How powerful are your DMPCs my fellow DMs

My DMPC is here.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/94712144/t5Bpg3

lol, this is a joke? yes?

Imma need someone to explain the difference between a "DMPC" and an NPC.

Kids these days...

Quote from Retxed >>

How powerful are your DMPCs my fellow DMs

 Hey Ret, how ya been? We haven't talked in a minute. So, a couple things, your DMPC is really OP, is this a lvl 20 campaign? Also DMPCs, while I would never use one, should always be at least a bit weaker than the party. Your party is the most important part of the game and story. You are the world, the villain, the townsfolk, the players are the focus, don't enter that part, that's for them. You can still have fun, but remember that they are the story, you're the storyteller, don't overstep your bounds.

Tark is the father of one of the characters who murdered the Character in questions mother and tried to see to it she was trained as an assassin while he hid the information from her making her think he was her dutiful brother. the reveal was great 

Quote from Xeresia >>

Tark is the father of one of the characters who murdered the Character in questions mother and tried to see to it she was trained as an assassin while he hid the information from her making her think he was her dutiful brother. the reveal was great 

 that's actually pretty cool, but your sheet is marked private or campaign only, so it can't be viewed.

Quote from HelloImL >>

Quote from Retxed >>

How powerful are your DMPCs my fellow DMs

 Hey Ret, how ya been? We haven't talked in a minute. So, a couple things, your DMPC is really OP, is this a lvl 20 campaign? Also DMPCs, while I would never use one, should always be at least a bit weaker than the party. Your party is the most important part of the game and story. You are the world, the villain, the townsfolk, the players are the focus, don't enter that part, that's for them. You can still have fun, but remember that they are the story, you're the storyteller, don't overstep your bounds.

 No, my players are level 6. I mostly use the my DMPC when I want to try to nuge my players in the right way without rail roading them, like if they kill a goblin who was going to tell them an important plot point. Also my DMPC is a world renowned blacksmith that the players buy stuff from all the time. my DMPC is a friend of one of my players that the character has forgotten about because all my party has lost their memory from before 25 years ago and my DMPC does have all of his memories and has not told the party.

A DMPC is a character which is a major plot point.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/off-topic/adohands-kitchen/182941-please-give-me-feedback

Check out my thread of lyrics that I have written.

So you’re one of those “Hey players! Look at my godly cool and extra awesome sauce DMPC, you people are just here to kiss his butt and like it as he does all the quests for you dorks!” Kind of DM? 

Sooo, a "DMPC" is just an NPC, then. But an extra fancy super special, I gather

Cool, cool.

Quote from SireSamuel >>

So you’re one of those “Hey players! Look at my godly cool and extra awesome sauce DMPC, you people are just here to kiss his butt and like it as he does all the quests for you dorks!” Kind of DM? 

 No, I'm not. My characters do all of the quests them selfs but the story of my campaign requires a fully fleshed out DMPC.

It does sound as though there are different interpretations of “DMPC”. My understanding was that a DMPC was a PC who’s a member of the party but controlled by the DM. A character who is controlled by the DM and not part of the party (or only temporarily joins the party) is a NPC to me. I think that’s why there’s some confusion in the thread. 

Quote from ThelenyiWhinlaw >>

It does sound as though there are different interpretations of “DMPC”. My understanding was that a DMPC was a PC who’s a member of the party but controlled by the DM. A character who is controlled by the DM and not part of the party (or only temporarily joins the party) is a NPC to me. I think that’s why there’s some confusion in the thread. 

I am being a touch silly.

They are all NPCs to me. If I run it, it is a Non-Player Character. Doesn't matter who or what it is. I also run familiars, for example, and they are NPCs.

Essentially, anything that isn't a PC (Player Character) is an NPC (Non-Player Character), hence the name.

I understand why olks give a special label to certain kinds of NPCs, though. Since I am never a player, I don't really get into the whole "making a cool character" thing, so I pull a few fingers.

Quote from AEDorsay >>

Quote from ThelenyiWhinlaw >>

It does sound as though there are different interpretations of “DMPC”. My understanding was that a DMPC was a PC who’s a member of the party but controlled by the DM. A character who is controlled by the DM and not part of the party (or only temporarily joins the party) is a NPC to me. I think that’s why there’s some confusion in the thread. 

 

I am being a touch silly.

They are all NPCs to me. If I run it, it is a Non-Player Character. Doesn't matter who or what it is. I also run familiars, for example, and they are NPCs.

Essentially, anything that isn't a PC (Player Character) is an NPC (Non-Player Character), hence the name.

I understand why olks give a special label to certain kinds of NPCs, though. Since I am never a player, I don't really get into the whole "making a cool character" thing, so I pull a few fingers.

In my experience, DMPCs are characters that the DM plays in a game where DMs swap from time to time. When the player is the DM and running the game, the PC becomes a DMPC ... essentially a player character run by the DM. When they are playing, the DMPC becomes a PC again. It can work out fine in an ongoing game with multiple DMs where you don't want to change the party structure or dynamic when the DMs change (and the DM knows how to let their character step into the background while supporting the party when they aren't being actively played).

Any other character that the party interacts with, even one that might be with the party for the entire campaign, is an NPC.

However, some DMs can also get overly attached to an NPC (or character concept) to the extent that they lose the sense of detachment and objectivity and begin to play the NPC as their character. This can lead to conflicts between the players and the DM if the DM starts to do things in the plot or game to favor the NPC or has that specific NPC begin to outshine the PCs or begins to think of the NPC as the central feature of the storyline rather than the PCs. I've heard of this type of situation also referred to as a DMPC but it has more to do with a DM choosing to play an NPC like a powerful PC with DM plot armor that negatively impacts the game. Luckily, this seems to be a rare problem.

I would never use a DMPC. So power level zero. 

I have used sidekicks before. But I let the party control them. 

I have had a DMPC before. The players had rescued a little orphan NPC and the party had grown quite attached to her over the weeks she was with them. There was nowhere to really leave her at the time and by the time they had options, they insisted on keeping her. In fact, I had a little out of game conversation about that and how DMPC are not usually a good idea and how I have been in games where this had negative outcomes with the DM favoring the DMPC (as David42 described) but they insisted, literally insisted, on keeping her under their care. NPC hat becomes DMPC hat. 🤷

It isn't hard to keep her from outshining the party though. Each one has stats totaling in the high 80s or low 90s (hero rolls: 4d6, reroll 1s, drop the lowest) and they each had a special artifact item that would level with them and provide them with incredible power. The DMPC has no artifact, is standard array, and frankly a sidekick statblock would get annihilated with what I throw at this table of min/maxers, so it was not a good option for this game and would only serve to torture the players for keeping an NPC around that they loved.

Quote from AEDorsay >>

Imma need someone to explain the difference between a "DMPC" and an NPC.

Kids these days...

 An NPC uses a monster stat block, while a DMPC is a full blown player character with actual class levels and a character sheet, that is fully controlled by the DM. 

Quote from Erik_Soong >>

I have had a DMPC before. The players had rescued a little orphan NPC and the party had grown quite attached to her over the weeks she was with them. There was nowhere to really leave her at the time and by the time they had options, they insisted on keeping her. In fact, I had a little out of game conversation about that and how DMPC are not usually a good idea and how I have been in games where this had negative outcomes with the DM favoring the DMPC (as David42 described) but they insisted, literally insisted, on keeping her under their care. NPC hat becomes DMPC hat. 🤷

It isn't hard to keep her from outshining the party though. Each one has stats totaling in the high 80s or low 90s (hero rolls: 4d6, reroll 1s, drop the lowest) and they each had a special artifact item that would level with them and provide them with incredible power. The DMPC has no artifact, is standard array, and frankly a sidekick statblock would get annihilated with what I throw at this table of min/maxers, so it was not a good option for this game and would only serve to torture the players for keeping an NPC around that they loved.

 See, this is how you do it!!!