NPC Idea: A kobold girl that is romantically attracted to Paladins and wants to be an adventurer. While she is somewhat naïve, she is good with a dagger and is knowledgeable about plants and medicine. She sells potions of healing, antitoxins, and healer's kits in limited quantities.
How would you as a DM handle this NPC and, respectively, how would you as a player character deal with them?
Hm. Honestly, the first couple of ideas that spring to mind are that she's a PC, rather than a shopkeeper NPC - the shopkeeping would be a side business for when she's in town, like Bardic street performance.
If she's an NPC, though, I wouldn't actually give her more detail than she already has; the players might not even bother to find out that much. Still, some possible approaches:
A: Basically a hybrid of 'cute barmaid' and 'farmboy who wants to go on adventures'. Likes paladins on mostly aesthetic grounds; thinks of the chance to meet them as a side benefit of adventuring. Would probably ask a PC on a date if they aren't
too intimidating. Has her life together.
B: Has her life Planned Out. Wants a paladin spouse and is not planning to consider anyone who isn't, but she might be convinced otherwise if someone does something suitably impressive (or is just Extremely Pretty, although she would be mad about the latter).
Wants to be an adventurer because she thinks that's how you meet paladins; the shop is probably as much backup plan as it is means to buy her starting equipment. Might be quite aggressive in pursuing her ideal spouse, but otherwise unlikely to start anything.
(Alternately, she really doesn't expect to meet a paladin in the shop and won't know how to deal with it. B is very much the tsundere route.)
C: Is actually encountered in the dungeons more often than not, using Rogue skills to avoid trouble (but also, as a side effect, direct profits). Admires regular adventurers, but doesn't think she has what it takes for some reason - and probably thinks that having a big strong paladin boyfriend would fix it. Unlike the other two, she doesn't actually
expect this to happen.
Other possible details:
-She has a paladin relative, or spouse-of-a-friend, or maybe there was a whole army group she would watch and quietly geek out about.
-She's learning Rogue and/or Cleric skills from a friend, who knows more about adventuring than she does.
-She's a friend or relative of a PC, who becomes relevant for one of the usual reasons. In this case, probably rescuing her from a dungeon - her shop doesn't sound like a great place to submit obscure orders.
DMing Notes:
-Make sure any relevant players are okay with their characters being hit on by NPCs.
-It's totally fine to invent another NPC to be her boyfriend or spouse, if you just want a well-developed support cast.
-I'm assuming Kobolds are basically short Dragonborn in terms of who they can have kids with; if there's biochemical barriers in place, that may change things significantly. (At bare minimum, B is planning to have kids.)
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How I'd react to those from a player perspective would depend on who I was playing. I generally don't play my D&D characters as selfinserts*, and even if I was, there are specifics it would depend on - at minimum, whether I was playing a paladin or not. Still, I'd probably have quite a lot of fun with that game; it's actually kind of impressive how much of a writing prompt you managed to pack in there.
*If you assume SIs are the default, or (like me) you hadn't realized they were
possible, I recommend David Prokopetz' article on
means of character engagement. I found it quite informative. (You can also just read it if it sounds interesting.)
