Starbound Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Uhu3C

An NPC village.

This page is about Sentient NPC Characters. For procedurally generated monster information, view the enemies page.

An NPC or Non-Playable Character is an AI-controlled character which sometimes provides a service to the player.

They most often are in procedurally generated villages or bases. They can be quite rare to find in the Alpha Sectors, but once the player reaches the later sectors, NPCs seemingly become more common, whether as neutral NPC towns or dungeons filled with hostile NPCs.

If the player walks around with weapons drawn near most NPCs the NPCs will start asking the player to holster the weapon. If the player disobeys their request the armed NPCs will start attacking the player while unarmed NPCs will just run away from the player.

NPCs are spawnable using a Colony Deed, which is purchased at Frog Furnishings (which is located at the Outpost). If the Colony Deed is placed in a room with at least 1 door, 1 light, and a backing (unfortunately glass does not work for a backing) then a random race and gender NPC will spawn, unless the room contains racial-themed items, in which the corresponding race will spawn. If the player does not damage the house then after some time the NPC will give the character a gift. If the NPC wanders away then just press E while your cursor is over the Colony Deed and the NPC will warp back.

After attacking an NPC, it will attack the player on sight forever. Upon killing an NPC, allies to the NPC will yell out "You killed [Insert-Name-Here]!" There is no current way to know an NPC name other than this, besides the Nightly build, where you can accept quests which show the names of some NPCs.

As of Pleased Giraffe, NPCs have been given a major overhaul. They will now interact with each other or with objects in the specific world. Depending on their personalities, they may get sad, excited, perhaps fall in love with the other NPC next to them, or do all kinds of different things in the situation they are in.

Types of NPCs[]

Merchants[]

MerchantHUD

An example of buying wares from a merchant. This particular merchant sells food.

Some NPCs will trade you goods in exchange for various amounts of pixels. Currently, there are Food Vendors, Weapon Vendors, Blueprint Vendors, and Miscellaneous vendors. As of the newest updates it is now possible to sell your own items in exchange for pixels. Certain NPC's can house in your ship (Spawn).

Guards[]

Some NPCs are guards. They can usually be identified by their equipment; guards will wear armor and weapons. Walking by a guard with a weapon drawn may cause him to tell you to put it away; failing to do so may result in the guards attacking you. Guards will also attack if they or a nearby NPC is attacked, or if too many items are stolen (Pixels from vases, furniture, items in chests/dressers etc). Guards can sometimes be seen combating local wildlife, especially on planets with a large number of hostile monsters. Note that some guards (such as glitch castle guards and Apex laboratory guards) can also be made hostile by simply approaching the area they are guarding too closely, which they will warn the player not to do.

If a passive guard starts to attack you for stealing, attacking, etc, leave the village and come back after a good amount of time. Once you return, they may be passive again.

Groups of guards will now coordinate in combat to attack from different positions and divide themselves between ranged and melee.

Villagers[]

The majority of NPCs are just villagers, with no weapons or wares to sell. Interacting with them will cause them to say something, usually of little importance or value. Villagers actively walk around, and will sometimes decide to sit in chairs or other objects. Two villagers near each other may begin a conversation; there are no speech bubbles, but the two will appear to be speaking to eachother in turns. At night, villagers actively seek shelter from the dark, and many will go to sleep if there is an empty bed nearby. If villagers are attacked, they will call for guards. Any nearby guards will come to investigate. Besides visual appeal, villagers currently serve no real purpose.

Pirates[]

A special type of NPC currently only found on Pirate Ships, pirates are the dominant sentient occupants of the aforementioned ships, which also contain a merchant. Pirates are always neutral, armed (frequently with guns), currently Avian NPC's that behave in a fashion that is a mix between that of villagers and guards. Pirates will simply walk around the ship, going about their day-to-day activities, and will not disturb the player unless provoked. If provoked, however, both the attacked pirate and any pirates who witness the crime will start to attack the player; this can easily be fatal if the battle continues onto the deck of the ship, as weapons with knockback could easily push the player off the ship (which is usually very high off the ground). If not attacked or able to attack the player for long enough, pirates will resume being neutral. Like guards, pirates will attack monsters, and will tend to quickly kill them due to their 'you mess with him, you mess with me!' attitude. On a side note, when speaking to the captain, he/she will ask about you joining their crew. Unfortunately, there is no way to reply, so you can only assume your character has more important things on their to do list.

Hostile NPCs[]

Some NPCs are always hostile. These usually consist of the inhabitants of Dungeons, but Hostile NPCs can also be found roaming planet surfaces (I.Cultists), or living in solitude in personal homes. They normally wander about their dungeon or near their homes, and will sometimes shout at a player as they begin attacking. Hostile NPCs generally drop high amounts of pixels and at least 1 weapon, wearable item, or armor piece when defeated, and when fighting hostile NPCs, they will react to the deaths of their friends, similarly to how Guards and Villagers will react if you attack them.

Advertisement