PCs vs NPCs: Do It Yourself / Skills / Proficiencies

[Pilgrim]

Now, I'm pretty sure there are going to be some players that disagree with me on this, and that's perfectly ok, because I can understand the reasoning behind the game play.

But, one thing I miss from older editions is the reliance of PCs on NPCs to get certain things done for them. Later editions, through the use of Skills and Proficiencies, made the PCs more self reliant than they were in earlier editions. 3.x, if I remember correctly, was the edition that really made this a big part of the characters.

Some of the best role-playing my groups ever had, revolved around the PCs needing to find and converse with NPCs, whether Sages, Smiths, Alchemist, Apothecaries, Scribes, etc. to get something done because they didn't have the skills or abilities to do it themselves. The AD&D DMG had a huge list of NPCs and the services they could provide. Adding these NPCs to the game as a DM, really made the world come alive. When PCs began doing things for themselves it seemed, at least for me, that something was lost from the game.

I know a lot of players like the idea of crafting and being self sufficient, but me personally, I'd prefer to stick to just the adventuring aspects of the characters, not so much the other stuff.

What about anyone else? NPCs or Self-sufficient?

 

[Crazy Jerome]

I want a range of choices here, from purely ad hoc skills of all sorts (even basic perception done as an ad hoc ruling versus Wis or the like) to more detailed systems than even 3E/3.5 provided. For example, my beef against 3E crafts are that they are too detailed to fit with the rest of the 3E skill system, but insufficiently interesting for someone who wants to really explore crafting.

And I don't just want those ranges on the behalf of others, either. I want all of them for my table. We run a variety of campaigns, with different expectations.

Certainly, given that range, we would sometimes want the characters to be extremely self-sufficient and other times to be highly dependent on the community. I've done both extremes in the last few years.

 

[Knightfall]

I could get behind a skill system that relies more on interaction with NPCs; however, I want the PCs to be able to do some things themselves.

 

[Ahnehnois]

I think, like in many television shows, a certain amount of conceit to say hat your main party does everything is often helpful, if somewhat unrealistic.

NPC interaction is an important part of the game, and there aren't enough of those helpful NPCs out there (at least IME), but I think the default assumption is going to remain that a party of a few well-designed PCs is remarkably self-sufficient.

I can see both sides on it though.