The various characters of Cryptic's Neverwinter MMORPG, including PCs and NPCs. A work in progress:
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Races
Dragonborn
- Always Lawful Good: The rare Metallic Dragonborn variant are usually honorable and just, like their metallic dragon ancestors.
- Critical Hit Class: Their Dragonborn Fury trait boosts their Power and Critical Strike stats by 3%.
- Downloadable Content: One of the races that must be purchased to play. The even rarer Metallic Dragonborn can only be acquired through a lootbox.
- Draconic Humanoid: One of the original examples, having the features of a dragon but a humanoid shape.
- Master of All: Sort of. They're the only race that can stick their racial bonuses in any two stats of their choice, allowing them to fit any class rather easily.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Not in game, but the Dragonborn are a particular subset of dragonblood who were originally of other races before being willingly transformed to serve the Dragon God Bahamut.
Drow
- Always Chaotic Evil: Subverted. A stereotype amongst Drow (which is rightfully earned) is that the majority of its members are evil. There are White Sheep among the Drow (since it's a possible race for the player), and Good Drow NPCs discuss their evil brethren with contempt for all the prejudice and hardship it's caused them.
- Armor-Piercing Attack: Their racial trait, Darkfire, gives them a 5% chance to reduce their targets defense by 10% (it doesn't stack of course). The Renegade variant, Faerie Fire, also lowers the target's attack power, but doesn't cut through as much defense as a trade off.
- Defector from Decadence: The Menzoberranzan Renegade variant of Drow are specifically defectors from the hedonistic Drow lifestyle.
- Downloadable Content: The Menzoberranzan Renegade variant is only available as premium content.
- Heal Thyself: Sort of, their other racial trait, Trance, let's them heal twice as fast at campfires compared to other races.
- Our Elves Are Different: Many of the Drow NPCs fit the stereotypical eugenics-obsessed, evil goddess worshiping, evil-doers, but others are more neutral or even do-gooders (such as the Mysterious Drow who spies on House Xolarrin for Lord Neverember).
- White Hair, Black Heart: A stereotype amongst Drow (which is rightfully earned) is that the majority of its members are evil and can be born with naturally white hair (though darker hair colors are also commonplace). This is averted on the player's part of course.
Dwarf
- Carpet of Virility: As per the usual, male dwarves are absolutely covered in hair. Can possibly cross with Manly Facial Hair if the player so chooses.
- Implacable Man/Woman: Their racial trait, Stand Your Ground, reduces knockback effects by a sizable amount, making Fighter or Paladin dwarves incredibly difficult to remove from the front lines.
- Stout Strength: They're dwarves, the trope practically synonymous with the name at this point. They get an automatic +2 to Constitution and possibly to Strength as a result, making them an excellent race for the Fighter classes.
Half-Elf
- Born Lucky: Their Knack for Success racial trait gives them a minor +1% to their deflection (blocking/dodging), critical severity, and gold acquisition rates.
- Born Winner: Described as "naturally good at everything" due to their heritage. This has no particular in-game effect of course.
- Dump Stat: Their Dilettante racial trait puts a put into one of these depending on your class. That said, it's not a total loss.
- Half-Human Hybrid: One of the most common types in all of fantasy fiction.
Half-Orc
- Face of a Thug: Half-Orcs aren't very pretty to look at, but several are actually pretty decent people in contrast to their brutish heritage (the player included).
- Lightning Bruiser: They get a bonus to their run speed for a few seconds after they enter combat to encourage them to charge into the fray. Their race bonuses are also optimized for the Fighter classes and Rogues.
Halfling
- Fragile Speedster/Glacier Waif: Their racial traits and class bonuses are optimized for the Fighter, Paladin, and Rogue classes thanks to their higher than average dodge rates and resistance to Crowd Control.
- Hobbits: They're D&D's version of the Trope Namer; the name derives from the fact that they look like half-sized humans.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Like their dwarven ancestors they're very short but many of them look child-like throughout their years. That said, don't be surprised if you find a few at the front-lines as Fighters, Paladins, and Rogues.
High Elf (Moon Elf and Sun Elf)
- Downloadable Content: Moon Elves are only available as downloadable content.
- Squishy Wizard: Their race bonuses optimize them for the casting classes to the point of being outright stated in the character selection.
- Fantastic Racism: Sun Elves are notorious for this according to the lore, even calling their Moon, Wood, and Dark kin "lesser beings". Inverted with Moon Elves, who are described as quite open and friendly by comparison and find diversity to be enlightening.
- Solar and Lunar: They have this dynamic with the Moon Elves having lighter skin and eye colors as well as darker hair colors while the Sun Elves are more tan with brighter hair colors. Their personalities are polar opposites as well, with Moon Elves being open and welcoming as the most tolerant of the Elves while the Sun Elves are the most racist and arrogant of them all.
Human
- Jack of All Stats: They're not really optimized for any particular class but can fit any role well with a few good stat rolls.
- Humans Are Special: They only get a single +2 bonus compared to other races (who get two +2 bonuses), but they can put the bonus anywhere they want in addition to getting three extra feat points to stick in their basic feat tree, allowing them to fit practically any class.
Tiefling
- Face of a Thug: Like Half-Orcs and Drow, they have a bad reputation due to their race's tendency to make contracts with and serve the denizens of the Nine Hells and their resulting demonic appearance. That said, many tiefling are perfectly respectable and even heroic in comparison to their villainous brethren, with a notable example being Xalliana, a Harper agent who would loves nothing more than dishing out justice to evildoers.
- Kick Them While They're Down: Their racial trait, Bloodhunt, gives them a damage boost once their health drops below half health.
- Squishy Wizard: You'll find that almost every Tiefling player picks a casting class due to just how perfect the Tieflings' racial bonuses are for them. With few exceptions the only other classes you'll find people playing Tieflings as are Rogues and Warlocks.
Wood Elf
- Critical Hit Class: They get an additional 1% crit chance due to their racial trait, Elven Accuracy. Their racial bonuses also optimize them for the Wizard, Rogue, and Ranger classes.
Classes
Barbarian
- BFS: what the class is all about, wielding enormous swords with ease. However, later weapon skins allow you to wield an axe or a greathammer instead.
- Blade Spam: Flourish has the fighter wind up for a second before delivering a stab which results in a circle of additional stabs around the unlucky target, stunning them.
- Heroic Resolve: Determination is meant to invoke this, with the meter filling up with damage taken (and dealt with the appropriate build) before being unleashed to send you into a swinging frenzy that's immune to crowd control effects and has increased health and defense.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Wields the biggest swords in the game.
- Implausible Fencing Powers: They're apparently able to stab a foe once before repeating the motion at all angles in seconds with a single attack, locking down the target all the while. They're also able to strike several enemies from the front before slashing them again from behind a second later.
- Lightning Bruiser: Their "dodge" has them sprint at high speed, allowing them to keep up with mounts with enough movement bonuses added. They are also the third-toughest class in the game in terms of armor (behind Fighters and Paladins) while dishing out extreme damage with their combo and At-Wills.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Crescendo inflicts this, rendering the target helpless as you smash their face into the pavement with a flurry of attacks.
- No-Sell: Their Determination ability allows them to completely ignore control effects for as long as it's active while ramping up their defense and providing temporary HP to soak up attacks.
- Spin Attack: Several attacks involve spinning or circling their target.
- Stripperific: Females are more scantily clad than males with some armors.
Cleric
- Chainmail Bikini: Actually averted. The girls wear proper chainmail that covers their entire bodies.
- Combat Medic: Their primary role on the battlefield is healing and buffing allies, but they're more than capable of holding their own in a fight.
- Holy Burns Evil: Many of their spells burn targets with white flame.
- Holy Hand Grenade: Many of their offensive spells act like this.
- White Mage: Their role in a party. However, they're face stiff competition from the Paladins and Warlocks, who can potentially match or surpass Clerics in healing capacity. They're still the undisputed champions at buffing their allies and making sure they actually stay alive though. Together a Cleric, Warlock, Paladin combo is nearly impossible to kill, allowing for easy dungeon raids with the help of a few damage dealers to speed things up.
- White Magician Girl: If you so choose. The example in the trailer is one.
Fighter
- Dynamic Entry: Prone to these with their dash and double knockback combo in PvP
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Their shield can reduce if not outright negate damage and crowd control effects from the front, but they're vulnerable if attacked from behind.
- Glacier Waif: Any halfling or dwarf is going to look like this when they're covered from head to toe in plate armor tanking and dishing out as much damage as their much larger fellows.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Wields one-handed longswords alongside their shields.
- Mighty Glacier: Incredibly tough and always on the front lines but they lack a dash-dodge skill thanks to their shield. Their damage is nothing to sneeze at either.
- Not the Intended Use: A paragon feat allows Fighters to deal additional damage based on how much of their Guard Meter is left was created with the intent of allowing them to do more than sit behind their shield all day. This became quickly exploited in PvP however, as the skill could double a Fighter's damage output with a full shield meter. Combined with their low cooldown dash and powerful knockback abilities they were doing more single-target bursting than the Trickster Rogues!
Paladin
- Badass Creed: This class runs on this trope, with their Divine Call power changing based on which oath you took (represented by your Paragon Path).
- Combat Medic: Can also heal but is the frontline fighter and damage soak.
- Glacier Waif: Any halfling or dwarf is going to look like this when they're covered from head to toe in plate armor tanking and dishing out as much damage as their much larger fellows.
- Holy Hand Grenade: Divine Punishment, Templar's Wrath, and Burning Light all work this way.
- Mundane Utility: Their Sanctuary ability, which protects themselves and their allies, just happens to draw a perfect circle with a 15-foot radius on the ground, making it useful to judge distances and attack range on the fly.
- Mighty Glacier: While they have a spammable short-ranged dash in the form of Radiant Strike, they generally aren't go much of anywhere in the thick of things due to lacking high-speed movement of any kind. That said, they usually don't need to, slowly advancing towards their targets to slam with with surprising amounts of single-target burst while keeping their allies protected and topped up.
- Taking the Bullet: While Fighters did it first, Paladins do it better with their Divine Protector daily, which redirects all incoming damage to your allies to you instead, effectively rendering them invulnerable. Luckily for the Paladin, this incoming damage can be reduced by up to 80%! With the right build and with some Devoted Cleric backup, it is entirely possible to maintain this indefinitely while keeping one's health always topped up, rendering your party effectively invincible in dungeons and raids!
Ranger
- Bow and Sword in Accord: They're archers who use a variety of traps and keep a pair of shortswords handy should the enemy get too close.
- Glass Cannon: The ability to have two different skillsets give them monstrous sustained damage that put them on par with the once undisputed damage kings the Trickster Rogues. That said, their defenses are just as thin but this is compensated somewhat by having four short dashes, a variety of retreating skills, and abilities that allow them to dodge a single attack with impunity.
- Green Thumb: Can grow plants to slow down foes and leave them vulnerable targets for the Ranger's arrows or their blades.
- Rain of Arrows: Has a skill named exactly that.
- Ranger: Duh.
- Stance System: Can swap between the typical longbow shooting and swift blade attacks with a button press, giving them an additional set of Encounter powers as a consequence.
Rogue
- Blade Spam: Duelist's Flurry starts off slow, but land that final hit and you'll be dealing number after number of damage.
- Combat Pragmatist: They have no problems eliminating their enemies from the safety of stealth.
- Critical Hit Class: They're capable of massive burst damage with a single skill, making them the bane of Wizards and Clerics who don't have the armor necessary to survive them. End-game Rogues have been known to deal upwards of 100,000 damage or more with a single critical strike, ending all but the toughest of foes in PvP.
- Glass Cannon/Fragile Speedster: Is a top contender for the highest DPS in the game, but have paper thin defenses as a trade off. They compensate for this with their stealth mechanic and teleporting skills.
- Smoke Out: The aptly named Smoke Bomb encounter.
- Stealth Expert: The whole point of the class. Several PvP specs specialize in allowing the Rogue to remain stealthed for a minute or more under optimal conditions, wreaking havoc on the enemy team at the same time.
- Teleport Spam: Can be right behind you in an instant before slinking back into the shadows.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Their default secondary skill has them throwing their daggers at a target.
Warlock
- Casting a Shadow: Has numerous darkness-based powers.
- Damage-Increasing Debuff: Can inflict this with their Class Feature, Lesser Curse, on up to three targets, with the damage bonus being split among them.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Very much on the side on Neverwinter despite their devilish powers.
- Deal with the Devil: The source of their powers.
- Summon Magic: Can summon various kinds of demons to help out in a fight. Particularly emphasized by the Damnation tree.
- Technicolor Fire: Uses green hellfire straight from Phlegethos to deal Necrotic (as in melt the flesh of your bones) element damage.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: Killing a target with the Killing Flames spell rips the target's soul out, forcing it to fight for you for a short period. The Soulbinder Paragon Path (especially the Damnation path) furthers this, allowing the Warlock to receive Soul Sparks when they land critical hits and defeat foes in combat to bolster themselves or fuel powerful attacks. Conversely, the Warlock gains their power from making a pact with Belial, who threatens to do the same to them should they ever break the terms of their pact.
Wizard
- Black Mage: To a T aside from an emphasis on control effects over pure damage.
- Blown Across the Room: They have several knockback powers that push foes a fair distance, including Repel, Shield Pulse, and Ice Storm.
- Elemental Powers: Their specialty.
- An Ice Person: A multitude of ice spells which include generating localized blizzards, shooting shards of ice, and dropping a giant icicle the size of a car on your opponent.
- Playing with Fire: The Master of Flame Paragon path can set foes ablaze for additional damage with its duration being lengthened by ice spells thanks to a mix of fire and frost burns.
- Shock and Awe: Sudden Storm, Storm Pillar, and Maelstrom of Chaos are essentially localized lightning storms.
- Unrealistic Black Hole: They have many singularity-based powers.
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: See above.
- Force-Choke: Entangling Force inflicts this for a rather long duration, making it a staple of PvP focused Wizards.
- Frictionless Ice: Can inflict this with the aptly named Ice Floor.
- Signature Move: Spell Mastery invokes this, allowing you to slot an additional spell that has boosted effects compared to normal.
- Squishy Wizard: As per standard of the trope.
- Time Master: Steal Time allows them to slow enemies to a crawl before stunning them for a few seconds.
- Teleport Spam: With enough Recovery this becomes possible.
NPCs
Private Wilfred
"VALINDRA!"
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Averted. When you run into Valindra mid-game she taunts you over his death, and you meet him again in the Dread Ring.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Charging the Final Boss and her giant zombie minion on his own was brave, but not very smart.
- Reforged into a Minion
- Sacrificial Lamb
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Killed off in the same chapter he's introduced.
Sergeant Knox
"Protector's Enclave needs your help!"
- Almighty Janitor: Seriously, he's only a sergeant?
- Badass Normal: No magic powers, just takes an axe and starts swinging. Naturally, hordes of undead fall in his wake.
- Eyepatch of Power
- Mission Control: He starts most of the major quest lines and serves as the field commander during the Dread Ring campaign.
- Serious Business: According to the summer event, he takes his barbecue very seriously, to the point of slaughtering entire orc tribes should they intrude during his vacation."No one messes with MY barbecue!"
Rival Adventuring Party
A party of recurring NPCs that often gets in the PCs way. Made up of Marigold Tarmikos (ranger), Dross't Delzunson (fighter), Shaek Trueblood (cleric), and Samulkin Farcaster (wizard).- Hoist by His Own Petard: Inverted. During their second appearance, the entrance to the chamber they're in has a convenient instant death pit located to the side. If the player is not careful, the rival adventuring party can knock him or her into the spiked pit. This can come as quite a surprise to players used to doing the same to countless enemy monsters in previous dungeons.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: This group appears as a moderately difficult boss battle in the Cragmire Crypts dungeon delve as well as the Crypts of Kelemvor quest in Ebon Downs.
- Villains Out Shopping: During the 2013 Summer Festival, these four can be found eating and drinking at a table in the main festival grounds.
