NPC
NPCs, Non-Player Characters, are the principle sources of information about the game's lore. They are also the usual sources for quests and quest rewards, and the NPC merchants are invaluable for equipping your hero for battle.
Contents
List of known NPCs
The following NPCs are confirmed to appear in Diablo III. They are covered on individual article pages; click through to learn more about them.
Captain Rumford
This NPC was found in the small town area where new characters began the Blizzcon 2008 demo. He was a guard and nominal leader of the few surviving humans in the area, and had special dialogues for each of the 3 characters. During the dialogues he imparted information about a meteor that had struck the Cathedral and awakened evil within, and either warned or encouraged the player to investigate.
Captain Rumford Dialogues
Like most key NPCs in Diablo III, Captain Rumford's dialogue differed greatly depending on whether he addressed a Wizard, Witch Doctor, or Barbarian.
- Barbarian: Rumford was afraid of the Barbarian, fearing he/she was a dangerous savage, but once the Barbarian spoke calmly Rumford become impressed and friendly and wished the Barbarian good luck.
- Witch Doctor: Rumford was contemptuous and dismissive of the scantily-clad, foreign-looking Witch Doctor, making comments about how he/she would surely be killed by the first monster encountered. The Witch Doctor made a few cryptic comments about not judging others by their appearance, but didn't say much.
- Wizard: Only the female wizard was playable in the Blizzcon build, and she was very saucy, sassy, headstrong, and brashly-confident. Her dialogue with Rumford was somewhat flirty, as she taunted him for being afraid to face the monsters himself, boasted that she would clear out the demonic infestation in nothing flat, and all but ordered Rumford to buy her a drink to toast her success when she returned. Rumford seemed somewhat overwhelmed by her arrogance and authority, and became rather meek and soft spoken before the Wizard's powerful presence.
List of possible NPCs
The following are likely to be NPCs, but have not yet been seen in the game.
Leah
Leah was mentioned by name in the WWI gameplay trailer, but was not seen in the Blizzcon demo. From what the Barbarian says in the WWI gameplay movie, Leah is an NPC who is [Cain]]'s assistant, who tells the hero that he (Cain) is missing in the Monastery, and must be rescued.
Some players have speculated that Leah is the young female referred to in the [[Writings of Abd al-Hazir: Entry no. 0020|Gnarled Walkers lore entry] from the official D3 website. In it, when speaking about the village of Wortham, Abd al-Hazir says:
- "I likewise found it odd that there seemed to be only elderly people in the village, with the exception of one beautiful young woman whose father was quite insistent I keep my distance from her. Though he was rude on this point, I found him to be a rather sociable sort once convinced I was not interested in his daughter. He introduced himself as Pablo DeSoto"
Could Leah be Pablo DeSoto's daughter? The location seems wrong; she's in Tristram with Cain in the teaser cinematic and apparently in the quest as demonstrated in the WWI gameplay movie, but the journal entry might be outdated, or be information from before the game begins; perhaps demons entirely overran the village of Wortham, and Leah and Pablo de Soto were forced to flee to Tristram?
Pablo DeSoto
Pablo DeSoto is seen in detailed concept art, and mentioned in the Gnarled Walkers lore entry, as quoted above. He is said to be knowledgeable of magic and mentioned to have some sort of grudge against necromancers. This might be a flashback or homage to Gheed, the Necromancer-hating NPC merchant from Act One of Diablo II.
Adria
Adria, the witch from Diablo 1, is mentioned in Deckard Cain's journal, and was seen in concept art in the Blizzard Museum at Blizzcon 2008. Not everything in concept art makes it into the final game, but with a lot of returning elements from the story of D1 in D3, and much of the early action taking place in and around Tristram, a return of Adria seems like a safe bet.
Other possible NPCs
It is indicated that multiple characters from previous games are returning. Jay Wilson says in an interview that they're "bringing back a lot of characters from the previous games." This is elaborated on another interview in which he says that "people can expect to see characters from Diablo I, more characters from Diablo II, and characters from some of the books. We're definitely going to bring a few of them in."
A list of potential NPCs for Diablo III:
- Abd al-Hazir - Travelling scribe, documenting lore.
- Franklin Burroughs - He's a Dune Thresher-hunter.
