I was just digging through “Xanathar’s Guide to Everything” for stuff to steal inspiration and I found the table of Rivals—not the real enemies of the campaign or assassins hired by the Big Bad, but an NPC that opposes the party for reasons of their own, like that shitty Lake-Town mayor in The Hobbit or Walter Peck in Ghostbusters. Roll d50:
Rival adventurer or party out for the same goal for different reasons
Rival adventurer or party that wants to steal something currently owned by the party
Politician that genuinely thinks adventuring parties in general cause more problems than they solve
Politician that genuinely thinks most adventurers are fine but the players’ party specifically causes more problems than they solve
Politician that claims the party causes more problems than they solve to try and hide the fact that they caused the problems in question themselves
Tax collector that thinks the party is evading
Wealthy idiot with no day job that believes some treasure held by the party is legally theirs by ancestral rights
Wealthy idiot with no day job trying to manipulate the party into a particular action to win a bet
Tradesperson whose livelihood was ruined by the party’s actions (e.g. a farmer whose fields were trampled, a fruit-cart owner whose cart was knocked over, an undertaker whose customers were revived by the party’s necromancer, etc.)
Wealthy landowner whose property was ruined by the party’s actions
Merchant or other public figure that thinks the party’s actions negatively affect “the economy”
Cleric that believes the party has offended their deity
Wizard that blames the party for some recent disruption to the magical or natural world
Sorcerer that believes the source of their magical blood was wronged by an ancestor of a party member
Warlock ordered by their fiendish patron to tempt a particular member of the party to evil
Barbarian upset over some trivial slight
Rogue that is just an asshole
Bard that says the party’s Bard stole a song/routine from them
Fighter that wants to prove they’re better than the party’s fighter
Ranger convinced the party magic-user cursed them
Druid concerned about the path of destruction left by the party, in particular to monster-based ecosystems
Assassin (any class) that was assigned the party not as a real contract but as a challenge to earn their guild membership
Adventurer (any class) whose sworn enemy was previously defeated by the party, out for revenge for denying their victory
Jilted lover of a party member
Jilted lover of the current lover of a party member
Jilted lover of a known enemy of the party that believes by capturing, disrupting, or killing the party they will win favor
Person that was arranged to be married to one party member that has no real interest in them but can’t get their inheritance until they do so
Adventurer that was kicked out of the party at some point in the past (if the party was only recently formed, they were kicked out of one of the members’ previous parties)
NPC that formed an unrequited para-social relationship with the party and wants them to stop adventuring and come hang out
Childhood rival or member of a rival clan from a particular party member
Person from a party member’s village/clan that wants them to come home to fulfill their destiny
Former employer or mentor of a party member that claims they left without completing their contract
Estranged sibling or parent of party member
Sibling or ally of defeated enemy
Ghost (or other undead version) of defeated enemy, out to kill the one that killed them
Ghost (or other undead version) of defeated enemy, out NOT to kill the one that killed them but to make their life as long and miserable as possible
Ghost (or other undead version) of a party member’s ancestor’s defeated enemy
Inventor of some spell or equipment being used by the party that thinks they aren’t worthy of it (or the ghost or an heir if the spell/equipment is too ancient)
Member of the same college or clan or whatever as one party member that believes they are unworthy of membership
Person that claims a member of the party is an imposter and they are the real one
Person that believes an item held by the party secretly contains the soul of their master or loved one
Time traveler trying to cause or prevent a certain chain of events (if this is too sci-fi for your setting call it “a magic-user trying to manipulate destiny” or “a seer that divined future events, out to re-weave the tapestry of fate” or something)
High-level adventurer of an opposing alignment that just wants to test out a new spell or piece of equipment
Beholder that was convinced by someone else that the party is out to get them, presumably as a distraction to get it out of the way while robbing its lair
Extraplanar, Fae, or other similarly otherworldly creature that has decided to test the world by placing trials before the party
Extraplanar, Fae, or other similarly otherworldly creature that thinks the party is fun to annoy
Conspiracy theorist that believes the party is in league with their enemies
Honest journalist that believes the party is up to something
Scandalmongering journalist out to make the party look bad
Cannibal/vampire that believes the party member with the rarest bloodline to be a rare and special delicacy
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