PCs as Special
From Tab Wiki
I've always had issues with the idea that PCs are mechanically special and seperated from other characters in a role-playing game world (namely, NPCs). It seems to me that player characters--being people in the game world--should operate just like other people in that game world. Maybe it's just a bit of my Simulationist side coming through, or maybe it's just an assumption that I've built up from my many early years playing the Trystell RPG (where PCs are treated just like any other character), but PCs being mechanically different annoys me.
But first let me define what I mean by "Mechanically Different". By this phrase I mean that PCs operate under mechanics that are unavailable to NPCs. For example, in D&D there exist both a "normal" array of ability scores (to give to NPCs) and an "elite" array of ability scores (to give to PCs). The idea here is to give PCs a better set of ability scores than most characters, because the PCs are bigger and better. But wait. Doesn't D&D already have a level system as the way of mechanically measuring what characters are bigger and better? Why yes, it does. So why then does the system need an elite array? If the game is designed to have player characters be bigger and better than most, why not simply make them higher level?
Having characters of higher level than most, in this case, doesn't annoy me like elite arrays, because even NPCs can go out and gain XP and raise levels and theoretically gain the same bigger and better-ness as the PCs. This is similar to Vampire in that while PCs in Vampire may be bigger and better than most normal humans, those same NPC humans always have the potential of gaining the Vampire template if they are embraced. And both vampires and humans can gain experience the same way. On the other hand, PCs and NPCs in Vampire still gain experience for different things.
Another aspect where PCs and NPCs often differ mechanically in role-playing games lies with social skills. In GURPS, D&D and many other games, if a PC tries to infulence an NPC with the Diplomacy skill (or the equivalent) then the NPC mechanically has to act based on the result of the skill roll. But if the NPC has a high Diplomacy and wishes to infulence the PCs in the same way, then in most systems that I know of, the rules will not allow for it.
Granted, I can see how it could be annoying to be told by the mechanics that your character is being persuaded by an NPC when you as a player are not, but without a way for NPCs to socially manipulate PCs mechanically some of the illusion that PCs are really part of the world breaks down.
--Thorin
