Untouchable NPCs

[Rel]

Floyd The Blue Dog


It wasn't a campaign I was running but I was a player. One of the other players was a guy who we became increasingly aware was a cheating, powergaming, jackass. We were using the Central Casting book to generate character backgrounds and this guy's character wound up having two pets.

One was a wolf who breathed fire and was as intelligent as a human. The other was a dog whose only special feature was that he was blue. The guy named him Floyd.

On one of our early adventures the wolf took a fatal critical hit that was just an unlucky dice roll. The player pitched a bloody fit, begging the GM to "let it be Floyd!" The GM refused to have Floyd take a bullet for the wolf and the player was incredibly irritated. He essentially shunned Floyd thereafter, angry at the dog for not suffering the fate that befell Uberwolf. The rest of the party essentially adopted Floyd after that.

We basically treated Floyd with more regard than that guy's character (he was frankly more deserving) and nothing bad ever happened to Floyd after that. It helped that we did our best to keep him out of danger but I think the GM had a soft spot for the pup.

 

[shilsen]

In two of my campaigns, the PCs have encountered a cat which seems to be immune to damage. Doesn't burn, doesn't cut, doesn't drown, etc. It shows up once in a while and follows them around and is very friendly. Completely freaks them out and causes some PCs (and players ) to start twitching whenever it makes an appearance and tries to rub up against someone, purring innocently all the while.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

In two of my campaigns, the PCs have encountered a cat which seems to be immune to damage. Doesn't burn, doesn't cut, doesn't drown, etc. It shows up once in a while and follows them around and is very friendly. Completely freaks them out and causes some PCs (and players ) to start twitching whenever it makes an appearance and tries to rub up against someone, purring innocently all the while.

Sounds like Kuroneko from Trigun.

 

[Breakstone]

In a campaign that ended about a year ago, we had a kid named Joshua in the game that was half-adopted by one of the characters. Because the players themselves asked him to come along (it wasn't my doing!), they grew incredibly attached to him, and indeed in half of the battles one or two characters would just protect Joshua. We rolled up stats for him (just 3d6), and he ended up being a rather big, not too bright, but large-hearted kid. In one session, he slipped off of a flying stone dragon castle (don't ask), and everyone failed their reflex saves to catch him. In the end, however, I was planning on having an NPC Giant Eagle arrive anyways, so that was a convenient way to save the NPC.

However, before they knew that Joshua was still alive, we had a moment of silence for a 1st-level commoner with a big heart who survived more adventures than the characters themselves.

 

[nopantsyet]

Nobody's safe. I don't have a high mortality rate, because that's not the focus of my game. But nobody is safe. If a key NPC dies in combat, so be it. It has happened at least twice in the past three years, and I expect it will happene again.

 

[osarusan]

In a pirate game I ran, the princess of a small Island kingdom decided to help the PC's (and in reality keep getting them into all kinds of trouble). She just wouldn't die. Of course, I didn't want her too, but the PC's did a very good job of keeping her alive (half because she was the princess and their butts were on the line, half because they really liked her). PC's were risking their own lives to save hers, and by the end of the game she had a wooden arm, a wooden leg, a hook on her other hand, and as many scars as any of them.

Her mother was not very happy.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Nope. I have had NPCs that the party thought were unkillable, and for some reason they always act surprised when the NPC bites the dust.

The Auld Grump

 

[Darkness]

If you bring a noncombatant into danger, be prepared to have to rescue* them sooner or later. It's just more interesting this way. (Interesting for me, if not the PCs.)

*Rescue from [whatever] - imprisonment, a rare poison, a trap, death, magical alignment change, etc.

The same goes for NPCs who can hold their own**, though details may differ. (Kidnapping a harmless princess doesn't take that much more than one or two guys who can bypass any guards; kidnapping a PC's older brother, who happens to be almost as good a ninja as his PC sibling, might well require a crack team of demon commandos.)

**My players like to enlist the aid of friendly NPCs, so chances are good that they might have a few around. Which suits me just fine - it gives me a lot of plot hooks when these people are hurt/driven mad/separated from the party or their personal motivations demand that they take an action not directly related to the party's current goal ("I need to pursue this man - he killed my mentor!").

 

[(un)reason]

Magpies. (those who've been involved will know what I'm talking about) They never made dice rolls, or directly interfered with the characters, but after a little reinforcement, merely mentioning that there were some present would worry them. Ahh, the joys of horror.

 

[the Jester]

No one is untouchable imc, though there are several npcs who have outlasted most pcs. But they could die too, just like anyone else.