First thought that comes to mind is tha beard, low attack, low hp, some spells, BARDIC LORE! and spell disruption, boost his knowledge checks to know what needs to be known to keep the game going foward. the UMD skill to power the C(L/S/M)W wands to free up the spells for the cleric.
IMO, a good GMPC has the following qualities:
Simple. The GM has enough trouble dealing with eleventy-thousand monsters and NPCs. The last thing he needs is a gestalt cleric/wizard GMPC, or a warblade/random PrC. A simple, easy-to-use class without a lot of options is best.
Support. The PCs are the stars of the show. The GMPC is not. The GMPC, therefore, exists to support the PCs, not to hog the spotlight. A bard is a good choice for this, as is a plain vanilla fighter. The GMPC should be flanking with the PC rogue, or guarding the squishy spellcasters, or holding off the mooks, or cramming healing down the fallen PC's throat.
In the Background.The PCs are the main characters. If the plot demands a Chosen One, a Lost Heir, or a Someone Special, it should never be the GMPC. Likewise, the GMPC's equipment should be basic and utilitarian; he should never get the ultimate doomsword, at least until all the PCs have equal or better gear. Give the flashy +1 flaming burst scimitar to a PC, and leave the GMPC the +2 longsword. The PCs should be the ones going mano a mano with the Demon-Knight, or swinging from chandeliers, or bellowing challenges to the Skull King.
A Little Dumb. The GM has all the answers. If the GMPC figures out the riddles, decides on strategy, and makes important decisions, the players are just spectators. The GMPC should never make important decisions; he should either go along with the majority, or, at most, mention an option the players may be overlooking (but not press the matter). For riddles and puzzles, the GMPC should sit in the background, scratching his head with a puzzled look on his face.
Vulnerable. Characters die in D&D. The GM must treat the GMPC as badly as - if not worse than - the PCs. The GMPC gets no fudged die-rolls, no "how many hp do you have? Ten? Well, he did nine to you." If the dice say the GMPC dies, he dies - or at least, is rendered helpless and useless. He gets no special exemption, any more than a PC does.
Someday, I would like to grow myself a beard because of their low attack and low hp. I would never have to worry about it outshining the rest of my face.
Lol. Come Hither gaze attack.
If you mean you need somebody to tag along with the PCs as a plot point, just make them a commoner with enough levels and CON not to get killed in one hit.
Do you really need a DMPC? you're already running a whole world!
If you mean you need somebody to tag along with the PCs as a plot point, just make them a commoner with enough levels and CON not to get killed in one hit.
Some GMs like to use GMPCs. Some don't. If you don't like 'em, don't use 'em.
MY players have often enjoyed and used and exploited the DMPCs I have given them over the years.
Good DMPCs should have rare knowledge or skills that the PCs do not possess or were unwilling to acquire. One example, the party enters the local city and tries to gain audience with the guy running the show. They are refused entrance, because they didn't bother to look up local custom. They are refused entrance Until the halfling cleric wanders up to the guards and whispers something to him that he received in a dream the previous night. Suddenly the party is able to see the governor and the story can proceed.
As said before, the DMPC should never steal the show. They should be around to help the party, unless their purpose is to destroy the party. The important thing to remember is that DMPCs should not be expected to be around the entire time. DMPCs are just NPCs with names, sometimes goals or a past, and a PURPOSE to be around - and then only until that purpose has been accomplished.
In my own SW Saga game, I have a trio 1st level Jedi.
To take on the Kenobi / Mentor role, I have a 7th level Jedi Knight that gives them "Training" and advice.
But he lets them think for themself, and doesn't do the lightsaber massacre, and uses the force is very subtle ways, and more or less is there as a background support character.
If they screw up, he doesn't bail them out, but he supports them in figuring out how to get out of what they are in.
The party makes all of the decisions, the DMPC does not. If asked, he'll tell what he knows, can guess or figure out, based on his stats.
More than one player has remarked as to how they thought this Jedi DMPC was gonna be some kind of DM main plot character, but in the end, they were pleased to find out "He's just an NPC."
If he dies, he dies. And players have said they'd miss him from the story, if it came to that.
In all reality, I would be ****** that this super strong guy was standing next to me not helping.
I just stopped a campaign with a bad DM (which is mostly the reason the thing ended) that had a DMPC in the party. We were all lvl 9 and the DMPC was a lvl 10 cleric with a bunch of extra granted feats.
All he did was heal with it and occasionally thwack things in the head. It answered all our questions and helped to guide us on our quest.
It was maddening! NOBODY in RL is that nice! Nobody is that compliant and patient with people who are clearly weaker! Who stands by only healing when they know they could fight better?! And she was the one who told us that the world hung in the balance. I didn't buy it.
or, several DM PC's that enter, add some flavor and fill a need for a particular story arc, than flit away again once their need is fulfilled? An example of this is the herculese/xena shows where there would be the 2 man PC's and then the weeks guest star related to that weeks adventure, five min before the credits roll they say something (usualy snarky/memorable) and dissapear for another 4-6 episodes.
Last time I played a DMPC, she was actually involved quite strongly with a player character (PC's player and I are good friends), with a childhood-friends-turned-lovers-thing, so they had very similar builds (both Cleric/Wizard/some prestige stuff, but the other focused on the Cleric while I focused on Wizard. We had some houserule stuff in place that would have ended up with us missing one level of our primary spellcaster and three levels of the secondary. That was a high-power game, heh). She had originally been meant to be a PC, but I wound up having to DM at short notice. I treated her exactly the same as my other PCs, and was careful not to give her more stuff. Made sure she had no more knowledge than her skills would let her have. Never gave her any especial plot function; was just another PC. My rambling's pretty much useless, but the core point is that my group at least finds the best way to use a DMPC is to treat it as just another PC.
I'll sometimes include a very unoptimized cleric (heal-bot only) in a small group that lacks a divine caster. Their actions in combat consist of missing with their mace, buffing the PCs, and healing the PCs. Out of combat, I tend to have them be fairly silent. I don't want the NPC solving puzzles or otherwise making decisions on behalf of the players. I've found this route seems to work fairly well. None of the players complain about being overshadowed or otherwise marginalized.
The "toned down" versions mentioned by others in this thread are simply NPCs.
While as a DM I have many NPCs that are special, fully fleshed out that I role play, not one is my character. They are NPCs and if one dies, oh well. I'll make a new one. If by role-playing the NPC as a PC when it comes to interacting with the PCs makes my NPCs DMPCs, so be it. But they aren't mine anymore than the cannon fodder Orc Warrior I play who attacks the party only to get killed by a PC.
So the best DMPC is one that is fully fleshed out but only a temporary character that fulfills a very crucial role but can come and go for good at anytime.
Out of combat, the character provides nothing unless asked by the party, or would logically know something.
It was maddening! NOBODY in RL is that nice! Nobody is that compliant and patient with people who are clearly weaker! Who stands by only healing when they know they could fight better?! And she was the one who told us that the world hung in the balance. I didn't buy it.
I've spent large blocks of time with Buddhist Monks. These people that you seek exist. They just are a very small minority.
NOBODY in RL is that nice!
Certainly many relgious figures of note would qualify.
Padre Pio
Mother Teresa
Numerous Dalai Lamas
A bit of research would dig up more, but I'm busy doing my new campaign rivers today.
It was maddening!
Curious though, what's the maddening part about it?
Nobody is that compliant and patient with people who are clearly weaker!
Rescue Workers?
Hospice Workers?
Pediatricians?
Who stands by only healing when they know they could fight better?!
Religious orders with a vow of non-violence.
And she was the one who told us that the world hung in the balance. I didn't buy it.
Could be your DM was inviting your group to step up, take the initiative and restore that balance. Perhaps. I don't game with you, so I can't say, but that's "Best Guess."
By definition a DMPC is an uber-strong spotlight hog. As such there isn't a good way to include them in a party of player characters.
The "toned down" versions mentioned by others in this thread are simply NPCs.
You are wrong, my friend. By strict definition, a GMPC is a character run by the GM - the GM is the player. The uber-strong spotlight hog is the bad GMPC, just as an uber-strong spotlight hog PC is a symptom of a bad player.
I mean, it's a *goblin*. How non-threatening can he be to the PCs? He provided a moderate amount of buffing and some support with his crossbow.
Only once did he steal the group's thunder. They were ambushed by a large group of skeletons. The players were level two, lacked a strong meleer, and had few appropriate spells or weapons.
Ska'ram (the goblin DMPC) couldn't reach the PCs, so he buffed himself (for once!) by burning an Action Point to instantly give his mace the Undead Bane quality. After going "Yoda" on the skels, he reverted to his generally meek demeanor. It remains a very memorable part of our campaign.
At level 3 (when the PCs were strong enough to handle themselves), Ska'ram retired and opened a magic item store in Sharn. To this day, the players deal only with him for all of their magic item needs. They were quite dismayed (now level 10) when he failed to return on time from a recent fishing trip and mounted an extensive mission to go rescue him.
This well-handled DMPC has become one of the best-loved NPCs in the campaign.
(After Ska'ram left at level 3, the players did get two more very temporary DMPCs -- an old ranger that provided some plot-critical tracking skill but then stayed out of the final dungeon, and a Cat Folk Warblade who provided some "meatshield" cover for the all-caster party in a particularly nasty adventure.)
the cat god always has a daughter or 6 to throw around. he has daughters everywhere, any young girl could be one and not know it
. symptoms of a young girl's descent from the cat god include
excessive milk drinking,
complete stop in aging after 10 years of development (random appearance, average 9-12 but anywhere from 7-16)
curiosity,
a taste for mishcief,
a need to befuddle,
catlike agility,
licking of the back of the hand much akin to a cat's paw,
ability to sleep on any surface (preferably closets)
habit of wearing the same 2 colors (usually black with either, a dark shade of red, green, blue or grape)
unwillingness to wear a skirt (prefers pants or tomboyish shorts)
playful to a high extent,
catching a ball of yarn back and forth like a smalll stress ball tossed up and down
physical frailty and lazyness as well as apathy
avarice for objects that are not thiers
kleptomania
a loyalty to your many half sisters that you never met, even if you do not know them or why so
slender and underweight but just plain irresistably cute like shippo, sakura kinomoto, mokona, kirara ETC.
an independent streak maintained from childhood
too much learning capacity (know too many random bits of variable lore)
obsessive compulsive disorder
Organizationally retentive (having something a certain way or be balance disrupted)
Free spirit who prefers travel and experience (ideal for adventuring)
a dislike for some kind or goup of of authority figure(s) ( a specific ruler, a certian knight circle, paladins, a specific squad of the city guard, a specific army platoon, the monks of one or more particular temples, etc)
feline empathy (gets along better with cats/panthers/lions/etc than people)
creativity beyond mortal artists extent
if a fictional young girl notices she has at least a minimum 96% of these traits (fiction only, includes freeform and d20 rpgs) she may have been descended from the nekogami (cat god)
i try not to get to attached to my pcs. so i am often silent. i change pcs alot to prevent overattachment. though similar, i do it not to get too upset when my character's die. my favorite classes are rogue and sorcerer with the oddball cleric at 3rd. (dwarves of heironious who call themsleves knights or divine champions with a longsword, played like a pally but better. CG imps of scott clark who use as thier holy symbol, an empty 1 liter bottle of mountain dew worn as a pendant. these imps fight against physical abuse in many forms, they start imp rights movements as well as childrens safety foundations and are usually named Steven (nickname "Steve") mind flayers who left thoon for st cuthbert and are NG, NE high elves of lolth with dual rapiers and weapon finesse, however unlike most clerics of lolth, they channel positive energy, Nekogami (homebrew race) clerics of the Nekogami who wear cat eared headbands that function as holy symbols, alway cloistered with trickery, knowlledge and healing, NE but channeling positive energy and other strange clerics, dancing elven sorcereresses, underage female rogues (human, elf, or in the cases dm approves, nekogami, a lightly playtested homebrew race, that was less powerful than the strongheart halfling and whisper gnome, that people called the perfect rogue) who somehow wield tachi's, sabers, and wakizashi's, throwing shuriken or shooting a shortbow, they often become finesse A.T.'s who use greater invisibility and blink to S.A. and run, they have strange 2 color dressing habits (green on black, red on purple, blue on orange etc) these were fun characters
the cat god always has a daughter or 6 to throw around. he has daughters everywhere, any young girl could be one and not know it
. symptoms of a young girl's descent from the cat god include
excessive milk drinking,
complete stop in aging after 10 years of development (random appearance, average 9-12 but anywhere from 7-16)
curiosity,
a taste for mishcief,
a need to befuddle,
catlike agility,
licking of the back of the hand much akin to a cat's paw,
ability to sleep on any surface (preferably closets)
habit of wearing the same 2 colors (usually black with either, a dark shade of red, green, blue or grape)
unwillingness to wear a skirt (prefers pants or tomboyish shorts)
playful to a high extent,
catching a ball of yarn back and forth like a smalll stress ball tossed up and down
physical frailty and lazyness as well as apathy
avarice for objects that are not thiers
kleptomania
a loyalty to your many half sisters that you never met, even if you do not know them or why so
slender and underweight but just plain irresistably cute like shippo, sakura kinomoto, mokona, kirara ETC.
an independent streak maintained from childhood
too much learning capacity (know too many random bits of variable lore)
obsessive compulsive disorder
Organizationally retentive (having something a certain way or be balance disrupted)
Free spirit who prefers travel and experience (ideal for adventuring)
a dislike for some kind or goup of of authority figure(s) ( a specific ruler, a certian knight circle, paladins, a specific squad of the city guard, a specific army platoon, the monks of one or more particular temples, etc)
feline empathy (gets along better with cats/panthers/lions/etc than people)
creativity beyond mortal artists extent
if a fictional young girl notices she has at least a minimum 96% of these traits (fiction only, includes freeform and d20 rpgs) she may have been descended from the nekogami (cat god)
*Head Implodes*
*Head Implodes*
sorry for making your head implode, i just listed fun concepts and kinda went overboard with the how to identify nekogami descent.
As another bloke pointed out, though, that just makes him an NPC, not a DMPC. By definition, the DMPC is the DM's pet PC that he thinks he can play as a player in the same game that he is DMing. How to avoid the DMPC syndrome?
- remember that the NPCs are there to help (or hinder) the PCs, not take the spotlight.
- If the NPC is an ally of the PCs and joins their group of adventurers, be sure to give one of the players temporary control. The player makes all decisions for the NPC - tactics, potion use, attacks, spells, everything.
- If the NPC gets a share of loot, be sure he selects his share dead last, and preferably have one of the players make his choices, not the DM.
- If the NPC dies, let him die. As DM, there are million more where he came from. Don't be attached.
In my current campaign, we are rotating into the DM chair, so we inevitably have the DM's PC with the group, especially if we are short on bodies. When I DM, I try to get my PC to stay back at the inn, or go off solo, or something, anything, so he isn't in the adventure as such. Some of the other lads don't do all this, but I just kindly ask for the PC's character sheet, and hand it to another player, or take control myself. The DM shouldn't be making any decisions for his character when he is DMing - period.
YMMV, --- Wheldrake
I've spent large blocks of time with Buddhist Monks. These people that you seek exist. They just are a very small minority.
Certainly many relgious figures of note would qualify.
Padre Pio
Mother Teresa
Numerous Dalai Lamas
A bit of research would dig up more, but I'm busy doing my new campaign rivers today.
Religious orders with a vow of non-violence.
Etarnon, you seem to have misunderstood completely.
Could be your DM was inviting your group to step up, take the initiative and restore that balance. Perhaps. I don't game with you, so I can't say, but that's "Best Guess."
Yes, duh. I was establishing that it drove me crazy that the person who was telling us that the world needed saving was taking such a lazy freaking approach by shepherding our group around. She was a higher level than us and a lot more powerful! Didn't she have more important things to be doing? Why wasn't she just telling us to back her up while she gathered an army that she would lead in the coming battle against evil? It was a huge gap in logic that she would lead a handful of weaker people around and take a passive role in saving the world, preferring to watch us struggle with the task.
What the heck did you think I was talking about? Did you think I was just decreeing that nice people don't exist? Who does that? And if I could question the existence of good and self-sacrificing people, why would you bother trying convince me otherwise? I'm clearly insane.
Yes, these people exist. They're studious monks(you don't have to have met them to know this). They're doctors and teachers. They're mothers and fathers.
People like that shouldn't be following around 4 guys trying to answer every question and serve every need while simultaneously standing around silent when they puzzle out a riddle that has stumped them. It's diametrical. The whole concept of a DMPC is contradictory. A DM is expected to challenge the PCs with dangerous situations while also helping them with an ally struggling alongside them? This ally is supposed to be concerned with the safety of his friends but not contribute to planning or decision-making (or at least only passively)?
Please take any hostility with a grain of salt. I'm just grumpy because I got home from Coachella last night at like 4am (west coast time) and I have to get up now and drive some more. (The Racontuers were epic!)
NOBODY in RL is that nice! Nobody is that compliant and patient with people who are clearly weaker!
I take it that you realized what you were typing. My mistake.
"Ahh the ancient ruins of Leberate, the once proud city of both Elfs and Dwarfs, it is said for years they lived in harmony until the Dwarf king became enchanted with and amulet of beauty and power given to the Elf king by an ageless wizard and desired it as his own. In the end he murdered the Elf king and claimed the amulet and the kingdom for himself, a horrible civil war broke out, and few survived, the Dwarf king is said to have died still cluching the amulet in his hands and speaking only madness, non have seen the amulet since....."
This gives both a history and setting to the ruins as well as a plot device, the players might be compelled to risk the dangers of the ruins in search for this amulet.
other good choices might be a Cleric as a heal-bot for the party, he basically just casts heals and buffs to support the group, nothing complicated and tags along.
A Rogue is another option, he might gather information, be a skill bot opening locks, chests, finding and disarming traps.
A Paladin would be a poor choice, since they are so darned heroic and LG they tend to be leaders rather then simple followers who tag along. A Wizard or Sorceror or Druid are also poor choices since they tend to be very powerful and steal the thunder.
A Mystic Theurg is another option if the party is low on firepower and healing (noone chose a Cleric nor a wizard) he can Heal and Cast spells but neither are powerful enough to steal the thunder from other players. However the downside ot this is they are mindlessly complex with so many spells that the bookkeeping is burdensome to the DM who is also running the game.
The best choice is someone who supports the players and doesn't overpower or dominate them
Oops, I overgeneralized when referring to battle-hardened adventurers. Good thing you didn't miss the point of my post.
The point of your post was it blew your suspension of disbelief out of the water to see a Name level cleric asking for help from lowly adventurers, sitting back content to let the world go to hell if you as a group did nothing, instead of going out to do it for himself, perhaps with his own NPC allies, and not bothering to rely on you guys.
Thus, Why did the DM run this plot that didn't make sense. That you guys didn't want to do. That was perhaps "too 'Epic' for your tastes."
There. What did you miss, since I "Didn't get it" ?
It was the DMPC. I didn't like the DMPC. It was a higher level. Their motivation for following us AND the rules for being a good DMPC were at odds with each other.
I was railing against higher level DMPCs.
You mentioned one in a Star Wars game you run. In your game it might have worked out great because with Jedi, it's perfectly normal for a powerful Jedi to be running around with apprentices. I was telling a story of how that went wrong.
It's all good though, I didn't need to make it personal. That part was my fault. I hope we can be cool.
DMPC's have to be well planned out. I like to give mine some influence amongst the group's choices if I think they are making a outright terrible and stupid choice, but otherwise they are my way of give the fine details on things.
I have an ancient deathless Sage who has been leading a one man war against a Lich for many years, but, by the time the PC's got involved, he was more rather a guide and an advisor to them since he knew the Lich's tricks like the back of his hand. In combat, he tended to hang back and keep the more feeble members of the party protected and safe with several buffs and tons of rapid chain lightning if the foes came to close, while everyone else tore tore up the enemies in five rounds.
I'm also planning an undead druid boy who is researching the foes of the game to the finest details. While his build is very powerful to the point where he could easily kill the enemies in a few blows, he is just going to be there to provid buffs, healing, and back up melee. He may also prove a trusty source of information on the enemies.
I left them all in the Persian Gulf, years ago.
Then I can most emphatically say that no, there is no one class/role/whatnot that will be 'the answer' for every single group and party out there. It is entirely dependent on the group and party in question.
A DMPC is conventionally best when it don't step on any players' toes, or steal their thunder. The players, and the PCs are the stars of the show. If there's a player in the group that wants to do the support role of a bard or a 'band-aid' then, even if the bard or band-aid might often be a good choice, is wholly inapproriate.
On the other hand, as a counter point.
I'm currently playing in a campaign littered with 'DMPCs'. That have turned out as an interesting experiment.
We knew from the get go that there were going to be an NPC filling all the normal base-roles in a D&D party. An NPC meatshield, an NPC blaster-mage, an NPC skillmonkey, etc. and so forth.
What this meant is that we have, A) a very large party.
and B) the players going to town creating those characters that rarely gets played. Because, however much we might try and deny it, there is the mindset of need the big-four at least nominally filled. So instead we have as PCs, a buffing-bard, a rogue specced for diplomacy and social encounters, a fighter/wizard played as a swashbuckler with a whip (trip and disarm) who saves his spells for mostly non-combat use (and I think battlefield control, but that's not really come into play so far), a rather goth archer-cleric, a halfling druid that prefers mounted combat (riding dog companion) over wildshaping, and a, focus on necromancy for the de-buffs, sorcerer with all of one direct damage dealing spell in her repetoair.
And, know what? It's a total blast, breaking away from the usual suspects as the PCs did spice things up a lot.
I'm almost changing my mind about DMPCs being something to be avoided unless absolutely needed because of, well, lack of players, and the need to boost the numbers of characters in the party.
Still, might be a novelty factor in play, and not something I'd recomend for every campaign. But as a once in a while, to mix things up a bit... Yeah, sure.
Beards are great. God DMPCs are not.
Someday, I would like to grow myself a beard because of their low attack and low hp. I would never have to worry about it outshining the rest of my face.
Lol. Come Hither gaze attack.
lawl.
Question for you, though: do you always expect the PCs to be the best equipped, highest level, most awesome people in the world in every game? And do all the NPCs have to have really transparent motives for all their actions? Because really, I can think of 3 reasons the higher-level cleric went along with you, but didn't fight, just off the top of my food/sleep-starved head.
I can think of 3 reasons the higher-level cleric went along with you, but didn't fight, just off the top of my food/sleep-starved head.
Hit me with those 3 reasons.
I'll tell you now that it wasn't any kind of vow of non-violence.
He was killed by a scarab swarm...
My current DMPC is a cleric (since we had no means of healing in a low magic campaign). He only speaks in sentences that appear to be randomly picked words put together. Occasionally (read: when the PCs are stumped) his "random" sentences have some sort of wisdom to them.
Hit me with those 3 reasons.
I'll tell you now that it wasn't any kind of vow of non-violence.
Good thing VoNV wasn't one of them. ;)
1. Church thought/knew your party was fated for something great, but could not interfere. Sent cleric along to make sure you were healthy and on the right track.
2. Cleric/the church wanted to see just how powerful your group was. Helping you would have defeated the purpose.
3. Master jedi complex. He was testing your resolve (sub anything for resolve, really) to actually finish the task.
4. He was just there to tell the church when you guys died and go into plan B. Since the priest liked plan B better, he didn't really care, but felt obligated to heal you because he's not that big of an ass.
There, I gave you a bonus one just 'cause I'm cool like that.
Good thing VoNV wasn't one of them. ;)
1. Church thought/knew your party was fated for something great, but could not interfere. Sent cleric along to make sure you were healthy and on the right track.
2. Cleric/the church wanted to see just how powerful your group was. Helping you would have defeated the purpose.
3. Master jedi complex. He was testing your resolve (sub anything for resolve, really) to actually finish the task.
4. He was just there to tell the church when you guys died and go into plan B. Since the priest liked plan B better, he didn't really care, but felt obligated to heal you because he's not that big of an ass.
There, I gave you a bonus one just 'cause I'm cool like that.
LOL! Ok, those actually work. If the circumstances had been a little better and the DM wasn't awful, I would have totally bought those reasons.
Thanks
Good thing VoNV wasn't one of them. ;)
1. Church thought/knew your party was fated for something great, but could not interfere. Sent cleric along to make sure you were healthy and on the right track.
2. Cleric/the church wanted to see just how powerful your group was. Helping you would have defeated the purpose.
3. Master jedi complex. He was testing your resolve (sub anything for resolve, really) to actually finish the task.
4. He was just there to tell the church when you guys died and go into plan B. Since the priest liked plan B better, he didn't really care, but felt obligated to heal you because he's not that big of an ass.
There, I gave you a bonus one just 'cause I'm cool like that.
5. cleric felt the party were heathens and wanted to convert them himself. (St. Cuthbert, Heironious, Hextor, Pelor, Kord Or some follower of some other high and mighty deity)
LOL! Ok, those actually work. If the circumstances had been a little better and the DM wasn't awful, I would have totally bought those reasons.
Thanks
hehe, my games tend to involve a lot of NPCs with ulterior/hidden motives, so I get a lot of practice. But a bad DM is a bad DM, regardless.
Allow me to add:
1. Why is the DMPC there? Possible reasons:
-Horror campaign, as in the "redshirted" example. The "real" pc's get used
to the DMPC and have him quickly and horrifically eaten by the horror.
They know to run, in that it's not some low level hireling that got chomped.
-To supply needed roles in the party. Say all players want to play "blaster"
and "archer" types. They really need a tank to be effective (ok debatable,
but it's easier). Give them a tank. (Maybe make it a golem or something so
it can't outshine them).
-There aren't enough numbers. My wife and I sometimes do a solo game
and she doesn't really enjoy roleplaying four characters by herself when in
a Dungeon. So I play two of the characters.
2. How "important" is the DMPC:
-My wife and I want to play "ourselves" in D&D. I'm a psychologist and
she's a radiologist. (I'll play an enchanter/psionicist and she'll play a healer
with a ring of xray vision). We'll both have DMPC's as we alternate dming
premade modules. (I bring this up as a counterpoint that the DM should
not become attached to his PC... though I agree with that point in most
cases).
I made her mute so that they could not turn to her for answers when they seem to be "stuck"; I encourage them to figure out thir own things.
I made her a warrior class because they were lacking in that department.
I made her a crusader because of their healing abilities and general party-friendly abilities; this one's been a great support character. This DMPC also has less equipment than the PCs, even though she hits harder. Oftentimes, I have her boosting another party member instead of taking the spotlight by knocking the crap out of the enemy; she's there if they need her.
Is this a bad idea or not?
Just looking for an opinion on a DMPC I am using in a campaign right now. The party is short; we have only two players. The two PCs are a human sorcerer and a dwarf monk. The DMPC is a mute human crusader with party buffing maneuvers.
I made her mute so that they could not turn to her for answers when they seem to be "stuck"; I encourage them to figure out thir own things.
I made her a warrior class because they were lacking in that department.
I made her a crusader because of their healing abilities and general party-friendly abilities; this one's been a great support character. This DMPC also has less equipment than the PCs, even though she hits harder. Oftentimes, I have her boosting another party member instead of taking the spotlight by knocking the crap out of the enemy; she's there if they need her.
Is this a bad idea or not?
Can you explain why there is a mute crusader following them around? Can she read and write? Making her mute to prevent her from giving clues is only a solution if she can't express herself with body language. She can still point.
Otherwise, I think it's a good plan.
Just looking for an opinion on a DMPC I am using in a campaign right now. The party is short; we have only two players. The two PCs are a human sorcerer and a dwarf monk. The DMPC is a mute human crusader with party buffing maneuvers.
(SNIP)
Is this a bad idea or not?
It might be, if you treat the character as your PC, rather than as an NPC that travels with the party.
I have to confess that I'm not certain why the emphasis on DMPC, rather than NPC. If you as the DM believe that you want to have a character in the game that you like share the spotlight with the other players, then you have to be able to convince yourself and them that you will absolutely not have this character save the day when all is lost and that you will not have the character come up with solutions to puzzles that you yourself implemented.
What is difficult is that players routinely come up with ideas that their characters implement in order to solve problems the DM has come up with. How does one not metagame, if you are a DM and your PC is asked to solve a problem?
If you're a DM, I do not believe that you should have a DMPC. At best, you have a selection of NPC's. Call her an NPC and maintain that mindset.
Can you explain why there is a mute crusader following them around? Can she read and write? Making her mute to prevent her from giving clues is only a solution if she can't express herself with body language. She can still point.
Otherwise, I think it's a good plan.
She can both read and write; she uses sign language that none of the PCs can figure out as of yet. I also deliberately refrain from working on obvious clues; her Int isn't that great to begin with, on purpose.
She also has zero ranks in social skills, again on purpose. They needed the help, it's the bast way I could think of.