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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zhure" data-source="post: 896141" data-attributes="member: 308">I absolutely loathe DMs' pet NPCs. As villains, sure, as fellow-heroes, never should they exist. As a rule-of-thumb, when I DM, my "allied" NPC's are usually one or more of the following:- incompetent at a lot of things, so as to never outshine the PCs.- have their own agenda which will never perfectly parallel the PCs. Today's ally is tomorrow's foe.- they don't advance.The last one might need some explanation. If an NPC is in my general campaign arc ideas, I set their starting level and that's where they stay. For example, the current major NPC in my campaign is 10th level, the PCs just made 4th. Right now he surely would kill most of them if they jumped him. Probably. In a few more levels, they have a chance to get him. Eventually, they'll be able to challenge him with ease. Likewise, the major campaign antagonist (he's a paladin, so not a villain per se, but the group is non-good), is 20th level. I can foresee the day when the group will clash with him.I think that freezing NPCs at a certain point strongly reinforces the characters' growths. And makes for a more entertaining story.I also never set storylines in stone. Nothing *has* to happen so the next adventure and the next and the next all follow a pattern. Trying to think on my feet is half the fun of being the DM. Preplanning too much takes away that sense of entertainment.Greg</blockquote>