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<blockquote data-quote="irdeggman" data-source="post: 2869351" data-attributes="member: 16285">I would have voted &quot;other&quot; if that was a choice.When I use NPC members in the party it for one of 2 reasons.1.&nbsp; When the party is too small (basically only 2 or 3 players and they didn't have someone to fill a specific need). Most frequently a traveling cleric (i.e., band aid).2.&nbsp; When the &quot;story&quot; requires it.&nbsp; These type fade away as the story progresses and don't stay around (except maybe as an off-scene NPC they PCs come across at times).What is more common is to run an absent player's PC as an NPC when he can't make a session. I usually relegate that charcter toa back gorund role so as not to detract from the other players and also I really don't like &quot;killing&quot; a player's character when he isn't there. A total party kill is another issue and an absent player whose charcter is present is subject to that condition.I had one DM who &quot;decided&quot; that the 3 of us players didn't have a sufficient amount of characters to handle the challenges he was going to throw at us so he inserted NPCs into the party. Well he ended up running more NPCs in the party than there were PCs.&nbsp; This is bad, real bad, since the &quot;player's&quot; are just sitting around watching the DM game with himself.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="irdeggman, post: 2869351, member: 16285"] I would have voted "other" if that was a choice. When I use NPC members in the party it for one of 2 reasons. 1. When the party is too small (basically only 2 or 3 players and they didn't have someone to fill a specific need). Most frequently a traveling cleric (i.e., band aid). 2. When the "story" requires it. These type fade away as the story progresses and don't stay around (except maybe as an off-scene NPC they PCs come across at times). What is more common is to run an absent player's PC as an NPC when he can't make a session. I usually relegate that charcter toa back gorund role so as not to detract from the other players and also I really don't like "killing" a player's character when he isn't there. A total party kill is another issue and an absent player whose charcter is present is subject to that condition. I had one DM who "decided" that the 3 of us players didn't have a sufficient amount of characters to handle the challenges he was going to throw at us so he inserted NPCs into the party. Well he ended up running more NPCs in the party than there were PCs. This is bad, real bad, since the "player's" are just sitting around watching the DM game with himself. [/QUOTE]

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