Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="kigmatzomat" data-source="post: 2868822" data-attributes="member: 9254">I said 3.  I generally don't like the idea of "DM PCs" but there have been times that an NPC has, due to my (DM) action or that of players, become required to join the party for an extended period of time.   The party (both in-character and the players themselves) were most unhappy when I had the most recent NPC withdraw from adventuring.  Much of their character development was tied up in the way they groomed this NPC from optimistic, semi-civilized neophyte paladin-wannabe to experienced, sophisticated, tactically- and strategically-minded hero.Though I spent much effort on him being little more than the voice of the highly obvious (to me), the group was very fond of his input.  I suspect they initially thought it gave additional insight into my DM plans (no such luck) but later realized that it was a solid window into at least one way that I, the DM, saw the world working.  However he was so invested in the plot that I could feel myself cringing when he was near death and I had to roll attacks on him.  That's my absolute make-or-break for  NPCs: I must be willing to kill them at a moment's notice if it serves the story.  The fact that I was cringing when the party had resurrection was a sure sign I was too attached.  First possible opportunity he moved to a non-adventuring role in a completely appropriate in-character fashion.   I actually had a situation where their actions would be key to the NPC's final status but the party was so despondent about  his departure that they went all passive-aggressive and more or less sulked.</blockquote>

Verification