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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pukunui" data-source="post: 7267964" data-attributes="member: 54629">I'm seeing some good advice in this thread. Unfortunately, not all of it is applicable when you're running one of the official 5e modules. Many of them not only include a slew of potential NPC allies, but they also include a number of NPCs with secrets that would be spoiled by having the players run them.*SPOILERS AHEAD!*For instance, in Out of the Abyss, one of the NPC prisoners that can escape with the PCs in chapter 1 is a drow infected with Zuggtmoy's spores. At some point during the adventure, he dies in a rather explosive manner. I wouldn't want the players to know there was something wrong with the guy too soon, which might be the case if I were to let one of them run him.In Tomb of Annihilation, which I have just started, it is strongly recommended that the PCs hire a guide. Many of the guides harbor secrets. One is a couatl in disguise, another is a yuan-ti pureblood in disguise, another is a weretiger; one pair is completely incompetent, while another is in league with the Zhentarim; and so on. I wouldn't want to risk having my players catch on too early by letting them see the guides' stats.By the end of our first session we had four active PCs, one inactive PC (his player wasn't present), one NPC companion from a previous adventure, two NPC guides (one of whom also has a vegepygmy sidekick), and an NPC ally who is traveling with them to a specific destination. One of the guides is a druid, and the ally is a priest. I've already been letting the players run their companion (a kobold), and I could let them run the druid, the vegepygmy, and the priest as well, but the other guide is the couatl, so I'd have to keep her to myself, which might make them suspicious.So you see, it can all get a bit complicated sometimes.</blockquote>

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