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<blockquote data-quote="Shemeska" data-source="post: 6032995" data-attributes="member: 11697"><p>Ideally there's no difference between any random NPC and a "PC" that the DM controls within the party. You just have to remember not to use said DMPC in any way that in-game that character wouldn't act, or using information that they wouldn't know. There shouldn't be any difference, and they can be valued, likeable characters.</p><p></p><p>When my first Planescape campaign was going, the PCs didn't have a rogue, so I came up with a level 1 tiefling rogue to accompany the PCs on the first adventure, thrown into the same blackmail situation as they were. They liked her, and they asked that she stay after that story arc was complete. Three years and almost twenty levels later I killed her off. I almost got tossed over a balcony by angry players, and they had their PCs travel to the depths of the negative energy plane to recover her soul in order to bring her back to life. Mind you, I used her more for social interaction and a likeable mouthpiece more than for her stats. More than once I forgot to level her up with the PCs, and she was built in such a way that made sense but would have made members of the WotC CharOP board bleed from their eyes (something like Rogue 8/Wiz1/Xaositect 10).</p><p></p><p>Never had issues like some have seen with "DMPCs", but I don't see any sort of competitive or adversarial relationship between the DM and players. I'm crafting a world and setting the stage for a story and they're acting in key roles for how a part (often a major part) of that world develops and plays out. A DM using a PC isn't a big deal in my view, and I have trouble seeing how it's any different from any old NPC.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Shemeska, post: 6032995, member: 11697"] Ideally there's no difference between any random NPC and a "PC" that the DM controls within the party. You just have to remember not to use said DMPC in any way that in-game that character wouldn't act, or using information that they wouldn't know. There shouldn't be any difference, and they can be valued, likeable characters. When my first Planescape campaign was going, the PCs didn't have a rogue, so I came up with a level 1 tiefling rogue to accompany the PCs on the first adventure, thrown into the same blackmail situation as they were. They liked her, and they asked that she stay after that story arc was complete. Three years and almost twenty levels later I killed her off. I almost got tossed over a balcony by angry players, and they had their PCs travel to the depths of the negative energy plane to recover her soul in order to bring her back to life. Mind you, I used her more for social interaction and a likeable mouthpiece more than for her stats. More than once I forgot to level her up with the PCs, and she was built in such a way that made sense but would have made members of the WotC CharOP board bleed from their eyes (something like Rogue 8/Wiz1/Xaositect 10). Never had issues like some have seen with "DMPCs", but I don't see any sort of competitive or adversarial relationship between the DM and players. I'm crafting a world and setting the stage for a story and they're acting in key roles for how a part (often a major part) of that world develops and plays out. A DM using a PC isn't a big deal in my view, and I have trouble seeing how it's any different from any old NPC. [/QUOTE]
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