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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CruelSummerLord" data-source="post: 3775292" data-attributes="member: 48692">I agree with many of the statements here, so I'll make my contribution brief.  For me, the NPCs of Forgotten Realms are so basely irritating because, quite often, they're presented as perfect, flawless, and beloved.  Does Storm Silverhand ever burn out, lose her temper, become exasperated when people come asking her for help yet again?  No.  Do the Simbul or Alustriel ever act for reasons of base politics, putting their own personal interests or the needs of their countries first, even if it might mean abandoning other countries or peoples to their fate?  Not that I've ever seen.  Do the people of Shadowdale have any notable character flaws?  If they do, it's news to me.  Worse yet, and so teeth-clenchingly irritating, is when the NPCs show up for no good reason in a module.  They add nothing to it, and are protected by ridiculous deus ex machina.  Take Jeff Grubb's ridiculous Curse of the Azure Bonds..  Alias, Akabar, Dragonbait and Olive all show up at various points in the journey, and really add nothing of value to the plot.  They just show up because they're Grubb's pet characters.  Akabar, especially, is prone to doing stupid things; if the PCs are approaching a problem with stealth and doubletalk, which is a perfectly reasonable approach, Akabar has a 50% chance of getting fed up and starting a fight, which will probably want players to give him a good solid beating for his stupidity.  What's most galling of all is that the characters are effectively immortal.  An "Elminster's Blessing" spell restores them to full HP if their hit points are reduced to zero.  This essentially means they can't die.  What the (CENSORED)?!?!?!?!?There's one nasty magical trap that the DM is told Akabar will never be caught in, Olive automatically tags along whether or not the PCs invite her, Alias and Dragonbait show up for no good reason....Gah.  Jeff Grubb's abysmal lack of talent is obvious once again in this module, with its pet NPCs stealing center stage, being immortal, and protected in ways the PCs aren't.  Small wonder FR's NPCs get so much hate.</blockquote>

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