Party NPCs

[arwink]

I'll put DMNPC's in for story purposes, or when players request them by hiring them for specific roles or taking the Leadership feat. I usually aim to keep them 2-3 levels below the average party level and make sure they can't do anything that overshadow one of the Schticks belonging to the main PC's.

 

[The Grackle]

Only if the party is short on players or need a key role

and with the understanding that the NPC isn't going to have much in the way of opinions or ideas on how to solve problems etc. In D&D games I've often made clerics for parties short on healing.

 

[The Shaman]

I use a lot of NPCs in my games, and I spend a lot of time detailing them - even relatively minor NPCs with whom the adventurers may interact, get a generic stat block and a four or five line history and personality summary, while major NPCs get the full treatment, with more involved and detailed backstories than most of my own player characters.

However, I don't consider any of them "DM PCs" - I don't have a character in the game. Non-player characters who join the adventurers do so because it makes sense for them to be there, not to fill gaps in the party or to "let me play, too!" A guide, an employee, a loyal retainer, a friend or ally that the players have made through their characters (not someone I contrive to force on the party) would all be examples of the kinds of NPCs that tend to end up with the adventurers for a long period of time in the games I referee.

 

[Valdur]

I use (DM)NPCs as a last resort to fill critical roles and only when there is no way for the party to continue without it.

I dislike using (DM)NPCs because too often the party relies on them for information or to be a meat shield. I also dislike the extra workload of running them.

 

[EyeontheMountain]

I voted for the "small party option" My party is so samll (2 players) that we need both Gestalt and a DM NPC

Anyone up for gaming in Nagoya, Japan?

 

[demiurge1138]

I voted "did, but don't anymore". I filled in a wizard for an arcane-free party for a long time before retiring him when the game reached epic level. It never got to the DMPC abuse stage, but running him was a bit of a bookkeeping hassle. I might consider running another one if there's a severe class deficiency in a game I run, but it hasn't come up yet.

Demiurge out.

 

[pogre]

I never use DM - PCs. I guess I'm the only one. If there is a critical role not filled by the party I work hard to make adventures that do not exploit this weakness. If I was in a situation where I did not have enough players I would go with somebody playing two characters.

 

[Hairfoot]

I'm notorious for this. I particularly like to throw in former PCs of mine who've retired or belonged to defunct campaigns.

I had one particular half-orc bard who started at level 8 in a 90s AD&D campaign which never finished. These days I like to bring him in and out of games as a low-level NPC to back-fill his career to 8th level.

I agree entirely, though, that DMs can be a bit partial to their perma-temps. You have to let go sometimes.

What do they say? If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it's a hideous abuse of the game which turns players against you. Corny, but true.

EDIT: I should add that I DM a tiny group - 4 on a good night, sometimes just the one. NPCs are vital to the PC's survival.

 

[Goblyn]

I had a DMPC for my clericless party, but no way did she overshadow anybody. Due to my consistently abysmal rolling, not only does no PC fear death, she could never hit a damn thing either. She was affectionately(or more appropriately pitiously) known as the Doomed Cleric.

Eventually I got tired of playing "both sides of the screen" so I had an advanced gibbering mouther eat her. She got digested completely in 1 round less than it took the party to kill it.

 

[Li Shenron]

I don't use them really. Henchmen are ok, cohorts or special intelligent companions are allowed, but they are always under my DM's control. In theory it could happen, if the players ask a NPC to join them, that the NPC would come along. It hasn't happen so far however, and I suppose it's because the players prefer to go by themselves.