Do You Build As You Go?

I play in one game where I am controlling two characters (a Warmage and a Fighter/Cleric). I am the only one doing this and I have found it really keeps my interest in the game - previously I would get bored with one character and be itching to try something new. I also almost always DM so i am used to controlling 3+ NPCs in social situations. That said i have tried something a little different. Normally I do not plan anything out and go with the flow of the game to determine what my character learns. This time I decided to plan out the warmage while leaving the Fighter/Cleric as my 'normal' PC. I have found it to be rather challenging as a player to do this. I decided to go for Green Star Adept (Complete Arcane) and started my Warmage looking for greenstar metal. This lead to a fun side quest in which the party races to the site of a 'fallen star' to see if there is any GSM there. It turned very dangerous as a Vrock was digging around the site and we were nearly killed! My warmage, in gratitude for the party helping her, forfeited her share of the treasure save for a 1 pound lump of green star metal. It was a fun side quest that never would have come about if I hadn't had my character planned out. Working with the DM in this case brought out some excellent encounters (we had to trek through heavy forest and even visit a Inn that had been nearly destroyed in a previous adventure).

Hobo said:

I usually don't have a firm plan in mind in the first place. Luckily for me, I have always had GMs who are willing to work with me if I feel the need to change direction mid-stream; I can swap out some older feats or whatever if needed to qualify for a prestige class if suddenly it occurs to me that I want to.

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Yeah. I try to do that for my players, as well. I don't want to encourage a salad bar approach, but I've changed directions in mid-stream and if they're serious about it, then I want them to reach what they're looking for.

As for the original question, none of my plans actually survive for very long once I'm in-game.

I personally don't plan too much for my character's future. I kinda look ahead about two levels, if that, but for the most part, I've had enough twists and turns in a campaign that planning for the future often doesn't prove fruitful.

Just along for the ride,
Flynn

I prefer not to metagame my character's development before it is actually played. Other than initial choice of class, race, alignment, etc. all character building is in response to in-game activity.

Well I had a plan to build a cleric who was focusing on being a generalist. As a result. I took two knowledges, heal and concentration with a few ranks in spellcraft and 2 ranks in profession(merchant)(its a long story) and rolled with it, taking extra turning, Divine Ward, Empower and Improved turning and Quicken spell and nothing but cleric levels. I had planned it all i nadvnace and with the exeption of the order of two feats played exactly as I had planned it.

By contrast, I had a cleric who was gambler, who wound up in a owrld where divine magic disappeared so he became a bard and eventually a very odd take on divine prankster to fit with his free-wheeling style and comedic interludes(i had been RPing them ifigured skill ranks would be appropriate. Then i was shown DP? )

I build my characters for the moment, and then as the game progresses, I will tweak them with a little of this and a little of that till I end up with something I like.

Some hazy middle-ground.

I frequently stat out some 20 level builds when I'm first creating a character, to get an idea of how much I can cram in what with pre-requisites and such, or get an idea about how many levels I should limit myself to if I want to pick up this feature on a multiclass or whatnot.

That rarely survives intact, however. Mostly, I try to start a character that will work towards an archetype or interesting gimmick by level 10, and then just keep my planning 3-4 levels out as I actually play.

For instance, I've got a rogue/swashbuckler who will be taking levels of thief acrobat as a from-the-rigging fighting pirate. That's a concept that is mostly nailed down mechanically around level eight or nine, so as long as I keep an eye on getting my prereqs taken care of, I've got plenty of fiddle room to chuck a "planned" feat for something that I come up short and think would be useful in game, or tweaking exactly what my level balance of rogue/swashbuckler is, etc.

Or my brand new scout/barbarian with whom I decided I'd like to finally get around to trying out a Complete Warrior tactical feat with, and so will probably take Raptor School along with slippers of spider climb in a heavy dungeoneering campaign. So far, that's about all I've pre-determined. The math on a raging, skirmishing, death from above power attack looks decent enough to survive, so what else I pick up to complement it doesn't really concern me and we'll see what happens.

I almost always have some sort of plan. Sometimes the characters follow that plan; sometimes they don't.

I always have a plan.

Sometimes it's a general plan ("Best Swordsman in Sarlona").

Sometimes it's a specific plan ("Warblade 1 / Fighter 1-2 / Warblade 2-6, taking these feats and those maneuvers, and then...")

Cheers, -- N

All good stories have characters that change and evolve, they never start out exactly as they were. I love adapting my character to the joys and pains they experience along the way.