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Message: <blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 2089552" data-attributes="member: 5171">Please understand that I mean no offense by this, but that's not how everyone plays their characters.  If that was how you felt about every character you played, then heck yeah, you shouldn't play a DMPC.  But if your primary interest in playing was to help out other people and provide a valuable support role, possibly adding in some intraparty play or comic relief... well, you might do just fine with a DMPC.I've played a few DMPCs.  The first was a paladin -- she added combat and light healing ability to a cleric-light party that needed another tank.  The second was a rogue/shadowdancer who was versatile and powerful, but who was philosophically lazy and pretty much did whatever the bard PC wanted her to do -- so she was helpful, but didn't overpower anybody (until she got a certain magical item, which I then had her lose when her power with it became obvious).  The third, in a d20 Modern campaign, was a Strong Hero with a medical focus through occupations and such -- he was, unfortunately, far too flashy and cool, so I got rid of him after two sessions and replaced him with a Dedicated Hero with an absurdly high Intelligence, a lot of skills at a few ranks apiece, and the intention of eventually maxing out the "Improved Aid Another" talent tree, getting him to the place where he could give the PCs a +6 on just about any roll they could get help on.Since then, I've had too many players to justify a DMPC.  There are times when I miss it, since, well, I don't have anyone to throw in funny lines during the party rest breaks.  But unless your gaming style is "fulfill dreams of achievement and success you've been denied in real life", having a DMPC isn't automatically going to be a problem.(And you'll note that in two of those cases, there were isolated problems, which I corrected by making sure the character didn't outclass a PC -- or by removing the character.)And that would be your loss, if you did that before you checked to see if this was actually a problem.My general rules, things I try to keep in mind for myself, are:1) If possible, don't be the best in the party at anything2) If you have to be the best in the party at something, be the best at something that a) nobody wants, but most people agree is good to have, and b) can be handled off-stage as often as possible (ie, "Bill the rogue heads off at your request and comes back a few minutes later.  'No traps that I could see,' he reports.")3) Specifically regarding the end of 2, only play a DMPC with social skills if they can be easily handled offstage, and if a compelling reason for your DMPC to not become the party's face-person can be brainstormed.  Under no circumstances should the DMPC become the face-person, unless you're doing the equivalent of a cut-scene.4) Ideally, the DMPC should be good at making other people look good -- buffs, an ability to give a sneak-attacker a chance to sneak-attack, or a well-muscled DMPC barbarian who hangs back to protect the PC wizard, who then gets to look cool by casting neat spells.5) The DMPC should either have a roleplayed reason for not needing the best loot (ie, has taken a vow of poverty, prefers his family sword, etc), a character build that avoids a lot of loot requirements (ie, monk, rogue), or nice general loot requirements that allow the DMPC to get decent stuff without it being overly showy ("I'll take any heavy armor and any melee weapon -- whatever you guys don't want is good for me...")</blockquote>

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