Warmaster Horus
Explorer
On the odd occasion I've added an NPC party-member to fill a glaring hole. It's always gone over fine and has provided some good opportunities to provide RP and story hooks, too.
D&D 5E How Often Do You Have NPCs Join the Party?
- Thread starter KarinsDad
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Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
>75% of the time. I love having a NPC with the group; it gives me someone to play, it adds depth to the story or plot, and it allows me to make snarky comments in character. Sometimes the group picks their companion; one of my groups picked up a kobold cartwright on their 2nd session 6 years ago, and now that kobold is being groomed to become king of the kobolds when the adventuring group retires. He's one plucky little mascot.
Sounds contrived. Intelligent PCs would just obey the command and solve the problem of the traitor in another way. Win win.
As seldom as possible. I try to nudge my players away from recruiting NPCs into the party. I hate running party-NPCs.
Including an NPC in the group puts me in the position of having to constantly switch roles in real time; one second I'm the world responding to the party's actions, the next second I'm a party member trying to engage with the world. It's a pain in the neck, especially when there's information the party (including the NPC) doesn't have but I do. Furthermore, I have to balance "have the NPC contribute and not feel like dead weight" against "don't overshadow the PCs." Finally, the one chance I have as DM to relax and take a breather is when the party is debating strategy. If I'm running a party member, I can't do that.
All that is more hassle than I want to deal with and run a campaign at the same time. If the party is too small, it can be fleshed out with henchmen/women, and let the players run them alongside their own PCs. If there's an NPC who has to accompany the party for some reason, I'll usually write up a stat block and hand it to a player to run.
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aramis erak
Legend
People like the woman who lost her kids because she refused to open the door for a peeping tom ticket...
spoiler for digression
[sblock]Sherman, set the wayback machine for 1990...
I'm just out of the shower, have lace curtains, and the phone rings. I answer it. No problem. I then go get dressed.
Woman with apartment across the parking lot calls police and complains I'm running around my apartment naked and she can see.
Police show up, verify that the curtains aren't new, and go to issue her a $50 peeping tom ticket.
She refuses to open the door. Ok, that adds a charge as well - it raises it to an arrest offense.
They eventually get the manager to open the door, go in, and find drugs on the table. (Her table wouldn't have been visible if she'd simply said, "Be right out" and come out into the hall to take the ticket...)
So now, they're in her apartment, and find her drugs. And her kids. And she doesn't give up - she tries to push them out. Now we have felony resisting arrest, felony child endangerment, felony drug possession.
So, the local cops call the DEA and the Division of Family and Youth Services. They come take her kids away. She assaults the case-worker who arrived, while she's in handcuffs. Another felony assault charge.
I'm told she plead to the resisting arrest and felony endangerment, got 5 years. I knew the police supervisor; he had to be at her custody hearing; the state severed her parental rights. She was also convicted on the misdemeanor peeping tom, time served.[/sblock]
Most players will accept an NPC accompanying them. Some won't. IMNSHO: For them that won't, there's the door.
But the GM playing King John is in Ass-mode, too. And I know not a few people (whom I quit gaming with in the 90's) whose reaction to that would be, "Go ahead and try. You're hiring me because I'm more capable than your guard."
Based on the fact that drugs were involved in that story, it might be totally dissimilar. A woman who may be on drugs does a lot more pigheaded things than normal people do. Theoretically, PCs are typically not on drugs. Granted, PCs can be pigheaded because not all players play them in character, but just the way they feel (i.e. getting your PC's head chopped off is a lot less detrimental than if it was real).
Grainger
Explorer
Why? They're in a medieval world. Sounds like they think they should be able to push everyone in the world around, even rulers, because they're The Heroes. I'm all for players having choice, and saying yes, and all that stuff - but the PCs still exist in a fictional world, and that world has to have a believable structure. One day, they might get to push Kings around - but they have to earn that. If they tried that in my game, I'd advise them that their character would be well aware that people don't talk to the King like that, and he won't take kindly to it. If they insist on doing so, that's up to them, but if they want to go throwing their weight around, they picked just about the worst place in the game-world to do it.
Edit: I see you quit gaming with them - so I'm not sure from your post if you're approving of their playing style. In either case, I don't see why the GM playing King John is being an "ass" simply for having a ruler give (not at all onerous or disadvantageous) orders. If you're a low-level adventurer in a medieval world, you're subject to the ruler, like it or not.
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Celebrim
Legend
I suppose 'intelligent' PC's might do that, but the players may not actually be following the character of their PC to act treacherously or whatever you suppose the solution might be. I don't agree with your assessment that the above is contrived, but even if I granted the description, putting players in positions where the dictates of their PC's conscious doesn't allow for the most obvious solutions in their player's self-interest is part of the fun.
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