How To Get NPCs in Terraria

Town NPCs are one of the most important aspects of playing Terraria. Each NPC provides a range of bonuses and can sell you unique items to make your gameplay much easier as a result. However, some NPCs are picky, and won’t spawn without some stringent requirements. Luckily, most players will get NPCs relatively quickly during the game, and they respawn regularly if they die.

Here’s what you need to know about spawning town NPCs and housing them for maximum benefits.

How to Get NPCs to Spawn Faster

Town NPCs don’t spawn at a set interval. What happens instead is that the game checks each day for certain NPC-based conditions in the world, and then rolls to spawn that particular NPC in the players’ vicinity. Most NPCs are spawned with these requirements, and once they do, will respawn within a few days if they die. You should prepare adequate housing to ensure spawned town NPCs have a place to stay.

Here’s a list of all town NPCs and their spawning requirements. The order they’re shown in is roughly the order most players will obtain them in, but different map configurations and playstyles may alter it.

• The Guide: This NPC doesn’t have a spawn requirement. It always spawns at the start of the game near the player to explain some basics and provide item recipes.
  
• The Merchant: If all players combined have more than 50 silver in their inventories, the Merchant will spawn relatively soon, usually the next day.
  
• The Nurse: The Nurse spawns after the Merchant and if a player has more than 100 health.
  
• The Demolitionist: After the Merchant spawns, the Demolitionist will appear if a player obtains any explosive item.
  
• The Dye Trader: Spawns after a player has a dyed item or items that could craft a dye.
  
• The Angler: A player needs to find and interact with the Angler in the ocean biome first before this NPC can spawn near appropriate housing.
  
• The Zoologist: If you fill at least 10%, or 53 items, in the Bestiary, the Zoologist can spawn the following day.
  
• The Dryad: You’ll need to defeat one of the following bosses – Eye of Cthulhu, Skeletron, Eater of Worlds, or Brain of Cthulhu. The Eye is usually one of the first bosses encountered with a fairly minor requirement.
  
• The Painter: The Painter spawns only after eight other town NPC have spawned (including the starting town NPC). In the 3DS version, the Painter requires four other NPCs.
  
• The Golfer: The Golfer needs to be found and interacted with in the Underground desert before he can be acquired as a town NPC.
  
• The Arms Dealer: This NPC spawns after a player gets bullets or a gun in their inventory.
  
• The Tavernkeeper: You’ll need to find and interact with this NPC, but only after you’ve defeated the Eater of Worlds or Brain of Cthulhu.
  
• The Stylist: This NPC can be found in the spider cave (How they got there in the first place is anyone’s guess).
  
• The Goblin Tinkerer: You can find this NPC in the Caverns after defeating the first Goblin Invasion.
  
• The Witch Doctor: Players need to beat the Queen Bee for this NPC to spawn.
  
• The Clothier: This NPC appears after you’ve defeated the Skeletron.
  
• The Mechanic: The Mechanic can be found in the Dungeon. When interacted with, he’ll start moving towards the nearest dwelling.
  
• The Party Girl: One of the most elusive NPCs, the Party Girl only has a 1/40 chance of spawning each day, and only after you’ve acquired 14 other NPCs (eight NPCs in the 3DS version).
  

There are also Hardmode town NPCs, which can be acquired after the game turns into Hardmode difficulty (defeating the Wall of Flesh):

• The Wizard: The Wizard is found somewhere in the Caverns.
  
• The Tax Collector: This money-making NPC spawns after a player purifies a Tortured Soul with a purification powder in the Underworld.
  
• The Truffle: The Truffle will move into an available house in the glowing mushroom biome and above ground.
  
• The Pirate: This NPC spawns after the players defeat the Pirate Invasion.
  
• The Steampunker: You’ll need to defeat any mechanical boss to unlock this town NPC.
  
• The Cyborg: Spawns after the players defeat Plantera in a boss battle.
  
• Santa Claus: This special NPC appears only during the Christmas seasonal event (December-January each year) and only after the players beat the Frost Legion.
  
• The Princess: This unique NPC spawns after all other town NPCs (except Santa Claus) are acquired.
  

Besides town NPC, players can also interact with other NPCs that have unique benefits:

• The Traveling Merchant: The Traveling Merchant has a roughly one-in-five chance to spawn every morning if there are two other NPCs. He stays until the evening and sells a variety of items.
  
• The Old Man: This NPC can be found near the Dungeon. Interacting with him summons the Skeletron boss (a requirement for two town NPCs), after which he effectively turns into the Clothier.
  
• The Skeleton Merchant: This merchant NPC sometimes spawns in the Caverns and sells somewhat unique items.
  
  

How to Get NPCs to Move Into Their Rooms

Each NPC will move into the first available housing after they spawn. They live alone (except when with pets). Players will need to provide housing for the town NPCs to ensure they spawn in the first place.

Houses need to have a total of 60 tiles, including the frame (walls, floor, ceiling) but can be no more than 750 tiles in the area (width by height). Each house needs to have the frame constructed, typically from a combination of blocks, doors, and platforms. The floor and the ceiling can’t be made entirely from platforms. After building the frame, you’ll need to put a wall in the background (not dirt or Underground tiles) and a few light sources (torches) to ensure the housing is lit properly.

Each house also needs to have a table, a chair, and a solid tile the NPC can stand on. Beds are optional.

The minimal requirements that meet these conditions are a 3×10 house with surrounding frames. The three tiles in width will be just enough to place a table and a chair, and you can put a torch halfway up the wall to illuminate the area.

Two houses can’t share the same wall, but you can circumvent this by doubling the frame’s width where you want the houses to join.

Once there’s suitable housing for an NPC, an NPC without a house will eventually wander into it purely by chance. However, if you want to ensure an NPC moves quickly, you can use the housing menu:

1. Open the Inventory screen.
   
2. Click on the house icon on the top right.
   
3. Click on the “?” mark and select an area to find out condition requirements to become a proper house.
   
4. If you find a suitable dwelling, click on one of the NPCs from the list on the right.
   
5. Click on the house you want them to move into. If this doesn’t work, drag the icon from the menu into the house.
   
6. Each dwelling should have a red banner with the face of its occupant.
   

How to Get NPCs to Move Houses?

If you want to move an NPC out of a house, all you have to do is destroy their current one. Removing a portion of the walls and background will be enough to make the place uninhabitable by their standards.

Once their current dwelling has been removed, they’ll try to move out of the place and into the next suitable home. If unprompted by the housing menu, they will roam around randomly until that happens.

How to Get NPCs to Follow You?

There’s no way to get an NPC to follow the players around. You can manipulate their movement somewhat by limiting their current surroundings. For example, removing doors after they’ve moved in will make it harder for them to leave the current room, even if they don’t like living there.

Additionally, once you’ve assigned an NPC to a house, they’ll move into it from anywhere in the world after a short time, effectively allowing you to control where they live. This can be vital in adjusting their sales prices and allowing you to purchase pylons since those are biome-locked and need NPCs who are reasonably apart from the crowd.

Additional FAQs

Why are no NPCs spawning in Terraria?

If there are no NPCs spawning near you, check to see if you’ve fulfilled their spawn requirements. Additionally, build appropriate housing beforehand to ensure that a lack of dwellings isn’t preventing them from appearing.

How do you keep NPCs happy?

NPC happiness is tied to where they live and how many other NPCs are around. Each NPC (except the Princess) has a specific biome they prefer and a biome they avoid. Putting them in the preferred biome will increase their happiness.

Additionally, they are happier when living with two other NPCs nearby (within 25 tiles) at most and no more than three other NPCs 120 miles away.

Town NPCs are also happier when close to other specific NPCs. The Princess is universally liked by everyone, so a great way to improve happiness and lower prices are to move her in next to a solitary NPC. Some NPCs get increased happiness from specific living arrangements (indicated by loving their neighbor rather than liking). NPCs also dislike certain other characters, so the best way is to pair them only with two NPCs they like to boost their happiness. Here’s a list of neighbor preferences for each town NPC:

• Guide: likes Clothier, Zoologist

• Merchant: likes Golfer, Nurse

• Nurse: loves Arms Dealer, likes Wizard

• Demolitionist: loves Tavernkeeper, likes Mechanic

• Dye Trader: likes Arms Dealer, Painter

• Angler: likes Demolitionist, Tax Collector, Party Girl

• Zoologist: loves Witch Doctor, likes Golfer

• Dryad: likes Witch Doctor, Truffle

• Painter: loves Dryad, likes Party Girl

• Golfer: loves Angler, likes Painter and Zoologist

• Arms Dealer: loves Nurse, likes Steampunker

• Tavernkeeper: loves Demolitionist, likes Goblin Tinkerer

• Stylist: loves Dye Trader, likes Pirate

• Goblin Tinkerer: loves Mechanic, likes Dye Trader

• Witch Doctor: likes Dryad Guide

• Clothier: loves Truffle, likes Tax Collector

• Mechanic: loves Goblin Tinkerer, likes Cyborg

• Party Girl: loves Wizard, Zoologist, likes Stylist

• Wizard: loves Golfer, likes Merchant

• Tax Collector: loves Merchant, likes Party Girl

• Truffle: loves Guide, likes Dryad

• Pirate: loves Angler, likes Tavernkeeper

• Steampunker: loves Cyborg, likes Painter

• Cyborg: likes Steampunker, Pirate, Stylist

Do note that due to specific biome likes and dislikes and neighbor preferences, not all NPCs will be happy all the time. If you want to maximize the happiness of all NPCs, you’ll need to move them around when you need them just to be adequate neighbors and not the item sellers.

Where do the NPCs like to live in Terraria?

Each town NPC has a biome they like and a biome they avoid. Here’s a grouping of town NPCs according to their preferred living environment:

• Forest: Guide, Zoologist, Merchant, Golfer

• Desert: Dye Trader, Steampunker, Arms Dealer

• Caverns: Goblin Tinkerer, Demolitionist, Clothier

• Hallow: Tavernkeeper, Wizard, Party Girl, Nurse

• Jungle: Witch Doctor, Dryad, Painter

• Mushroom: Truffle

• Ocean: Angler, Stylist, Pirate

• Snow: Tax Collector, Cyborg, Santa Claus, Mechanic

• No preferences: Princess

What happens when NPCs are killed?

While NPCs usually have a way to defend themselves and are not helpless, they’ll quickly die when attacked by formidable foes. Luckily, all town NPCs respawn the next day (usually getting a new name in the process).

The one NPC you definitely want to keep alive is the Party Girl. She retains her low chance to respawn after her death.

Life in Terraria Is Better With NPCs

Spawning town NPCs in Terraria is tricky but worth the effort. Move them into houses they prefer with neighbors they like, and you’ll enjoy significantly reduced prices.

What is your favorite NPC in Terraria? Do you have a particular housing strategy? Let us know in the comment section below.