Common Folk#
Everyone else
The people a party deals with every day, ready to drop into a scene: who they are in a line, and their numbers if it comes to blows. Most of them would much rather not. Give them a name from Names and a trait from the roller above, and they’re somebody.
Town and market#
| Who | Level | Health | AC | To hit | Damage |
|---|
| Village bakerhuman · regularA cheerful village baker covered in white flour. | 1 | 8 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Village butcherhuman · regularA large village butcher in a bloodstained apron, sharpening a cleaver. | 3 | 12 | 6 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Village blacksmithhuman · regularA powerful blacksmith hammering glowing steel at the anvil. | 5 | 19 | 6 | +1 | 1d6 |
| Village tannerhuman · regularA sturdy tanner with stained hands, constantly working hides. | 2 | 9 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| District vendorhuman · regularThis vendor knows everyone in the neighborhood and trades as much in gossip as goods. | 1 | 8 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Cloth merchanthuman · regularThis merchant displays colorful silks and sturdy woolens, ready to haggle over prices. | 1 | 8 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Pottery merchanthuman · regularClay pots and glazed vessels crowd this merchant’s stall, each piece carefully displayed. | 1 | 8 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Medicine vendorhuman · regularThe medicine vendor’s stall has dried herbs hanging from its frame while bottles of mysterious liquids line the counter. | 2 | 9 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Grain buyerhuman · regularThis buyer works for the market, weighing and pricing the harvest. A quick mind for numbers shows in his eyes. | 1 | 8 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Angry merchanthuman · regularAn angry merchant waves a fist, veins bulging at his temples, convinced he’s been cheated. | 2 | 9 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Friendly servanthuman · regularThis servant goes about their duties with a ready smile and helpful disposition. | 1 | 8 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Local artisthuman · regularA young artist painting the seascape. | 1 | 8 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
At the inn#
| Who | Level | Health | AC | To hit | Damage |
|---|
| Tavern keeperhuman · regularThe tavern keeper, owner of the local inn, wiping down the counter. | 3 | 12 | 6 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Inn regularhuman · regularThis regular has claimed the same stool for years. They know everyone’s business and share it freely after a few drinks. | 2 | 9 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Old tavern regularhuman · regularAn old man who’s spent more years at this bar than most have been alive. His rheumy eyes miss nothing. | 1 | 8 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Rowdy patronhuman · regularToo much ale has made this patron loud and belligerent. They’re looking for a fight. | 2 | 9 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Card sharphuman · regularThis professional cheater makes a living fleecing travelers and locals alike at cards. | 4 | 16 | 6 | +0 | 1d6 |
| Deadbeat customerhuman · regularAlways promising to pay tomorrow, this customer has worn out their welcome at every shop. | 1 | 8 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Drunk wheelwrighthuman · regularThe wheelwright slumps against his workbench, tools scattered, bottles empty. | 2 | 9 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
The watch and the road#
| Who | Level | Health | AC | To hit | Damage |
|---|
| Gate guardhuman · regularA guard watching the town gates. | 5 | 19 | 6 | +1 | 1d6 |
| Lonely watchmanhuman · regularThis watchman walks his rounds alone through the dark hours, fighting sleep and boredom. | 4 | 16 | 6 | +0 | 1d6 |
| Market wardenhuman · regularThe warden patrols the market, settling disputes and ensuring the peace is kept. | 6 | 21 | 7 | +1 | 1d6 |
| Suspicious travelerhuman · regularThis traveler keeps to the shadows, always watching. Their purpose on the road is unclear. | 3 | 12 | 6 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Old tinkerhuman · regularThis wandering tinker repairs household goods for a few coins. He’s been everywhere and seen everything. | 2 | 9 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Desperate farmerhuman · regularThis desperate farmer has sunken eyes and calloused hands that tell of hard times and harder choices. | 1 | 8 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Prairie scavengerhuman · regularThis desperate soul searches the prairie for anything of value—lost coins, abandoned supplies, or worse. | 1 | 8 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Dock workershuman · regularThese hard-working dock workers load and unload ships, their backs bent under heavy crates. | 2 | 9 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
In the shadows#
| Who | Level | Health | AC | To hit | Damage |
|---|
| Pickpockethuman · regularA slender pickpocket moving suspiciously through the crowd. | 3 | 12 | 6 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Young pickpockethuman · regularPoverty drives this young thief to lift purses and pouches. There’s desperation beneath the bravado. | 1 | 8 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Grey market vendorshuman · regularThese vendors deal in goods that aren’t quite illegal but aren’t quite legitimate either. | 3 | 12 | 6 | +0 | 1d4 |
Faith and learning#
| Who | Level | Health | AC | To hit | Damage |
|---|
| Innocent monkhuman · regularThis monk goes about his devotions with quiet serenity, harming no one. | 3 | 12 | 6 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Priestess of mercyhuman · regularThe priestesses of the Temple of Mercy keep Ettephemone’s door open to anyone who comes to it. This one takes the names of those who would follow the Mother, and the coins they tithe, and writes both in the same worn book. | 8 | 25 | 8 | +1 | 1d8 |
| Field researcherhuman · regularA young mage and field researcher with a satchel of sample jars, cataloguing the magic in Crecia’s wild places. | 5 | 19 | 6 | +1 | 1d6 |
| Old-timerhuman · regularThis old-timer has seen plenty in his years. His weathered face holds stories untold. | 1 | 8 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
Work for hire#
| Who | Level | Health | AC | To hit | Damage |
|---|
| Brokerhuman · regulara weathered contract broker keeps a ledger of contracts beside the portal. | 35 | 157 | 17 | +7 | 1d20 |
| Bounty masterhuman · regulara scarred bounty master leans against the curve of the wall, a sheaf of wanted notices in hand. | 35 | 157 | 17 | +7 | 1d20 |
At the games in Menes#
| Who | Level | Health | AC | To hit | Damage |
|---|
| The Lanistahuman · uncommonThe Lanista owns and trains the stable of gladiators who fight the Menes sands. A scarred former champion himself, he sizes up every newcomer at the gates as either a future draw or a future corpse, and treats both with the same weary contempt. | 15 | 81 | 11 | +3 | 1d10 |
| The Doctorehuman · uncommonThe Doctore won his freedom on the sand and stayed to run the Ludus Magnus, drilling each new intake with a wooden sword and a leaded lash. Hard, patient and entirely without illusions, he teaches men the craft of surviving an art most of them will not survive, and mourns none of them where they can see it. | 20 | 120 | 13 | +4 | 1d12 |
| Veteran gladiatorhuman · regularA Veteran Gladiator has survived more bouts than he can count, and it shows in the map of scars across his arms and the wary economy of his movements. He fights because the sands are the only life he was ever taught, and he sizes up newcomers with the flat appraisal of a man judging how long they will last. | 18 | 70 | 12 | +3 | 1d12 |
| The Medicushuman · regularThe Medicus keeps the valetudinarium of the Ludus Magnus, closing the wounds of men kept alive only to be wounded again. Decades of the arena’s trade have made him perhaps the finest surgeon in Esthar and perhaps its most quietly bitter, for he has saved a thousand lives he knows the sand will take back. | 6 | 21 | 7 | +1 | 1d6 |
| The Beast-Handlerhuman · regularThe Beast-Handler works the pens of the hypogeum, starving and goading the arena’s beasts into killing rage before the shows. Missing two fingers and unbothered by it, he speaks to the caged predators more gently than he speaks to people, and trusts the bars between them a great deal more. | 8 | 25 | 8 | +1 | 1d8 |
| Faction touthuman · weakA Faction Tout works the forecourt of the Hippodrome, selling faction favours, forged tickets, lucky charms and whispered odds to anyone with coin. He talks faster than a courser runs and swears every tip is a certainty, though he has backed the losing colour more often than he will ever admit. | 2 | 5 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| The Relic-Sellerhuman · weakThe Relic-Seller keeps a stall in the market colonnade, trading in the grisly souvenirs of the games: vials of famous fighters’ blood, splinters of shattered blades, sand scraped from a champion’s last stand, and finger-bones he swears belonged to men the whole city once cheered. Most of it is fraudulent; a little of it, unnervingly, is not. | 2 | 5 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
| Retired charioteerhuman · regularA Retired Charioteer keeps vigil by the Victory Monument, one arm gone and one leg dragging from a wreck at the turn that ended his career and should have ended his life. He remembers every race he ran and most that he watched, and will trade the whole history of the games for an ear and a moment’s company. | 10 | 32 | 9 | +2 | 1d8 |
| The Games-Crierhuman · weakThe Games-Crier works the forum with a brazen voice and a painted board, bawling out the day’s card of fights, the names of the champions and the beasts, and the mercy or death dealt at the last show. He has cried the same dead games so long that no one is sure whether he announces the matches or only remembers them. | 1 | 4 | 5 | +0 | 1d4 |
Levels
The game gives most townsfolk no level of its own, so these are suggestions: the level that fits the work. Raise a guard’s for a palace and lower it for a village, and they’ll still fight like who they are.
