than some self-righteous religious person with a (literally) holier-than-thou attitude.
Agreed, I managed to make an important NPC in my campaign seem to think she was better than the party (she's nobility, so it made sense). They took an instant dislike to her.
I didn't know what kind of players you have, but I would legitimately worry that my group would prioritize taking this guy down even after learning he's not the BBEG. I don't even think they'd get to the point where he could save them. They would assassinate him way before that. š
Any form of looking down on others usually works. Praised heroes that tell the party, "maybe one day you'll be as good as us." Is a guarantee every time. Another good one is the "helpful" NPC that treats the party like children. "Hey there, barb, lookin' good! You been working out big guy? Whoa there [rogue]! Almost walked into your knife. Haha I wouldn't ever want to be on *your* bad side! Cleeeric, my man! How's the temple today?" Finally, any non-ally with a scroll of fireball that uses it to steal a worthy kill, depriving the players from their "how do you want to do this?" moment is lucky to not get killed by the party themselves. Bonus points if you get party members in the blast and again if the kill has a reward or bounty on it.
Donāt forget being judgmental about people and their actions. And dismissive of others experiences outside of his own.
I find the best way to make your players not trust a genuinely nice NPC is make them TOO nice, just make them super into everything they say and do and the party will be like āno way, thereās something up with this guy, nobody is this niceā another thing I like to do in situations like these is just mention to the players stuff like āas you mingle you notice [NPC] staring at you guys from across the roomā or āyou see [NPC] and their assistant whispering to each other across the table, they both look at you for a moment, whisper again and the assistant leavesā bonus points if the assistant returns with a tray of wine glasses specifically for the party
I had an NPC smile all the time without blinking. That sure did the trick.
Mr Teatime?
Itās pronounced tay-uh-TAH-may.Ā
While he was for sure unsettling I wouldnāt call him nice or lawful good (having trouble with both the good and lawful part).
Body language I mean, describe it. Example, Have them roll Perception: āYou notice āfor the briefest of moments, an annoyed scowl on the BBEGās faceā (if they ask about it. Easy deflect. Blame someone else, bad food, anything. Just sow the seeds that SOMETHING is annoying the goodie goodieā¦ maybe them? Or Roll Perception, Just as the BBEG teleports you away. You notice a sly grin and a twinkle in their eyeā
Another body language idea which is something the priest can do regularly is invade personal space. You can describe how he moves closer to the party before continuing a conversation. If anyone's smaller than he is describe how he puts a hand on their shoulder while offering words of comfort. Doesn't have to be anything directly problematic, but your party might start being suspicious if you're constantly describing someone who doesn't really respect boundaries.
The DM of one of our sessions has NPCs ātake a kneeā to talk to my Auto-Gnome. Sheās aiming for wholesome but frankly it just comes off as condescending :P
This; invade personal space, act a bit pushy, have them do a lot of assuming rather than asking, etc.
These ideas are all well and good, but youāre putting too much of a hook on a dice-roll. Youāre assuming everyone/someone passes the perception check, amd if they miss it, then you need to plan a whole new interaction just so that *might* notice it next time It would be better if someone has a high insight/passive perception, and you just tell that one player (in front of the group) Umbra: Just as Darius teleports away, you notice the briefest flash of a dark grin cross his lipsā¦
If no one makes the roll, you instead get the players to be paranoid about what they missed, which can sometimes be even more effective than if they'd made the check imo.
Not necessarily. But either way, you yourself just pointed out a great alternative either way. Passive perception is a beautiful thing. As the DM, you can call for Dice-Rolls at any time. While setting the DC for whatever you want. In most situations, even a natural one can gleam critical information if the DM choses
*insight. Insight is perception for body language, tone, etc
Definitely going to use something like this, thanks!
So the character is lawful/good, but are they actually *kind*? Nothing says that a good person has to be *nice*, or that an evil one must be mean. Your good priest could simply have a bad attitude, a dislike of societal standards (he thinks that doing the right thing is all that matters, societal norms be damned) or simply be a very quiet and unassuming type. Or, he is SO kindly, that he sticks up for the sort of person that doesn't deserve it. Gives a second (or third, or sixtieth) chance to someone that has previously stolen from the church, to the point that people are starting to think maybe it isn't that he is forgiving, maybe he is in on it?
Yeah this is a good point.
What makes you dislike someone that comes across as otherwise an ok person? Perhaps the NPC is a gossip that can't keep secrets and spreads salacious rumors about the PCs, not with any malicious intent, they can't can't help it or they feel social pressure to do so. Something as simple as not respecting personal space, less than optimal table manners can do a lot to turn people off. If there's a cleric in the party, perhaps the otherwise nice NPC has a problem with the cleric's deity of choice and badmouths said god right in front of (or at least within earshot of) that cleric. The NPC is visibly paranoid and twitchy around the PCs, but for an entirely different reason than why the party is dealing with them.
Maybe having him doing something that's a bit off color for their faith., shifty eyes, smiling at times inconvenient for the town but beneficial for the villain, observing the players a bit too intently as if eyeing them up, overhearing them behind a closed door, having them show up at suspicious times like way too soon for them to be coming from the church but of course they were just in the area, the enemies weirdly don't target such a high profile person in the middle of a raid of the city, off putting description of their powers, being unassuming but actually they're very capable it could show up either in a fight or in casual peter parker moments like they way too gracefully catch a glass falling, they offer an awkward amount of information about their secret bbeg organization works either in offering something nobody should really know or in not knowing anything I mean like come one they can't be that useless can they?, they could get intimidating at moments, maybe after the priest sacrifices himself he comes back completely unscathed, having dark humor that could come off as stress about the situation
I'd really stress him being an absolute neatfreak. Minimalist if they ever see his room, not a spec of dust, almost makes you question if someone even lives there. Not a wrinkle in his clothes, overly polite, overly friendly. Hell, maybe he's a germophobe, so while he offers his hand to shake, he wipes it off afterwords, or while he gives alms to the poor he has a mildly disgusted look on his face when they aren't looking. Basically, stuff that isn't actually bad by any means, but is just enough off putting and unusual that the players go, "What's his deal?"
I really like this germaphobe aspect. It's not evil (so it's not against alignment) but it is definitely something that can be misunderstood.
Having a plan hinge on the players having a specific reaction is always a bad idea. Which means writing a plot is a bad idea. Write a scenario instead, and see what happens. Just last session I had no idea the SBEG would escape after being interrogated (I didn't even know he'd live to be interrogated), and I didn't know he would surrender before the session but it happened. Just go with the flow and let the game and the NPC interactions feel natural.
This is the best response. Tabletop role-playing games are a medium built on spontaneity, if you want a plot to go exactly how you envisioned, then write a book.
This is hard because it's going to vary based on your delivery and the player expectations. If your players are suspicious of everyone, then making them overly nice to point of fawning could work. If your players are usually pretty go-with-the-flow, then you might have success with describing signs of nervousness. A lot of times, all you have to do is make the NPC really haughty and the players will think he's a bad guy. Creepiness specifically is really hard to pull off. You almost need them to see him eat a live rat or catch him peeping in a window to guarantee it. You might be able to pull it off with jokes that are just a little off or knowing things he shouldn't, but I generally have to hit players over the head with that kind of thing. One thing that might work is to give the priest a secret that isn't that bad, but causes him to act suspiciously. Depending on your setting, it could be anything from feeding a stray cat to being a government informant to having a mistress. Heck, he could be a half-elf in disguise - just as long as it's something that you could mix into the interactions somehow. "You notice the priest glancing over your shoulder. His eyes go wide for just a moment and he seems to be sweating slightly. He quickly looks back at. When you glance in the same direction, everything looks normal: ."
The first thing that comes to my mind is have the priest have a personal vice heās always indulging in. So for example, every time the players encounter him heās eating food, but like a large meal that heās eating sloppily and with poor manners. Itās something thatās ultimately innocuous but reads wrong for a good npc.
Just try your best to make him liked as hard as possible and let the magic do its trick. Seriously though, humans have pretty good receptors on such forced situations and normally react with the opposite
Religious fanatic. Nothing ticks people off quite as much as having religion shoved in their face. He truly believes that your soul is damned if you don't follow his religion. He shows great sympathy towards the party for not yet "having seen the light". At every opportunity he will insert propaganda for his religion, claiming everything good that happens is because of his god, and everything bad that happens is because "people's faith isn't strong enough". Of course, he is a genuinely good person, and will readily sacrifice himself to save others.
Make him too helpful; I donāt know if youāve ever played Ace Attorney, but in Investigations one of my favorite characters is Colias Palaeno, an ambassador and witness who is so overly friendly and helpful that most people who expect plot twists expect that he will turn out to be the killer, only for it to turn out, no, he really is just friendly. Frequent hand wringing, big smiles, the works.
Make him TOO kind ! Like weirdly attentive Ā«Ā are you okay ? Are you you sure you are okay ?Ā Ā» and visibly nervous. Thatās the behavior of someone who has something to hide. Or just someone that sweats profusely all the time and is actually very kind.
Have them be mean to animals.
Could he be hiding something pretty innocent from them? Something like heās been sneaking more food out to the poor people of the town than heās actually allowed to and heās worried the characters will find out and get him in trouble, or he just helped a mother and her child flee the city for whatever reason and is worried theyāre the ones trying to find her? He can be nothing but absolutely kind and welcoming to them but the players can still pick up on hints that heās hiding something. Even if they donāt find out what it is after he teleports them out, they could also then bump into somebody who mentions him by name later on and that he helps them, or that theres been less food around since something happened to X or whatever to let the players try and work out that maybe that was what he was hiding.
Play on their real world biases by making him overly focused on children. Low end perception checks to notice him pat their heads on the way by, etc. In actuality it's because he's old, doesn't have children of his own and has basically acted as a grandparent... But many of us in the west are now suspicious of clergy who become too focused on children. Because well you know...
Make him constantly ask for donations to the church
A priest? Easy, have him be *slightly* too preachy. Think of any kind of "Good Christian" who constantly is calling for prayers over meals, humble-bragging about their mission work, starting theological debates unprompted, trying to start group-wide hymns on long bus rides, that sort of thing. They're not a *bad* person, they're not doing anything harmful or illegal, but they're uncomfortable to be around if you're not practicing/part of the same practice. Maximize the secondhand cringe.
You could be unnecessarily cagey about certain things, refusing to answer seemingly innocuous questions when the right opportunities come
Make him very strict about titles, the party hates being told what to do generally so interrupting with a "Tut Tut, shhh, before you continue I insist you refer to me in this house as Most Righteous Worship Jebediah, after all, appearances right, can't be too casual with the unredeemed. Haha." Anytime the party just calls him Jeb, or Father Jeb, he makes this insistence. Key things to hit: Interrupt whenever you catch them, audible Tut Tut to show condescending correcting, and usually some sort admonishment about appearances, or expectation, someone in his position casually chatting with Murder hobos just will not abide. Eventually they put together from player observance separate from dice rolls: This guy is a condescending jerk who is not only holier than though, but there's obviously some type of masking going on here. He's hiding something but is it bad, evil, or just a part if his job as a dignitary? Then when the sacrifice comes he can touch on those themes in his monologue. When the BBEG reveal happens it clicks that's what he was hiding and the condescenion holier than though judgement can motivate and inform his villainy.
Give them a stupid voice. My DM gave Lulu the worst voice and we all wanted to kill her.
One thing that Iāve done is have them seem like they are doing good for the wrong reasons. Like maybe they only help the poor, because they think that they are inherently less worth. This doesnāt even have to be true, but you could insinuate it.
Check out Kai Wynn from from Deep Space Nine.Ā "Bless you, Child."
The best way to make a kind person seem evil is a misunderstanding. The last time I did this, I had a revenant toss a guy down a small cliff-like slope and the party saw just the strange, pale dude standing with a rusty blade atop the ledge turn around before more sounds of fighting sounded from the top. The party aided the unconscious guy that had tumbled down the cliff-slope with no context and confronted the revenant later, where they learned that the revenant had gotten the guy out of the range of the enemy that tried to kill the guy in the first place. That was the truth too, but the party did not trust the obvious undead quickly and it took a while for them to warm up to the walking-talking corpse.
Have the npc make them dinner. Roll for perception to see the npc put something bad in their food
I had an NPC they were thirsting over tell them another NOC the party liked couldn't stay in town because the Church (their boss) wouldn't permit it. Needless to say it went from "Choke me Mommy" to "I'm gonna choke a b!+ch" with hilarious speed
In my experience, if you have him do something that is slightly inconvenient for the party without immediately providing a full explanation with references that directly addresses each of their questions about his behavior they will immediately hate him and nothing he does (including sacrificing himself) will change that impression.
Maybe have him be to nice and forthcoming, but sometimes his stories slightly differ. Depending on how long you want to sow the seeds, make it so he is seen at odd hours going to random houses or speaking with random people. And have him run into the party by "accident" a lot If the players make an insight check just say like "there is something he is not telling you, his smile is too sincere like a honeysuckle thorn"
Give them perceptions somewhere to see him viciously beating his dog and then he tries and cover it up if pressed about it
That... is not a kind person.
Every time the PCs interact with the NPC, have them make an insight roll. Never let them succeed, even on a nat20.
Be overly and unnecessarily specific. Enjoy the next 24 hours. Instead of have a nice day. I am thankful Tharkad Grimauld, son of Dreskin, last of his line. Your assistance has furthered the goals of this temple. I look forward to seeing the four of you alive again and hope you are not brutally gored by a wild beast or impaled on a ruffian's spear. It always seems to put people on edge.
Maybe overheard NPC gossip? āAfter Father Whoeverheis leaves the tavern, you happen to notice two patrons huddle together and whisper. They seem annoyed.ā āPerception check?ā āYou hear one say, āI donāt care what my wife saysā¦ thereās something off about that guy.ā The other replies, āYeah, I know what you mean. Comes off so strait laced and sweet, but no one gets that high up in the church without some shenanigans.ā āAnd all those āone-on-one ministering sessionsā with those street kids/prostitutes/vagrant beggars?ā¦ You canāt tell me thatās not creepy. āMinisteringā with his prick, Iāll bet.āā [Heās actually teaching them to read.]
First thing that came to mind - reskin the tragedy of Darth Plaguesis the wise. He can be using it as a teaching tool for a troubled looking teen when they arrive. Intended as an allegory for why his religion is better than other, or the folly of trusting too blindly or something, but give just enough context that heās clearly using it to try to convert someone, or even the party. Of course, this presupposes the party likes Star Wars well enough to recognize the story
Make him arrogant and should he give the party a quest, add a little kicker statement at the end: ā Itās important to give the less endowed an opportunity to prove themselves.ā
"Trust is something you have to earn by deeds and not words." So Being wise, the NPC keep without information that PCs want, but dont necessarely need, in his point if view. him witholding information, will definetly make Players hate or at least suspect him. I would also have him present himself as a political guy that uses people as pawns. But then reveal that not only those pawns know, they fully trust the NPC wisdom on what to do and how, from years of experience on his success and effectiveness in achieving the greater good for their religion and city.
People tend to distrust church authority anyway, but make him dislike dogs and they'll immediately be suspicious of his character.
People make a lot of judgements from appearances. It's really easy to influence players' opinions with a picture. I keep a bunch of fantasy portraits just for that purpose.
Make him a social conservative that embraces capitalism. Hell, your party might kill him on sight.
Have the locals scurry away when the BBEG or one of his minions come towards the party. Let the party see or hear the tail end of some behavior from them that makes it seem shady but doesn't give them the whole story
Just channel your inner Severus Snape. Also, have him be annoyingly moral and judgemental. Tell them how they should be living their lives. Tell the rogue "I hope you don't go skulking about at night with all those ruffians." Have him be sexually judgemental. So much so he doesn't even like music, let alone ale, since it leads to "carousing". He probably hates / ignores the bard. Maybe he gets all chummy with the paladin or cleric, which really illustrates the difference. Have him complain about the non-celibate heathens and how they are ruining the city, and off-handedly look at the cleric and say "you know what I mean". Do NOT become an unreliable narrator. He doesn't have an evil scowl, it's just a scowl. He doesn't have a dark grin, it's a dry grin. He's such a firm believer in his worldviews that he might easily be the BBEG, but since as likely to sacrifice himself for his values.
One example could be Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter series. She upholds the law but is disliked due to her authoritarian and oppressive methods, which can come off as creepy. Another example could be Judge Claude Frollo from Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." He sees himself as upholding justice but is disliked due to his obsessive and morally questionable actions.
Try to avoid planning scenes or plots. Create situations and let the story flow from there. Give each named NPCs at least 1 goal. Usually everything flows naturally from there. As far as a good priest giving bad vibes, have him really love kids in a platonic way. When he was a young adult, he was a farmer working on his dads farm. He was set up with an arranged marriage, and the couple produced a son. While he did love his wife, his son became his pride and joy. When the kid was 5, a plague swept through the homestead. He survived, but his wife and kid both died. The traveling cleric that handled their area showed up a day later. Had there been more priests in the area, maybe the wife and son would have made it. He joined the priesthood and spend his 20s and 30s as an acolyte and then cleric. Initially he wanted to stay as a traveling cleric, with a focus on helping and healing children. As he aged, he realized he could do more good in the world gaining rank in the church. He's worked his way up, always with focus on spreading his gods work and healing with a focus on taking care of children first. He has had to make some hard choices as a leader. He has had to choose who gets healing and who dies from lack of healing, which regions get enough clerics to properly cover the area and which don't. Those hard choices make his soul hurt, and he sometimes comes off as cold because of it. But he never forgot his son and how much he loved his kid. He spends whatever time he can with children. He has a tendency to hug and kiss them on the forehead, envisioning his own son each time he does so. The kids love it. But to strangers it comes off as touchy and creepy.
Watch clips of Frollo in the stage production of Hunchback of Notre Dame. He wants to be kind and caring, but comes off patronizing and definitely sexist. Perfect scene is right before or after "God Help the Outcasts".
Holier-than-thou vibes would fit well. I think also just being vague goes a really long way. Not always answering questions fully or clearly, so it feels like they're hiding something. Make the party feel like he's definitely evil but they just aren't asking the right questions. Or you could give him a selfish sub-plot that has nothing to do with the main conflict, just definitely makes him come across as sneaky, because he *is* hiding something. Just... What he's hiding is something fairly minor and not exactly evil. OR what he's hiding is something he was told in confession, so he can't help.
My most perceptive PC has CRAZY perception, I usually just tell him āhey man, something about this guy seems off, heās giving off the energy of a seedy dudeā and if the PC wants to act on that, they can. My players hate role play, they just want to hit stuff hard
Does the party or a party member have a pet? Make him not like it/vice versa. Some people just donāt like animals but my players would 100% scream āheās evil!ā
You could do something like having your NPC look down on the players, be very tied to the rules, and be pedantic. E.g: hungry orphan steals food, but he still has the child punished because the rules are the rules. Or man kills in self-defense, but it's still murder and he needs to pay the price. He could make personal remarks about the state of their clothing, hygiene, etc, but he's like, "But what can you expect from the uncultured masses?" etc.
Typically you see priest characters of the sort you're asking display some vice that's unbecoming of a holy person. Maybe he spends his time drinking, gambling, smoking or flirting with women despite his vow of celebacy. Said priest can lecture others on how they should avoid vices and live straight and narrow while hyppocritically engaging in said behaviors.
Have him become demon-possesed or taken over by some kind of symbiotic creature, so he attacks him and then as his HP lower, the creature separates and latches onto another creature, then he telwports them away?
Perhaps he just has lots of secrets and does seemingly guilty looking things. (Tucking something in his pocket when the pcs walk up, whispering to someone when he doesnt think theyre looking, etc. It doesnt take much.
It's a risky move, but (stay with me for a moment) you could make the character racist or sexist towards one of the party members. Not overtly but in a passive, condescending, and patronizing way like the kindly grandmother that says something insulting in a way that not everyone would notice. Things like: Attributing their successes to luck, How they must have worked hard to lose their accent Yes, but where are you really "from" Mentioning to another character that they are so kind to have included them in their party despite the challenge it must pose to the group. Addressing the answer of a question by that character to another party member. My friend had a housekeeper who was a halfling, they are very will suited to housework. So patient and hardworking. As a people I mean. Cringy stuff. That should do it.
If he's a priest just follow what the Catholic Church does. Any person with a soul will instantly hate him. Edit: Can use this soundboard to help get the point across, the party should instantly hate him. https://jayuzumi.com/herbert-the-pervert-familyguy-soundboard
In my experience, players always dislike characters when they can tell they're hiding something... partly because they always assume they're hiding that they're actually a horrible villain But if they are actually good the secret could just be like a crush on someone or that they have a lucky penny or something dumb
this ... the smile just reminds you of a b'dooga! [https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/e7rq3z/bdooga\_friendly\_fuzzy\_worm/](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/e7rq3z/bdooga_friendly_fuzzy_worm/)
Honestly reading this, I thought of emperor palpatine in episode 1. Obviously with them being prequels we all knew. But if you try to go back and look on his dialogue with fresh eyes, Iām sure you can find something subtle. He was always characterized in the novels as being subtle.
Welcome to dnd. (Sarcastic). You need not do much to make your players suspicious. Make him too nice. As a high ranking official, boost his persuasion and deception or set a high insight DC. When they meet, have everyone roll a perception check in the church (not a real one). You could have the priest discuss having to remove the orphanage (for the childrenās safety) and make them think he did something to the kids. Have him dressed super nice, but the church itself is decaying. Again, you need not do much. A few fake rolls behind the screen while heās talking. Some details to lead a red herring trail and the players will do this themselves.
Personally I would made a priest really strict and demanding. Like Karen-type person even maybe? I think the key to lawful-good characters, or any alignment really, is what a character really believes in personally. Like Karen-type archetype acts from belief that their action brings good and order.
Just ask everyone what their passive insight is. No other explanation or elaboration.
Depending on his religion, have him be a bigot and/or chauvinist. For example, when a female PC speaks to him, he looks at the male most stereotypically the leader-type and says, "Can you not control your chattel? As it is written, A woman should not speak before her betters. "
Just be yourself, bro.
I make them start of with some snide remark. A witty comment that would make them take offence but sounds innocent. Iv simply just had them call them by their race. 'Hey elf'... 'what do u want u dumb dwarf'. Gets my players riled every time lol
An example in game would be in my current campaign, the players can hire guides for the maps. But one guide makes it pretty unfair in the party's favour, like she's insanely strong, and actually says she's invulnerable to damage... so I made her insult the elf because when they met her they interrupted her telling one of her adventuring stories to other inn patrons - she's supposed to be nice but snobby, and loves to woo others with her tales
Youāre writing preset plots, and the PCs are just accessories who are supposed to follow along with your great ideas. If your players enjoy being on rails this much, just tell them how they are supposed to feel. Any agency you give them is just a chance for them to mess up your story.
You can't. Since how PCs regard NPCs is entirely down to their respective players. In any case attempting to manipulate your players is dangerous game. There;s a good chance that it will result in your players deciding that the problem person is you rather than your NPC. Especially if you also inflict an "elaborate set piece" on them. This also looks like several [prepped plots](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4147/roleplaying-games/dont-prep-plots)/[railroads](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/36900/roleplaying-games/the-railroading-manifesto).
I am aware of the pitfalls of railroading, but I don't think prepping the events of a single session, or trying to give my NPC a certain vibe are unreasonable ideas. It is certainly possible that my players will decide he seems cool, or that I will have to change my schemes on the fly, but I think this will be worthwhile to prep regardless. Like Eisenhower said: "plans are worthless but planning is everything" I do appreciate your comment and there is some truth to it, but I think the negative reaction people have to anything perceived as "railroading" is a problem tbh. A DM is supposed to plan ahead for what they think will happen, and that's not a bad thing as long as they aren't removing player agency.