Worst Types of NPCs
- Thread starter JoeGKushner
- Start date
Devilkiller
First Post
A guy who DMs for me sometimes can get into letting his character creation fantasies run wild when he makes NPCs. A lot fo the NPCs seem like characters he would like to make as PCs, but they usually don't adventure with us, so it isn't usually a big deal even when they're crazy powerful "dwarven battleragers" built with some homebrew prestige class.
My own campaign is kind of young, but the worst NPC so far was definitely Relf the Elf. He saved the party from certain doom (impending TPK) at the hands of a troll. After they'd healed up he asked them if they could consider sharing some of their treasure (one of two gems they were carrying) with him, and this made the players very unhappy. Relf also asked to join the party, but when he said that they might find themselves in danger again the party took this as a threat rather than a warning. Finally Relf was rewarded with a small amount of coin, but the party still fears that he might be stalking them looking for a chance to rob them or force them into giving him more handouts. I guess what I'm saying is that the worst NPC is the one who takes the treasure!
Come to think of it, our wizard also despises the NPC who begged him to come rescue her baby from the kobolds right away instead of taking half a day to walk back to town and fetch the barbarian. He could have used a Qual's Feather Token to summon the fast moving barbarian, but he didn't like the idea of the DM and an NPC conspiring to take his magic item. I can sort of understand that the player might be angry that I presented a plot hook situation in which one of his expendable magic items might be useful (he planned to sell it for gold to buy new spells), but I think it would be odd if the woman didn't think that rescuing her baby was extremely urgent. He always could have said no...she was just a halfling commoner, and he's neutral, not good.
My own campaign is kind of young, but the worst NPC so far was definitely Relf the Elf. He saved the party from certain doom (impending TPK) at the hands of a troll. After they'd healed up he asked them if they could consider sharing some of their treasure (one of two gems they were carrying) with him, and this made the players very unhappy. Relf also asked to join the party, but when he said that they might find themselves in danger again the party took this as a threat rather than a warning. Finally Relf was rewarded with a small amount of coin, but the party still fears that he might be stalking them looking for a chance to rob them or force them into giving him more handouts. I guess what I'm saying is that the worst NPC is the one who takes the treasure!
Come to think of it, our wizard also despises the NPC who begged him to come rescue her baby from the kobolds right away instead of taking half a day to walk back to town and fetch the barbarian. He could have used a Qual's Feather Token to summon the fast moving barbarian, but he didn't like the idea of the DM and an NPC conspiring to take his magic item. I can sort of understand that the player might be angry that I presented a plot hook situation in which one of his expendable magic items might be useful (he planned to sell it for gold to buy new spells), but I think it would be odd if the woman didn't think that rescuing her baby was extremely urgent. He always could have said no...she was just a halfling commoner, and he's neutral, not good.
Lord Rasputin
Explorer
diaglo said:
Ah ...
The party I am in is playing Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, and we're in the moathouse. The grell makes work of my monk, so the logical response is to go back to Hommlet and have him raised, right? Well, the NPC with the party says, "Whatever is down there, we can handle it." And the others go down to the base and fight the wizard.
Total. Party. Kill.
The Church of Saint Cuthbert, after not hearing from us for a few days, sends agents down to the moathouse and finds our bodies. the Canonness raises those of us who wanted to be raised (my monk has just enough XP for a new level, so he comes back same as before), and the GM chooses not to resurrect his NPC. We bury him at the Temple of Saint Cuthbert, with his pre-fight assessment as his epitaph.
humble minion
Legend
Any cryptic, condescending, arrogant damn spellslinger who has ever used the phrase "You are not yet ready to know the answer to that question" to the propesied heroes destined to face the Great Darkness in a battle to determine the fate of the world.
I really hated him. And to make it worse, he was half-god, and ended up becoming King after the PCs killed the BBEG in the final session of the campaign. Fortunately, my PC died in the final battle, and so never had to live under the rule of King Shinypants McPatronising the Third...
I really hated him. And to make it worse, he was half-god, and ended up becoming King after the PCs killed the BBEG in the final session of the campaign. Fortunately, my PC died in the final battle, and so never had to live under the rule of King Shinypants McPatronising the Third...
pogre
Legend
Triana said:I ran a game a little over a year ago. I had the most interesting rogue npc. I liked him so much I decided that I would give him a back story. Bad idea.
Once it was done he lasted about two games. My players decided they did not like this guy ( he WAS trying to kidnap someone) and they beat him to a bloody pulp by some good dice rolls.
SO the worst kind of NPC is the kind you work hard on, because I swear players seem to like killing them quicker.
I learned my leson on that one.
LOL - funny story and too dang true.
Welcome to the boards!
The game might still be fun despite the annoying character(s); I guess that's the case for our group, though I personally have been losing interest in the games we play (not enough consistency; we're all over the place with bits of campaigns that we all know are going nowhere). But I know the rest of the group enjoys them.
There's also the fact that there's little gained in essentially attacking the GM himself, and the way he/she's running the game. Some will learn from it, but many others will take it personally. No longer having a GM might be the best-case scenario in such an eventuality. In our group, we don't really have any options when it comes to other GMs; those who have time for it don't want to run, and those who want to run are too busy with other things to get a game going (like me...).
Finally, some GMs won't let you kill their pets, and if I'm going to kill a game, I want to at least win first
There's also the fact that there's little gained in essentially attacking the GM himself, and the way he/she's running the game. Some will learn from it, but many others will take it personally. No longer having a GM might be the best-case scenario in such an eventuality. In our group, we don't really have any options when it comes to other GMs; those who have time for it don't want to run, and those who want to run are too busy with other things to get a game going (like me...).
Finally, some GMs won't let you kill their pets, and if I'm going to kill a game, I want to at least win first
TheAuldGrump
First Post
Once upon a time I had a Mary Sue type character in my game, named Gareth. What can I say, I was young and stupid. (This was almost thirty years ago.) When I realized that the players were relying on the NPC for everything I realized he had to go.
Step 1. When the players asked him which way to go in the dungeon he flipped a coin.
Step 2. 'Don't worry, we've been this way, there's nothing here!' As the Mary Sue stepped forward onto the trap trigger.
Step 3. Wham! a twelve ton block of stone smashes him flat.
Step 4. When the character expressed the belief that he wasn't dead I allowed them to find the room directly below the twelve ton block of stone, with a cracked ceiling in the shape of the block, and drippy red stuff coming out of the cracks After a while that ceiling gave in, and Wham! down came the block, with Gareth still plastered on it..
I never told the group why I had gacked poor old Gareth, they thought that there had to be a plot reason...
The Auld Grump
Step 1. When the players asked him which way to go in the dungeon he flipped a coin.
Step 2. 'Don't worry, we've been this way, there's nothing here!' As the Mary Sue stepped forward onto the trap trigger.
Step 3. Wham! a twelve ton block of stone smashes him flat.
Step 4. When the character expressed the belief that he wasn't dead I allowed them to find the room directly below the twelve ton block of stone, with a cracked ceiling in the shape of the block, and drippy red stuff coming out of the cracks After a while that ceiling gave in, and Wham! down came the block, with Gareth still plastered on it..
I never told the group why I had gacked poor old Gareth, they thought that there had to be a plot reason...
The Auld Grump
demiurge1138
Inventor of Super-Toast
Yeah, I admit to having a DMPC in my group for a while. His name was Klattu, and he was their wizard and source of information. They didn't really rely on him so much as appreciate his assistance, and I only modified the treasure to help him once... just before he retired from the party with his new wizard's tower to do research on the rituals to ascend into godhood (they were low epic level at the time). Oddly enough, the players really liked Klattu, and called on his aid on their own volition a few times throughout the rest of the game.
But yes, normally I do hate DMPCs, because of a pick-up, DM-can't-make-it-so-why-don't-you-DM game. Worst game I've ever played in my life. The guy who gave us our quest was a Mary Sue from Hell. He handed out artifact-level items like candy (the aforementioned Klattu, then my actual PC, got a +6 vorpal throwing mercurial scythe. Remember, he's a wizard). He killed PCs who irritated him, or asked too many questions. His fortress was so magical that the poor sorcerer that cast detect magic exploded. Then, he told us of the great battle that was coming, whisked us away in a prismatic coach to a battlefield overrun with ten thousand myconids, then after we had taken our turns, killed them all, with the help of a belt of at will time stop.
We went from level 6 to level 13 in that one "battle". It took the real DM weeks to undo the damages the stand-in had caused, and the game crumbled shortly thereafter.
Demiurge out.
But yes, normally I do hate DMPCs, because of a pick-up, DM-can't-make-it-so-why-don't-you-DM game. Worst game I've ever played in my life. The guy who gave us our quest was a Mary Sue from Hell. He handed out artifact-level items like candy (the aforementioned Klattu, then my actual PC, got a +6 vorpal throwing mercurial scythe. Remember, he's a wizard). He killed PCs who irritated him, or asked too many questions. His fortress was so magical that the poor sorcerer that cast detect magic exploded. Then, he told us of the great battle that was coming, whisked us away in a prismatic coach to a battlefield overrun with ten thousand myconids, then after we had taken our turns, killed them all, with the help of a belt of at will time stop.
We went from level 6 to level 13 in that one "battle". It took the real DM weeks to undo the damages the stand-in had caused, and the game crumbled shortly thereafter.
Demiurge out.
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