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In Enemies Of My Enemy Mr. Baur gives the option to provide the players with the stats for the new won allies of the PCs (Iggwilv, Malcathet, Orcus) and to let them run these in the encounter with Major Enderan.
The same is mentioned in the scene in Feedgut where the players can decide the actions of the aspect of Obox-ob.
I was quite surprised to see this option and I'd like to know if DMs around here actually plan on offering this option to their players.
We are not that far into STAP yet, but I'd like to hear some thoughts on this (or even reports on how this worked for your group if you've already gotten this far).
As I first read this I felt hesistation to offer this to my players because I think it gives away too much about these mighty NPCs.
What should be the benefits to the game when the players get to know the full stats for these NPCs?
Mr. Baur states that it could be interesting for the players to see what their new found allies are capable of, but wouldn't they get an insight as well, when these characters are handled by the DM?
Sure, they wouldn't get the full scope and this is the point.
I think in terms of suspende and tension it would be unwise to reveal everything about these mysterious and powerful characters.
I think it would be kinda lame, if the players learned about the specific powers, abilities and "weaknesses" of these guys, just for one encounter.
I can only see drawbacks to this option and nearly no benefits...
So, what do you think about this?
I'd keep them as DM NPCs. I did decide to mess with my players at one point (once I'd gotten Enemies of my Enemies) and had them fight Iggwilv's familiar as a joke. I didn't drop her name specifically, but they got annoyed that an imp could hit them and they couldn't even touch it save on a 20. When I mentioned it had past a hundred hit points, they seemed dumb founded and then one player piped up "Well if they were following the chart in the PHB for familiar progression... that wizard would be past level 30!"
I just chuckled a bit.
Of course this was before one player decided to have a new character that's an Ogre War Hulk -_-
~ Bryon ~
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I can see benefits:
It allows the PLAYERS the opportunity to play some really powerful creatures. That can be fun and, correct me if I am wrong, thats the point of the game. While it does "reveal" these creatures stats to the players, if you anticipate the PC's fighting these powerful paragons of the abyss, they will likely still get their collective arses handed them despite the fact that they know all the stats.
My players will probably think twice about crossing these beings after seeing their stats and playing them. This serves to keep the players focused on the BBEG, and not the "minor" players in this drama.
The benefit of handing out these powerful NPCs is that, in a scene with a bunch of NPCs fighting each other, the players are side-lined and likely to get really bored.
You could probably consolidate the NPCs down to a single simplified page each, prior to handing them out. If you can still find them, the character sheets for last year's GenCon Delve (20th level PCs vs. the Gargantuan Black Dragon or Colossal Red Dragon) are a great example of this. Basically, only provide the info that a player would need in order to play that NPC for the fight: Saves, Hit Points, Movement rate, Attacks, a handful of spells and/or special abilities most likely to be used.
If this doesn't fit your group's gaming style, that's okay too, but if you run the NPCs yourself, just make sure that you don't marginalize the PCs (who should be the center of attention for the campaign) in scenes where these NPCs get involved. For example, you could keep most of that action out of center stage, and just announce the highlights of what is being accomplished, rather than rolling all the NPC actions.
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Well, I don't think that I'll even involve these big guys in any of the PC's fights (at least not in EOME. I haven't gotten the last installment of the AP yet. Maybe the end-fight involves these characters, but I doubt it because it would, as the previous poster mentioned, reduce the PCs to side-characters).
If they'd seriously need help against the Major and his comrades, I'll let one of their allies send a less powerful minion to aid them, I think.