Reading all of people's experiences with DMPCs has given me a great idea for a mini-campaign. The PCs are down-on-their-luck adventurers who have been reduced to working as sidekicks for a "great hero" who's really a self-aggrandizing buffoon. They have to follow him around on quests making sure he doesn't get killed and looks like he actually vanquished the monsters or what have you. In other words, the PCs have to do the work ordinarily provided by a DMPC's Plot Armor.
Hell, they could even be hirelings to a whole party of of such glory-hounds, bailing them out when they inevitably get themselves imperiled with their terrible ideas. Each member could parody a recognizable DMPC-stereotype:
- Edgelord so the DM can show off his DPR-maxxed Hexblade/Sorcerer/Paladin whatever.
- Fun Police / Plot Rails Enforcer.
- Exposition fountain because the DM doesn't trust you to read the setting notes.
- Uncomfortable manifestation of the DM's erotic fantasies.