12 Monster Hunters
Today I’ve got a table of 12 NPC monster hunters you can drop into your games. Most are designed for wilderness games set in and around jungles or vast woodlands, but there are a few for other locales thrown in there. And they should all be non-specific enough to use anywhere with a little tweaking. You can either roll 1d12 to pick a random hunter, or else choose the one that fits your needs the best.
Want this post as a PDF? Click here or on the cover below to download it:
Enjoy!
1d12 Monster Hunters
1. This pair of gnomes wear a strange assembly of furs, leaves, and broken twigs and branches. Their faces (and all of their exposed skin, in fact) are daubed with a thick green paint that they make from leaves and wild grasses. They both carry large polearms that end in hinged hooks and claws that they operate with a series of buttons and triggers embedded in the handle. They say very little.
2. This large tortle pulls a cart packed with baskets and cages of different sizes, along with a large collection of spiked poles, large nails, chains, and nets. She has embedded wicked spikes into the back of her shell. One of her eyes is permanently sealed shut; she claims it was plucked out by a young roc who attacked her as she was laying traps around the edge of the nest.
3. This oddly tall dwarf wields a large maul. A chunk of his wild beard appears to have been torn out and has never regrown; the skin of his bare cheek beneath it is heavily scarred. The rest of his beard is woven around sharp barbed wire. What little flesh is on display is heavily tattooed with what appears to be an intricate maul of the wilds in this area.
4. This slender elf woman wears a cloak made from the skin of a naga. She doesn’t appear armed, but the smell of sulphur lingers near her and the locals give her a wide berth when she walks through town. Rumours say that she can talk to snakes, and that when she ventures out on the hunt the trees themselves shake in fear.
5. This wingless kenku carries a spear, a net, and little else. Her beak has been sharpened to a wicked edge, and she has embedded large curved blades into the back of her shoulder in place of wings. Though she has no language of her own she uses her race’s mimicry to lethal effect, luring her prey with the sounds of smaller creatures and scaring off anything that my hunt her in return with the roars and screeches of enormous, terrifying monsters. Rumour has is that she can perfectly mimic the sounds of the tarrasque.
6. This unassuming human appears distinctly average in every way, so much so that most people forget that he is present within a few minutes of meeting him. He dresses in plain, uniformly grey clothing and rubs ash into his light hair to darken it. His only weapon appears to be a narrow short sword made from an odd, matte-grey material.
7. This rotund gnome carries a large messenger-style bag that is almost as big as she is, made from the skin and gaping maw of a purple worm. Inside it she keeps a collection of powders and potions, along with a large stock of fragile glass baubles that she fills with her odd concoctions and throws at her prey. She is ebullient and friendly, but also fairly skittish and constantly on edge. She struggles to maintain eye contact when talking to people, as she is always looking out for threats. When indoors – something she generally avoids – she always knows where the exit is, and never sits with her back to doors or windows.
8. This stocky human woman carries an oversized sword that seems like it should be impossible for her to wield. Her armour is a mismatched conglomeration of hides and bones of various creatures, and her cheeks have been scarred with thin, straight lines in a seemingly ritualistic manner. A calico cat accompanies her everywhere, to which she has strapped a small backpack made of large waxed leaves.
9. This lanky elf has dark skin mottled with bark that seems to grow out of and meld with his flesh, and his long hair is interwoven with vines and leaves that are growing from his scalp. Tales say that he wasn’t always this way, but that an accident of some kind deep in the jungles changed him forever.
10. This old gnome sailor lost both her legs from above the knee to a sea monster of some kind. Undeterred, she crafted a pair of prosthetics loaded with springs and hinges that allow her to stand taller than most humans and move faster than should be possible. She sails alone, on a small catamaran of her own construction, and always returns to shore with tales of weird creatures and strange ruins deep beneath the waves.
11. This tall, imposing woman wears a full suit of battered, blood-stained plate that – despite its seemingly poor condition – is still as strong as the day it was made. She hunts not natural beats, but the evil creations sealed inside the forgotten dungeons and tombs of the land. She claims not to care for wealth, power, or glory; rather, she is on a personal quest to rid the world of everything she deems unnatural.
12. This red-furred tabaxi is a trophy hunter, seeking out the largest, most beautiful, and most unusual creatures so that he may taxidermy them and either sell them or add them to his large personal collection. He prefers to bring down his prey through poisons and magics that leave no physical mark, in order to leave the most perfect specimen possible for preservation.