Angler

The Angler is an NPC that doesn't sell anything, but rather assigns quests to players. Quest objectives generally involve catching him rare fish from particular biomes, for which he dispenses various rewards.

On the, he will throw Frost Daggerfish at nearby enemies when threatened.

The Angler is first encountered as Sleeping Angler randomly sleeping on the sand or on the water surface of an Ocean biome. He will move in when:
 * There is an empty House.
 * The player has interacted with him and has woken him up.

Initiating a quest

 * The day's quest is determined at 4:30 a.m. each day, regardless of whether or not the Angler has been spoken to.
 * Speak to the Angler and click his "quest" button.
 * The Angler will give the player a tip on where to find the fish.
 * The player will require a Fishing Pole, Bait, and a sizeable amount of liquid (see Fishing) to catch the quest fish.
 * The item will only be catchable while its quest is in effect (from 4:30 a.m. of that day until 4:30 a.m. of the next day)
 * The quest fish can only be caught if it is not already in the player's inventory.
 * Speak again to the Angler to complete the quest.
 * The quest fish must be in the player's inventory
 * The quest fish in the player's inventory will be replaced with a reward.

Quest rewards
After a quest has been completed, the Angler will reward the player with one item, a number of Coins, and possibly some bait. Note: After the 150th completed quest, the chances permanently reset to their base rates below, as if the player was always on their first quest each time thereafter (this is possibly unintended). Coins are not affected by this and continue to scale up to a maximum of per quest.
 * Item chances: The chances of functional, non-potion items gradually increase from their base rates (shown below) with the number of quests completed: they become more likely (and others less likely) as more quests are completed.
 * At 50 quests, the chance of a receiving a functional item reward is approximately twice the base rate.
 * At 100 quests, the chance is approximately four times the base rate.
 * At 150 quests, the chances are the highest, at about six times the base rate.
 * Coin quantity: The number of coins awarded increases with the number of quests completed, and is rounded down to the nearest gold coin (or silver coin, if less than ), up to a maximum of . The average coin reward is approximately, plus per completed quest, before rounding. These values are doubled in Expert mode.
 * Bait chances: The Angler may additionally reward the player with an amount of bait, with chances scaling from ~50% on the first completed quest to 100% by the 50th quest. The average quality and amount of bait given similarly increases with the number of completed quests, up to a maximum of 7 Master Baits.

Names
The Angler may have any of the following names:

Quotes
 During multiplayer, for all players except the host:   Main quotes: When Dryad is present: When Tavernkeep is present: When woken up: When a Quest is available: When a quest is completed: When you click the Quest button after the daily quest has been completed: During a Party: During a blood moon, when a Quest is available: During a blood moon, when a Quest has been completed:
 * "ANGLER [-1]"
 * "" (reference to the famous World War I U.S. propaganda poster featuring )
 * "" (reference to the famous World War I U.S. propaganda poster featuring )
 * "" (reference to the famous World War I U.S. propaganda poster featuring )

Trivia

 * The Angler is one of the few Town NPCs that can be obtained regardless of the current stage of game progression (others being the Guide and Stylist).
 * The Angler's sprite is unique, as he is a child, and therefore younger than all the others. He is a block shorter than any of the others and is the only child NPC in the game.
 * While most NPCs die via the usual death animation, the Angler simply vanishes in a puff of smoke. He also has a unique death message: Instead of "[Angler name] was slain..." the message reads "[Angler name] has left!" This is likely due to rating concerns, as depictions of children being killed tend to result in an Adults Only rating from the, which might have limited the game's distribution. This is not the case in the : The Angler still disappears in a puff of smoke, but the status message reads "Angler was slain…"
 * The sleeping Angler is able to float on both Water and Honey. However, when woken he will sink and likely drown.  This still counts as "rescuing" him.
 * The quest dialog for the Clownfish is a reference to the Pixar movie, .
 * The quest dialog for the Batfish is a reference to the iconic Batman theme song.
 * The quest dialog for the Pengfish is a reference to Superman.
 * Despite his Quest dialog claiming that he will be "Sooo Rich!", the Jewelfish is still worth nothing when sold.
 * The achievement "Fast and Fishious" is a play on words, referencing the media franchise .
 * The Angler seems to be an orphan, with his quote ""
 * Although it is extremely rare, it is entirely possible to give the angler a bunny fish and receive a bunny fish trophy, suggesting he immediately gave it back.
 * The Angler is allergic to bees, as shown when he gives you the quest to find the Bumblebee Tuna.

History
Angler Pêcheur 낚시꾼 Рыбак 渔夫