Adventuring with lower level NPCs

[BlackOnyx]

Though taking on dangerous quests with low level NPCs in tow is usually not the best decision in practice, if a party were to do so, what are some general practices/methods that would help:

(A) prevent NPC death

and

(B) keep the NPC's presence from hampering the party's progress?

To narrow down the options available, let's assume a party in the early game (levels 3-6) and a relatively untrained NPC (i.e. commoner) somewhere around level 1 or 2.

[SLOTHRPG95]

Keep them hidden/in full cover as often as possible. But also, care to elaborate on why said party is towing around low-level Commoners in the first place?

[Demidos]

At the high level end of that....get someone who can use a portable pit (50 foot deep 10x10 square, 3.6k usable only by restricted alignments) and lug them around inside that?

At the low end, buy them tower shields and tell them to hide behind them for full cover. A chain shirt can also be tossed on top of that, and along with the total defense action they should have quite respectable AC and would probably be ignored in favor of real threats if they're cowering in the corner. (AC = 1 dex + 4 total defense + 4 tower shield + 4 chain shirt = 23!)

They can also act as potion carriers or other similar things with their remaining move actions, or can chauffer around the party fighter to enable full attacks using talisman of the disk (500 gp summons a floating force disk) with their move actions, which actually makes them moderately valuable instead of a drain!

[BlackOnyx]

Keep them hidden/in full cover as often as possible.

Sensible advice.


But also, care to elaborate on why said party is towing around low-level Commoners in the first place?

Beguiler seems to have incidentally beguiled (and subsequently grown fond of) a village girl encountered during our travels. She's quite bold, fairly clingy, and (per the DM) shows some potential for sorcery. (Cohort potential.)



...they should have quite respectable AC and would probably be ignored in favor of real threats if they're cowering in the corner. (AC = 1 dex + 4 total defense + 4 tower shield + 4 chain shirt = 23!)

That's...actually pretty substantial. Good call, there.


They can also act as potion carriers or other similar things with their remaining move actions, or can chauffer around the party fighter to enable full attacks using talisman of the disk (500 gp summons a floating force disk) with their move actions, which actually makes them moderately valuable instead of a drain!

Not a bad call either. Items that dispense summons (i.e. amulets of vermin) could be pretty useful too, in that sense.

[16bearswutIdo]

Keep them hidden/in full cover as often as possible. But also, care to elaborate on why said party is towing around low-level Commoners in the first place?

I didn't think it was possible for a party NOT to drag around low-level commoners. My group will always meet at least one NPC that they try to drag into their adventures. More often than not, it ends with the NPC dying a terrible, terrible death.

I think the only time it worked for them was this last time, when they used a random commoner girl to catch a werewolf serial killer because she fit the MO.

To the OP, based off your description of her, she'd probably try fighting if left to her own devices. Hand her a crossbow, tell her to stand back, and let the bolts fly until she starts letting magic missiles fly.

[liquidformat]

what are some general practices/methods that would help:
(A) prevent NPC death


Not using them to check for traps! Unless you are a bad guy and they are not an important npc, then use them for trap detection!

[tiercel]

Beguiler seems to have incidentally beguiled (and subsequently grown fond of) a village girl encountered during our travels. She's quite bold, fairly clingy, and (per the DM) shows some potential for sorcery. (Cohort potential.)

Not a bad call either. Items that dispense summons (i.e. amulets of vermin) could be pretty useful too, in that sense.

The tricky balance here is that with her personality, she will probably want to take some kind of active role in combat (even if it is buffing/support, rather than “cower taking full defense actions behind a tower shield” - at least most of the time).

1) If the DM is on board with developing the NPC into a cohort, then hopefully there will be a little bit of plot armor. Not so much that she will be immune from attack, but that the DM won’t go out of the way to target her (and, given an excuse, may go out of the way to not specifically target her).

The best way to help this along is to make sure that she *doesn’t* make herself a target, of course. I would argue that she really shouldn’t be making any kind of direct attacks (even with alchemical items, crossbow, etc) - not only will she have limited effectiveness, but it really does make her “fair game” for counterattacks. If she stays in back and does things which have little immediate visible effect, then there will be reasonably little reason for most intelligent foes to target her (and against unintelligent foes, it’s more of a matter of interposing another party member between her and threats).

2) If she “shows potential for sorcery” then maybe the beguiler’s player could fast-talk the DM into allowing her to activate spell-trigger items from the Wiz/Sor list, even if she can’t yet cast any sorcerer spells herself. With a low-level wand or two, she could then be handing out buffs and short-lived summons, while “getting some practice” being a sorceress (an in-game justification for her coming class change).

Again, I’d avoid any attack spells, but if she could throw out even Enlarge Person or Protection from Evil or Obscuring Mist or Unseen Servant or Floating Disk or Silent Image from a wand, she’ll already be a “mini-cohort” and justify either awarding her XP directly or just explain her “retraining” to a Sor1.

This could even shape the spell selection she is likely to take once she attains cohort status, to the extent that the player can choose/influence what spells (and general character build) she takes.

In particular, if the beguiler’s player is hoping for buff/support cohort, great (though presumably it would be desirable to have her cast spells that aren’t already on the Beguiler list) — though one could also play this off as even (once the right level is attained) just “snapping” into her preferred spellstyle, e.g. “I am so TIRED of these ‘helper’ spells — these things are trying to KILL YOU — I just.. just... LESSER ORB OF FIRE HAAAA!”

(Not that having a “blaster” cohort is necessarily an optimal choice — and brings up a whole new kettle of fish in “now how do I keep my Sor1 blasty cohort alive?” — but this kind of logic could apply to any sort of critical situation that leads to her actually attaining the Sorcerer class, i.e her Very First Spell is one that turns out to be the one that she needs in that critical situation.)

[BlackOnyx]

The tricky balance here is that with her personality, she will probably want to take some kind of active role in combat (even if it is buffing/support, rather than “cower taking full defense actions behind a tower shield” - at least most of the time).

Mm. I could see that happening the more she tags along, particularly if she starts to build confidence in her growing skills.



The best way to help this along is to make sure that she *doesn’t* make herself a target, of course.


If she stays in back and does things which have little immediate visible effect, then there will be reasonably little reason for most intelligent foes to target her (and against unintelligent foes, it’s more of a matter of interposing another party member between her and threats).

Good advice, for sure.

That said, the DM's fairly "equal opportunity" when it comes to choosing targets; he's a fan of consulting the dice when deciding who to open with. (Of course, your advice above still helps minimize the risk.)



Again, I’d avoid any attack spells, but if she could throw out even Enlarge Person or Protection from Evil or Obscuring Mist or Unseen Servant or Floating Disk or Silent Image from a wand, she’ll already be a “mini-cohort” and justify either awarding her XP directly or just explain her “retraining” to a Sor1.

To clarify a bit, the NPC probably won't end up as a technical cohort (i.e. at least as the feat describes). Leadership isn't usually available in our campaigns; NPC followers can only be gathered on the basis of roleplaying (with an occasional roll here or there).

Class and spell selection are likely to remain in control of the DM. (That said, items like wands could certainly be purchased on her behalf.)



In particular, if the beguiler’s player is hoping for buff/support cohort, great (though presumably it would be desirable to have her cast spells that aren’t already on the Beguiler list)

You bring up a good point. The beguiler is the only one who has trained her so far, but he's been giving her room to experiment. It'll be interesting to see what kind of magic style she takes on as a result.



“I am so TIRED of these ‘helper’ spells — these things are trying to KILL YOU — I just.. just... LESSER ORB OF FIRE HAAAA!”

Oh boy, an evoker cohort. Now that would make things interesting.

(That said, I could definitely see a scenario like that fitting right in with her character, haha.)



i.e her Very First Spell is one that turns out to be the one that she needs in that critical situation.)

Quite a few of us at the table (DM included) are pretty big on the roleplay. That sort of natural progression for spell selection is certainly appealing (even at the expense of practicality).