Party NPCs

[The_Gneech]

Sometimes I do DMPC's, sometimes I don't. Usually if there are four or fewer players, I'll include a support NPC (a monk-cleric in my current primary game); the most common thing that happens, tho, is that some throwaway NPC who joined the group for one adventure is so popular that the players demand that he or she join permanently.

I've never done the "NPCs overshadow the PCs" thing as far as I know, but I have seen at a convention game. It's very annoying, which is why so many people shriek like banshees when the topic comes up. But if you're careful, it isn't the inevitable downfall it gets portrayed as.

I wonder if that GM ever "got" why I kept calling his NPC "Mary Sue, the Barbarian."

-The Gneech

 

[Luthien Greyspear]

I use DMPC's a lot, mostly because my party is very role-playing intense, rules-lite. (I'm not, which is a source of constant frustration, but they wanna play that way...) The group tends to try to form semi-permanent bonds with the NPC's they trust, rather than live the life of the travelling gunman, so they tend to have several NPC's at hand at any time.

As a DM, I never use these characters as true PC's, but as allies and friends, and as alternate POV's for the party's planning sessions. Unless the DMPC in question is particularly well-informed or wise, I NEVER tell the party (via NPC) what their plan should be. Many times, the NPC fighters or rogues will go with the obvious, like 'Can't we just rush them?' or 'Maybe we could just sneak past the guards through a sewer or something.' For the most part, they are part of the players' stories, not part of their own, and I treat them as such.

In the current game I'm running, I have travelling with the party a Fighter/Rogue who just revealed to the group that he was hired by one of their chief adventuring rivals to keep an eye on them and keep them safe. I also had one of the group's in-game spouses travelling with the group, as well as their two rambunctious children. Fortunately for me, that spouse has been taken over by a new player (who happens to be dating the player of his new character's spouse), so I don't have to put the romance into play, he'll do it for me.

 

[Kid Socrates]

I run two games in the same universe for two groups of two players, so each group has a third party member played by me. The first party is basically a fighter and caster, so the third is a hybrid mobile fighter. The second party is heavy on ranged, so I made a spear-wielding dragoon-type melee fighter to keep the enemies from (always) snacking on my frail little people in the back row.

Neither overshadows the party -- I mostly use them as extra damage, damage sinks, and targets for the villains' new huge abilities. Both of them have enough HP to survive, and it's a good way for the other party members to go, "Oh, man, we gotta watch out for THAT!"

They take a share of the loot, but tend to spend it on things that help everyone out (potions, ethers, upgrades to party transportation, gifts). They also a good mechanism for quest hooks ("Champ's dad is being targeted by an assassin, so he'd like to go to the city and defend him." The assassin ends up being a PC's half-brother, just another way to link them all).

So yeah, I use them out of necessity, but keep them in the back. They're not the stars, nor should they be treated as such. The PCs will fight and risk their lives to keep them safe, though, which is nice -- even though one PC is run by the DM, they still consider that guy a party member.

I have great players, too, which makes it easier.

 

[painandgreed]

I usually have one in D&D. He's not much more than another warm body with another set of actions. He usually does have a personality that I RP but stays out of party politics except to say "That's a really idoitic idea that WILL NEVER WORK" and otherwise fill in impressions of tasks that the characters would normally have if actually living in the world.

 

[derelictjay]

I once used party NPCs, but after being in one campaign where the DM PC became the dominant PC, because thats what the DM wanted, I quit doing it. Now, I'll have a NPC in a group for a short period of time, example acting as a guide. But when it comes down the nitty gritty, I'd rather have the PCs handling all the aspects, for example if they don't have a cleric, they have to procure potions and other healing for the adventure.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

My players have a tendency to extend adventuring invitations at the drop of a hat to NPC's that strike their fancy, so there's often a rotating guest with the party. Occasionally a friend who plays will drop by when we're gaming, so they take over the npc for the session. We also have a party NPC that was the character of a friend who moved away. He and I discuss his characters motivations, and I try and portray those in the sessions with the rest of the group.