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I run a DMPC only when the party is lacking a VERY serious role (healer or tank, mostly). I cut them no loot, and they always have low low low scores, usually five point build below the rest of the group. They level behind the party, and they never "shine" because I don't let them. The players are there for that.
I try to avoid this as much as possible though.
absolutely, nothing wrong with it. You just don't want the game to become all about you (your DMPC)
Generally you want to stick with support role characters. Also keeping them a level below the rest of the party is a good idea.
Classes like the Bard are good choices. You are enhancing the actual players abilities rather then solving things for them.
Or playing a squire to the Pc's Paladin or Cavalier.
I would recommend avoiding playing the healer though. Simply because that makes you the person that is both taking away their HP, and restoring their HP. It's too much control and makes any pc death that occurs far more your fault in the player's eyes.
Same for the rogue, It's very odd to be finding your own traps, and suspicious when you fail.
It's also a good idea to rotate npcs that join the party. Have one join for a section of the adventure and then leave when another joins.
For example in my current campaign the party(4th level) has been hired by a dwarven merchant(ranger) to act as guards for his caravan. He stays in the back and uses a crossbow to take pot shots when a fight breaks out. But he doesn't attack every round, and he doesn't run into melee. That's what he is paying the pcs to do.
For me, one of the best parts of playing the game, is finding out the twists and turns of the story, discovering things. Obviously I like killing monsters, solving puzzles, dealing with social situations, but its really important for me to experience figuring all that out. I cant do that obviously if I'm dming.
As a DM i like presenting the story and letting the players take it where they want, and one of the biggest joys is seeing what they come up with (which is never what I thought of). If I control a character who should theoretically have significant input into party choices, I lose some of that too.
Basically, it depends on what you like about the game. For me, DM npcs arent a good idea unless like my group has done sometimes, you rotate dming every couple sessions and the dmnpcs become pcs from time to time.
I'm planning to run an NPC that is 'my character' for my next campaign, and the basic idea will be that this NPC needs to stay behind the other PCs. She won't put suggestions forward on how to proceed, and she won't be searching anything unless they ask. This NPC will not spoil anything for the players.
This is partially because the plan is to switch GMs after each story arc (we're not doing an AP), and run a series of short adventures where each one runs for only a few levels. When the GM switches, I'll have a PC and their PC becomes an NPC.
I have played like that before and it worked out really well for us as a group. We had 3GMs who all worked together and who were all truest by the other players.
I nearly always have a primary NPC in games I run who travels with the party so that I have a voice in party decisions. It has allowed me to remind them of things they have forgotten between sessions, or that happens weeks ago in real time, but was only last week in game.
Because we don't swap GMs any more, I either have NPC class characters or un-optimised PC characters - with a lower point build than the rest of the party.
Just enough to step in when needed, but not good enough to be pushed to the front :)
absolutely, nothing wrong with it. You just don't want the game to become all about you (your DMPC)
Generally you want to stick with support role characters. Also keeping them a level below the rest of the party is a good idea.Classes like the Bard are good choices. You are enhancing the actual players abilities rather then solving things for them.
Having a DMPC does simplify info dumps. You can have a character extremely knowledgeable about the area and people, but not a dead weight that the PC's are tempted to use as a cheap trap detector. Rolling a knowledge check and having the DM telling you what your character knows can be a bit weird in an abstract way. Bards can also manipulate the situation well enough that you could adjust the difficulty of a fight as well.