Do You Build As You Go?

[Dragon Snack]

I like to plan out most of my advancement, but it always seems to change once the game actually starts.

I had a Rogue that I thought was going to be straight Rogue that ended up taking Barbarian and Fighter levels.

I also had a Halfling Cleric/Rogue that was planned as more of a Rogue, but the way it worked out only his first level was Rogue.

Other characters had only minor changes, but changes nonetheless...

 

[rgard]

I'm all over the place with this question.

I have mapped out a character's progression from 1st through 20th (it was an Ur-Priest/Wiz/MT build.) I had to be precise through 16th level in order to get the 9th Divine/9th Arcane spells at 20th level...I say through 16th, but levels 17-20 were open for Wiz or any Arcane PrC that had full caster progression.

In a different case, I rolled up a Swashbuckler and progressed through 3rd level (intending to go to 20th), but the party needed another Arcane blaster type so I multi-classed to Battle Sorcerer for 2 levels. I then decided 2 levels of Martial Rogue would be good for the 2 feats and evasion. Then went back to Battle Sorcerer and stayed on that track.

For another character, I started the character as a Druid, then the party Wiz got blown up so I mult-classed the character to Wizard then read the Arcane Hierophant PrC and decided to progress that way.

So for 66.6666666666666666666666667% of the time (using the above cases) I got sidetracked from my original intent.

That said, I really do prefer to play Arcane casters. I have since 1e when I started playing the game. So, it's fair to say that if I roll up an non-Arcane caster fully intending to run that character through 20th level, I suspect there will be a detour back to arcane casting at some point.

Thanks,
Rich

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Ceresco]

I usually start with a fairly concrete idea for character build through the first 5 levels. When my young adventurer enters the campaign he has specific goals and life plans that he wants to accomplish. But at each level increase I look back at what skills he's used the most, what kind of adventures he's been on, and make a descision based on those as to where I'll go from there.

Example: In the world of Arcanis there is a romanesque empire and instead of the NPC class Aristocrat, there is a Patrician PC base class that focuses on skills and influence. My Patrician PC is also a former member of the Legion of the Triumphant Rays of the Invincible Sun. When his adventuring career began he found himself relying on marital prowess far more than anything else, so he ended up with only 2 levels of Patrician and then 3 levels of Fighter.

Then came the Battle at Empebyn. Here he faced a foe of psionic might and was near death while many comrades left for Beltine's Couldren. He vowed to never be so vulnerable to powers of the mind again, and since he didn't have the ability to weild psionics himself, he dove into the field of arcane wizardry, looking for a magical edge to stand against such foes in the future.

He currently has 3 levels in Wizard and is working towards a PrC, Via Proeliatoris (Path of the Warrior). Since beginning his arcane studies he's found himself in conflict with Unbound Infernal for the most part. Will he look for a way to specialize in defeating this imminent threat of evil and abandon plans for entering Via Proeliatoris? It could very well happen.

I choose skills, feats and classes as organically as possible, depending on what has transpired over the last few adventures. I've met people who have planned out every skill, feat, stat-bump and PrC from levels 1-20. They enjoy what they play, and it must make leveling up easier than it is for me.

 

[megamania]

I generally have a plan but nothing specific.

I will either try to be psionic with fighting skills and see what happens. Sometimes I will be a psychic warrior.... other times a psion / cleric.

The DM often effects this through game world events and other times books / resources become availiable and I get the "I GOTTA TRY THIS" mind set.


hey- its like life.

I expected to become married, have my two kids and become a comicbook artist. Wife being either a nurse or a teacher.

instead I'm married, got my two kids and work two full time jobs of store clerk and factory worker with a wife that does housecleaning.

Not what I planned but I'm still happy.

 

[Cameron]

I usually have fairly static plans for my characters. Things like Warmage8/Rainbow Servant10/Sacred Exorcist2, even multiple prcs like Fighter1/Sorcerer6/Spellsword5/Abjurant Champion5/Knight Phantom3. Most of them are very specific, down to where the skill points go and what feats to take. In fact, I have a folder of such characters running around.

 

[rgard]

Can someone give an example of an event that changes the way someone would level up their PC due to events in the campaign from actual play that is significant? I've seen allocating skill points differently because of in game events, but generally nothing much more than that. Usually its something that people overlooked earlier, in my experience. The fighter player notices a feat he didn't see before or we realize how good something is that we previously thought was worthless. I don't think I've ever seen anyone take a level in a class they weren't planning to take from the get go, for example.

In my experience, it is sometimes due to changes in party composition. As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been in campaigns where the arcane specialist (wiz or sorcerer) dies or the player leaves. That leaves a gap in the party make up. In two situations, I dumped my PC's previous progression plan and multi-classed to arcane caster to pick up the slack.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Voadam]

I usually stay focused unless the campaign significantly changes. I usually play one class and stick with it. The character may change due to in game stuff but the mechanics usually stay the same.

The big exception is my eponymous character who has continued from one campaign to another, sometimes changing gaming systems.

Started off a 2e fighter myrmidon kit from a viking background with enough int to switch to wizard which he did after 3rd level when he had an opportunity to do so in game due to things he had done in game. Continued on until 20th level wizard. He got drafted as an NPC in a VtM game as a PC's background hunter and used stuff from that system. He started up again in 3e as a ranger (two weapon fighting) monk (he had learned 1e OA martial arts) wizard and then progressed into harper mage and loremaster. In 3.5 loremaster got ditched for eldritch knight and monk for just taking improved unarmed strike. After rifting into other campaigns with level losses he has been variously a gestalt ranger wizard, a UA variant barbarian wizard, and a ranger wizard again now in a core rules game.

 

[molonel]

Can someone give an example of an event that changes the way someone would level up their PC due to events in the campaign from actual play that is significant? I've seen allocating skill points differently because of in game events, but generally nothing much more than that. Usually its something that people overlooked earlier, in my experience. The fighter player notices a feat he didn't see before or we realize how good something is that we previously thought was worthless. I don't think I've ever seen anyone take a level in a class they weren't planning to take from the get go, for example.

Sure. For my longest running character, he came in as a dwarven Fighter 1, Barbarian 1, Cleric 1. I really didn't know what way I wanted to go with him. Just a basic tank. I figured I'd take a couple of levels each in barbarian and cleric, and go fighter all the way.

He was chaotic neutral, with the War and Luck domains. I played him as a generalist who believed that the only constants were conflict and chance.

Somewhere around 6th level, when I was fighter 2, barbarian 2, cleric 2, my character became disillusioned. He began to study, and experienced a religious conversion. His faith in the order of things, and the traditions of his people, was restored. His alignment shifted to lawful neutral, making him an ex-barbarian. I also became a priest of Dumathoin, who was lawful neutral in our universe. The dwarven god of memory, law and scholarship. Since I couldn't really advance as a cleric, I started to take levels as a Templar. I allocated all my skill points in Knowledge - Religion.

Then the DM suggested I consider the Contemplative prestige class. It seemed to fit, as I put more emphasis in knowledge and learning. The wizard's BAB really hurt the character in combat, because I was still the frontline tank. But it was the right choice.

By 20th level, he was a dwarf fighter 4, cleric 3, templar 1, contemplative 10 and the DM had swapped out the 2 levels of barbarian for a half-earth elemental template with a +2 ECL.

None of that was anticipated, or planned for.

 

[Jhaelen]

I typically start with a general plan and adapt it as dictated by circumstances (changes in the party setup, difficulties with encounters that seem to be frequent in the campaign, etc.).
After adopting the optional PHB2 rules on retraining, it's less important to plan ahead for many levels. You can really focus on what's important for your character NOW!