Dungeon Master Player Character in Pathfinder

[Damocles23]

Hi everyone. Some time ago i asked for some advice for a cleric a campaign. Long story short, i'm Dming this very campaign and my players asked me to make another character for the party. Now, i'm new to both Dming and playing a character while Dming in Pathfinder. So i would kindly need your advice on these things. I'm not completely sure what character to play, i need at least something that could help the group. They're really enjoying my story and having a player character who could expand the world to them would be pretty neat. The party is composed by:

2 Monks one LG and the other LE ( He claims to be LN...yeah, right)
CE Ninja
LE Ranged Inquisitor
CN Barbarian

The character starts at level 4, like the other player and i'm still partial to the cleric but i'm listening to your advice.

[onemorelurker]

Hi everyone. Some time ago i asked for some advice for a cleric a campaign. Long story short, i'm Dming this very campaign and my players asked me to make another character for the party. Now, i'm new to both Dming and playing a character while Dming in Pathfinder. So i would kindly need your advice on these things. I'm not completely sure what character to play, i need at least something that could help the group. They're really enjoying my story and having a player character who could expand the world to them would be pretty neat. The party is composed by:

2 Monks one LG and the other LE ( He claims to be LN...yeah, right)
CE Ninja
LE Ranged Inquisitor
CN Barbarian

The character starts at level 4, like the other player and i'm still partial to the cleric but i'm listening to your advice.

Unless this party is way more optimized than it looks from the class list and you play the Cleric very low-op, your Cleric would probably overshadow the rest of the party, which has nothing to do with it being a DMPC. What about the Cleric class are you specifically interested in? If you were planning on using it as a healstick, a Healer would probably fit in better with this party, assuming you're okay with doing the PF conversion.

[Damocles23]

Unless this party is way more optimized than it looks from the class list and you play the Cleric very low-op, your Cleric would probably overshadow the rest of the party, which has nothing to do with it being a DMPC. What about the Cleric class are you specifically interested in? If you were planning on using it as a healstick, a Healer would probably fit in better with this party, assuming you're okay with doing the PF conversion.
Yeah, i'm really afraid of that. I asked them suggestions about the class (big mistake, i know) and they even proposed a necromancer cleric, maybe because the villain is also a necromancer and in the endgame they're going to face a lot of undead. Like i said i'm still fairly new to this and i'm really trying to make a challenge for them. Maybe the cleric is not such a good idea...

[onemorelurker]

Yeah, i'm really afraid of that. I asked them suggestions about the class (big mistake, i know) and they even proposed a necromancer cleric, maybe because the villain is also a necromancer and in the endgame they're going to face a lot of undead. Like i said i'm still fairly new to this and i'm really trying to make a challenge for them. Maybe the cleric is not such a good idea...

If you're going for a necromancer, why not use Dread Necromancer? Again, it requires conversion, but, just like a Healer, a DN wouldn't totally overshadow everybody else. It would still probably be the most flexible character in the party, by virtue of being a caster (and T3), but it's nowhere near as flexible/powerful as a Cleric, which in this case is a good thing.

[Orsen]

In a campaign I DM'd this summer, people's frequently changing work schedules meant that it was often one, and sometimes two players couldn't make it to a session. This led to me making a Gnome Sorcerer to just tag along and help out when they party needed a hand. Party was 11th or 12th level and I brought the Gnome in at 10th. Trying to control a caster, and monsters all at the same time was too much for me to handle, and instead of speeding up combat, it just slowed it down. Moral of my story, I don't want to DM and control a high level caster at the same time again.
So I would suggest to you something other then a Cleric just because Dming is plenty of work and the book keeping of a full caster on top can be a lot to keep in mind.
If the players are just short on healing, then I might offer out a potion to all characters at the start of each session. When my group doesn't have a healer, I often do this, but I also don't let the PC's stock pile them. This could take away from some of the realism though since the potions just kind of appear on the characters.

why not use Dread Necromancer?
I second this as opposed to Cleric although I personally might just ask a member of the group I trust to play a second character.

[bloodtide]

Unless this party is way more optimized than it looks from the class list and you play the Cleric very low-op, your Cleric would probably overshadow the rest of the party, which has nothing to do with it being a DMPC. What about the Cleric class are you specifically interested in? If you were planning on using it as a healstick, a Healer would probably fit in better with this party, assuming you're okay with doing the PF conversion.

The trick here is to only have a semi helpful character. You obliviously don't want the cleric to zoom in and take over the game. And the best way to balance this is by role-playing. Simply make the cleric less effective then they could be. It does not even matter what the cleric has or what they can do, if the character does not do things right. As your making a character that is more about role playing then roll playing, have fun with it.

For example:
1.A cleric obsessed with death...so much that he loves to watch things die. So anytime anything dies nearby him, he will pull out his scroll and write down the experience and not do a triple nova killer combo.

2.The cleric is obsessed with undead, much like #1 is with death and mostly the same results. But he also wants to 'save' all undead for his undead army and does not want them destroyed.

3.The cleric is a coward. So simply he is only a little help. Think Dr. Smith from Lost in Space.

4.The cleric is just dumb or slow (int 8) or otherwise have a bad personality and that is why they like undead/death.

5.The Starscream. My favorite. The cleric is evil and has his own dark plot. He is fine to 'help' the group..for now, but always has his plans and plots in motion.

Now the idea is not to make the cleric useless. You don't want to do the whole ''giants are attacking and dumb cleric guy sits down and has tea''. you just want the ''he casts bone blades and hits one giant'' and not ''he casts a tipple-lindy super duper nova spell and kills all the monsters''.

[Vanzanze]

The trick here is to only have a semi helpful character. You obliviously don't want the cleric to zoom in and take over the game. And the best way to balance this is by role-playing. Simply make the cleric less effective then they could be. It does not even matter what the cleric has or what they can do, if the character does not do things right. As your making a character that is more about role playing then roll playing, have fun with it.

For example:
1.A cleric obsessed with death...so much that he loves to watch things die. So anytime anything dies nearby him, he will pull out his scroll and write down the experience and not do a triple nova killer combo.

2.The cleric is obsessed with undead, much like #1 is with death and mostly the same results. But he also wants to 'save' all undead for his undead army and does not want them destroyed.

3.The cleric is a coward. So simply he is only a little help. Think Dr. Smith from Lost in Space.

4.The cleric is just dumb or slow (int 8) or otherwise have a bad personality and that is why they like undead/death.

5.The Starscream. My favorite. The cleric is evil and has his own dark plot. He is fine to 'help' the group..for now, but always has his plans and plots in motion.

Now the idea is not to make the cleric useless. You don't want to do the whole ''giants are attacking and dumb cleric guy sits down and has tea''. you just want the ''he casts bone blades and hits one giant'' and not ''he casts a tipple-lindy super duper nova spell and kills all the monsters''.

I totally agree with bloodtide here. Your objective will be to make someone who's (at best) a support character. As a DM who ends up running solo games for his wife, I know a LOT about having to make "useful" NPCs seem a lot less useful, lest my wife just sit back and let me tell her a story. (I have to make her work for it, right?)

I like the idea of #1/#2 as far as being a memorable side-character. I'm picturing Christopher Guest's character in The Princess Bride ... "How would you say that made you feel? And, please, be honest. After all, this is for posterity ..."

Actually, I would vote for #3 or #5, depending on what you have planned for the campaign.

If you're running a group of players who aren't entirely heroes and aren't 100% confident/accomplished at what they do, #3 is the better choice. He/she would fit in right with the party as being someone with the flaw of "eek"ing whenever exposed to fighting and bloodshed. However, he/she should always be available post-combat for help in cleaning things up, so to speak.

If, however, your party is extremely confident and accomplished with a blind spot, #5 is the "gotcha" choice. Build up your party's confidence and then demolish it at just the right time when the cleric reveals his/her true intentions.