Have a friend who has never created a character sheet before? Want to experiment with your wildest character ideas? Need the character sheet for an NPC on the spot? Crit NPC has you covered. The "NPC Generator" found on the "Program Tab" instructs you to describe a character in a few words, and then fills in a DND 5e character sheet that matches those words. The generated result is random; however, if you carefully select your words, the program can generate almost the exact character you had in mind. How is this possible? A combination of practice and luck. You may have to click the generate button a few times until you get what you want. It's important to note that Crit NPC and all associated programs are unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy and not approved or endorsed by ©Wizards of the Coast. For further information on the fan content policy, please click this link.
The "NCP Generator" has several inputs at the top of the page. The first three are simple: you may set your character level, race, and class. Not ALL playable DND 5e races have been added, but most should be there. Please note that if you choose "Random," there is a flat 40 percent chance of getting a human character. The next five inputs determine the bread and butter of your character. There are 29 words (I know! It's an odd number). You can pick a word as many times as you want. Need to bring a little extra chaos to the table? Pick "Chaotic" twice. Want to make the rest of the table despise you? Pick "Chaotic" as all five of your words. The last thing you can determine is the degree to which your character's stats are min/maxed. To adjust this value, open the dropdown next to the "Submit Button." The program will then use a list of base stats, where "Balanced Stats" ensures your stats are all close to the same value (12,12,12,12,12,14) and "Min/Max Level Five" contains a list of high and low-value stats (8,8,10,14,15,15).
You may be wondering how the program knows what subclass, feats, spells to take. Simple. Every item in the database is labeled with three words. These words are ALWAYS one of the 29 input words you are allowed to choose. If you solve all of your problems with Fireball and are dying to know how it's labeled, go to the "Database Labels" page found under "Programs." Study up! The way the program picks an item is slightly more complicated. First, every combination of your five words are identified. There will always be 10. If you select a word multiple times (e.g., "chaotic" twice) you will have identical pairs of words. These sets of words are called archetypes. "Robust" and "Determined" for instance, create the "Protection" archetype. If you are curious about what archtype each two-word combination forms, go to the "Archtypes" tab under "Programs."
The program randomly chooses most items on your character sheet (character subclass, feats, spells, etc.). Don't worry, your words still matter. The program gathers a list of items in a category (e.g., level-1 sells) and will select randomly from items that share one or more of your 10 archetypes. If you have multiple of the same archetype or match all three of an item's archetypes, that item will be added to the list of possibilities a corresponding number of times. If by some chance (i.e., you put "Chaotic" for all five of your words) no item returns as a possible choice, one word will be substituted for the next most similar word. "Chaotic" is substituted with "Emotive". This process continues until all five words are substituted. At this point, hopefully, you got a match. There are some categories of items that only have two or three options (e.g., a "Hunter's Conclave" ranger selecting "Hunter's Prey"), so the final step may be necessary. Pure, Utter, Randomness!
Do you want your character to be the quick-witted wizard or the bolder-carrying barbarian? You can influence your ability scores in two ways. Every class has a main ability score. Wizards use intelligence, whereas barbarians use strength. The main ability score will be added to the priority list. You can add additional words to the priority list by selecting certain words. "Robust" adds strength, "Quick" and "Accurte" add dexterity, "Determined" adds constitution, "Cunning" adds intelligence, "Enlightened" adds "Wisdom," and "Persuasive" adds charisma. Once this exclusive list is formed and ability scores are assigned or added to, the program has a much higher chance of choosing an ability score from the priority list. Furthermore, if an ability score addition of one were to be added to any trait, traits that are odd numbers are favored over traits that are even numbered. Please note that sometimes you may get characters with unideal ability scores.
Your skills are selected like most other items on your character sheet, as described in the "Labels and Archetypes" section. The key difference is that only one word from your list of five has to match one of the three used to label each skill. If you match all three words a trait is labeled with, guess which trait you are probably getting. Unlike most other items on your character sheet, archetypes do not matter. Individual words do. The skills are labeled: "Acrobatics" with [gr,qu,ch], "Animal Handling" with [na,la,pe], "Arcana" with [ar,cu,en], "Athletics" with [ro,qu,det], "Deception" with [dec,pe,dis], "History" with [re,cu,la], "Insight" with [vi,en,ps], "Intimidation" with [ev,pe,em], "Investigation" with [cu,vi,det], "Medicine" with [go,ca,vi], "Nature" with [na,ne,com], "Perception" with [vi,ca,ne], "Performance" with [gr,em,pe], "Persuasion" with [em,pe,la], "Religion" with [div,oc,en], "Sleight of Hand" with [gr,dis,qu], "Stealth" with [dis,ca,gr], and "Survival" with [vi,ac,cu]. Please note that the program will not take skills that you receive from other sources, such as your background or class abilities.
You primarily receive proficiencies through your background, class, and race. Since these items are already labeled, the proficiencies are not labeled with three of the 29 words. In the future, proficiencies may be labeled for cases where you get to choose proficiencies (e.g. your background allows you to choose one artisan tool).
Taking "Pole Arm Master" or increasing your strength by two. That's a tough choice. Thankfully, nobody has to make it. For every ability score increase you receive, there is a 40 percent chance the increase will be replaced with a feat. Please note that prerequisites are accounted for while selecting feats and any other item with prerequisites, such as warlock invocations.
The program selects spells using archetypes as normal; however, the number of spells known or prepared at each level is somewhat random. You are guaranteed at least one spell at each level. It would be tragic to let all of those first-level spell slots go to waste.
Are you sword-swinging, or spell-slinging? Maybe both. Your character's weapons are determined by your five words, subclass, and feats. The words "Accurate" and "Discrete" will increase the probability of having ranged weapons and light armor. "Quick" reduces the chance of having heavy armor, while "Determined" and "Robust" increase that chance. Specific abilities, like the feat "Shield Master", ensure your character has a specific weapon or armor (shield in this case) The program also marks characters that don't wear armor (e.g., monks and some spell casters) and will likely not give them any.