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<blockquote data-quote="MrMyth" data-source="post: 4900639" data-attributes="member: 61155">You probably can, but 'common sense' advice can come in handy for many who are looking for guidelines - after all, the same argument could be made about most rules in the game, but that doesn't mean they aren't useful anyway. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />NPCs that join the party can easily become either a liability, or overshadow PCs easily. Given the separation of PC/NPC stats in 4E, the disparity in capabilities is even greater. Having guidelines on appropriate hp, and advice concerning their powers and abilities, is very important. Similarly, it is good to tweak elements (like Healing Surges) to make them more viable for an adventuring day, rather than for one encounter (as monsters are intended for). Similarly, I am hoping the full chapter itself addresses the 'xp' issue on how having an NPC might modify the challenge of an encounter. In any case, it is true that a skilled GM can figure out most of this on his own. But the same was said about a lot of the advice in the DMG1, and I disagreed with it then - yes, this is common sense advice than many DMs already know. But isn't that exactly what should be in a book like this? Information and advice that can help new DMs? Or it can give a skilled DM a new perspective - or simply remove the need to calculate on their own what is appropriate stats for a party companion, even if they can figure it out with some time.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MrMyth, post: 4900639, member: 61155"] You probably can, but 'common sense' advice can come in handy for many who are looking for guidelines - after all, the same argument could be made about most rules in the game, but that doesn't mean they aren't useful anyway. ;) NPCs that join the party can easily become either a liability, or overshadow PCs easily. Given the separation of PC/NPC stats in 4E, the disparity in capabilities is even greater. Having guidelines on appropriate hp, and advice concerning their powers and abilities, is very important. Similarly, it is good to tweak elements (like Healing Surges) to make them more viable for an adventuring day, rather than for one encounter (as monsters are intended for). Similarly, I am hoping the full chapter itself addresses the 'xp' issue on how having an NPC might modify the challenge of an encounter. In any case, it is true that a skilled GM can figure out most of this on his own. But the same was said about a lot of the advice in the DMG1, and I disagreed with it then - yes, this is common sense advice than many DMs already know. But isn't that exactly what should be in a book like this? Information and advice that can help new DMs? Or it can give a skilled DM a new perspective - or simply remove the need to calculate on their own what is appropriate stats for a party companion, even if they [I]can[/I] figure it out with some time. [/QUOTE]

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