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The "DM's PC"
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<blockquote data-quote="Benjamin Olson" data-source="post: 8100410" data-attributes="member: 6988941"><p>I currently have a DM PC. It sucks. Don't do this.</p><p></p><p>I've had party NPC's verging on DM PC's before for small groups, but I've always gone for a mechanically super simple option with a deferential personality who doesn't require brainpower to operate or step on the agency of players. A straightforward Rogue, Fighter, or Barbarian, whom I can make the players operate during combat and who just waits for the players cues in most other situations is fine. If the DM then also sometimes plays that NPC like their own character that can work just fine. Feel free to do this, just use caution.</p><p></p><p>However, I'm currently DMing a campaign that is a continuation of another campaign I played in, during which a vital macguffin was magically bonded to my character, and said macguffin is needed for the current campaign as well. Removing it from the character requires either killing him or retconning the inseparability of the item, which is disrespectful to the prior campaign's story and at this point doesn't explain why, now that they are once again on a dangerous quest, my character would abandon his friends.</p><p></p><p>He is a mechanically complicated Wizard-Rogue multiclass who is really just a whole additional layer of additional mechanical crap I have to juggle during any encounter. Whereas a mechanically simple character can be thrown to the players, none of them want the burden of managing this guy. I mostly relegate him to the background which really doesn't fit his character as it existed prior. His presence was justified game-balance-wise when he entered into the current quest rounding out a party with 3 PCs, but then two more players joined and if anything he just makes the party overpowered now. The only part of it all that really works is that he has expertise in Arcana, so he's a great mouthpiece for DM exposition dumps.</p><p></p><p>I guess if I felt comfortable spending player character spotlight time on my own personal character or telling the group what to do then this would just be a problem of juggling an additional mechanically complicated piece in combat. But I really don't think a DM's character should be taking an active role in group decisions (since the DM knows the actual likely consequences of those decisions) nor should they be in the spotlight unless the players push their character there on some particular occasion. So I'm not really getting to have much of the fun of roleplaying a character, just the mental burden of keeping one more plate spinning the whole time. Hopefully I'll find a way to get rid of him that I'm happy with sooner rather than later.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Benjamin Olson, post: 8100410, member: 6988941"] I currently have a DM PC. It sucks. Don't do this. I've had party NPC's verging on DM PC's before for small groups, but I've always gone for a mechanically super simple option with a deferential personality who doesn't require brainpower to operate or step on the agency of players. A straightforward Rogue, Fighter, or Barbarian, whom I can make the players operate during combat and who just waits for the players cues in most other situations is fine. If the DM then also sometimes plays that NPC like their own character that can work just fine. Feel free to do this, just use caution. However, I'm currently DMing a campaign that is a continuation of another campaign I played in, during which a vital macguffin was magically bonded to my character, and said macguffin is needed for the current campaign as well. Removing it from the character requires either killing him or retconning the inseparability of the item, which is disrespectful to the prior campaign's story and at this point doesn't explain why, now that they are once again on a dangerous quest, my character would abandon his friends. He is a mechanically complicated Wizard-Rogue multiclass who is really just a whole additional layer of additional mechanical crap I have to juggle during any encounter. Whereas a mechanically simple character can be thrown to the players, none of them want the burden of managing this guy. I mostly relegate him to the background which really doesn't fit his character as it existed prior. His presence was justified game-balance-wise when he entered into the current quest rounding out a party with 3 PCs, but then two more players joined and if anything he just makes the party overpowered now. The only part of it all that really works is that he has expertise in Arcana, so he's a great mouthpiece for DM exposition dumps. I guess if I felt comfortable spending player character spotlight time on my own personal character or telling the group what to do then this would just be a problem of juggling an additional mechanically complicated piece in combat. But I really don't think a DM's character should be taking an active role in group decisions (since the DM knows the actual likely consequences of those decisions) nor should they be in the spotlight unless the players push their character there on some particular occasion. So I'm not really getting to have much of the fun of roleplaying a character, just the mental burden of keeping one more plate spinning the whole time. Hopefully I'll find a way to get rid of him that I'm happy with sooner rather than later. [/QUOTE]
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