I use friendly NPCs for this purpose, which are frequently short lived. If you have a cool idea for a character, try to play him in someone else's game. That's why it's generally just plain better to avoid playing characters in games you DM. It's just too easy to want to steal the spotlight to your own character, your "baby". Why would he need to also have a character in the party? If he wants to control also the players' actions, then he is better off writing a novel instead of playing an RPG.Īll in all, personally I think that it can be done, with some effort from the DM and some sense to not steal the spotlight from the players. He controls all NPCs, all monsters, all events, everything. Which brings to a very powerful argument: the DM already has control of everything in the world besides the players' characters. But you should never, never take the fun away from the players. If the players only get to stand around waiting for the DMPC to solve everything and he is much more powerful/cool/important than the rest of the party, then what is the purpose of the players? If you manage to be imparcial with your character, building him in equal power or even weaker than the rest of the players, and make some effort to not steal the spotlight, then it's possible to also play. This is horrible, and the worst problem with DMs also having characters.
Sometimes, if you have your own character with the group, you will tilt the story towards your DMPC, putting him in the spotlight, even if not intentionally. With groups that focus more on the rollplaying, though, this will be a huge problem, and probably a reason for the DM to not have a DMPC at all.įrom a roleplaying point of view, there is the problem of controlling the rest of the campaign as well. This is not too troublesome, however, if the group is more geared towards roleplaying than rollplay. I believe that, with a good DM, it can be done, but the players need some kind of assurance that they can trust the DM.įrom a mechanical point of view, there's the problem of knowing the mosnters' stats, capabilities and actions beforehand.
Most people have problems with the DM also playing as a "player" (with a DMPC, as how they're usually called), both because of problems that may arise and general mistrust on the capability of the DM to remain imparcial with his character.