D&D 5E Paladin with some of the skill utility of rogues or bards

[jgsugden]

You don't need optimal solutions for every problem in a party - so you don't need to add NPCs to fill out a party. Let the PCs be the protagonists and only include NPCs on a short term basis that serves the story, or a long term basis that provides an essential element to the story (comic relief, a story feature revolves around them, etc...). Regardless, when including them, they should generally not be on the same power scale as a PC.

 

[Daniel Peterson]

Thanks for adding your experience about it. I’ll definitely think about it a lot before making any decisions.

 

[Satyrn]

Thanks for adding your experience about it. I’ll definitely think about it a lot before making any decisions.

I'm wondering, have your players asked for a NPC to accompany them? Are they recruiting for someone to fill these gaps?

That should help guide your decision perhaps more than anything.


Oh, and while I actually am trying to talk you out of creating a DMPC (the sort of character who is essentially another party member), I certainly don't want to talk you out of creating an interesting character who can tag along with the crew for a bit and be a neat part of the setting.

 

[Daniel Peterson]

We are all trying to find more players, but no one ever sticks. No one has actually asked for an npc, but all of my players have played with just me before where I play a second character and they all seemed fine with it so I assumed they would be in this setting. I can definitely make an npc to tag along for a bit as a neat part of the setting and if I like the concept I can play it as an actual PC when I don’t dm. It doesn’t happen much though. Every now and then one of our group will ask if they can dm a few one shots or a campaign.