Poll: Who did play in a group where the master had a "pet NPC"?

[Zhure]

I absolutely loathe DMs' pet NPCs. As villains, sure, as fellow-heroes, never should they exist.

As a rule-of-thumb, when I DM, my "allied" NPC's are usually one or more of the following:

- incompetent at a lot of things, so as to never outshine the PCs.
- have their own agenda which will never perfectly parallel the PCs. Today's ally is tomorrow's foe.
- they don't advance.

The last one might need some explanation. If an NPC is in my general campaign arc ideas, I set their starting level and that's where they stay. For example, the current major NPC in my campaign is 10th level, the PCs just made 4th. Right now he surely would kill most of them if they jumped him. Probably. In a few more levels, they have a chance to get him. Eventually, they'll be able to challenge him with ease.

Likewise, the major campaign antagonist (he's a paladin, so not a villain per se, but the group is non-good), is 20th level. I can foresee the day when the group will clash with him.

I think that freezing NPCs at a certain point strongly reinforces the characters' growths. And makes for a more entertaining story.

I also never set storylines in stone. Nothing *has* to happen so the next adventure and the next and the next all follow a pattern. Trying to think on my feet is half the fun of being the DM. Preplanning too much takes away that sense of entertainment.

Greg

 

[ced1106]

Villains don't qualify for "pet NPC". A "pet NPC" must be mostly on the PCs' side.

Why?

I one of the worst games of AD&D I had in my life (okay, so the AC wasn't on and the cats were stinky the GM ran a "boss" monster who was @#$%^& hard to kill. I mean, he could pop in and out of rock and stuff. Being several levels below the party, it was infuriatingly boring as the other two players kept hurling spell after spell at him, and DM kept describing how he avoided their attacks.

It was **pretty** obvious the DM didn't want "his" NPC to get killed, and "his" NPC had more goodies on him than the three of us combined.

Close enough to a pet in my book...


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

 

[Zappo]

Why?

See the rest of the thread. Unbeatable villains only plague you when you are fighting them. Unbeatable allies are a constant pain, they are always there.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Not to paint a target on my chest, but...

In a way, I feel that every NPC should be a DMPC. Every NPC should have the same level of care in creation, attention to personality and detail, that a full PC created by the DM would. Of course, not all NPCs in the game world will have a stat sheet and personality written out, but the closer to that a DM can come, the more alive his game world.

I try to make every person in my world come alive. And that usually means having a kind of personal attachment to them. But so long as that attachment never means bending the rules for them, or overshadowing the PCs with them, then I think that kind of care actual adds to the richness of the game, rather than taking away from it.

In a previous campaign, the first session my PCs (only three), were hunting down kidnappers on a stone bridge over a river. Since they were low on people, they'd had the opportunity to take along two NPCs. They chose a cleric, and Az-Azak, a tall, grey-skinned fighter wielding a falchion. Man, I loved that guy. Imposing, stoic, long back top-knot of hair, and a big-ass falchion.

So when he fell off the bridge and was trying to swim to shore, it really hurt me when the goblins, seeing an easy target, shot him full of crossbow bolts and he disappeared under the waves in a red cloud.

 

[Durifern]

Thanks Numion for that link. My first thought was that it´s a troll. lol

On the matter of villains and their early demise:
Even now I´m in the position where my players chase the villain but I have to make sure they don´t get him because it´s only the beginning of the adventure. Because we´re low levels that´s not that hard to achieve but last time taught me a lesson because they nearly had him.
IMO it´s OK to save your villain up (as long as it doesn´t strain the belief of the players too much) for a later defeat when all is set up and players get more out of their ultimate victory. Needless to say you shouldn´t let it get to that point.

Most likely you already know AB3´s stories, here´s one with the ultimate pet NPC:

Achy Breaky Mythos

 

[Argent Silvermage]

The worst I have encountered was a Champoins game where the DM would bring villiens from his old D&D game into it. There would be this huge back story but it made no sense to the story at hand. the worst thing was that there was no way to stop the psycho.
His name was Arena and he had a thing about taking young boys and turning them into "artifacts". These boys turned into charms were worn by him and he would tickle their feet to make things happen. It made the rest of the gamers think the DM was a latent pediphile. Very creepy but a great DM and a nice guy outside of the game.

There were always these returning villiens that were unstoppable and it made the game more of a challange than a game after a while. It would loose the spark that made the game fun.

 

[Number47]

I find myself, as DM, often having a DMPC traveling with the group. Of course, it almost always is a half-witted goblin or orc or somesuch. I just have a great time playing them and the players have a great time interacting with them. After all, if the players didn't want any NPC in the party, the NPC wouldn't be there. It's their group, after all.

But, really, I don't see a huge problem if the DM has a character with the group that allows him to roleplay a little. Unfortunately, it usually winds up being a character that either overshadows the party (in roleplaying if not in combat), or is simply a convenience with no real personality (2E DM cleric, anyone?).

 

[Fenes 2]

With the small size of my gaming groups (2-3 players), I often run NPCs that are party members. I take care not to overshadow anyone though - or at least don't overshadow any PC where it counts for the PC.

Closest I come to such NPCs is in my Shadowrun campaign, where the group leader is an NPC. But since the players don't have any interest in planning missions, nor do their PCs have any ability to do so, it comes out well - the main focus lies not on completing missions, but on dealing with the trouble the PCs' antics cause. And playing the straight man to the PCs' excesses has some appeal.

In a D&D campaign where I started as a player, became co-DM and am now main DM with one other player occasionally running an adventure my PC ended up as a "genie-type" (Sort of a genasi) bound in a bottle, and under the control of another PC (like Dominate Person, but only with verbal orders).

 

[Scarbonac]

Hmmm, back in tha day, when our main DM used to have NPCs that would appear to pull our chestnuts out of the fire, it got boring fast (but he was the one who liked DMing the most, and no one else had the comittment to do it more-or-less full-time); one PC had a pet silver dragon that did whatever he told it to, usually polymorphed into something inconspicuous; another had a ''Guardian Angel'' who would appear to help out the party at really tight moments, and so forth.


I grew to hate having these guys inflicted upon us, particularly when one became attached to my primary character. I never minded the ''giver of vague hints'' NPC, who would very obliquely pass on info to the PCs that they'd have to figure out, but the ''problem-solver'' NPCs who would explain every aspect of the dungeo/mystery/et cetera to us...


Worse, he'd have his PCs come along as party members and try to give them artifacts (to be fair, almost every time that anyone else DM'd, they'd try to pull something similar, with varying amounts of success -- it must be noted that this was over 20 years ago with high schoolers, for the most part). Thank Ishtar we got over that nonsense.


As a DM, I do have some NPCs who travel with the party; this is a collection of people whom the PCs have rescued from various dungeons, et cetera, who initially stuck with them 1) cos they had nowhere else to go and 2) had a sense of obligation for the rescue. Those who have stayed have done so for in-character reasons, and several have left the party after their ''sense of obligation'' faded.


None of them are higher in level than the PCs (usually 2-4 levels lower, in fact), nor are any of them particularly uber (with flashy stats, items or abilities). Some are fiercely loyal to the PCs, others are just there for the gold, ale and whores. I'm rather fond of all of them, but don't stint on dishing out damage, curses or other bad stuff to them, just as with the PCs.


The PCs often get just as attached to them, frequently rushing to the aid of a downed NPC rather than that of a fellow PC, and not because the NPC has a special ability, item, et cetera that can be of use to the group. I like that about my gang.


[Edit: Stupid typo. ]

 

[Darklone]

Yeah. Pet NPC was supposed to be the familiar of the wizard. Well. Was an imp with spell like abilities above the norm.

Another pet NPC once was a mute paladin. Was funny cause every guest player was allowed to "play" him now and then.