Crutch Character: Difference between revisions

 

A specific form of [[The Ace]]. See also [[Overrated and Underleveled]] and [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards]]. Contrast with [[Magikarp Power]] and [[One Man Party]]. This character often acts as the EXP version of [[So Long and Thanks For All the Gear]].

{{examples}}

 

== First-Person Shooter ==

 

 

* Prince Rurik of ''[[Guild Wars]]'' escorts the party of PCs and, if so desired, NPC henchmen on a number of missions. Given that he's level 10 and never changes that, he's quite useful when your character is level three and, well, peters off after that. {{spoiler|Then, quite naturally, he bites the dust. Who didn't see that one coming?}}

** Heroes, introduced in ''Nightfall'' and further in ''Eye of the North'', act as customisable henchmen and veritable Crutch Characters. Each hero fills out a single party slot, but have access to any skills that your ''account'', rather than character, has unlocked. For Elonan characters (characters that start in the ''Nightfall'' campaign), ''Nightfall'' heroes are generally introduced at comparative levels to yours, but ''Eye of the North'' heroes are all max level, and you can get them at a level as low as 10 (half the level [[Cap]]). Heroes are useful throughout the Prophecies campaign, as the henchmen available to you only hit the level cap near enough three-fourths of the way through the game.

* In ''[[Dungeon Maker]]'', after the first dungeon you get a pet Mimic Slime. It's great early on because it copies the stats of enemies, but while you get steadily more powerful, the slime does not, and eventually its stats will stop growing altogether.

* In the ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' DLC ''Dead Money'', Dean Domino, despite not being the strongest of the three companions, is easily the most useful. His companion perk allows you to explore the denser concentrations of poisonous clouds without taking damage (temporarily), which is essential if you want to find everything, and he's the only one with a gun. Since there are only three enemies in the DLC, only one of which can shoot back (and even then only five times), he's basically a killing machine if you're not boxed in. The only reason he isn't a total [[Game Breaker]] is because he (and the rest of your companions) disappears about halfway into the main quest.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* The pen and paper RPG ''[[Mekton Zeta]]'' has options for Rookie and Veteran characters. Veteran characters start with higher skills, but gain experience half as fast as Rookies. The Game Master's section even includes helpful advice on how Veterans tend to die or retire halfway through a series to let the younger protagonists take the lead...

* Not so rare; [[Dungeons & Dragons]] had a similar addition of this type of character. Often called an 'Advanced NPC' by 2nd Edition rules or in more modern terms 'The Over Powered NPC' -- a DM can run a pre-generated character who starts at least 3 levels or more higher then the party of players, has high level spells, equipment, abilities, skills, psychic powers, etc, and often leaves either early on, dies off fast, or only helps to a point.

 

== Third-Person Shooter ==

* The Zuul of ''[[Sword of the Stars]]'' appear to be this at first. They have several advantages: Their ships start out cheap, faster both tactically and strategically and better-armed than most races'. They can take slaves, depriving an enemy world of population while driving up their own production. Having to [[Planet Looters|overharvest]] means they can build up early money fast. '''However!''' They are a subversion who hew much closer to [[Difficult but Awesome]]. See that page for more details.

 

 

== Non Video Game Examples ==

 

{{reflist}}