Im playing dnd with a group of friend, and we started at level seven. We are three sessions in, which are usually a couple hours, and our dm introduced a npc blacksmith that glhad joined the party. Last session we were fighting a town where the buildings were mimics and the blacksmith randomly throws a bomb dealing 180 damag, basically one shotting a strong enemy. The most damage someone has done in a turn so far was about 60, and the dm said that they can just make bombs like this. He said it does take time, which is only about a day or two. I don't know if this is a bad things since it feels like the npc is more important than the party, but I could just be overreacting.
Eh, it's a bad thing in isolation because it does detract from the players' role in the game...however, I suspect he may have seen the encounter starting to go south and decide on a Deus ex machina in order to save you. That's more debatable...
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
It’s too early to tell, really. First, NPCs don’t have to follow PC rules. Though I agree with linklite that it could be bad form, or it could be saving your butt. Or, it could be setting up something down the line. Or it could be this blacksmith is more than they appear to be. At this point, I’d just go with it and see what happens.
In my first campaign we fought a t-rex at level 4, but we had several artificers helping us. There damage didn’t seem as astronomical, but then again the T-Rex didn’t do much to us either somehow. I guess it was all part of the plan, which I’m guessing is what your DM meant to happen also.
I’d say what matters most is did your group still find it fun? If so, then I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If so, perhaps bringing it up with everyone could be justified. Just try getting people’s feelings before you bring it up yourself.
To reiterate what others have said, as a one-off it's hard to tell if this is a red flag, course correction/compensation for an overtuned encounter, or setting up a plot point. Really all you can do is wait and see; generally DMs who are looking to take over the campaign and become the MC aren't subtle about it, so it should be pretty easy to recognize if this becomes a trend.
Honestly, used sparingly heavy-hitting DMPC's aren't inherently bad, particularly for early tiers. It can flesh out a setting to see that the PCs aren't the biggest shots around, and protags being in over their heads and then getting pulled out of the fire by a currently more capable side character at some point during a narrative is a fairly common trope. Mostly you just have to ask if you still feel engaged as a part of the story, or if you're starting to feel like a spectator.
It sounds like the blacksmith might be a major part of the story. Did the DM give any hints about their backstory or why they’re so powerful? Maybe this NPC is setting up a bigger plotline?
If anyone checks this again it turns out that our dm got bored of dming after the first few sessions. He decided that the best thing to do was start putting his own ocs in the game and just focus on the dmpcs so he coule have. We have now switched to a different dm and our playing the dishonored ttrpg.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Im playing dnd with a group of friend, and we started at level seven. We are three sessions in, which are usually a couple hours, and our dm introduced a npc blacksmith that glhad joined the party. Last session we were fighting a town where the buildings were mimics and the blacksmith randomly throws a bomb dealing 180 damag, basically one shotting a strong enemy. The most damage someone has done in a turn so far was about 60, and the dm said that they can just make bombs like this. He said it does take time, which is only about a day or two. I don't know if this is a bad things since it feels like the npc is more important than the party, but I could just be overreacting.
Eh, it's a bad thing in isolation because it does detract from the players' role in the game...however, I suspect he may have seen the encounter starting to go south and decide on a Deus ex machina in order to save you. That's more debatable...
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
It’s too early to tell, really. First, NPCs don’t have to follow PC rules. Though I agree with linklite that it could be bad form, or it could be saving your butt. Or, it could be setting up something down the line. Or it could be this blacksmith is more than they appear to be.
At this point, I’d just go with it and see what happens.
In my first campaign we fought a t-rex at level 4, but we had several artificers helping us. There damage didn’t seem as astronomical, but then again the T-Rex didn’t do much to us either somehow. I guess it was all part of the plan, which I’m guessing is what your DM meant to happen also.
I’d say what matters most is did your group still find it fun? If so, then I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If so, perhaps bringing it up with everyone could be justified. Just try getting people’s feelings before you bring it up yourself.
To reiterate what others have said, as a one-off it's hard to tell if this is a red flag, course correction/compensation for an overtuned encounter, or setting up a plot point. Really all you can do is wait and see; generally DMs who are looking to take over the campaign and become the MC aren't subtle about it, so it should be pretty easy to recognize if this becomes a trend.
Honestly, used sparingly heavy-hitting DMPC's aren't inherently bad, particularly for early tiers. It can flesh out a setting to see that the PCs aren't the biggest shots around, and protags being in over their heads and then getting pulled out of the fire by a currently more capable side character at some point during a narrative is a fairly common trope. Mostly you just have to ask if you still feel engaged as a part of the story, or if you're starting to feel like a spectator.
It sounds like the blacksmith might be a major part of the story. Did the DM give any hints about their backstory or why they’re so powerful? Maybe this NPC is setting up a bigger plotline?
If anyone checks this again it turns out that our dm got bored of dming after the first few sessions. He decided that the best thing to do was start putting his own ocs in the game and just focus on the dmpcs so he coule have. We have now switched to a different dm and our playing the dishonored ttrpg.
That sucks. Hope you enjoy Dishonoured though.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.