NPCs

Type	Town
Max Life	250
Defense	15
KB Resist	5000%

For a complete list of NPC names, see NPC names.

An NPC (Non-Player Character) is a friendly automated character that provides some service to players. Players can utilize NPCs by standing near them and using the ⚷ Interact button on them. Most NPCs are vendors, selling items to players in exchange for coins, and can be sold items by a player in order to obtain coins. Most NPCs also have an attack method, which they will use to defend themselves against enemies in the vicinity. Some NPCs also perform other functions.

Most NPCs are "Town" NPCs, appearing after various milestones are achieved in game advancement (details below). They move into structures the player must generally build, known as Houses, which are generally required for Town NPCs to remain available.

Town NPCs that have moved into Houses reduce enemy spawn rates in the area, an effect that increases the more of them are present. With four or more Town NPCs in close proximity, enemies generally stop spawning on or near the visible screen altogether. Players tend to utilize this effect by building large structures ("Towns" or "Bases") with several integrated Houses, to serve as their safe haven. These reductions are usually overridden by special Events like the Blood Moon or Goblin Invasion, during which spawn rates return to normal, or are elevated, and enemies will once again attack players and NPCs in the area.

Town NPCs generally walk around during the day, occasionally sitting in Chairs and "talking" to each other, or to the player (shown by mouth movement and speech bubbles). They remain still in their assigned Houses at night. NPCs have limited health and can take damage and ultimately die from enemies, Traps, or Lava, though they cannot be attacked by players (outside of special Voodoo Doll accessories or Rotten Eggs). Their health regenerates over time, and if killed, they will also respawn following a delay, as long as a suitable vacant House is still available.

There are currently 22 Town NPCs, 7 of whom can only appear in Hardmode. An additional 3 NPCs can be encountered that don't move into Houses.

Housing

Town NPCs require a suitable, vacant House. A House is a confined room enclosed by a frame of blocks (4 high 10 long), along with a table and chair. Certain types of furniture are required, as well as certain room dimensions (see House for full details). Houses must not be located near Corruption or Crimson, and if those spread too close to an occupied House, the NPC living there may move out.

Town NPCs' home assignments can be re-arranged using NPC Flags from the Housing Menu, where you can also check whether a room is a suitable House.

The Guide and Old Man are unique in that they always spawn upon creating a world. The Guide will also move into the first House you build. If he dies, he will need a proper House to respawn. The Old Man does not move into a House, but always appears near the Dungeon's entrance, and respawns the following day if killed.

If a House occupied by an NPC is damaged in a way that makes it invalid, the NPC will move out and walk around the area until a suitable House is restored. If killed, the NPC will respawn again whenever a new House becomes available.

Buying and Selling

Items can be bought simply by right-clicking an NPC and taking items from their inventory while their cost in coins is available in the player's inventory. Holding the right mouse button will allow the player to buy an item in bulk, so long as the item is stackable. The buy speed increases the longer the right-click button is held. Certain NPC's will sell Biome-specific items if their House is located within a specific biome.

All NPC vendors can also be used to sell your unwanted or surplus items to gain coins, simply by placing your unwanted item(s) in their inventory. Items are always sold to vendors at one-fifth their purchase price. Not all items have a sell value (very common items such as Dirt or Wood have no value). Hovering over your item while the NPC's inventory is open will show its sell value. Should you change your mind about a sale, sold items can be taken back in exchange for the amount you sold them for, as long you haven't yet closed the NPC's inventory screen. This does not hold true for returning bought items, which must be sold back at their standard sell rate of one-fifth the purchase price.

All NPC vendors buy and sell at the same price.

You can decrease prices of some items if you use a Discount Card, which is a rare drop from the Pirate Invasion.

Town NPCs

Listed in the order in which they are likely to be acquired.

Pre-Hardmode

Name		Acquired When	Description	Drops	Drop Rate	Weapon
	Guide	Starting a new world.	Provides tips, crafting recipes, and a general guide on how to get other NPC's.	Green Cap (Named Andrew)	100%	Wooden Bow
File:Merchantnpc.png	Merchant*	All players combined have more than 50 in their inventories.	Sells certain basic tools.			Throwing Knife
Template:Mirror	Nurse	A player has more than 100 health and the Merchant is already present.	Heals players and cancels debuffs in exchange for coins.			Poisoned Knife
Template:Mirror	Dye Trader	A player acquires a Dye item, or any item used to craft Dye, in addition to either defeating a pre-Hardmode boss or acquiring one Strange Plant.	Sells the Dye Vat crafting station, and quests for rare plants.	Exotic Scimitar	25%	Exotic Scimitar
File:Demolitionistnpc.png	Demolitionist	A player has an explosive in their inventory, and the Merchant is already present	Sells explosive items.			Grenades
File:Dryadnpc.png	Dryad*	A Boss is defeated other than King Slime, Lepus or Wall of Flesh.	Sells nature/Corruption/Crimson items, and can report the percentage of Corruption/Crimson and Hallow in the world.			Dryad's Blessing
File:Armsdealernpc.png	Arms Dealer*	A player has bullets, or a gun that shoots bullets, in their inventory.	Sells certain guns, bullets, and after the Eater of Worlds or the Brain of Cthulhu has been defeated, Unholy Arrows.			Flintlock Pistol / Minishark (Hardmode)
Template:Mirror	Template:Pc icon Stylist	Found and spoken to in a Spider Nest.	Can change your hair style, and sells Hair Dyes.	Stylish Scissors	12.5%	Stylish Scissors
File:Painternpc.png	Painter*	After 8 other town NPCs are acquired.	Sells paints, painting tools, and Paintings.	Paintball Gun	10%	Paintball Gun
Template:Mirror	Template:Pc icon Angler	Found and spoken to in an Ocean Biome.	Gives Fishing quests.			Frost Daggerfish
Template:Mirror	Goblin Tinkerer	Found and spoken to underground after defeating a Goblin Invasion.	Sells items such as the Tinkerer's Workshop, and can reforge items.			Spiky Balls
Template:Mirror	Witch Doctor*	Queen Bee is defeated.	Sells the Blowgun, the Imbuing Station, summoner equipment and Fountains.			Blowgun
Template:Mirror	Clothier*	Skeletron is defeated.	Sells some Vanity items, including the Familiar clothes.	Red Hat	100%	Book Of Skulls (Shadowflame variant)
Template:Mirror	Mechanic	Found and spoken to in the Dungeon.	Sells the Wrench, Wire, and other Mechanism-related items, in addition to the Mechanic's Rod under certain conditions.			Wrench (thrown)
Template:Mirror	Party Girl	Chance of spawning after acquiring 14 town NPCs.	Sells items that create colorful visual effects, such as the Bubble Machine, Confetti Gun, and fireworks. If killed, she does not always respawn the following day as other NPCs do, rather starting over with a random chance of re-spawning each dawn.	Happy Grenade (30-60)	25%	Confetti Gun, Happy Grenade

*Sells additional items during Halloween, Christmas, and during the Blood Moon Event.

Hardmode

Name		Acquired When	Description	Drops	Drop Rate	Weapon
Template:Mirror	Pirate	A Pirate Invasion is defeated.	Sells the Cannon and other Pirate-related items.			Similar as the Pirate Captain's attacks
Template:Mirror	Truffle	A House is built in an above-ground Mushroom Biome during Hardmode.	Sells mushroom-themed items.			Mushroom spores
Template:Mirror	Wizard*	Found and spoken to in the Cavern layer in Hardmode.	Sells certain magical items.			Flower of Fire
Template:Mirror	Steampunker*	Once a Mechanical Boss is defeated.	Sells the Clentaminator, Teleporter, Jetpack, and other items.			Clockwork Assault Rifle
Template:Mirror	Cyborg*	Plantera is defeated.	Sells the Proximity Mine Launcher, Rockets and Nanites.			Rockets
Template:Mirror	Santa Claus	The Frost Legion is defeated, appearing only from December 15-31.	Sells the Santa costume, colored lights, Christmas trees and their decorations.			Snowball Cannon
Template:Mirror	Template:Pc icon Tax Collector	Found as a Tortured Soul in the Underworld and revived with Purification Powder.	Collects property tax from the other NPCs for the Player. Each NPC that owns a house will pay 50 in property taxes. He can gather up to 10 at once.	Classy Cane	12.5%	Classy Cane

*Sells additional items during Halloween

Other NPCs

The following NPCs are not considered town NPCs because they do not move into houses.

Name		Acquired When	Description	Drops	Drop Rate	Weapon
Template:Mirror	Template:Pc icon Template:Console icon Traveling Merchant	22% spawn chance during morning hours (04:30-12:00 in-game time) once two other NPCs are present	Stays for one day, sells a random selection of unique items each day.	Peddler's Hat	10%	Revolver/Pulse Bow (Hardmode)
Template:Mirror	Old Man	Starting a new world	Found at the entrance to the Dungeon. Summons Skeletron, but only at night. Once Skeletron is defeated, the Old Man is no longer present. It is implied that the curse he was afflicted with was removed and he became the Clothier.			None
Template:Mirror	Template:Pc icon Skeleton Merchant	Found randomly underground	Randomly sells Counterweights, Spelunker Glowsticks, Magic Lanterns, the Yoyo Glove and some other items.			Bone

Notes

NPCs will take about 2 minutes to spawn after another NPC has spawned or dawn passes.
Bound NPCs found underground can be freed by talking to them, after which they will always respawn whenever a vacant house is available. Having an empty room ready for them when you anticipate finding one will mean you will have convenient access to them from your Town earlier on, though this is not required, and building a house later will still cause them to spawn at that time.
Unlike chests and structures generated on world creation, bound NPCs spawn around the player's position on-the-fly, similar to enemy spawns. They are temporary, and can respawn again elsewhere if missed (see NPC spawning).
NPCs will not spawn during an active Event or at night.
Male NPCs will teleport to a King Statue when you activate it, and similarly female NPCs will teleport to a Queen Statue when you activate it.
All NPCs have an Attack stat of 10.
NPCs will teleport home during the night if the player(s) are away from both their home and the NPC itself. This can be useful for relocating them across the map without needing to escort them or to get them across terrain that would otherwise kill them (such as a lava moat).
Template:Mobile icon As the mobile version currently has no housing interface, it is not possible to assign NPCs to certain houses, therefore making it difficult to control which house each of them lives in.
NPCs will drown if submerged in water for too long. This is an easy way to get NPC drops before obtaining lava or Rotten Eggs.

History

1.3.0.1:
- 2 new NPCs added: Skeleton Merchant and Tax Collector.
- Improved the sprite of some NPCs.
- NPCs now can sit in chairs and avoid being near chests.
- NPCs now avoid monsters and fight back if necessary.
- Having all possible NPCs living in your world now unlocks the Real Estate Agent achievement.
- NPCs now talk to each other.
- Changed the spawn order for Town NPCs so that the more important ones spawn first.
- NPCs can now drown in water.

1.2.4: Added the Angler NPC. Fixed bugs with the sign / NPC chat display again. Fixed exploit where you could buy and sell stackable items for profit.

1.2.3.1: Fixed problems with rescued NPCs not having any names.

1.2.3:
- 2 new NPCs added: Stylist and Traveling Merchant.
- Names are now decided on spawn rather than World Creation.
- Fixed a bug where numerous NPCs could spawn if you beat a hardmode boss in a non-hardmode world.
- Invasions can now spawn enemies anywhere near friendly NPCs instead of just the middle of the world.
- Enemy attacks no longer trigger Spectre set healing from hitting friendly NPCs.

1.2.2: NPCs now go to shelter during Eclipses.

1.2.1.2: Added some checks to ensure multiple NPCs of the same type don’t spawn.

1.2.1.1: Rotten Eggs now correctly damage friendly NPCs.

1.2.1: Several friendly NPCs will sell costumes.

1.2.0.3:
- NPCs that require Plantera to be defeated to sell things now do so correctly in multiplayer.
- King and Queen Statues will correctly summon the new NPCs.

1.2:
- 8 new NPCs added: Steampunker, Truffle, Cyborg, Pirate, Witch Doctor, Party Girl, Dye Trader and Painter.
- Fixed bug where attempting to move NPCs with reverse gravity used the opposite screen height position.
- Increased speed at which you can buy stacks of things.

1.1.1: Bound NPCs now can be untied with Autopause enabled. Santa Claus added.

1.1:
- 3 new NPCs added: Goblin Tinkerer, Mechanic and Wizard.
- NPCs now have random names given to them on World Creation. Their deaths will be reported with these names. Also other NPCs will use them in their quotes. Upon respawning after Death will be given a new random name.
- NPCs now may be told where to live using the new Housing Menu feature.
- Two NPCs of the same type can no longer spawn, even in a multiplayer world. (Previously that was two additional merchants and second nurse. They had multiplayer conditions.)

1.0.6.1: NPCs now look at the character.

1.0.6:
- Shops now sell items back to you. Shift-clicking items will automatically sell them.
- New sound for initiating a conversation to an NPC.

1.0.4: Added an option that will pause the game while talking to an NPC in single player. It defaults to off.

Pre-Release: Introduced.

Template:Translation project

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NPCs

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