Do you let players determine what some NPCs are like?

[James Heard]

Would you let a player take over an NPC he created for his character if that character dies?

Any NPCs anyone creates in our games are fair game for everyone, it's actually kind of neat when the people with the sweet, nice childhoods suddenly get thrust into the world of the guy who is running from the massed intent of the Assassin's Guild.
"They're gonna do WHAT to my sister unless we hand over Julian???"
That being said, NPCs are always sort of a group consensus possibility for taking over for anyone in my games. If everyone is cool with someone suddenly stepping in as a blood relative, even one everyone 'knows' from stopping for ale and pie at the Casa de Adventure, that's ok. On the other hand if it goes something like, "No way! She's already been assaulted and kidnapped because of him, I'm don't want my character's sister being in more danger just because Bill got his last character killed!" then it's moving on time. Mostly though, characters that are statted out are at best temporary characters, the guys you play while you're making your character and waiting for a good place to be rejoined with the party.

 

[Hand of Evil]

It is homework for my players.

I feel you share the work, so I get my players to produce NPCs to keep in my DM library. Mostly it is a no name stat block but with a 50 word description, that I pull out to use when I need them.

I also sometimes get the players to play NPCs for interaction.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

I'm going to start using the Contacts variant rule from UA. Whenever the PCs meet an NPC they'd like to make a contact I'm going to have them do a write up for me... after all it is THEIR contact. Obviously the better the write up the better the contact. If their weaponsmith contact is just a weaponsmith and has never left town then he isn't going to be much good except give them deals on weapons. If however he is a dwarven blacksmith from some faraway land who retired here after a life of adventuring abroad then they have a much richer source for information about the world at large. The more effort they put into it the better their contact will be.

 

[S'mon]

I think it's great for players to create background NPC characters for their PCs - family, friends, enemies etc - but I'd rather stat them myself. Likewise with cohorts, I like them to be recruited in-game and I'll consider player suggestions on the type of person they want to recruit, but I do the stats nowadays; I've tried letting players generate their own cohorts but a character custom-made to fill a weak point of the PC tends to be too powerful for my liking - lots of wizards & sorcerers with cohort Clerics, for instance.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

If it is a non-combatant NPC (which is what Contacts are) I don't bother with stats, I just want background information. If they are henchmen then I totally require full character write ups. My players are using the 32 point non-standard point buy system for character creation so I'd probably give their henchmen 28 points (or less).