Giving the players control of the monsters.

[DMDark]

So my next session in tomorrow and the party find themselves against 9 things. 8 of them juststandard and 1 leader. They've also convinced an NPC to be with them and they also have an animal companion and an eidolon which gives me 12 things to control. Now I'm fully capable of making quick decisions and adding the rolls up but in hindsight I feel having 75% of the turn being me doing things might leave too much down time.

I'm thinking of allowing the Druid and Summomer to control their minions and give each player 2 of the standard monsters to control. I think it will be interesting to see how the group reacts and how challenging they make the fight for themselves. It'll be nice to see if they choose their own characters as targets or do they choose the NPC. Hell they might decide a mutiny is in order and attack the leader.

If nothing else it's certainly an experiment and should be a good laugh!

Opinions wanted as ever. Is this a terrible idea? Does this break immersion? Should I add special rules they must follow? Should I suggest it to the group instead of just giving them control? Or was this an amazing idea (from another poster in this forum, don't give me credit)?

Thanks in advance!

[Lastexile0]

I've had DMs in previous games do this. Heck, it's even a standard, unspoken house rule in two separate groups I have that we control all of our own summons, companions, and NPCs.

[EWHM]

I pretty commonly use 'guest stars' to control major NPCs and direct that NPCs minions. This has proven over the years to be a really effective way to involve some of the 'old guard', who frequently have too many family and career obligations for a steady gaming habit.

[Drachasor]

We tend to let people control their summons. It tends to make things run faster -- assuming they are familiar with the summons and prepared.

[Poldaran]

Lastexile0 wrote:

I've had DMs in previous games do this. Heck, it's even a standard, unspoken house rule in two separate groups I have that we control all of our own summons, companions, and NPCs.

That's how we do it as well for anything that isn't a mindless creature(usually any uncontrolled swarms).

And I've had players control the enemies before, though I usually only do that if the players feel the need to split the party, thus giving them something to do. That said, in most cases, I actually do have players do the rolling for pretty much all enemies except BBEGs after I decide what they're going to do. One player will do the rolling and the other will add up damage on the calculator.

[Psion-Psycho]

In the games i play we go by a house rule of what ever is urs u control. Saves a lot of paperwork for the DM and players usually hold back a tad on what they do because they have to do the paper work themselves. Obviously DM gives it a once over to make sure every thing is in check but when it comes down to it the person summoning the mob of wolfs and/or controlling the hordes of undead are the ones that positions, roll, and calculate what they do other wise the DM will be bogged down with to much to do.

[Tempestorm]

I wasn't aware it was any kind of house rule. I can't recall any game where the DM has controlled my animal companions or my summons. Now the occasional interjection if they feel the companion does something of it's own volition is quite common. These are usually role play interaction type stuff... but they don't "run" them (i.e. roll the dice, decide who they attack, etc.).

The DM doesn't roll the dice for my sword or decide what spell I'm going to cast so they don't run my animal companion either. They have enough to do.

So, obviously it is my advice that of course you should let them run THEIR animal companion and eidolon... they are theirs after all.

That all being said, having the players roll the dice for you for a few of the bad guys can be helpful. I have done this in the past. Another quick way is to simply make a lot of rolls in advance, in order, and just tick them off down the line as you use them.

[Rynjin]

Yeah, it'd really make it a lot easier on you if Eidolons, Animal Companions/Familiars, and NPCs/Cohorts were largely controlled by your players.

Most of those are their class features after all, especially the Eidolon.

Besides the ease of play factor, I've never felt comfortable doing so myself.

[DMDark]

Thanks for the advice! I will certainly relinquish control of the companions and give that back to the players. I love the idea of a guest star. Might have to see if that is a possibility with some of my mates! Thank you for the advice.

With them controlling the monsters I think it will be a less frequent thing. it's just because they're so many! I just hope they don't do silly things like force AoO every turn. Still should be interesting.