NPCs you adore and hate

[Sindal]

Hi gang.

So this topic is gonna be a little subjective but I figured it might to fun to hear people stories

-name an npc you've come across in your dnd travels that you either adore or have come to despise. Let us know why.
-bonus points if you can provide one for both adore and hate.

Mine is an adore.

It's a Gnoll hunter, named Key.
Long story short we all got bundled up on the same side in a fight. The gnolls became friends after that.

To my character, Key became a close friend and ally. To the point that most of the gnolls in that pack consider me family at this point.

He can't talk common very well yet but hes got a can do attitude and a good head on his shoulder. Would take an arrow for him without a second thought.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Mine to hate is one of the higher up in the harpers in waterdeep.

I didn't know about the harpers lore but only they are a spy network.

As a spy with a destroyed order I was searching for a new place to work with but found out the Harpers are the worse spies you can find after getting a mission from him that destroyed my cover and the other agents cover. And the fact that all the spies in the harpers walk with a pin that represent them openly.

After reading a little about them I found out they are very good people but very bad spies.

After that I join the zhanatars(the mercs, not the beholder) as they made operations more closely to how spy works.

[Wraith]

Most of my most hated NPC's are from Forgotten Realms, which seems to be a cesspool of author avatars and plot-elevated PCs. Please take the following rant as it is intended - a venomous and despicable hatred of the characters, not the players.

Elminster. From his being a blatant Gandalf knock-off to his Mary Sue playboy-millionaire lifestyle, I'm glad that he has yet to reappear in 5e.

Traxigor, from Descent into Avernus. I know he's been polymorphed, but I truly despised having to interact with, and rely upon, a magical talking otter in order to progress the plot, especially given how many archmages and sages you have to talk to in order to reach him.

You can also throw the ENTIRETY of the Harpers into the sea with Elminster and Traxigor. I don't think it's a running gag or that I'm being deliberately pranked since it keeps happening with different groups run by different DM's, but I've never met a Harper that wasn't a self-righteous pain in the butt who insisted on getting our help and then doing everything in their power to be as obstructive and 'mysterious' as possible.
A couple have recently appeared in my latest campaign, Hordes of the Dragon Queen, and although it's strictly meta-gaming - as I'm definitely acting IC based on OOC knowledge - I'm seriously considering asking Moradin (I'm a LN Cleric) if I can just set them on fire and be done with it.

...Maybe I just don't like Forgotten Realms very much, I suppose that is a possibility. :smalltongue:

I like Xanathar, though. He can be a bit "lol random" sometimes, but I like the way that he's written, and he lends himself well to one of my favourite forms of NPC interaction - he demands constant reverence and compliments, but generally only listens to the tone of what you're saying rather than the content, so there's a lot of fun to be had with seeing how far you can go with double-talk and euphemisms, to the abject horror of the rest of the party.... :smallbiggrin: