One of my players wants to play a kid wizard like Harry Potter. Should i allow it?

[Kobold Stew]

There is no reason to say no to the player, and if the character can bend the laws of nature and cast spells there is no reason for the party to say no to the character.

Make it work.

If you feel you have to do something, offer a custom Background, and make them choose between it and Urchin:

PRECOCIOUS CHILD
Skill Proficiencies: History and either Acrobatics or Animal Handling.
* (You are good in school and have taken gymnastics or riding lessons.)
Tool Proficiencies: One type of musical instrument, one language.
* (You are in music lessons and Elf immersion)
Equipment: a whistle, some chalk, a stuffed animal, a backpack, common clothes, a belt with pouch and 10gp.
Feature: Everyone sees you as a child. Despite your abilities you will be mistrusted with responsibility by those around you, but at the same time you can get away with minor violations of law and social expectation.

 

[Unwise]

As long as the kid is a teenager I think it is OK. In a fantasy setting a 14yr old has probably helped raise 2-3 kids, minds the farm while mum and dad are away, runs the market stall and might well be betrothed to that nice miller's boy.

I would give the kid the death curse. They were stillborn and were only saved by a minor magic from the midwife who breathed life back into the kid. It is really hard to say no to the kid joining if the kid is dying anyway. Who could be expected to sit back passively and wait for somebody else to save them when they know full well that they can help.

 

[the Jester]

"I'm not a child, I'm a halfling!"

 

[Eltab]

My Yawning Portal character is a gnome. Our party Warlock cast Seeming on all of us because we are trying to sneak around the mega-dungeon rather than smash down the doors. There are limits on how much of a physical change you can illusion up with Seeming. So now my character looks like a 13-year-old human Wizard, bossing around the full-grown-adult tough guys.

Ask the player to come up with a background and a reason why a 'kid' is going to go adventuring in the deadly jungles looking for a legendary meat-grinder dungeon.

P.S. Joan of Arc was a tween / teen when she saw her vision and went on a personal crusade to enthrone the King of France.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I don't comprehend why anyone would have a problem with this, with no explanation whatsoever. It's not like D&D is set in the modern day where the law says you're not allowed to work until...

Oh, wait, the law around here says you can go and get a job at literally any age, as long as it doesn't interfere with going to school. And the only restrictions are on working door-to-door sales, modelling and theatre. If you could pass the entrance exam, you could probably join the fire department at age 2.

If your character is a 1st level wizard, they pass the entrance exam for 'party wizard' pretty handily. I mean seriously - Raistlin probably would have lost an arm wrestle against a 10 year old.

 

[MechaPilot]

A gnome is a halfling that inflicts his stupidity outwards.

A kender .... but without the charm.

Kender have no charm.

 

[MechaPilot]

It is better to be lucky than good.

After reading Un Lun Dun, it is clear that Ron is definitely the hero.

To quote Geddy Lee:

"Well, you can stake that claim
Good work is the key to good fortune
Winners take that praise
Losers seldom take that blame
. . ."

 

[MechaPilot]

Frankly, the biggest problem I see with allowing it is if you feel you need to adjust the character for her age, because that's extra work for the DM (i.e. you).

For me, I'd definitely allow it. I'd probably cap some ability scores at 14 instead of 20 (especially the three physical ones), though I'd let the casting stat have the usual cap (the character is supposed to be a prodigy after all). But, I'd also allow the character to grow into the usual cap of 20 for those scores.

For example, say the player rolls a 16 Con for her Negi Springfield-ish character. Okay. The PC has a 10 cap (Negi starts the manga at 9 years old, and I'd say average is a good cap), but I'd slowly raise that cap as the character aged. I'd probably raise the cap by one for each year of the character's growth. So, the character would slowly gain access to their full score, not losing anything of it that was beyond the initial cap.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

"I'm not a child, I'm a halfling!"

An excellent disguise.

 

[ccs]

Hmm. If her hiding in a suitcase & not eating/drinking or interacting with the party is the best you can come up with....
Then your right, you do need our help.

Some ideas:
1) The child is disguised/mistaken as a 1/2ling.
Not the worst idea, but as a 1/2ling is only about 3' tall that'd be an awfully small 8-13 yr old human.

2) The PC could be the child of the jungle guide the other PCs hire. She's on the adventure because Dad/Mom is. Or she could "belong" to the guides - slave, servant, ward, etc. Same as above essentially, she doesn't get a say in wether she's on the adventure. And as she's got actual class potential she's very useful to keep around.

3) There are 2 potential child adventurers already written into ToA. Princess Mwaxanare & Prince Na. Read p.228 & the Kir Sabal section.
Might it be possible to re-write Mwaxanare's story a tad & attach it to the PC instead? The princess/PC has left the aarakockra for some reason and is now in Port. In order to see her kingdom - Chult? Something happened to Kir Sabal, Na has been taken to Omu, & she's looking for help?

4) The PCs find her as the sole survivor of another group. Unfortunately this happens when they are too far into the jungle to easily turn back to port. So she'll just have to come along. Good thing she proves to have useful abilities....
If you go with something like this I recommend fast forwarding through the parties first week in the jungle so as not to have the player spectating too long. Don't worry, 1 week won't get them super far on the map, just far enough to discourage turning back.

5) The child is "assigned" to the party by one of the Princes for some reason.