Wally DM

Welcome To The Jungle

In many TTRPGs, there are options for several non-human characters. This isn’t just limited to players only, even the DM will need to also describe how NPCs act.

The best way to do this is look towards the Furry Fandom. A large portion of the community do RP as anthropomorphic creatures. They understand the subtleties of how non-humans move and the different kinds of body language they could exhibit.

Human In A Zipper Suit

In the fantasy world, there are many humanoid creatures but it’s important to remember that not all creatures are human. I will be talking about two different categories of creatures, anthropomorphic creatures and feral creatures. Both can share certain features.

An anthropomorphic creature is a humanoid-like creature that generally walks on two legs and can talk. They can have extra limbs like wings or tails. An example from D&D is the Tabaxi.

A feral creature is any animal found in the wild. They are literal animals and normally can’t talk unless magic is involved or is in a game where they can talk.

Walk Like An Egyptian

Now to get down to the fur. Animal humanoids run on instincts. They are driven by urges and basic needs, but they also have human-like intellect. Some may fall to their basic urges but some can have control over them.

These creatures have heightened senses, because of this you must focus on the senses. Lean into what these characters describe using those senses. They could tell the scent of someone’s soap for example.

Body language is different as well. You can describe how keenly alert they are and ready to spring into action.

There’s a lot more you can experiment with but since this is a short article I can’t go over every little detail. Take time to watch animal documentaries as this will help you out with the next section. A lot of Disney movies like Zootopia or Robin Hood can give you ideas.

Everybody Wants To Be… A Cat?

Ferals are much easier because they are driven by instinct and needs. They tend to act completely in reaction to any situation.

You startle a dog and it will start barking and growling, maybe even chase you. It’s important to remember they don’t have human intelligence unless magic is involved to ‘awaken’ them.

Depending on your campaign you can have a lot of fun and draw from different places. Aristocats, Oliver and Company, or even Rescue Rangers can give you a lot of ideas.

Wrap It In A Blanket

I gave you a few examples of handling non-human characters. There’s so many characters that I could go over but if there’s interest I can cover more in future articles.

You can continue the discussion in WallyDM’s discord or in comments here.