Guard DMPC

[pastaskamisama]

I need help making 2 guards that will help the players, the players are level 6 and i want to make the guards competent in fights but weaker than the players.

my players are a paladin, a wizard, a storm cleric and a barbarian

the setting for the campaign is a city completely overrun by undead due to a lich's revenge against the town.

Any ideas?

[DeTess]

2 level 5 champion fighters? We'll need to know more about the party to provide ideas tailored to your campaign.

[Protato]

I'd say it depends on the game but a Level 3 Champion Fighter is good, if one of them uses magic a Level 3 Evocation Wizard would be alright, otherwise just use two Fighters.

[JNAProductions]

I would say make them Support Battlemasters. Give them Maneuvers that help the party without doing a lot of damage by themselves. Probably should be level 4 or so-high enough so they aren't dead weight, low enough that the party is the focus.

[smcmike]

Give them two distinct personalities and abilities. A big one and a little one, a fighter and a rogue. Keep their abilities simple, to keep the focus on the players. Level 4 lets you give them two feats for flavor.

The big one is a champion fighter, and uses protection style, shield master, and heavy armor master to just try and tank and knock things over. He's a bit of a dummy, but extremely upstanding.

The little one is a thief rogue, using Healer with fast hands, as well as Mobile. He likes to rush up and stab enemies that his big friend knocks over. He's got a smart mouth and a cowardly streak, but basically follows the lead of the big fellow on anything that matters.

[GladiusVCreed]

When it comes to accompanying NPCs, I usually don't even completely create the character mechanically. I flesh out the RP details, and assign an HP value to them as well as an AC value. I use the HP and AC values sparingly, and really only have them in case my party decides to cut their losses and kill off the NPC.
In combat, I decide without rolls how much damage the NPCs deal and take for multiple reasons;
1) This will allow me to control whether the players get the kill or the NPC gets the kill. An NPC who gets all the kills is no fun, but an NPC who can't kill anything becomes cumbersome to the group.
2) An untimely death of an NPC can be VERY unfortunate for you as DM. I want my NPCs who travel with the players to get developed in some way, shape or form. I want a relationship established between them before I go kill them.
3) Some NPCs arent meant to die. Plain and simple.

To me, NPCs aren't statted for anything other than PC vs NPC fights. They're a plot pusher, developer, complicator and memory maker.

[tieren]

Just use the veteran stat block from the MM?

[Easy_Lee]

I would just stat them out as creatures with some proficiencies and one or two "guard" abilities.

For example, I might do it like the following. Let's give them names: Biggs and Wedge.

Biggs
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
AC: 16 (chain)
HP: 39 (6D10 + 6)
STR 15
DEX 12
CON 12
INT 8
WIS 12
CHA 8
Passive Perception: 14
Skills: Perception +4, Athletics +5
Multiattack (Makes two longsword attacks and one pommel strike)
Longsword: +5 to hit, 1D10 + 2 slashing damage
Pommel Strike: +5 to hit, 1D4 + 2 bludgeoning damage

Wedge
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
AC: 18 (chain + shield)
HP: 39 (6D10 + 6)
STR 15
DEX 8
CON 12
INT 12
WIS 8
CHA 8
Passive Perception: 9
Skills: Investigation +4, Athletics +5
Multiattack (Makes two spear attacks)
Spear: +5 to hit, 1D6 + 2 piercing damage
Sentinel: (As the feat)

Remember, player characters have much higher stats and additional capabilities compared to the average person. If you don't want these guys to outshine your PCs, give them lower capabilites than your PCs.

[Unoriginal]

Just use the veteran stat block from the MM?

Too strong for this purpose, I think, especially if they're 2. Veterans have 9 HD and multiattacks.

You could take two Thugs statblock and give them different equipment.


Personally I advise to base them on Nobby and Colon from Discworld, because it would be fun as hell.

[Citan]

I need help making 2 guards that will help the players, the players are level 6 and i want to make the guards competent in fights but weaker than the players.

my players are a paladin, a wizard, a storm cleric and a barbarian

the setting for the campaign is a city completely overrun by undead due to a lich's revenge against the town.

Any ideas?
It depends a bit on how you usuallly manage DMPC, or if players are ready to manage NPC themselves.

If you are familiar with the DMPC, I'd concur with the Champions's Fighter suggestions. Always helpful, don't bear any big tactical responsibility, can easily be managed in a "shared" way with players giving broad orders and you acting in consequence...

You could also safely manage a Life Cleric yourself: if you are afraid his CD would be frowned upon by your player, just say he already used it before joining the party (that could even be an actual lie, because the Cleric want to keep it for desperate situations). Beyond that, just make him focus on Bless, Sanctuary, Healing Words, Warding Bond, Aid, Enhance Ability, Blindness, Guiding Bolt. I'm pretty sure your Storm Cleric player will be actually glad someone takes the "buffer" chore from him so he can have fun and use his thematic spells or self-buff or whatever...
And you can make him more or less obedient depending on your taste and party needs, without ever taking their spotlight.

If your players are ready for a somewhat "micro-management", then I'd say really anything would do but more particularly...
- War Cleric: war = understands the need of respecting the chain of command. Otherwise, a Cleric that players can play however they want, including buffing themselves. ;)
- Battlemaster: also the kind of character that supposedly would have no trouble obeying orders, could use a manoeuver to give an extra attack to the smiting Paladin, or a manoeuver to help Barbarian reach a good position.
- Long Death Monk: just spam the Fear (*ahem*: just thinking, aren't undead immune to frightened in fact, making this suggestion a very bad one?).
- Land Druid: Healing Words, Plant Growth, Longstrider, Enhance Ability, Pass Without Trace...
These are all characters that would be a solid addition to the party and can be equally well managed solely by DM, shared (party orders strategy, you implement it) or solely by players (although for Monk and Druid, I wonder why they would agree to obey blindly but I'm sure you can find an explanation ;)).

Also, the most important thing...
Unless these are supposed to be potential replacements for players to control later, you really don't need to create full-fledged class characters. Especially if you end managing them (as in: being the one looking at their sheet and keeping count of HP/slots/features).
Just pick HP, AC, movement, one strong save, and spells you want usable if casters.

[Zman]

Just make them Champion Fighters with half the PC's XP. Champions are the easiest to run, and at half xp they keep up kind of thanks to bounded accuracy, but won't really overshadow the PCs.

[Nifft]

I need help making 2 guards that will help the players, the players are level 6 and i want to make the guards competent in fights but weaker than the players.

my players are a paladin, a wizard, a storm cleric and a barbarian

The party is:
- Paladin (tank)
- Wizard (what kind?)
- Storm Cleric (tank)
- Barbarian (tank)

They've got 3/4 tanks, and one Wizard.

They don't need extra GMPC tanks.

[smcmike]

Why do you want to use these NPCs anyways? I can think of some good reasons, but "to help the PCs in fights" isn't very convincing. Four is a big enough party that they shouldn't need any padding.

Some good uses for DMPC allies:

Redshirts - killing NPCs is a bit transparent, but it's sometimes better than nothing.

Guides - sometimes you just need to tell the players some stuff.

Henchmen - giving the players someone to boss around can solve a lot of problems. Sometimes you just need someone to watch the horses, you know? Competent DMPCs are good for this sort of task, allowing the party to do mundane off-screen activity without taking up much table time.

Traitors/hostages/secret villains in disguise - humble henchmen as plot points.