DM's and NPC's.. questions

[EOL]

It sounds like you've been doing this for awhile, and I realize I'm just echoing what some others are saying, but if you have exclusively played this way you might consider not having and NPC for a while and see how it plays. I think you'll find that if you design the encounters right that there's no need for the extra firepower. Sessions will move faster, more will be accomplished, combat will be streamlined, and there will be more time to spotlight the PC's.

Playing an NPC for story reasons is one thing. Playing one for combat reasons is completely different and I would say ill-advised.

 

[bret]

Does the Wizard have a Familiar?

The reason I ask is that it could be interesting if you put the effort into playing a familiar, especially if the Wizard took Improved Familiar. Play it to the hilt, making it a part of the party.

This is similiar to playing an apprentice, and can add quite a bit of color to the campaign.

 

[kreynolds]

Does the Wizard have a Familiar?

The reason I ask is that it could be interesting if you put the effort into playing a familiar, especially if the Wizard took Improved Familiar. Play it to the hilt, making it a part of the party.

This is similiar to playing an apprentice, and can add quite a bit of color to the campaign.

I run a solo game for one of my players. She has a familiar and I roleplay it. It's kinda fun. Actually, in that game, I currently have a count of 32 regular NPCs that the character interacts with on a weekly basis. It can get kind of nuts, but I never get confused about who is who. You have no idea how much depth it adds to the game.

 

[DM_Matt]

I usually add NPCs, both for roleplaying reasons and for combat reasons.

Since I run a PBEM, if a player drops out, the character remains in the game as an NPC until killed or replaced.

I usually also have an NPC around, but preferably they should be important to roleplaying. they should be well-developed, quirky, and facilitate role playing form everyone else. They can be around the PCs level, or not, and can usually be taken over as cohorts if an appropriate PC takes leadership. In fact, the one cohort in the party started out as such an NPC.

Sometimes, of course, the NPC can be an important part of the plot inand of themselves. A current NPC with the L16 party is a wand-laden 14 year old netherilese human female Wiz3/Rog1 that they brought back form a trip back in time (as a Wiz2) quite a long time ago, and who managed to convince them to let her follow them around as long as she strays back behind cover and casts badly-needed artillety spells form her wands.

Now, they have just discovered to be Mystra's first attempt at producing Chosen by birth (She also has spellfire), but that in the normal time stream she should have died before reaching adulthood. Now they are trying to level her up as fast as possible while bounty hunters from all over Toril are trying to take her to weild her as a weapon of their own.