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<blockquote data-quote="StreamOfTheSky" data-source="post: 4850840" data-attributes="member: 35909">I'm playing one right now: the NPC, Thomas (named after my favorite philosopher, who the character is a mockery of).&nbsp; He is a gestalt wizard/rogue (feat variant, no SA) in our gestalt game.&nbsp; He knows not a single offensive/damaging spell, not even grease.&nbsp; ...Except for the cantrips he gets for free, I guess.&nbsp; he does not carry a weapon.&nbsp; He's obsessive-compulsive and <s>afraid</s> terrified of everything, frequently running away, hiding invisibly, or curling up into the fetal position.&nbsp; He was originally a &quot;required&quot; NPC to help the PCs navigate some ruins, and was thus needed to be kept alive.&nbsp; I figured instead of the normal in that situation -- the NPC is frustratingly difficult to protect and gets into trouble -- I'd do the exact opposite.&nbsp; He puts all his resources into AC and not getting hit or even into combat.&nbsp; He has no qualms leaving the PCs behind if things go south, using the time it takes for them to die as a &quot;speed bump&quot; on the aggressors to buy his own self some more escape time.Surprisingly, the PCs came to like his almost cartoonish annoying qualities and kept him around after that dungeon.&nbsp; Since then, he's actually proven useful on many occasions in various and/or unexpected ways.&nbsp; Like having enough knowledge to identify anything they see.&nbsp; Or in one of the last sessions, when the party had to infiltrate a drow house, kill all inside, and frame a different faction for it (the party is evil, I should mention).&nbsp; The mansion had only one door in/out besides some windows, and he actually had hold portal prepared!&nbsp; So later on, when we entered through the windows and failed to be sneaky...the victims ended up wasting precious rounds struggling with the door fruitlessly.&nbsp; If some had escaped, there'd have been witnesses, and the whole mission would have been a failure.EDIT: 3.5 rules set.&nbsp; Oh, also, he's the only person in the party with Trapfinding.&nbsp; I guess that also makes him pretty useful.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="StreamOfTheSky, post: 4850840, member: 35909"] I'm playing one right now: the NPC, Thomas (named after my favorite philosopher, who the character is a mockery of). He is a gestalt wizard/rogue (feat variant, no SA) in our gestalt game. He knows not a single offensive/damaging spell, not even grease. ...Except for the cantrips he gets for free, I guess. he does not carry a weapon. He's obsessive-compulsive and [s]afraid[/s] terrified of everything, frequently running away, hiding invisibly, or curling up into the fetal position. He was originally a "required" NPC to help the PCs navigate some ruins, and was thus needed to be kept alive. I figured instead of the normal in that situation -- the NPC is frustratingly difficult to protect and gets into trouble -- I'd do the exact opposite. He puts all his resources into AC and not getting hit or even into combat. He has no qualms leaving the PCs behind if things go south, using the time it takes for them to die as a "speed bump" on the aggressors to buy his own self some more escape time. Surprisingly, the PCs came to like his almost cartoonish annoying qualities and kept him around after that dungeon. Since then, he's actually proven useful on many occasions in various and/or unexpected ways. Like having enough knowledge to identify anything they see. Or in one of the last sessions, when the party had to infiltrate a drow house, kill all inside, and frame a different faction for it (the party is evil, I should mention). The mansion had only one door in/out besides some windows, and he actually had hold portal prepared! So later on, when we entered through the windows and failed to be sneaky...the victims ended up wasting precious rounds struggling with the door fruitlessly. If some had escaped, there'd have been witnesses, and the whole mission would have been a failure. EDIT: 3.5 rules set. Oh, also, he's the only person in the party with Trapfinding. I guess that also makes him pretty useful. [/QUOTE]

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