It is my personal opinion that NPC's are as valuable as player's main characters. They can have amazing personality, and amazing effects on the stories when used properly. It's my personal opinion that such characters are often overlooked, when they can give you an amazing ability to add flavor to a scene -- especially when they're re-occuring NPCs. (Like a shop keeper you see once a week when buying groceries for your larder).. or a serving wench you like at the local tavern.

 

It's my personal opinion that while NPCs should rarely* outshine a player's in offense (to keep the story from being driven by the NPC's)-- they should generally be considered to have as much defense (read as: be as hard to kill as), and have as much desire to live as 'Main Characters.' This makes your character's small triumphs over that half-orc barbarian that was beating your ass in the bar far more dramatic. (Although losing to the half-orc barbarian in a fist fight and making him a re-occuring NPC that beats your ass any time you bump into him could be as amazing as Family Guy's epic Peter/Chicken Fights. Both walk into the street-- eyes narrow... 'Dun-Dun-Duuuun'.. haha. )

 

*It's perfectly fine for an NPC closely associated with your own character to be as bad-ass as another person's Main Character if your main character isn't that bad-ass.. like The Hound following Jeoffery around in Game of Thrones. Jeoffery isn't a bad-ass. So he needs to keep one close.

 

If I have an experienced guardsman I include in my RP's? I'll be disappointed if you try to one-shot him with god-moding and move on as if he's already dead in the same post and if I feel it's narritively appropriate, I will allow the NPC a proper defense and I may even have him turn around suspiciously as you try to sneak up on him -- and take a warding swipe at your face to spoil the sneak attack, just for being boorish.

 

If you murder him or anyone's (main or alternate) characters? I expect other characters in the RP to take his death as seriously as that of player characters that are more central to the plot. They're very likely to savagely kill your character in reprisal if they valued him.

 

Nayleen? She might be indifferent to his death. But then? She might be indifferent to a main character's death too.. ;)  She can't tell the difference between your character, and an NPC whore, farmer, mercenary milk-maid, or Nobleman/woman or whatever. They're all just humans (or elves, or whatever) to her.

 

You will probably never see Nayleen go full-ham, trying to hack her way through 3 armed and armored NPC's similtaneously, unless she has a *really* good plan (or better yet a trap) she spent time setting up. See Tiers for more info~

 

Very Respectfully,

   -- The Dominant Drowess