Player run NPCs

[obatron]

I was considering giving each player an ally/sidekick to run along side their character a la Savage Worlds. I don't see any issue with this other than perhaps treasure/xp distribution. Alternately, I could cut the encounters back heavily depending on attendance, however, my upcoming game only the cleric and the illusionist are showing up, and I don't think there's any amount of scaling that would make it survivable by them.

Anything else I should consider? More than one sidekick/ally maybe?

[CKDad]

Hirelings and henchman have been part of PC parties since the early days, and this is something I do myself with smaller parties. I don't recall if the PHB specifically discusses experience for these kind of NPCs, but I seem to recall it was addressed in the 1st Edition DMG - I'll bet someone here will chime in with a reference.

You may want to exert some level of control of the NPCs yourself; at the very least, you'll want to keep their actions to something that's reasonable within the circumstances to prevent the players abusing them.

Alternatively, you could simply allow each player to run a second full PC. It's not something I've done but others have used that trick successfully.

[serleran]

Animal companions, such as war or guard dogs, make excellent allies.

Summoned beings, either via a scroll, wand, spell or otherwise also make instant-need friends, and the one I find I prefer. After all, they are likely to only need "buddies" when it comes to combat, so allowing them to discover some sort of device to call them would not be a bad idea, necessarily, especially if it has limited usage (you know, just enough to get them through the current session or whatever.) This actually serves several needs eloquently -- amongst other things, it means you do not care about XP/item distribution, the summons are not permanent so less overall tracking, it puts use of them in the hands of the players rather than forcing them to do something, and if you really want to be devious... you can have them able to summon their own party members, under Castle Keeper control, without real worry about "death" as you can rule they were simply "alternate us's", a la Bill and Ted.

[obatron]

Animal companions, such as war or guard dogs, make excellent allies.

Summoned beings, either via a scroll, wand, spell or otherwise also make instant-need friends, and the one I find I prefer. After all, they are likely to only need "buddies" when it comes to combat, so allowing them to discover some sort of device to call them would not be a bad idea, necessarily, especially if it has limited usage (you know, just enough to get them through the current session or whatever.) This actually serves several needs eloquently -- amongst other things, it means you do not care about XP/item distribution, the summons are not permanent so less overall tracking, it puts use of them in the hands of the players rather than forcing them to do something, and if you really want to be devious... you can have them able to summon their own party members, under Castle Keeper control, without real worry about "death" as you can rule they were simply "alternate us's", a la Bill and Ted.

Hrm...that does sound interesting...I might do a bit of both, the illusionist at 1st level is stills struggling and having a wand of summon monster or something would go a long way to helping her out. A war dog is readily available from their original village they were in as well...hrm...I like this.

[Rikitiki]

As long as you have players who don't try to abuse it, letting them play TWO characters works great. I've always made sure I let them know at the outset that it's up to them to role-play each character as the distinct person they are: not an adjunct of the other, not an always-helpful/agreeing friend, etc.
Sure, once in a while you have to say, "Hmm, would that character really do that?" just to get them back on track, but not much with good players.

[Lord Crimson]

I was considering giving each player an ally/sidekick to run along side their character a la Savage Worlds. I don't see any issue with this other than perhaps treasure/xp distribution. Alternately, I could cut the encounters back heavily depending on attendance, however, my upcoming game only the cleric and the illusionist are showing up, and I don't think there's any amount of scaling that would make it survivable by them.

Anything else I should consider? More than one sidekick/ally maybe?

I'd go the route of old henchmen/hireling rules. Individual PCs can have more sidekicks if they're willing to fork out more cash to support them.

If they're a hireling, the PC pays them "per foray" or "per day".

If a henchman, the PC should give them either a higher salary or a half-share of total treasure (and probably be expected to outfit them better than a "common" hireling).

As for XP, I'd give hirelings and henchmen half the XP you would award the employing PC. I, personally, would not take that from the total XP awarded to the party (though some editions of D&D did do this). This keeps a paranoid player from sopping up all the other PCs' XP with a horde of hirelings.

Example: The hiring PC's share of XP after the adventure is 500 XP. All of his hirelings and henchmen each get 250 XP that doesn't detract or otherwise affect the XP awarded to the rest of the PCs (or their respective hirelings/henchmen in turn).

[obatron]

I'd go the route of old henchmen/hireling rules. Individual PCs can have more sidekicks if they're willing to fork out more cash to support them.

If they're a hireling, the PC pays them "per foray" or "per day".

If a henchman, the PC should give them either a higher salary or a half-share of total treasure (and probably be expected to outfit them better than a "common" hireling).

As for XP, I'd give hirelings and henchmen half the XP you would award the employing PC. I, personally, would not take that from the total XP awarded to the party (though some editions of D&D did do this). This keeps a paranoid player from sopping up all the other PCs' XP with a horde of hirelings.

Example: The hiring PC's share of XP after the adventure is 500 XP. All of his hirelings and henchmen each get 250 XP that doesn't detract or otherwise affect the XP awarded to the rest of the PCs (or their respective hirelings/henchmen in turn).

Hmm...I think I'd still like them to "control" them in combat (I've a history of forgetting the NPC traveling with them during the heat of combat.)

I do like the idea on XP for NPCs...perhaps I should find my old AD&D books or Rules Cyclopedia and mine it for some furhter ideas.

[Lord Crimson]

Hmm...I think I'd still like them to "control" them in combat (I've a history of forgetting the NPC traveling with them during the heat of combat.)

I do like the idea on XP for NPCs...perhaps I should find my old AD&D books or Rules Cyclopedia and mine it for some furhter ideas.

I think letting the PCs control them is entirely within reason, so long as they don't have them do "stupid stuff".

So, no, George the Hireling isn't going to let himself be used as bait for a dragon or walk through an obviously trapped hallway to "trigger all the traps".

George the HENCHMAN might, but that depends upon how loyal he is (which is probably dependent upon how well he's been treated, equipped, and rewarded and how much evidence he has to trust his employer with his life like that).

[Mark Hall]

So, no, George the Hireling isn't going to let himself be used as bait for a dragon or walk through an obviously trapped hallway to "trigger all the traps".

I just got a picture of George the Hireling saying "I'll do it... but you owe me 100 gold for each trap that goes off AND have to get me healed and raised. And you'll swear to that on your sword."

[Breakdaddy]

So, no, George the Hireling isn't going to let himself be used as bait for a dragon or walk through an obviously trapped hallway to "trigger all the traps".

I just got a picture of George the Hireling saying "I'll do it... but you owe me 100 gold for each trap that goes off AND have to get me healed and raised. And you'll swear to that on your sword."

And pray the PC isnt chaotic and not feeling particularly bound by his oaths!

[Mark Hall]

So, no, George the Hireling isn't going to let himself be used as bait for a dragon or walk through an obviously trapped hallway to "trigger all the traps".

I just got a picture of George the Hireling saying "I'll do it... but you owe me 100 gold for each trap that goes off AND have to get me healed and raised. And you'll swear to that on your sword."

And pray the PC isnt chaotic and not feeling particularly bound by his oaths!

You know, while they might not put it in quite such terms, I'd bet that the hireling would've figured out "My employer is a right bastard" is nothing else.

[cleaverthepit]

page 62-86 of CKG covers a lot of NPC stuff - a whole lot