NPCs are the lifeblood of a campaign world, and sometimes a GM has to make them up on the fly. A technique I use for this is to come up with a set of three traits that stand out in some fashion, to allow me to give the PCs a quick, easy to visualize description and fill in the details as I go. It also helps some to make NPCs memorable for the players (such as 'the lanky, chain-smoking wizard').
I've put together the following table primarily for use with this method of NPC creation, but it can also be used to add traits to extant NPCs, plan them in advance, or do any of the above with your PC instead. It's designed primarily for expedience and ease of use, so just roll a d100 one to three times and look up the result, or pick any combination that strikes your fancy without rolling. If a result doesn't fit or make sense for any reason or you just don't like it, reroll or pick another. I may later make a more in-depth table involving more than one roll per trait for those who want the additional traits or just like rolling dice.
d% | Trait |
01 | Long hair |
02 | Very short hair/bald |
03 | Messy hair |
04 | Unusually dirty (relative to circumstances) |
05 | Unusually clean (relative to circumstances) |
06 | Lanky build |
07 | Stocky build |
08 | Petite build |
09 | Massive build |
10 | Slender |
11 | Broad-shouldered |
12 | Overweight |
13 | Underweight |
14 | Beer gut |
15 | Pregnant wife or lover present (male)/pregnant (female) |
16 | Knockout figure (female)/Adonis body (male) |
17 | Unusually tall/giantism (relative to demographic, e.g. 5'+ for a dwarf) |
18 | Unusually short/dwarfism (relative to demographic, e.g. less than 5' for an adult human) |
19 | Obviously rich |
20 | Especially well-dressed |
21 | Terrible sense of fashion |
22 | Unusual dress (relative to station/environment, e.g. exotic or unseasonable clothing) |
23 | Unusual hair or eye color (relative to environment) |
24 | Albinism |
25 | Racial/ethnic minority (relative to environment, e.g. light-skinned human in predominantly dark region or dwarf in elf city) |
26 | Religious/philosophical minority (relative to environment, e.g. monotheist sect of polytheist faith) |
27 | Other minority (e.g. nonstandard sexual orientation or gender identity) |
28 | Unusual speech pattern (e.g. speaking very formally, referring to self in third person) |
29 | Speaks loudly or whispers |
30 | Speaks very quickly/very slowly |
31 | Thick accent |
32 | Speech disorder (e.g. stuttering, lisp) |
33 | Phonic tic (e.g. clearing throat frequently, repeating words) |
34 | Motor tic (e.g. rubbing hands together, grimacing) |
35 | Notable jewelry |
36 | Vision correction (e.g. eyeglasses, monocle) |
37 | Tattoo(s) |
38 | Impressive facial hair (male)/Impressive chest (female) |
39 | Distinctive facial feature(s) (e.g. large nose, unibrow) |
40 | Missing body part (e.g. eye, hand, leg) |
41 | Scar(s) |
42 | Requires walking aid (e.g. cane, crutches) |
43 | Suffering from disease |
44 | Bad posture (e.g. slouching, hunchback) |
45 | Regal bearing |
46 | Unusually young (relative to situation, e.g. child running a store) |
47 | Unusually old (relative to situation) |
48 | Appears afraid of something |
49 | Upset about something |
50 | Happy about something |
51 | Appears confused or drunk |
52 | Prejudiced (e.g. racist, nationalist) |
53 | (Ab)uses some social drug (e.g. tobacco or alcohol) |
54 | Foul-mouthed |
55 | Very polite (but not necessarily friendly) |
56 | Boisterous |
57 | Lazy |
58 | Friendly and pleasant |
59 | Rude or sarcastic |
60 | Generous |
61 | Miserly |
62 | Cowardly/jumpy |
63 | Enthusiastic |
64 | Superstitious |
65 | Jerk |
66 | Androgynous |
67 | Behaves counter to gender norms (e.g. tomboyish girl, boy playing with dolls) |
68 | Crossdresser |
69 | Keeps fiddling with something |
70 | Artistic hobby (e.g. painting, music) |
71 | Productive hobby (e.g. tinkering, knitting) |
72 | Gaming hobby (e.g. gambling, chess) |
73 | Academic interest (e.g. history, chemistry) |
74 | Unusual skill (relative to situation, e.g. city-dweller knowing wilderness survival) |
75 | Excellent cook |
76 | Married or engaged |
77 | Nobility (as appropriate to society) |
78 | In debt (monetary or of honor) |
79 | Blood relative to a previous NPC or blood relative present |
80 | Practices a martial art (as appropriate to setting, e.g. fencing, Tai Chi) |
81 | Practices a sport (e.g. discus throw, running) |
82 | Easily distracted/lost in thought |
83 | Idolizes and gushes about something or someone |
84 | Despises and opposes something or someone |
85 | Obsessed with cleanliness |
86 | Likes being dirty |
87 | Supernatural trait or heritage (aside from race, e.g. horn(s) on a human) |
88 | Minor magic talent (low magic settings)/magically inept (high magic settings) |
89 | Spellcaster (low magic settings)/magical prodigy (high magic settings) |
90 | Phobia (e.g. afraid of spiders or snakes) |
91 | In poor health |
92 | Perpetually sleepy |
93 | Hyperactive |
94 | Particular favorite food |
95 | Sweet tooth |
96 | Gluttonous |
97 | Corrupt |
98 | Too honest for their own good |
99 | Likes to sound smart |
00 | Breaks into a song and dance routine (or roll again twice) |
Remember these traits are supposed to be things that stand out, so they should be visible. For traits that don't automatically shine through like hobbies or skills, the NPC should engage in them or make reference to them at some point (e.g. a chess set in a room, NPC boasting about their athletic prowess). If the NPC is pregnant, she should be visibly so or else she or someone should mention it, tattoos should be on a part of the body the PCs will see, and so on.