NPCs you'd like to play as PCs.

[DrunkonDuty]

This is aimed at those who do a lot more running than playing.

When you GM you draw up and play a lot of NPCs. Are there any that you'd like to get the chance to play as a player for a change?

F'rinstance. I've got a couple of NPC villains that I've drawn up for a Champions campaign I'm running. They're not really bad as villains go, quite redeemable in fact. And this is a deliberate choice on my part as I would love the chance for them to get redeemed one day so I can play them as PCs in a Champions game.

So tell us about those NPCs you'd like to play as a player, if you ever got the chance.

 

[haakon1]

Hi Drunk -- I pretty much role-play all the NPC's in my campaign. That is, I don't use them as pawns to mess about with the PC's, but play them with their own agendas.

Some monsters rise/survive to become recurring villains. For example, Purbod, a random hobgoblin warrior who began as a Warrior 1 in the Sunless Citadel, did a good job of "sergeanting" a group of goblins and hobgoblins in 3 running fights with the PC's, and survived the "Boss" fight with the Goblin Chieftain. He took over the tribe, and made a deal with the PC's to leave in exchange for their lives.

The PC's later found him witha goblinoid army, and he survived to get away a second time. He's now War 3, by DM fiat.

NPC's recur a lot in my campaign too. Some are adventuring types, some are retired PC's from previous games, some are politically important or otherwise prominent, and others are just regular folks.

One of the truly interesting things that happens is when an NPC becomes a PC and joins the party. I'll explain.

In my long-running email campaign (a slow way to play!), my DMPC (pretty useful to introduce material and track gear for the PC's) was a guy they met in a tavern at first level and hired to fill a hole in the party.

Two other PC's (from a party of 8) were originally NPC's, and taken over by players to join the party. The first happened because the prospective player liked the NPC backstory. The second happened mostly because of a rule I have -- no PC starts higher than 1st level, though people can take over an NPC or take a monster with a higher ECL. So a new player chose to take over a guard sergeant in a small village (Warrior 3), who was originally a local liaison with the PC's, then became an adventurer and PC at the same time. At next level up, when he earns 4th level, I'll convert the Warrior levels to Fighter -- it's been pretty interesting.

In my live campaign, something interesting and similar happened. A player wanted to jump right in, so he took over the paladin NPC the party had rescued in the Sunless Citadel, for their next adventure. Pre-made character made it simple to join the game, especially since the player was brand new to RPG's and didn't want to read a lot, just wanted to play. Fun way to jump right in!

 

[Herremann the Wise]

Perhaps extending upon the net your original post casts but: My first 4e character was a Tiefling Warlord who was equal parts the Principal out of the (Goldie Hawn) Wildcats movie and Krusty the Clown. It was one of those few times where the opportunity to play presented itself and a weird NPC idea I had had hit the ground running (one of the best and most memorable character's I've played either side of the screen).

The NPC character I would dearly love to play is Tyrion Lannister. I tried to once in a 2e game but got talked out of it (the character was seen as too ineffective in combat and thus likely to be a hinderance to the rest of the group!). Next opportunity I get though...

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[DrunkonDuty]

[MENTION=6192]Haakon[/MENTION]
I like the idea of NPCs joining the party as PCs. The whole pre-existing relationship is a really natural way to bring in new blood. And I really like having a recurring villain who grows with time. I've done similar myself quite a few times. Even better if it's not intended that way from the start, it's just something that happens orgainically in the game.

@Herreman
Tyrion Lannister would be a cool character to play. Yeah, maybe not for a dungeon crawl sort of campaign but he'd be brilliant in any sort of role-play/intrigue style game.

Oh and if anyone wants to cast the net widely, go for it. Let's chat about character we like.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Most of the NPCs I'd most like to play have been from supers games, like those from a game set in a Vernesian/Wellsian early 1900s:

DR. ZEUS (name & visuals inspired in part by Dr. Zaius):

I've decided that he'll be a super-intelligent orangutan who was once a lab animal at the Cavorite Academy. His intelligence was radically increased by one of the Academy's instructors, and to stave off further experimentation upon himself, he killed the scientist and escaped...but not without getting a few supplies.

In my mind, he is going to be a recurring villain- intelligent and resourceful. He may be caught, but he will often escape.

Appearance: This large male ourangutan has a taste for stylish leather trenchcoats, especially in a natural brown leather. Over his eyes, he wears brass pince-nez modified for his simian physiology, but he has a flip-down darkly tinted visor. His hands and feet are covered by large black rubber gloves. The top of his head is covered by a glasslike dome which reveals a brain too large for his skull. He speaks like Mojojojo from Powderpuff Girls. He has a small, lighting-bolt shaped birthmark below his left eye, which earned him the name "Zeus" when he was a lab animal.

Powers & Equipment: With the equipment he stole from the lab (and subsequent thefts), he has made a portable lightning gun and grenades based on the technology created by Nicola Tesla. His trenchcoat has some armor plating in it. His visor prevents him from being blinded by flash attacks, including his own. He is phenomenally strong- bench around 2000lbs- and can move about in trees just as fast as he can run.

And another:

SPRING-HEELED JACK:

Appearance: Definitely a bit Batman-esque, but instead of a cowl & cape, he's wearing a red-lensed metal helmet with metal horns, and aviator's jacket modified with metal studs. He wears leather pants. His black gloves have metal plates in them and have slightly clawed metal tips. His heavy boots are jacketed with a tubular metal framework that attaches to 2 compressed air cylinders on his back. IOW, he's one part Batman, one part Wolverine, and one part Commando Cody

Powers & Equipment: His "brass knuckles" and air-piston jump assist frame remain unchanged, and he'll probably carry some kind of fighting stick or baton(s). His utility belt will include smoke grenades and a grapple cable. He may carry a firearm...perhaps a Colt 1911 Automatic, perhaps with incendiary rounds. He has an Indian Motorcycle which will be his main means of getting around- the pistons are mainly for use in battle.

Both were designed as antagonists- Dr Zeus is an active opponent of humanity, nobody knows SHJ's motivations, tough- but I think they could make fun heroes as well.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Nice. I like Spring Heeled Jack. He'd make a great Pulp character. I happen to be running a Pulp game... Yoink.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Feel free- while I dreamed him up, several ENWorlders helped me stat him & Dr. Zeus up for M&M!

 

[steeldragons]

I'm not even sure where to begin! haha.

For D&D, a few that spring to mind:
Zarachius Jasper: a gnome magic item traveling salesman, some legitimate illusionist skill, but primarily a quick talking sheister....probably would get slain by the other PCs sooner or later for selling them "bad"/useless/defective or worse items.

Krellen Kar Meorl: a half-elf clairvoyant and telepath of significant power. In the world of Orea, he is the head of the psionic Order of the Emerald Tear. Would be cool to play him in his younger days, follow/create his path to becoming head of the order.

Craag: a half-orc (1e) fighter/cleric lackey of one of my BiggestBaddestEGs. He was cool to play as an NPC but for an evil campaign...or under some kind of "temporarily joining forces" scenario, I could see having fun with him as a PC.

For supers games...I, too, have a stable of unused characters. Most of them are collected into teams that simply never saw the light of day. Not really "NPCs" per se, though a few might have had an occassional cameo (I haven't had/been in a supers game in a very very long time) but would be fun to run them someday somewhere somehow.

Probably should go under my original thread about superhero types, but what the hay:

Spectre: developed/wears the Solid Physical/Energy Conversion Transference Recharging Exoskeleton (S.P.E.C.T.R.E.). Basically, an Iron Man character with phasing and short range teleport capabilities. Flight, Energy blasts, Phasing, obvious degree of protection/resistance to physical damage.

Maelstrom: hotshot surfer dude with water/water vapor generation and control.

Zephyr: a "sylph"/air elemental trapped in the physical world by his own curioosity and a mystic "accident"/spell gone wrong. He became something of a "hanger on" to my team of occult/supernatural based heroes and eventually was considered part of the team. Air generation and control, invisibility, flight (obviously), limited weather control (make fog or generate lightning/storms rarely), resistance to cold and electricity.

There are, literally, dozens more, but I won't bore y'all.

Happy Friday!
--Steel Dragons

 

[The Shaman]

When you GM you draw up and play a lot of NPCs. Are there any that you'd like to get the chance to play as a player for a change?

Arnaud de Ferusac, King's Musketeer.

I'm terrible at voices, just really wretched, but the first time I spoke as Ferusac, I nailed him - his gravelly rasp, his slight drawl, his world-weariness. Even more amazing to me, I can do him consistently. Ferusac flows from me.

The adventurers have sought him out on a number of occasions to help them out - to me that's the ultimate measure of a successful non-player character.

 

[scourger]

I did this sort of thing years ago. Unfortunately, it is easy for the DMPC(s) to get out of hand. I believe the DM can't and shouldn't also be a player. There have been some DMPCs in games I've played that I wanted to do in. I don't mind a foe or a contact being well developed and played, but an NPC that the DM plays along with the group too often turns into a DMPC. I mean seriously, as the DM I have the whole world to run, I don't have to horn into the players' part of the game too.