D&D 5E If the DM plays his own PC is it ok for the party to kill him and take his stuff?

[doctorbadwolf]

Well, i assumed I didn't actually need to write "YMMV" when stating something that was obviously an opinion and that I clearly said was limited to my experience? Apparently I did! So...

YMMV.

Voila!

You think that what you wrote was obviously just intended as an expression of opinion?

I'm sorry, but it very much isn't obvious, at all. In fact, your wording gives completely the opposite impression.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I'll chime in here to say that I don't think it's at all obvious that "DMPC" is a pejorative on the level of "Mary Sue". It's just...initials.

You'd need a name that carries some kind of connotation, like "Gandalf", to refer to a DMPC in clearly negative way. "Yeah, JRR ran his Gandalf in the less session and totally stole the spotlight. I think he just wanted one of the swords from Gondolin. Funny how he brought his character in just in time for that."

 

[J.Quondam]

Nevermind. I should have cooled off before posting.
Apologies.

 

[Greg K]

Based on the title I assumed killing the DM and taking his stuff.

:lol I had the same thought. My advice was going to be, "Don't do it - unless you want the police after you and, potentially, face the death penalty (depending upon where the OP lives)".

 

[Vaalingrade]

Short answer: No. It's not okay to do that with anyone's PC.

Long Answer: I get the concern about DMPCs, but have seen too many that were fun additions to the game to be accepting of the virulent hatred of them.

Considering how many DMs act like the only way to challenge the party is to go for the TPK, I'd even be okay with the less good kinds these days as it'd be nice for there to be a party member the DM won't be gunning for all the time, so maybe some of that 'less murder' will rub off on the rest of the party.

 

[dave2008]

I recently signed up for an online game and then quit when I realized the DM had his own PC in the game.

This led to another question though; generally it is considered poor form to play a character who betrays, steals from or otherwise works against party members. If it is "what your character would do" well then your character idea sucks and should have come up with a better character concept.

Does this rule of thumb apply to DM PCs too? If alignment is an issue, how about if we set up the watch and as soon as tjhe DM PC is asleep we wake up the rest of the party and sneak away and leave him behind?

Would this be considered bad form?

That seems like really bad form. The mature thing to do would be voice your complaint to the DM. If they don't want to change what they are doing, then leave. Killing another PC is not acceptable IMO

 

[dave2008]

Greetings Professor Falken

Hello

A strange game.
The only winning move is
not to play.

Nice War Games reference, and I have to agree!

 

[Lanefan]

That's why I personally differentiate between a DM's PC (ie, a DM just running an character in a role equivalent to a PC), and "DMPC", which "by definition" is specifically bad, and therefore a perjorative. When someone uses "DMPC," they typically have in mind something like the experience I related above. They specifically are not referring to a reasonable character run by a reasonable DM in a reasonable fashion. That's not a "DMPC"; that's something else.

We call the latter "party NPCs" or just "NPCs".

"DMPC" is just a short-hand with a specific (negative) meaning, just like "grognard" or "Mary Sue" or "munchkin", for example, each have their own meanings. Maybe the term in that specifcally negative sense isn't as prevalent as those others? But I've certainly heard it enough to think of it as legit hobby jargon, at least in my experience.

Agreed.

 

[Lanefan]

I completely disagree. Taking a very neutral term and arbitrarily making it inherently negative is...not useful, generally. And I'd disagree if you claimed that what you're saying is the general normal usage. IME, people generally use the term regardless of negative or positive context.

IME the only time I ever see the term "DMPC" is in this forum, and it's universally being used as a negative whenever I see it.

 

[The Green Hermit]

I think its easier to just tell the DM you dont want a DMPC amongst the party then to try and solve it in game.

This. At my table, I have to run a DMPC, because we don't always have enough players. However, I have made it known that if anybody wants to run multiple PCs, I would LOVE to just DM so I could focus on the NPCs a lot more. However, my table consists of teens and a reluctant husband, so we get what we get.