I am DMing a homebrew campaign for a group of beginners/novices and one veteran player.
We began about a year and a half ago, they are level 6.
Until they hit level 4-5ish they had a helper NPC in the form of a Tiefling Psychic who's fiendish and psychic powers I could keep deliberately vague to make her useful seeming but not very influential in combat. As they progressed I slowly phased her out of the story more and more and eventually she stopped being a presence altogether.
I even OC explained that she was mostly there for some narrative hooks and combat training wheels at the start.
Despite that however, two party members want a support NPC again, both in and out of combat, one party member just wants another regular cast member to talk to and the last party member, the veteran is against a support NPC.
I myself agree with him (the veteran player) but we're having a proper discussion about it tonight.
I found out about this AFTER the players confessed this is what they were doing when they spent an entire session in a tavern talking up bards under the leadership of one of the two strongly pro-support npc players and argued a bard is a relatively subtle influence on combat impact and are now trying to actively recruit a joke character I pulled off the top of my head after needing something for a 1off scene.
Anyway what I'm looking for advice wise is this:
Suggestions for NPC types, classes, intelligent magic items etc that might help.
Preferably something simple that can take care of themselves or doesn't need active looking after and doesn't just stack a bunch of floating combat benefits like a Bard.
Unfortunately disembodied necromancer spirit trapped in a jar is off the table as I have used that one in a previous campaign.
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Just support and nothing else?
Sure it's time to use the most support oriented archetypes...the squires archetypes (oh boy are they terrible but it's just for support anyway):
Combat Healer Squire (Paladin Archetype): 100% Bandaid and top of it, a paladin, so can be the boy scout and very nice guy.
Weapon Bearer Squire (Fighter archetype): He picks up items for the party members and help them retrieve items without provoking attack of opportunities. It's like the ultimate servant/butler.
Blazing torchbearer (Alchemist archetype): I heard you like support? This is what support look like. No more discussion on who carries the torch in dungeons.
Squires eah? That sounds promising, I'll have a look.
Yes low-powered is fine or even preferable, it is supposed to be the PC's show after all.
Their party composition is:
Conjuration Wizard
Str-build Monk
Ninja
Reach Weapon Hunter with a tanky animal companion.
A bard is a very powerful buffer -- I am also against that as a support NPC (unless you let the players take Leadership in which case they can recruit one), mostly because inspire courage will be on pretty much all the time in combat if the bard is even vaguely well-built.
What sort of support do they want? My default support NPC is a healbot cleric of Irori, most of whose feats are devoted to self-excellence and survival (Dodge, save boosts, etc.) and whose goal in life is to develop the players as excellent heroes -- so he just supports them in their goals without being too suggestive. Could be powerful if the players work with him, otherwise just maintains basic buffing and healing spells in his selection.
Maybe a djinni lamp is in order? Not around all the time, can have any ability you want it to have (and it cannot grant a wish).
I created once a magic sword named Dark Dreamer. It was empathic, not intelligent, and granted 3 minor spells for the wielder to cast. But it had one hidden ability: it would grant any wish of the wearer, if it was spoken aloud in the presence of the blade (preferably starting with "I wished..."). Those wishes were granted in roundabout ways, often arranging events to bring about the desired result. If the player ever tried to make a wish as the spell (i.e. he must have become suspicious), the sword would immediately grant it and vanish. On th enext night of a new moon the owner would get one chance to retrieve it by succeeding in a dream quest.
Maybe a wandering monk who is in reality an extraplanar being with spell-like abilities is an option. It would simulate a wandering healer with them, maybe under a vow of poverty (just that or the ability from 3.5). It removes the problems with a fully classed NPC and you can tailor what it can do and how (or if) it advances. Can be combined with a background story to give the roleplayers a hook too.
I don't like classed NPCs as party members and keep the focus on the PCs. Combat alone is a good reason not to have more characters at hand, it takes long enough as is. There is also the problem with treasure and gear, which can be more easily avoided with objects or a disguised monster, who doesn't need it.
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After a frank discussion with the party members they told me they don necessarily need one fixed NPC, just want one tagging along every now and then during a story arc.... so I may end up using several of the ideas posted so far.
Thanks for all the suggestions, you've all been quite helpful.