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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jake Johnson" data-source="post: 6346779" data-attributes="member: 6777367">I had an interesting conversation with one of the players in my group regarding the DM running a character in the party. I'm a newbie DM, so please forgive any ignorance and/or obviousness.My first thought is that the DM should refrain from running a character with the party, primarily because the DM knows too much, and might spoil the adventure by doing any one or more of the following:1. Ruining monster surprises and exposing hiding places2. Knowing right where to go3. Solving puzzles that should be left to the party4. Messing with the adventure's mojo by giving off knowing vibes5. Having too many good ideasI also see some benefits to the DM running a character:1. Rounding out party support roles (Hello, Ms. Cleric.)2. Providing an appropriate number of characters for a small play group3. Ensuring that an unavailable player with a critical attribute, ability, spell, object, etc., doesn't hold up the game4. Facilitating better story telling by providing frame narrative or other plot supportI'm sure there are other pros and cons. What do you think, is it better to ask players to play more than one character if necessary, and maybe request that one or more play characters that can provide support, such as healing?</blockquote>