Terraria NPC List: All 26 Town NPCs & How to Unlock Them (1.4.5)

The roster

Terraria’s population is bigger than it looks: 26 town NPCs who claim houses, 3 wanderers who never settle, 4 town pets, and 8 town slimes — 41 residents total. Most spawn automatically once their condition is met and a valid house exists; eight are world encounters you have to find (our bound NPCs guide covers those rescues).

Pre-Hardmode town NPCs

Hardmode town NPCs

The wanderers — no house required

• Old Man: stands at the Dungeon entrance; summons Skeletron at night; becomes the Clothier afterward.
• Traveling Merchant: a ~22% chance to spawn on any given morning (4:30 AM–noon) once two NPCs live in town — re-logging in that window can re-roll his stock, which is a whole article’s worth of rare items.
• Skeleton Merchant: wanders the Cavern layer with an underground-only shop (bones, Spelunker Glowsticks, Slap Hand).

Pets and slimes

There are four types of town pet: the Cat, Dog, and Bunny arrive via pet licenses bought from the Zoologist, and the fourth type is the Town Slimes — a 1.4.4+ scavenger hunt of 8 distinct slimes, each with a bespoke trigger (throw Purification Powder at a slime, fish during a Blood Moon for the Surly Slime, lure one with a fallen star). Pets share housing with anyone and all slimes coexist once earned.

Why staffing matters

NPCs aren’t decoration — they’re the economy:

• Spawn suppression: three nearby town NPCs sharply reduce enemy spawns — a staffed town is a safe zone.
• Boss-scaled stats: every boss kill buffs all NPC damage/defense permanently.
• Pylon power: two housed NPCs within range activate every pylon — the whole fast-travel network is staffed towns.
• Price discounts: happiness multiplies shop prices; a well-placed NPC buys and sells at up to ~25% better rates.

If a house isn’t filling, run the housing query in the housing menu — the game tells you exactly which requirement failed.

Screenshot sources: cover and gallery — official Steam store screenshots (Re-Logic).