Relationships in D&D

[Hey_I_Can_Chan]

I just had a character get married to an NPC in one of my games; I allowed it because not allowing it would have gone against setting and characters. Now, I am trying to write a balanced (read: dead-weight but not completely useless) NPC for that and was contemplating the consequences of the relationship for the character and the game.

There should not be a committed, long-term relationship between any D&D PC and an NPC who takes an NPC class or is 2 or more levels below the PC.

Seriously. Such things should be flings. Flings that can be killed, make the PC feel bad, motivate the PC to hunt down the killer, and then encourage her to find someone more on his level.

And when I say level, I'm serious. Having a regular, ol' commoner ball-and-chain is not a role-playing hook--it's the ball-and-chain's death. The adventurer's lifespan is measured in months. His enemies should be constantly looking for a way to hurt her. To have a commoner spouse (especially with the standard array when the PC routinely encounters beings with elite arrays) when the PC's a Wiz15 or whatever is like posting a sign on the spouse's back that says Kill Me.

However, if the person is in a position of power (usually, in NPC class terms, possessed of great wealth), then the spouse can afford protection while the PC's away, but there's nothing the PC can do if she's a Wiz15 and he's a Com1, except hope that he really likes tiny extradimensional spaces, because he's spending the rest of his married life in a fucking rope trick.

[Absentminded_Wizard]

Why is that useless (it's also the same as Karmic Twin)?

I assume it has something to do with giving a Charisma-penalized race a bonus to Charisma-based rolls. That and the fact that the other benefit is only likely to be useful if the other twin is also a PC.

Of course, if Karmic Twin can be taken by any race, it might be marginally useful.

[Maj]

I checked the wording of the two feats. Karmic Twin can be taken by any race and adds +2 to Charisma checks - including skill checks. Which is obscenely better than skill focus. It can be taken by any race, too. Thunder Twin isn't so good.

[JonSetanta]

Thunder Twin isn't so good.

Right. It's ass. Why it was even made is beyond me.

These kinds of RP rewards should stay where they belong; in RP.
No actual combat advantage should be sacrificed for these relationship-bonuses.

[Absentminded_Wizard]

Well, upon re-examination, Thunder Twin probably gives bonuses to the same stuff Karmic Twin does, though the wording is kind of vague. Its biggest problem is that it can only be taken by a Charisma-challenged race, making it only an effective +1 compared to the average character.

Of course, Karmic Twin is actually going to be more than marginally useful to certain kinds of characters now that I look at it with more sleep. The problem with giving such broad mechanical rewards for backstory elements is that it encourages "special" plots to happen all the time. If people game the system at all during character creation, every bard and sorcerer PC will have a twin in campaigns that feature Karmic Twin.

[Maj]

Of course, Karmic Twin is actually going to be more than marginally useful to certain kinds of characters now that I look at it with more sleep. The problem with giving such broad mechanical rewards for backstory elements is that it encourages "special" plots to happen all the time. If people game the system at all during character creation, every bard and sorcerer PC will have a twin in campaigns that feature Karmic Twin.

Yep.

[Caedrus]

You could always have a Key Traits sort of system, where you gain a useful resource when a trait is used against you, and expend it in order to invoke a trait in an advantageous way. This can apply to all kinds of things, not just marriage.