Quote:
Originally Posted by huffmuffin9
Yeah, the player is getting the x4 constantly there modifier, so it is going to be much more involved then I feel a patron might be which is why I was leaning towards ally. This is only my second time every playing GURPS (first fime as a player, now as a GM) so I had no idea that players weren't supposed to make their own allies.... we all did for the first campaign lol.
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It's not quite stated explicitly, but p. B36 says, "An NPC Ally, on the other hand, is
wholly reliable" in defining the Allies advantage. NPCs are normally made by the GM.
Other than textual interpretation, I think there are reasons to follow such a policy. The player makes the decisions for the PC (unless they have given up that right by taking a disadvantage with a self-control roll). But NPCs are different people. If you let the player make their decisions, too, then in effect one person is getting to play two characters and is getting double the camera time. And this also lets the player negate the Ally's independence by always making decisions that favor the PC. So I think it's better to have the GM run the Ally, like any other NPC. But it's easier to do this if the GM is the only one who knows everything that's on the Ally's character sheet, and the one who rolls against it, and the one who decides if the PC has pushed the Ally too far. You will also get more actual roleplaying out of the Ally if you have it talk back to the PC from time to time, which is easier to do if the GM has the Ally's character sheet in front of them. All in all, I feel that GM design and control of Allies just makes for a better flow of the game narrative.