D&D General Most common NPC/sidekick for a party

[77IM]

In practice, it's an evil humanoid press-ganged into a servant. The group in my current campaign has "earned" the services of a goblin named Bootlicker who the other goblins all hated and agreed to give him to the party. In the previous campaign, they captured a pair of pirates named Ginger and Man-Bun and convinced them to sign on to the PCs' ship as the first NPC crew members. In the campaign before that, a kobold named Squeaker and his buddies were always running errands for the PCs; they would often show up and offer to help carry loot in their "bags of holding" (just regular sacks, but the kobolds were holding them).

 

[cbwjm]

I've added in a thief for parties that didn't have one. Cleric and fighter sidekicks for a two invoker party (both situations were 2e).

Current 5e game we have a winter wolf pup and a pixie. Though the pixie hangs out away from the battlefield with the artificer's owl familiar. Considering how often that owl has died it might not be the safest course of action.

 

[aco175]

In my recent PotA campaign there was a water cultist prisoner in the Fane part of the adventure that the PCs let go. He ended up following along with the PCs for the rest of the adventure, even though he was 9 levels lower than them. His thought was that he did not want to find his way back alone. He was mostly useless in combat and mostly held a torch. After they got back to Red Larch and gave him 50gp he figured to stay with them if needed. So happens that the PCs needed to cross the river and needed someone that could pilot a ship. Figured he would have some skill in boating as a water cultist so he keeps tagging along in limited skill.

 

[jgsugden]

In retrospect, my answer should be Pinky the Goblin. There is a magical item in my game that dates back to the 1980s. It allows the owner to cast a monster summoning spell that summons a single goblin. The goblin has to follow your verbal commands, but it only speaks goblin and in the absence of a clear instruction, it runs away. The item has been owned by dozens of PCs and treated quite differently by different owners. Some treat it as an ally, other as an expendable automaton, others like a pet (and quite a few soon forget they have it).

Pinky was a goblin that tried to pull a fast one on a powerful foe and was cursed to spend eternity being abused as a tool. In 5E terms, he comes into play frightened of anything hostile, and has been known to immediately cover his ears and close his eyes while he runs away so that he can't be ordered to face off against those hostile foes. This has resulted in him running off cliffs, etc...

No player ever has asked where he came from, or discovered his curse.

 

[Sacrosanct]

meatshield.

It's rare these days when an NPC is there, but when they are, it's like the henchperson rules from AD&D, where they are hired pretty much for muscle, or the squishy PC hires a fighter to help protect them.

 

[Weiley31]

Whichever one that doesn't cause a DM to throw a spoiled hissy fit because the story isn't about the PCs when its about a world and the characters in it including the PCs.

 

[Dioltach]

Nothing more common than a commoner!

 

[Ancalagon]

I made a class specifically for side kicks NPCs

The Mercenary Campaign: the petty sell-sword

So In a mercenary company, there is a certain ... type of member. They were recruited, but didn't quite turn out to be frontline material...

slugsandsilver.blogspot.com

Last one in 5e were a rogue servant and an alchemist translator.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

The most common NPC sidekick is Tenser's floating disc.

 

[GMMichael]

Another PC in my game has a familiar that acts as a Detect Everything spell in dungeons. I haven't quite figured out how that works yet, but it reminds me of the true purpose for NPCs: trap springers.

None. The party is PCs only. I refuse to use DMPCs to prop up "missing" roles/skillsets and instead create a narrative that prevents that from being a problem.

Aw! How about this angle: a DMPC is the one protagonist who can die, providing the sad death scene, without ruining* a player's session.

Usually a local guide at best. While PC's know a lot a professional guide often knows more.

they do little more than guide so don't get into combat or other stuff if it can be avoided.

I think, back in the day, that "professional guide" was also called "villager." Unless it involved going to a dangerous, treasure-filled location. Then it was called, "gal who already looted the place."

*Ruin is a strong word. A session can still good, hopefully, if the PC had a good time up to the final breath. I'd hope.