# Role templates **42 roles. Generation scaffolding, not characters.** A role biases what the AI invents so the fifteenth villager doesn't sound like the first, and says where to get a stat block if one is ever needed. Spec: [`../../../docs/npc-containers.md`](../../../docs/npc-containers.md) §5. **Each file is 20–30 lines and stays that way.** A role that grows past that is being written as a character, which is the mistake this directory exists to prevent. --- ## The split | | | |---|---| | [`town/`](town/) — **20** | people who live inside a settlement | | [`world/`](world/) — **12** | people who live outside one | | [`hostile/`](hostile/) — **10** | people who **command** other people at you | They're separated because they're different generation contexts. A town role knows *who*; a world role knows *where*. Ask for a villager and you should get someone with neighbours; ask for someone on the road and you should get someone who watches empty country. ### town/ tavern-owner · merchant · fence · artisan · entertainer · vagabond · child · priest · hedge-caster · healer · scholar · official · noble · guard · soldier · thug · servant · moneylender · sailor · carter ### world/ farmer · miner · hunter · forester · shepherd · fisher · ferryman · hermit · pilgrim · bandit · tinker · scout ### hostile/ — the command tier bandit-captain · raider-chief · crime-boss · mercenary-captain · cult-leader · zealot · renegade-mage · beast-handler · corrupt-magistrate · spymaster **The other 32 already escalate into hostility** — every one carries an `Escalation` section. What none of them do is **give orders**, and that was the gap. These come with a `commands:` field so dropping one in produces an **encounter**, not a person. They also carry an extra section the others don't: **`## Way out that isn't a fight`.** Every single one of these can be resolved without initiative, and most of them would prefer it. A mercenary captain wants the contract bought out; a bandit captain wants a toll; a beast-handler folds the moment you take the animals. **If every hostile encounter becomes a fight, the tier isn't being used properly.** --- ## The shape ```yaml --- role: # slug, matches filename stat_block: # SRD reference — consulted ONLY if plausible_combat plausible_combat: # true | false | sometimes | rarely | never domain: # town | world --- ## Knows what this kind of person has access to that others don't ## Wants 3-4 concrete, small, immediate ## Found where they physically are ## Voice how they talk — the part that stops every NPC sounding alike ## Hooks 2-3 ways this role becomes a plot ## Escalation what happens when the plot needs them to matter ``` **`Escalation` is not "give them a bigger stat block."** For most roles it's the opposite — what escalates is *what they know*, *what they witnessed*, or *who sent them*. The tanner never becomes a boss fight; the tanner recognises the maker's mark. **`plausible_combat: false` means no stat block is retrieved and none is written into the container.** Most people in a world never roll initiative, and giving the shepherd a stat block is how you end up with a DM who thinks the shepherd is an encounter. `child` is `never`. That one isn't a tuning value. --- ## Using them 1. The plot needs a person → pick the role that fits 2. Generate from `Voice` + `Wants` + the trait/name tables in `../` 3. Write the container — `canon/locations//npcs/.md` 4. The role is **not** copied into the container. It's scaffolding, and it's done once the person exists. `role:` is recorded in the container as a pointer, so a later session can see what shape the person was built from without re-reading this directory. --- ## Adding a role Only when a real NPC didn't fit any of the 32 — and then write it **after the fact**, from the person who needed it. Roles invented in advance are guesses; roles extracted from a character who already worked are evidence. **Not a role: "elder."** Age is a modifier on farmer, official or priest. Add roles for adjectives and 32 becomes 80, none of them load-bearing.