The dreaded NPC

[I'm A Banana]

Incredibly inept bad guys tried to kill us using name-targeted magic. However, because the play was about some of our own adventures, the spells somehow split and took out the actors first, then tickled us a bit.

Yeah, yeah, I know, the very few spells that take advantage of "true name" stuff won't work like that: The actors were just pretending to be us, and none actually had our "true names". It was a plot device needed to get things rolling and we all pretended it was okay.

...

Now we're off on the road to someplace of uncertain location (the directions keep changing every time the DM brings them up)

...

we figure that she'll die the first time something looks at her funny, but she refuses to leave.

...

we're stuck with her.

...

I've seen this ploy before, from more than a few DMs, and the symptoms are clear and unmistakeable. She has an Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location, which is why no magic was detected. And she'll turn out to have whatever skills or feats she needs to be able to stick with us, no matter what we do.

Do your DMs ever pull this subtle-as-a-sledgehammer stunt?

It doesn't sound like your problem is with the NPC.

It sounds like your problem is with the DM.

Since I'm not at your table, I don't know what problems your DM might be having, but a lot of my games have had tagalong NPCs of one form or another. It's usually not a problem. We had a bard who was probably a spy along recently, but there was little need for us to do anything about it.

The NPC seems like a pretty clear contender for "agent of the bad guys." (Oh, gee, an assassin who can't be detected coming at the party right after an attempt on their lives...) If you believe that, you should act on that -- gank her in her sleep, or leave her at the inn, or sell her into slavery, or whatever.

I'd probably just let her tag along, trust the DM, and see how it plays out, but it seems like you're not really interested in just doing that...

 

[KarinsDad]

Have your PC talk to the other PCs (in character). If all of you agree, tell her (again in character) to get lost.

There have been PCs that my PC has told to get lost. I try to play my PCs in character and if another PC (or NPC) is a royal pain in the butt, there is no "PC" stamped on that character's head that says that even a PC HAS to be allowed to join a party.

 

[Greenfield]

Is the PC an enemy? Very possibly. We're in a Law v Chaos campaign, and if she really is an Assassin then she's most certainly not Lawful.

But then, neither is half of our roster.

As an Assassin, she's pretty much guaranteed to be Evil as well, but that's not a disqualifying characteristic either.

The problem is one of trust: PCs, of any alignment, have to trust each other. We trust our lives to our companions every time we run into trouble, so that trust has to run deep.

This one is all but unknown to us, has withheld information and been more than a little evasive every time we've questioned her: Trying to avoid the meta-game language, we tried to assess her skills. We asked if she had trained in the Arcane arts (rather than asking if she were a Wizard, Sorcerer, or some similar class). She said no. We asked if she'd trained with the Church. Again, she said no. She's a Sorceress/Rogue/Assassin, and was technically telling the truth about training, since Sorcerers get their magic from natural talent.

What we're very sure of is that she has no armor, no Bracers or other items to do that job, and is several levels lower than we are. She's primarily a Rogue build, and we're going into a haunted house, where Rogues are all but useless.

The DM is loading us with an anchor, an NPC who will need rescuing, yet of sufficiently nebulous skill and ability that she'll manage to survive if we don't come to the rescue in time. She's there to slow us down, and she'll probably get someone killed before it's all over.

My only hope is that it will be her, but somehow I doubt it.

But despite appearances, I didn't start this thread to gripe. I did it mainly to get some conversation going. Share some of your odd dependent NPC experiences.

 

[amerigoV]

The problem is one of trust: PCs, of any alignment, have to trust each other. We trust our lives to our companions every time we run into trouble, so that trust has to run deep.

You can use this angle to annoy the DM - "DMPC, you must prove yourself worthy to join the Knights who say Knee. Now bring me a Kneepad!"

Basically, make the NPC go first, do everything, take all the risk in an effort to prove themselves loyal. At some point they will get the hint. Otherwise gank and run.

 

[Grogg of the North]

I"ve never had an NPC hoisted upon me as a player. We've done it ourselves as PCs. "Oh, these old people need help getting across the mountains. Let's protect them!"

As a DM I've only ever done it for a session. "Yes, I'll show you were the ruins are." and then, predictably, the NPC was evil and the party felt justified in fireballing the NPC into ash.

I say you use your wily charms on the NPC. See if you can get her torn between her duty and her affection for you. Or as HK-47 said:

"Mockery: Oh, Master, I love you, but I hate all you stand for! But I think we should go press our slimy, mucus-covered lips together in the cargo hold!"

 

[Mattachine]

As a DM in high school, I occasionally did that sort of thing to my players. The NPC would have very solid Plot Armor, and be some new character concept I wanted to try out . . . sometimes a whole new homebrew class I had worked on.

In retrospect, it was pretty obnoxious of me.