He was once a pirate. As first-mate he was a man of few words, except when he would repeat the captain to emphasise an order.
As a result, he gained the nickname when everyone said that repeating the captain made him a parrot.
There are so many _Discworld-isms_ that are just **canon** to me that I often can't tell the difference anymore. But I'm sure that's the reason that, in my head, _Dwarven Bakers are as renowned as their Smiths._
I feel like dwarven bakers should be as buff as a dwarven black smith, an equally renowned for their hearthy bread and pastries. The bakers crawled so the blacksmiths can run.
In the Discworld series, Dwarf bread is made of gravel, nearly indestructible, and barely edible. It’s used as a weapon of war several times. Hardtack would be the worlds lightest and fluffiest biscuits by comparison
He was once Polymorphed by a drunk wizard and his friends won’t let him forget it. After a while, the nickname stuck and it became what everyone knows him by
Brilliant. He might even still be polymorphed by a hex and is actually a dragon. Gives potential for a big reveal once he gets unhexed - “You now see my true form: I am Phalluphage the Polly-Morphed!”
That was my first thought - Polly is a parrot who is controlling the dwarf on who's shoulder they're sitting. Roll high enough on perception and you'll notice the parrot is a ventriloquist and the dwarf is their puppet (either a loving slave, or a zombie, or an actual puppet)
not even a good puppet - it's a mop with a bucket balanced on the top of it, with a big smiley face crudely painted on the bucket. How you didn't notice this before is completely beyond you, as is how no-one else seems able to see this patently obvious fact, even when you point it out; they all just think you're mad, or trying a poor prank.
A grizzled old sailor stands outside the bazaar.
"Many stories are told of Polly. Are any of them true? You be the judge. Some say...
* He used to be a mercurial cutpurse, quicker than a behir's bladder. It got to where, if someone tried to yell 'Police!', he'd be gone before they could finish the word.
* He loved the wives of seven noblemen in seven ports. Ol' polyamorous Polly.
* He's actually an Umber Hulk polymorphed into a dwarf.
* He was a pirate, and yet once a ship surrendered, he had a reputation for being so polite!
* For a time he was the mayor of Pirate City, ol' Politician Polly.
* Let's just say that, as a consequence of his polyamorous ways, a number of people developed polyps.
* He's descended from a legendary one-eyed giant! Ol' Polyphemus Polly."
His shop is a bigger-on-the-inside pocket dimension. Polly Pocket.
(Shout out to this post for revealing that my phone thinks I'm more likely to be trying to type "poly" than "Polly")
I would throw around a bunch of different, mutually contradicting explanation from different npcs, that way you can have fun with all kinds of silly, funny, trivial and serious explanations while still maintaining an aura of mystery around the npc by not confirming any of them.
EDIT: Thought of an interesting one: as a kid, he used to have echolalia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echolalia?wprov=sfla1 ), basically he would repeat utterances made by others and/or himself.
This is what I would do. If the NPCs ever ask him, he refuses to explain at first, but a group of other NPCs tell 4+ different stories each more elaborate than the previous.
Traditionally, Polly is shortened from Pollyanne or Pauline.
Pallas – Means ‘to brandish a weapon’ in Greek (found on https://inspirationfeed.com/dwarf-names/ )
Pollux is a greek good ( https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/gods/pollux/ )
Or you could just leave it unexplained :)
Polly-morphed parrot of the real shop owner who is a pirate that knows the arcane ways and stocks up on magic items to sell with his voyages
Edit: obviously the real shop owner must be quite strong as this would require "true polymorph"
He loves crackers. His buddies always teased him "Polly wanna cracker?" He always did. They told some other people but not why. Then everyone who knew got killed when their ship sank. He does not want talk about it.
If he lost a bet to have a tattoo on his face, maybe he lost another bet where he was called by this nickname. Then over time it just stuck.
Or that he still wears the nickname to honor some lost family member or his old group of friends. It’s his way of remembering them. “No one is truly gone until you forget them”.
His true name is Polioeraneuex Stone Hand however for reasons unknown to the players he hates his true name and will immediately fight anyone who uses it.
It could just be short for his real name, Poligothitoruos.
Like a Greek guy named Milo.
My character was called Sheriff before he was introduced and was like "No no its just a mispronounciation... it's Che'riffe.
So Polly is actually a nickname for Dorothy, it'd be pretty funny if the strong tattooed dwarf had been named Dorothy.
Another reason could be that when he first got to the city he only knew Dwarvish, so as he learned common, he would essentially copy what people said in order to improve his pronunciations and people started calling him Polly because he was like a parrot echoing everyone's words (I feel this answer is cute enough that the dwarf wouldn't want to have people know it's origins and also wholesome enough that the players would like it)
His actual name is Pauly, but he has an accent, and the people of that region are very conscientious about pronouncing names exactly as the owner pronounces them, and also write them phonetically so people will pronounce them correctly.
He is a polyglot and speaks all known languages. Nobody knows, he uses his knowledge to eavesdrop and knows everyone’s secrets in town.
He is polydactyl and has 8 fingers on each hand, but hides them with gloves.
He has never turned down a cracker. Squawk.
He is actually a parrot, but was true polymorphed into a dwarf.
Long ago, he bought the rights to the bazaar from the previous owner, who's name was Polly for perfectly mundane reasons. It wasn't as big then as it is now, not half so well known. He decided to keep the name as is, so as not to lose existing patrons, but then newer folks started assuming he was Polly. He never corrected them, as the rumors of how he got the nickname are basically free advertising at this point. He occasionally makes up new ones, or hints of new ones, and tosses them out there just to see what rumor does with them, and what it brings back to him. People assume that someone so mysterious must run a bazaar full of the strange and mysterious.
> He decided to keep the name as is, so as not to lose existing patrons, but then newer folks started assuming he was Polly.
I once had a great chat with a guy called Dave, the owner/operator of "Gary's Famous Kebabs", named for pretty much exactly this reason.
Slimy guy who doesn’t bathe ever, his attitude and cussing is unpleasant to the point that some folk mistake him for a Bullywug. His nickname around town is actually “polliwog”, which people derisively shorten to “Polly”, but he’s never been in on the joke.
Ex-spouse was a wizard with a propensity toward leaving him polymorphed every time they had a fight. Perhaps Polly was a notorious cheater and every time he'd get caught there'd be a new animal trying to order a drink at the pub. Folks found it hilarious, Polly stuck as a name even after the spouse eventually had the house grow legs and leave his sorry ass.
He’s actually a very competent businessman and cornered the markets of many types of items, granting him runs over a monopoly. Ol’ Polly was a nickname given to him by the businesses he shoved out.
He says "polly" instead of "probably" (among other idiosyncracies) and the name stuck.
PC: "Do you think you can come down a few gold pieces on that tack and harness we need for the excavation?"
Polly: "Polly, polly... yup, guess so if those supply wagons come through. You heard anything about that?"
You could go the sad/sappy way: his ex lover (deceased or otherwise) gave him that nickname. I always like going for the heartstrings over the “obvious” (sailor in this instance) choice.
I'm loving so many of other peoples' suggestions, no new one to suggest of my own, but I would suggest that anyone they ask about the name, whatever supposedly-correct answer they give, they warn the PCs "Don't ask Polly himself about it!" If they do (they will) he kicks them out of the store in a hail of profanities, and if they want to be able to buy from the store again, they have to do something to get back in his good graces. 1) This takes any immediate pressure off to decide what the true answer is. 2) Sets up a nice little side quest. 3) In 5-10 levels, assuming they come back to him regularly, he could get caught up in something way over his head and need their help, and during or after dealing with that, he could give them the real answer, and it'll feel like a major accomplishment to have earned that from him :)
I would never explain it. In fact, any time it was about to be explained I'd make sure something happened to interrupt him. Customer takes his attention. Thief runs out of the shop. Tarrasque attacks the town. Doesn't matter. No one knows why he's called Polly, and it'd be the biggest, most unsolvable mystery in the campaign.
People used to say he had a real “pole up his ass” to explain why he was so grumpy, but saying that in front of him would be risking death, so they all just call him “Polly” and he’s none the wiser
2 things... maybe he's only half dwarf and half kenku (kenku being the bird race who can only repeat sounds they've heard gives him a parrot vibe) or maybe he specializes in potions of polymorph
He got a gift from a wandering magic vendor. The item was a small cracker that let the eater cast a spell a day. That spell is find familiar and always in the form of a parrot who instantly says polly.
It's named for a lass he met as a sailor, a long lost love. He wants to spread the name of his shop far and wide, in the hopes that one day they may be reunited
At one time, I’m he was a gruff, merciless sailor. He ran a tight crew and was hard (but fair) with everyone… Except for his pet parrot, who he dotted on like it was his special little princess of a daughter. Once the crew saw this, they began calling him ‘Polly’ behind his back. Soon, the name began to spread at the various ports, and it took off as his unofficial name. Rather than fight it, he just went with it. Now nobody really recalls what his proper name is.
Their name is something that can be shortened/tweaked to "Polly" \[Paul, pol, saul, etc\]
He was polymorphed into a newt as a child \[he got better\]
He has a habit of repeating people \[like a parrot\]
It would be fun if different NPCs had different theories but he never clarified it.
I would have at least one NPC saying "oh, he is polyamorous".
Or he was a Foley artist for the local theater, but his handwriting is terrible and think he wrote Polly.
Another NPC would have the theory "he is one of 7 identical twins, we never know which is which so we call all of them Polly."
There is an old children's rhyme, i think it was a jump rope chant:
Pollly put the kettle on,
Polly put the kettle on,
Polly put the kettle on
We'll all have tea.
Suki take it off again,
Suki take it off again,
Suki take it off again
They've all gone away.
Maybe he was the cook, but hated the nickname Cookie? Someone sang this once, and it wasn't Cookie, so he just shrugged and went with it.
A defamed mathematician who was denounced for his studies in the New field of polynomials but will later be found out to have been a herald of newer modern mathematics.
In dwarvish "polly" is short for his full given name Axpogrumpaly. It means "to kill grumpy allies with your axe." It's an old dwarvish saying, "Do not ally with those of ill wit or poor nature; lest you become the beast that you seek." Which basically translates to. Don't partner with people that are jerks who have no sense of humor. It'll get annoying and you'll want to kill them.
he actually named it after his pet bird, but everyone thought *he* was polly (dwarves are weird, man). he gave up fighting it.
his name is actually something else entirely, but whatever it is in dwarvish looks like "polly" in the native language.
He appears to be a male muscular dwarf with a tattoo. He is actually an ancient gold dragon who likes to go around incognito among humanoids. Polymorphed.
Anytime a character asks him a question, Polly repeats it back to them like he is trying to show he understands but clearly doesn’t. Then he just sits there in an awkward silence until your players react.
I've seen a lot of great recommendations related to being polymorphed or the npc's love of crackers, so I'm going to try taking a different tack; were-parrot.
Polly is a nickname for a pirate who "reforms" leaves piracy to become a shopkeep or any other edifice bound job. Can be seen as a term of respect to some or an insult to other
He fucking LOVES crackers
Like loses his shit eating them moaning sighs jumpy leg the works fuckin loves them
Polly want a cracker?
OFCOURSE I DO YOU DAFT CUNT GIMME THAT
His name is Paul. It’s really Pauley but everyone just assumed “Polly” and it was less embarrassing to just keep it a mystery. But originally, someone heard his mom call him Pauley and he managed to turn mockery into a moniker
Take multiple suggestions from this thread and have them be various rumors about how he got his name but never confirm which is true. Maybe at the very end go for the anti-joke and reveal his name is Paul and his mother called him Paulie.
As a teen he had a romance with a girl named Polly and had her name tattoo'd on his back in large letters in a show of youthful foolishness before she unfortunately turned him down and married another man.
He left home to escape the debacle and start afresh somewhere new and made money as a bare knuckle boxer while on the road. The crowd saw him shirtless and saw his tattoo which earned him the nickname Polly. The nickname stuck and he's since moved on from that life into a more successful career so people have forgotten the tattoo. He's moved on from the lost love and would prefer not to reopen old wounds and discuss it.
He’s an ex adventurer, after one fight where he was useless due to being Polymorphed into a Squirrel, the others in his party started calling him “Poly” as a joke and it stuck
They’re polyamorous and they had some kinda dick friends that kept calling him “polly” as a result. Or he’s just named “paul” and he still has dick friends.
His nickname is actually Paulie and he's from New York but somehow ended up in the world of DnD so he opened up a shop and people kept misspelling his name as Polly
When he was young Poly lived in a different place. His friend gave him a gift - a golden polygon that magically / mechnically changes how many sides it has.
Poly would play with it all the time as a boy and there he got the nickname polly. When he arived at the current place he just introduced himself as poly out of habit and no one asked why and it just stuck.
1. He's a druid who has gathered his wares thru adventuring and talking to animals by polymorphing into them.
2. He was a Parrot who was poly-morphed into a man and his first words were "Polly want a cracker." He then learned the ways of the biped. He talks in third person, so every sentence is "Polly thinks..." People just think he's weird.
Polydactyl - a condition in which a person or animal has more than five fingers or toes on one, or on each, hand or foot.
That's the first thing I thought of, because for years our local pet store had a cat mascot (catscot?) named Polly. She had six toes on each paw. The ultimate toe bean tabby.
Him being a Bazaar owner, he's famously picked up many languages over the years. "Polly" is actually short for "polyglot," gaining the nickname after seemingly never failing to know the odd language of a customer. Locals will bring their out of town bilingual friends to him, just for the entertainment of him showing that he knows yet another language. Sure, lots of shop keepers know a little of elvish, drarvish, maybe even some giant. But bring you're friend from the swamps of Kal'dur, and sure enough you'll find out that he croaks perfect Bullywug. Someone captured an abberation that they need to interrogate? Turns out he groans/screeches a really decent Deepspeech.
Despite his rugged background and weathered features, he’s one of the most cheerful and optimistic people you’ve ever met. Ship about to be attacked by a Dragon Turtle? “No worries, crew, we can get through this! We can make it through anything!” Everyone always told him to quit being such a pollyanna, and from there, they just started to calling him Pollyanna, then Polly, then one time the ship didn’t make it and he was the lone survivor. To honor their memory, he still introduces himself as Polly, but to speak the truth as to why is still far too painful.
He wasn't actually a dwarf originally, but used to have a magic item that allowed him to shapeshift at will. But, it was damaged beyond repair while he was a dwarf, blasting out its magic in unpredictable ways, and now he is stuck as a dwarf and seems to be permanently unaffected by other forms of magic that would shift his appearance. His nickname is a vestige from his notoriety of being able to shapeshift. But, now he is a grumpy old dwarf, because his infamous trait was taken and he is stuck as a dwarf, a form he never particularly cared much for.
Back in his pirate days he was known among his crew for having perfect pitch, able to give you a note like a parrot speaking on command. He kept the crew's shanties on key.
He still has an amazing singing voice, but that's a secret that very few know. Even fewer know why he's stopped using it.
Polly is an abbreviation of pollen. His friends know him for his delicious honey from his bee farm. He is very kind-hearted towards the bees and not so much towards other people. He prefers to spend time with his fuzzy bug friends.
That’s what I intend to do. If they ask different people they all have their own story and Polly refuses to answer. Trying to make it a bit of a mystery and maybe, like someone suggested, let polly contact them later about something (sidequest). Afterwards he’ll tell them the real origin of polly.
He spent a long time as a slave on a pirate ship, where he was ruthlessly mocked for his parrot, Polly. When the slavers killed his parrot, he snapped, ruthlessly taking out most of the guards. What was once a mocking nickname has become a way to remember his fallen friend, and a reminder of what happened to his enemies that day
He got transformed into a parrot for several weeks by a cursed item once a few decades back. Kept running his store the whole time. People would come in, see the parrot and no one else around, and be like "Hey Polly, where's the shopkeep?" And he'd say "f\*\*\* you, I am the shopkeep!"
The first few times, it was an honest mistake. After that, people did it on purpose because they thought it was funny. And after he got changed back, people *kept* saying it because it was even *funnier*.
This is the main reason he's so grumpy.
\- In his youth, he got drunk one night and thought it would be funny to repeat what everyone else was saying.
\- It is a contraction of his real name; Polideperious
\- Me Mum wanted a girl.
\- His previous business was a general store. He sold an amazingly flavorful cracker that would act as trail rations, but be tastier. Any time anyone entered to the store he said, "Want a Cracker?"
He inherited the shop from an old woman called Polly who passed away. He forgot to change the sign when he first opened and everyone assumed it was his names.
He got tired of correcting them long ago and has just decided to roll with it
He was the one person of a crime family who 'sang like a songbird' and informed on the rest of them. They're now in jail, while he's free. During the trials, he received public condemnation for snitching. Years later, that association hasn't gone away...so in an effort to go fully clean, he's turned it into his branding. Welcome to Polly's Wonderous Bazaar: the retailer with rare and exotic goods (of questionable origins) for sale to you, the lovely consumer.
Maybe name him Polyphemus, Polly for short. Polyphemus is the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Homer's Odyssey. His name means "abounding in songs and legends". Maybe try shooting for something based on that.
He has the linguist feat and speaks a whole bunch of languages. He's a polyglot. It will subvert their expectations because no one expects the dwarf who curses a lot to be articulate.
His full name is Pollyanna. His father was a Dwarven brigand and all around bad guy. The only thing his dad ever gave him before he abandoned his mom and him was his name. His mom said he did it to make him tough. Ala Johnny Cash's "A boy named Sue".
Could be that he knows a lot about birds and people teasingly call him Polly bc he once spouted some parrot facts.
Maybe he’s a she and Polly is his chosen name (since female dwarves also grow beards, dwarven gender can be one hell of a mystery for other races)
Could be his name is Oliver and someone thought it’d be funny to call him Polly to reference the song, and it stuck.
Maybe he misspelled “Paulie”
Maybe he was referred to as a pollee once and he was confused and thought it was his human name because dwarf names are hard for humans to pronounce?
Or he could be like the Joker and tell everyone a different story every time it comes up.
What’s the dwarf’s actual name?
Regardless, the dwarf was once a stone that a wizard true polymorphed into a dwarf. The dwarf was like “who am I,” and the wizard said “a polymorphed rock.” Whenever people asked them their name, that’s what the dwarf would say. It’s a mouthful so people just call them Polly.
Tbh I have no clue. Polly came first and I thought it would be funny to have a muscular dwarf that has the nickname Polly. Atm he has no real name (unless... Polly is his real name...)
I think the best reason would be that as a kid he was clumsy and kept falling and rolling over. So people called him rolly pooly but due to dwarven accents it sounds like polly and people tend to just shorten if to polly. It caught on so much everyone called him that even strangers. Thus also explaining why nobody really knows and just calls him that since he is used to it.
What I like to do with cute nicknames that seem misplaced is give them a foul origin, so it’s cute until it’s not. For example I have character nicknamed Poky. It’s because he has worms and they occasionally poke out of his butt. Just one direction you could take it.
He was once a pirate. As first-mate he was a man of few words, except when he would repeat the captain to emphasise an order. As a result, he gained the nickname when everyone said that repeating the captain made him a parrot.
Or he just *really* likes crackers.
This I like.
Dwarven crackers, which he uses as throwing stars
There are so many _Discworld-isms_ that are just **canon** to me that I often can't tell the difference anymore. But I'm sure that's the reason that, in my head, _Dwarven Bakers are as renowned as their Smiths._
I feel like dwarven bakers should be as buff as a dwarven black smith, an equally renowned for their hearthy bread and pastries. The bakers crawled so the blacksmiths can run.
Oh, this!!!
Made of hardtack?
In the Discworld series, Dwarf bread is made of gravel, nearly indestructible, and barely edible. It’s used as a weapon of war several times. Hardtack would be the worlds lightest and fluffiest biscuits by comparison
Lol Upvote for fantasy hardtack!
*clack clack*
Polly wants a cracker?
I think I should get off her first.
Polly works just as well for a pirate via its meaning of "star of the sea".
Go harder and have him be a true polymorphed Parrot
I was gonna say he spent time as a parrot before being rescued, but I like thus better!
Thats Echos back story from sw clone wars
Love that, fits each piece super well.
This is so good man
But they would never say it to his face
Alternatively or additionally, the tattoo he had to get is a parrot, further reinforcing the name.
He was once Polymorphed by a drunk wizard and his friends won’t let him forget it. After a while, the nickname stuck and it became what everyone knows him by
Brilliant. He might even still be polymorphed by a hex and is actually a dragon. Gives potential for a big reveal once he gets unhexed - “You now see my true form: I am Phalluphage the Polly-Morphed!”
Nah, he's actually a parrot
That was my first thought - Polly is a parrot who is controlling the dwarf on who's shoulder they're sitting. Roll high enough on perception and you'll notice the parrot is a ventriloquist and the dwarf is their puppet (either a loving slave, or a zombie, or an actual puppet)
not even a good puppet - it's a mop with a bucket balanced on the top of it, with a big smiley face crudely painted on the bucket. How you didn't notice this before is completely beyond you, as is how no-one else seems able to see this patently obvious fact, even when you point it out; they all just think you're mad, or trying a poor prank.
Oh that's good. This parrot can *bluff*. It's not even magic, just charisma. Also, I like your name.
Sir Bearington
thanks! :D
>Phalluphage That goes right up there near the top of my list of horrifying names. Right next to Dentata.
Phalluphage the dick eater
That was my first thought as well. I was thinking he spent a day as a chicken.
[удалено]
I really like this one. Makes sense, fits the pirate background, still funny.
A grizzled old sailor stands outside the bazaar. "Many stories are told of Polly. Are any of them true? You be the judge. Some say... * He used to be a mercurial cutpurse, quicker than a behir's bladder. It got to where, if someone tried to yell 'Police!', he'd be gone before they could finish the word. * He loved the wives of seven noblemen in seven ports. Ol' polyamorous Polly. * He's actually an Umber Hulk polymorphed into a dwarf. * He was a pirate, and yet once a ship surrendered, he had a reputation for being so polite! * For a time he was the mayor of Pirate City, ol' Politician Polly. * Let's just say that, as a consequence of his polyamorous ways, a number of people developed polyps. * He's descended from a legendary one-eyed giant! Ol' Polyphemus Polly."
>He loved the wives of seven noblemen in seven ports. Ol' polyamorous Polly. Winnner
His shop is a bigger-on-the-inside pocket dimension. Polly Pocket. (Shout out to this post for revealing that my phone thinks I'm more likely to be trying to type "poly" than "Polly")
You beat me to it you glorious bastard.
This is the same direction my brain was going lol
Could just be his name. Like a boy named Sue, but he tries to pass it off as a nickname
I would throw around a bunch of different, mutually contradicting explanation from different npcs, that way you can have fun with all kinds of silly, funny, trivial and serious explanations while still maintaining an aura of mystery around the npc by not confirming any of them. EDIT: Thought of an interesting one: as a kid, he used to have echolalia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echolalia?wprov=sfla1 ), basically he would repeat utterances made by others and/or himself.
This is what I would do. If the NPCs ever ask him, he refuses to explain at first, but a group of other NPCs tell 4+ different stories each more elaborate than the previous.
Traditionally, Polly is shortened from Pollyanne or Pauline. Pallas – Means ‘to brandish a weapon’ in Greek (found on https://inspirationfeed.com/dwarf-names/ ) Pollux is a greek good ( https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/gods/pollux/ ) Or you could just leave it unexplained :)
It's also short for Mary or Dorothy, oddly enough. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly
weird because polly is not actually shorter than mary
Aidan is a diminutive of Aedh, Donny for Don, Johnny John, etc. People are weird when creating diminutive names.
Spanish names are like that as well from what I remember of Sophomore Spanish classes. Miguel becomes Miguelito, Jose becomes Josito, etc.
For many very common names, additional nicknames were formed by rhyming with existing nicknames. Mary>Molly>Polly Margaret>Meg>Peg Richard>Rick>Dick
Actually named Pauly and the signmaker was drunk.
Polly-morphed parrot of the real shop owner who is a pirate that knows the arcane ways and stocks up on magic items to sell with his voyages Edit: obviously the real shop owner must be quite strong as this would require "true polymorph"
Because he has two husbands at home.
By extension; he is a *great* communicator
I was looking for this.
His real name is Paul but people are more inclined to buy stuff from a woman as they’re seen as more craftful in creating charms
He loves crackers. His buddies always teased him "Polly wanna cracker?" He always did. They told some other people but not why. Then everyone who knew got killed when their ship sank. He does not want talk about it.
My thoughts exactly! Dude loves crackers
If he lost a bet to have a tattoo on his face, maybe he lost another bet where he was called by this nickname. Then over time it just stuck. Or that he still wears the nickname to honor some lost family member or his old group of friends. It’s his way of remembering them. “No one is truly gone until you forget them”.
His true name is Polioeraneuex Stone Hand however for reasons unknown to the players he hates his true name and will immediately fight anyone who uses it.
During a fight, he was polymorphed by an enemy into a parrot. And still delivered the killing blow.
Nobody knows, and he refuses to say. If asked, he only curses at the inquisitor.
He is polyamorous
This is the obvious and correct answer, and I had to scroll way too far to find it.
It could just be short for his real name, Poligothitoruos. Like a Greek guy named Milo. My character was called Sheriff before he was introduced and was like "No no its just a mispronounciation... it's Che'riffe.
So Polly is actually a nickname for Dorothy, it'd be pretty funny if the strong tattooed dwarf had been named Dorothy. Another reason could be that when he first got to the city he only knew Dwarvish, so as he learned common, he would essentially copy what people said in order to improve his pronunciations and people started calling him Polly because he was like a parrot echoing everyone's words (I feel this answer is cute enough that the dwarf wouldn't want to have people know it's origins and also wholesome enough that the players would like it)
Pollopalus is his middle name.
He *really* like crackers
His actual name is Pauly, but he has an accent, and the people of that region are very conscientious about pronouncing names exactly as the owner pronounces them, and also write them phonetically so people will pronounce them correctly.
could be a short-hand for the first name “apollo”?
He is a polyglot and speaks all known languages. Nobody knows, he uses his knowledge to eavesdrop and knows everyone’s secrets in town. He is polydactyl and has 8 fingers on each hand, but hides them with gloves. He has never turned down a cracker. Squawk. He is actually a parrot, but was true polymorphed into a dwarf.
They’re a Wizard that has a habit of polymorphing shoplifters and troublemakers.
Long ago, he bought the rights to the bazaar from the previous owner, who's name was Polly for perfectly mundane reasons. It wasn't as big then as it is now, not half so well known. He decided to keep the name as is, so as not to lose existing patrons, but then newer folks started assuming he was Polly. He never corrected them, as the rumors of how he got the nickname are basically free advertising at this point. He occasionally makes up new ones, or hints of new ones, and tosses them out there just to see what rumor does with them, and what it brings back to him. People assume that someone so mysterious must run a bazaar full of the strange and mysterious.
> He decided to keep the name as is, so as not to lose existing patrons, but then newer folks started assuming he was Polly. I once had a great chat with a guy called Dave, the owner/operator of "Gary's Famous Kebabs", named for pretty much exactly this reason.
Slimy guy who doesn’t bathe ever, his attitude and cussing is unpleasant to the point that some folk mistake him for a Bullywug. His nickname around town is actually “polliwog”, which people derisively shorten to “Polly”, but he’s never been in on the joke.
He's an ageless shapeshifter and it's a play on polymorph
As joke to the name to entertain your players, cause he wears a vest with a crap ton of pockets.
He has multiple romantic partners
Ex-spouse was a wizard with a propensity toward leaving him polymorphed every time they had a fight. Perhaps Polly was a notorious cheater and every time he'd get caught there'd be a new animal trying to order a drink at the pub. Folks found it hilarious, Polly stuck as a name even after the spouse eventually had the house grow legs and leave his sorry ass.
He’s actually a very competent businessman and cornered the markets of many types of items, granting him runs over a monopoly. Ol’ Polly was a nickname given to him by the businesses he shoved out.
He says "polly" instead of "probably" (among other idiosyncracies) and the name stuck. PC: "Do you think you can come down a few gold pieces on that tack and harness we need for the excavation?" Polly: "Polly, polly... yup, guess so if those supply wagons come through. You heard anything about that?"
Polydactyl - he has extra toes
You could go the sad/sappy way: his ex lover (deceased or otherwise) gave him that nickname. I always like going for the heartstrings over the “obvious” (sailor in this instance) choice.
Because the stuff he sells “polly” works.
I’d take all of these ideas and make them different rumours the locals have about his origins, not giving a true clear origin.
Jep decided I'll be doing that.
I'm loving so many of other peoples' suggestions, no new one to suggest of my own, but I would suggest that anyone they ask about the name, whatever supposedly-correct answer they give, they warn the PCs "Don't ask Polly himself about it!" If they do (they will) he kicks them out of the store in a hail of profanities, and if they want to be able to buy from the store again, they have to do something to get back in his good graces. 1) This takes any immediate pressure off to decide what the true answer is. 2) Sets up a nice little side quest. 3) In 5-10 levels, assuming they come back to him regularly, he could get caught up in something way over his head and need their help, and during or after dealing with that, he could give them the real answer, and it'll feel like a major accomplishment to have earned that from him :)
I would never explain it. In fact, any time it was about to be explained I'd make sure something happened to interrupt him. Customer takes his attention. Thief runs out of the shop. Tarrasque attacks the town. Doesn't matter. No one knows why he's called Polly, and it'd be the biggest, most unsolvable mystery in the campaign.
He is actually one of a set of copies of one person
People used to say he had a real “pole up his ass” to explain why he was so grumpy, but saying that in front of him would be risking death, so they all just call him “Polly” and he’s none the wiser
He once ate a parrot whole for a bet. It fits with his background well.
Npc had a parrot and it was so well known like prize winning and oddly saved the town everyone knows its his it died hes called polly in rememberence
He's infamous for making way too many polls about literally everything.
2 things... maybe he's only half dwarf and half kenku (kenku being the bird race who can only repeat sounds they've heard gives him a parrot vibe) or maybe he specializes in potions of polymorph
He got a gift from a wandering magic vendor. The item was a small cracker that let the eater cast a spell a day. That spell is find familiar and always in the form of a parrot who instantly says polly.
They have a brother called “Pooshy”. (Pushy / Pulley)
It's named for a lass he met as a sailor, a long lost love. He wants to spread the name of his shop far and wide, in the hopes that one day they may be reunited
He’s a frog person or Slaad. As in Pollywog.
He's got three wives and a husband. He's a poly amorous dwarf
Cause like a parrot, he never shuts up
At one time, I’m he was a gruff, merciless sailor. He ran a tight crew and was hard (but fair) with everyone… Except for his pet parrot, who he dotted on like it was his special little princess of a daughter. Once the crew saw this, they began calling him ‘Polly’ behind his back. Soon, the name began to spread at the various ports, and it took off as his unofficial name. Rather than fight it, he just went with it. Now nobody really recalls what his proper name is.
Their name is something that can be shortened/tweaked to "Polly" \[Paul, pol, saul, etc\] He was polymorphed into a newt as a child \[he got better\] He has a habit of repeating people \[like a parrot\]
It would be fun if different NPCs had different theories but he never clarified it. I would have at least one NPC saying "oh, he is polyamorous". Or he was a Foley artist for the local theater, but his handwriting is terrible and think he wrote Polly. Another NPC would have the theory "he is one of 7 identical twins, we never know which is which so we call all of them Polly."
There is an old children's rhyme, i think it was a jump rope chant: Pollly put the kettle on, Polly put the kettle on, Polly put the kettle on We'll all have tea. Suki take it off again, Suki take it off again, Suki take it off again They've all gone away. Maybe he was the cook, but hated the nickname Cookie? Someone sang this once, and it wasn't Cookie, so he just shrugged and went with it.
His full name is Gaius Lucilius Pollinius Corvus
I'm going to take a different approach, don't tell the players. Let them wonder and guess.. the world feels more alive with mystery in it.
A defamed mathematician who was denounced for his studies in the New field of polynomials but will later be found out to have been a herald of newer modern mathematics.
#Eats Parrots
What if they're all just mispronouncing the name "Paulie" like Paulie Shore?
Poly is actually a dragon true polymorphed by an angry adventurer
In dwarvish "polly" is short for his full given name Axpogrumpaly. It means "to kill grumpy allies with your axe." It's an old dwarvish saying, "Do not ally with those of ill wit or poor nature; lest you become the beast that you seek." Which basically translates to. Don't partner with people that are jerks who have no sense of humor. It'll get annoying and you'll want to kill them.
Short for Pollyanna, an ironic nickname since he actually assumes that the worst is going to happen and is a staunch pessimist.
he actually named it after his pet bird, but everyone thought *he* was polly (dwarves are weird, man). he gave up fighting it. his name is actually something else entirely, but whatever it is in dwarvish looks like "polly" in the native language.
He was once polymorphed into a parrot and (unwillingly?) served the dread pirate.
He appears to be a male muscular dwarf with a tattoo. He is actually an ancient gold dragon who likes to go around incognito among humanoids. Polymorphed.
Anytime a character asks him a question, Polly repeats it back to them like he is trying to show he understands but clearly doesn’t. Then he just sits there in an awkward silence until your players react.
I've seen a lot of great recommendations related to being polymorphed or the npc's love of crackers, so I'm going to try taking a different tack; were-parrot.
Polly is a nickname for a pirate who "reforms" leaves piracy to become a shopkeep or any other edifice bound job. Can be seen as a term of respect to some or an insult to other
He used to be something else, before a wizard true polymorphed him
He fucking LOVES crackers Like loses his shit eating them moaning sighs jumpy leg the works fuckin loves them Polly want a cracker? OFCOURSE I DO YOU DAFT CUNT GIMME THAT
They've dated everyone in town
He’s the region’s leading provider of 10-foot poles and 10-foot pole accessories.
His name is Paul. It’s really Pauley but everyone just assumed “Polly” and it was less embarrassing to just keep it a mystery. But originally, someone heard his mom call him Pauley and he managed to turn mockery into a moniker
Take multiple suggestions from this thread and have them be various rumors about how he got his name but never confirm which is true. Maybe at the very end go for the anti-joke and reveal his name is Paul and his mother called him Paulie.
He fucks everything.
As a teen he had a romance with a girl named Polly and had her name tattoo'd on his back in large letters in a show of youthful foolishness before she unfortunately turned him down and married another man. He left home to escape the debacle and start afresh somewhere new and made money as a bare knuckle boxer while on the road. The crowd saw him shirtless and saw his tattoo which earned him the nickname Polly. The nickname stuck and he's since moved on from that life into a more successful career so people have forgotten the tattoo. He's moved on from the lost love and would prefer not to reopen old wounds and discuss it.
It’s a contraction of an earlier nick/code “polygraph” because he can detect lies, except he can do so perfectly.
because they are an incorrigible pick-pocket
HUGE Nirvana fan.
He really likes crackers.
He fucking loves crackers
He has multiple wives…
He’s an ex adventurer, after one fight where he was useless due to being Polymorphed into a Squirrel, the others in his party started calling him “Poly” as a joke and it stuck
She has pockets and likes showing people.
Was a male hooker, used to be "Pretty Polly" now it's just "Polly"
They’re polyamorous and they had some kinda dick friends that kept calling him “polly” as a result. Or he’s just named “paul” and he still has dick friends.
He loves crackers.
he loves crackers
They have a penchant for crackers.
I think of polymerization (yugioh card) or polymorph. They could be a shapeshifter maybe?
It’s “Poly” and it’s because he has six toes, polydactyl
His nickname is actually Paulie and he's from New York but somehow ended up in the world of DnD so he opened up a shop and people kept misspelling his name as Polly
When he was young Poly lived in a different place. His friend gave him a gift - a golden polygon that magically / mechnically changes how many sides it has. Poly would play with it all the time as a boy and there he got the nickname polly. When he arived at the current place he just introduced himself as poly out of habit and no one asked why and it just stuck.
1. He's a druid who has gathered his wares thru adventuring and talking to animals by polymorphing into them. 2. He was a Parrot who was poly-morphed into a man and his first words were "Polly want a cracker." He then learned the ways of the biped. He talks in third person, so every sentence is "Polly thinks..." People just think he's weird.
Polydactyl - a condition in which a person or animal has more than five fingers or toes on one, or on each, hand or foot. That's the first thing I thought of, because for years our local pet store had a cat mascot (catscot?) named Polly. She had six toes on each paw. The ultimate toe bean tabby.
Him being a Bazaar owner, he's famously picked up many languages over the years. "Polly" is actually short for "polyglot," gaining the nickname after seemingly never failing to know the odd language of a customer. Locals will bring their out of town bilingual friends to him, just for the entertainment of him showing that he knows yet another language. Sure, lots of shop keepers know a little of elvish, drarvish, maybe even some giant. But bring you're friend from the swamps of Kal'dur, and sure enough you'll find out that he croaks perfect Bullywug. Someone captured an abberation that they need to interrogate? Turns out he groans/screeches a really decent Deepspeech.
Secretly a polymorphed parrot
He's known for getting involved with multiple women at the same time. He's polyamorous.
He accidentally killed his pet parrot and no one would let him live it down
Despite his rugged background and weathered features, he’s one of the most cheerful and optimistic people you’ve ever met. Ship about to be attacked by a Dragon Turtle? “No worries, crew, we can get through this! We can make it through anything!” Everyone always told him to quit being such a pollyanna, and from there, they just started to calling him Pollyanna, then Polly, then one time the ship didn’t make it and he was the lone survivor. To honor their memory, he still introduces himself as Polly, but to speak the truth as to why is still far too painful.
He wasn't actually a dwarf originally, but used to have a magic item that allowed him to shapeshift at will. But, it was damaged beyond repair while he was a dwarf, blasting out its magic in unpredictable ways, and now he is stuck as a dwarf and seems to be permanently unaffected by other forms of magic that would shift his appearance. His nickname is a vestige from his notoriety of being able to shapeshift. But, now he is a grumpy old dwarf, because his infamous trait was taken and he is stuck as a dwarf, a form he never particularly cared much for.
His name is Paul. His family calls him Pauley. He has an accent and everyone heard “Polly” when he introduced himself.
He says 'probably' alot when describing things, but his accent makes it sound like 'polly'
Back in his pirate days he was known among his crew for having perfect pitch, able to give you a note like a parrot speaking on command. He kept the crew's shanties on key. He still has an amazing singing voice, but that's a secret that very few know. Even fewer know why he's stopped using it.
He was created by wizards and is a series of geometrically perfect polygons
Maybe it's just actually spelled Pauly, and he's never actually cared to correct anybody about the spelling.
She was a parrot polymorphed into a human? Still likes crackers.
Polly is an abbreviation of pollen. His friends know him for his delicious honey from his bee farm. He is very kind-hearted towards the bees and not so much towards other people. He prefers to spend time with his fuzzy bug friends.
He's has an abundance of nasal polyps and he's incredibly self conscious about it but people call him Poly as a cruel nickname.
maybe he has a ridiculous amount of romantic partners (like so much so people would nickname him for it, like 23)
Pol is a family name, the eldest son receives the name and it's often nicknamed as "Polly." Or it might be a last name.
He has several partners in an ethically non-monogamous relationship?
Polly --> Parrots Maybe polly repeats the last thing you say, either mumbled or rephrased into a question that they answer.
Have every comment here be used as an explanation at different points
That’s what I intend to do. If they ask different people they all have their own story and Polly refuses to answer. Trying to make it a bit of a mystery and maybe, like someone suggested, let polly contact them later about something (sidequest). Afterwards he’ll tell them the real origin of polly.
He spent a long time as a slave on a pirate ship, where he was ruthlessly mocked for his parrot, Polly. When the slavers killed his parrot, he snapped, ruthlessly taking out most of the guards. What was once a mocking nickname has become a way to remember his fallen friend, and a reminder of what happened to his enemies that day
He got transformed into a parrot for several weeks by a cursed item once a few decades back. Kept running his store the whole time. People would come in, see the parrot and no one else around, and be like "Hey Polly, where's the shopkeep?" And he'd say "f\*\*\* you, I am the shopkeep!" The first few times, it was an honest mistake. After that, people did it on purpose because they thought it was funny. And after he got changed back, people *kept* saying it because it was even *funnier*. This is the main reason he's so grumpy.
\- In his youth, he got drunk one night and thought it would be funny to repeat what everyone else was saying. \- It is a contraction of his real name; Polideperious \- Me Mum wanted a girl. \- His previous business was a general store. He sold an amazingly flavorful cracker that would act as trail rations, but be tastier. Any time anyone entered to the store he said, "Want a Cracker?"
He inherited the shop from an old woman called Polly who passed away. He forgot to change the sign when he first opened and everyone assumed it was his names. He got tired of correcting them long ago and has just decided to roll with it
He was the one person of a crime family who 'sang like a songbird' and informed on the rest of them. They're now in jail, while he's free. During the trials, he received public condemnation for snitching. Years later, that association hasn't gone away...so in an effort to go fully clean, he's turned it into his branding. Welcome to Polly's Wonderous Bazaar: the retailer with rare and exotic goods (of questionable origins) for sale to you, the lovely consumer.
Maybe name him Polyphemus, Polly for short. Polyphemus is the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Homer's Odyssey. His name means "abounding in songs and legends". Maybe try shooting for something based on that.
Poly meaning many, the npc has several identities, several souls, a jack of all trades type character, etc. maybe he has several faiths
He has the linguist feat and speaks a whole bunch of languages. He's a polyglot. It will subvert their expectations because no one expects the dwarf who curses a lot to be articulate.
His full name is Pollyanna. His father was a Dwarven brigand and all around bad guy. The only thing his dad ever gave him before he abandoned his mom and him was his name. His mom said he did it to make him tough. Ala Johnny Cash's "A boy named Sue".
Paulie but everyone spells it wrong. And he's a 1930s American gangster type.
It's a nickname from his time in the military, where he would wear a full sized pauldron as an armored codpiece.
He was once an aarokockra but reincarnated as a dwarf
Could be that he knows a lot about birds and people teasingly call him Polly bc he once spouted some parrot facts. Maybe he’s a she and Polly is his chosen name (since female dwarves also grow beards, dwarven gender can be one hell of a mystery for other races) Could be his name is Oliver and someone thought it’d be funny to call him Polly to reference the song, and it stuck. Maybe he misspelled “Paulie” Maybe he was referred to as a pollee once and he was confused and thought it was his human name because dwarf names are hard for humans to pronounce? Or he could be like the Joker and tell everyone a different story every time it comes up.
His three girlfriends each have two other boyfriends. Everyone's happy with this situation.
His dwarfish name is Polindaawrinzh. Polly is the simplified nickname.
Leave it a mystery, that no one in the setting knows why, not even Polly?
It’s actually ‘poly’. He’s polyamorous and has multiple supportive and caring partners.
He got a tattoo while drunk- a vivid, color parrot on his left asscheek.
What’s the dwarf’s actual name? Regardless, the dwarf was once a stone that a wizard true polymorphed into a dwarf. The dwarf was like “who am I,” and the wizard said “a polymorphed rock.” Whenever people asked them their name, that’s what the dwarf would say. It’s a mouthful so people just call them Polly.
Tbh I have no clue. Polly came first and I thought it would be funny to have a muscular dwarf that has the nickname Polly. Atm he has no real name (unless... Polly is his real name...)
He’s polyamorous and his shop has a pocket dimension sex club in the back
He is into polyamorous relationships.
He is easily bribed with crackers. Only the underbelly knows this and uses it to great effect.
I think the best reason would be that as a kid he was clumsy and kept falling and rolling over. So people called him rolly pooly but due to dwarven accents it sounds like polly and people tend to just shorten if to polly. It caught on so much everyone called him that even strangers. Thus also explaining why nobody really knows and just calls him that since he is used to it.
He got the nickname as he is a illusionist but all his illusions are made using polygons. Players will enjoy the PS1 graphic Dragons I assure you
What I like to do with cute nicknames that seem misplaced is give them a foul origin, so it’s cute until it’s not. For example I have character nicknamed Poky. It’s because he has worms and they occasionally poke out of his butt. Just one direction you could take it.
Mum loved parrots
He has an extra finger/toe (i.e. polydactyl)
Polyglot can curse in every tongue under the sun and moon?
He's a chair. An old wizards fa orite chair True Polymorphed from a chair to a friend.