Character Concept

So I have this somewhat goofy idea for a character. I was kind of thinking of something in the vein of an NPC that the players pick up in a situation where they have to bring this bystander along with them, or they (the NPC) almost assuredly just die. Or perhaps kind of a follower that won't get the fuck away from them. Just someone, a normal person, that ends up tagging along with the party. It would definitely be a bit of a change from the undying combat monstrosity that Kethranmeer is.

The concept behind the character is that he would be a commoner, just a person that the players run in to during their adventures. Maybe in a bar or something. He spends most of his time screaming or crying or just generally being terrified and whatnot. Eventually a point would come where everyone is occupied and there is stuff going on during the battle and he is forced to do something other than bystand. So he picks up a flagon or a bench or something and starts beating people with it to help out.

He would be centered around the Pathfinder feats for improvised weapons and he would kind of just run around going "Yikes!" and lobbing rocks at enemies or bashing them into people's heads while the players occupy their attention. I really like the feel of those improvised weapon feats and it is a fun idea for a character I think. Someone who is totally unprepared for combat and still manages to have some effect on his surroundings.

He wouldn't have a player class starting out, despite being the same level as the players. I have an idea that he would start out with levels in Commoner. As the campaign progressed the goal would be for the players to kind of help him out and teach him and form a bond of friendship or something with him to help keep him alive. They so rarely interact with NPCs on a regular basis (even Kethranmeer) that it would be a growing experience for all of us.

As the players helped him and interacted with him, he would upgrade. Perhaps something in the vein of converting his levels in Commoner to Warrior and then to Fighter. Perhaps he'd go down a different path if they just ignored him and let him survive on his own. I haven't decided on that yet. The gist of it is that he would maintain the improvised weapon/punches thing throughout his career, but as the players help him he would become more of an asset to the team.

I think it is kind of a neat idea and I think I'll try it for the next campaign arc. The difficult thing is that the players are not terribly caring individuals. Even their character backgrounds have most of them as self-centered individuals with only their goals and survival in mind. I have a difficult time coming up with a reason why they would bring such an individual along with them on their adventures, other than because I ask them to. Also, why won't this individual just pick up a sword or mace and start busting heads?

I have some ideas about how to go about this, and they work nicely with some events going on right now that are only tangentially related to the whole rebellion idea. I should be able to make it work, but we'll see. We're adding Sean into the mix for the next campaign arc, and Jeff may rejoin us after his three scenario absence, so we may have too many people as is. If the party is too big, an NPC might be unnecessary, and I'm not going to negatively impact game time just because I have a story in my head that needs to be tied up.