"They may be called the Palace Guard, the City Guard, or the Patrol. Whatever the name, their purpose in any work of heroic fantasy is identical: it is, round about Chapter Three (or ten minutes into the film) to rush into the room, attack the hero one at a time, and be slaughtered. No-one ever asks them if they wanted to." -Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
This post is dedicated to those fine men.
Also, it is inspired (read: ripped off) from this post over on Of Slugs And Silver which is probably going to be better than anything I am about to write. Anyway, here goes.
Say you have some guards, or bandits, or other armed generic NPCs. They're your generic guard types, armed with a pointy stick and cased in leather, they all carry wicker shields which are only slightly worse than carrying nothing at all, but do at least make them look more official. Let us say, for the sake of argument, that they have a stat block:
HP: 5
AC: As Leather
Dmg: 1d6 Spear
That's really all you need if you want them to be generic background characters or a speedbump on the way out of the palace. But there's a lot you can do with guards, they can be gate guards to have information gathered from, they can be prison guards to be bribed or reasoned with, they can be generic set dressing that some PC just had to talk to and find out their life story.
Now, you could have a whole bunch of fully fleshed out NPCs to populate every scene, but who has time for that? So for a quick way to add some character and tactical challenge roll for each guardsman on this table:
D12
- Young, slightly naive and prone to nerves around confrontation or attractive people. Carries a sling.
- Bully who will take the opportunity to be cruel and victimise those over whom they have power, cowed by a show of superior force. Carries a crossbow and a cudgel.
- Patient and calm, could be wise and thoughtful or slow and lazy, in either case willing to wait things out and unwilling to rush into things or jump to conclusions. Carries a bow and has +1 to perception and investigation
- Professional and proud of it, less likely to take a bribe and more likely to play things by the book. Carries a sword and wields it with a +1 to hit
- Brash and loud, full of bluster and unwilling to take lip. More likely to take offence and go rushing into things. Attacks twice on first round of combat. Carries an axe
- Big guy, silent and sullen or possibly shy. Lets size and strength do the talking for them. Has +1 strength and 5 extra hitpoints
- Coward who will be easily intimidated and shy away from physical confrontation. Happiest when there are more of their fellows to back them up. Carries a large tower shield to hide behind and has +2 AC because of it
- Old and world weary, seen every trick in the book, happier to talk than to rush to physical confrontation but full of the tricks of experience if it comes to it. Wears a breastplate, spotted with rust but otherwise of good quality, AC as chain.
- Greedy and more eager than most to take a bribe or get every advantage of any situation. Wears a fancy helm which can be sacrificed to avoid the damage of one hit. Carries 1d10 coins in a hidden pouch.
- Sharp and clever, more willing to use their brain and cunning tricks, also likely to get too curious when they should keep their nose out of things. Carries a trap of some description (eg. caltrops, mantrap, tire spikes) which they will lay out if a fight starts in order to contain the movement of enemies. Can read and carries paper and writing equipment.
- Friendly and outgoing disposition, could be genuine or a ruse to get people to let their guard down. +2 to persuasion and socializing checks. Carries a billhook which can be used to snatch away shields or do damage to worn armour, otherwise counts as a spear.
- Sneaky, and sly, sticks to the shadows. Suspicious as all get out, and probably knows more than anyone about local shady dealings +2 on hiding, stealth, thieving and deception. Carries a brace of daggers.
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