Want a benevolent green dragon in your D&D campaign or a sweet werewolf candlemaker? Do it.
The rule in the Monster Manual is that the DM determines a monster's alignment. The DM plays that monster. The DM decides who that monster is in play. #DnD
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) June 25, 2020
..I am now going to stat block (for no reason) a sweet werewolf candlemaker. They will have a shop in Waterdeep, working on growing their business to Neverwinter and Baldur’s Gate, with the long term goal to spread into the underdark and provide regionally based scented candles. Do it! 🐺🕯️💖
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) June 25, 2020
One of the most beloved NPCs from my last campaign is a mysterious unidentified variety of devil – twelve feet tall, with massive broad horns, muscled like a great cat, with a pelt of curly dark violet fur. He cuts an imposing figure, to say the least.
Their initial reaction was, of course, “Oh, crap! It’s some kind of devil!”, but that lasted about two seconds, since he was lounging in a tall backed chair, sipping fine wine, clad in a richly tailored robe made of some exotic material, reading a rather impressive looking book, and he seemed genuinely surprised and pleased to have visitors to play host to.
They were invited in, proffered drinks and refreshments, and pretty quickly figured out this particular devil is about as threatening as a puppy. He is essentially a fiendish bookworm, a seeker of knowledge who is in the habit of breaking into mortal libraries, secretly reading and memorizing everything in them, and either leaving no trace, or actively improving them with donations.
Everyone enjoyed some pleasant conversation, sampled exotic drinks and snacks, listened to some traditional dwarven opera from a magical music box, and they parted ways as friends, united in the fact that everyone involved was absolutely not supposed to be in that library, and would keep the other’s secret.