Am I dead yet ?

[The_Gneech]

One of my characters is now retiring at 10th level, quite happy with a manor house and a suit of dragonscale armor he can pass on to his grandkiddies, should he ever have any.

-The Gneech

 

[rythm_rampage]

Sounds good to me. I like the idea of retirement or issues that the character doesn't want the party to be involved.

 

[howandwhy99]

The characters belong to the players. If they want to retire a character, it's their decision. A new one still requires DM approval. And I tend to have some light limitations on possible characters in the world, but after that they can play the character however they wish.

If they're adding a new character every session (or more), let 'em know when the extra work starts bothering you.

 

[rythm_rampage]

Well sure the characters belong to the players I agree on that.
I just want to find a way for me to let characters be able to leave the game without making it obvious or implausible.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Depends on the existing character, the current plots/adventures (since even if you DO say he's not "tied" to the adventure his presence up to this point and sudden disappearance can be of variable impact on S.O.D), the perceived and stated reasons for wanting to change characters, the length of time the character has been played, the length of time the campaign in general has been played, and more.

Sometimes I might even let the player swap out characters in the middle of the adventure, between running Encounter #17 and Encounter #18. Other times I would require that the player at least wait until the adventure is over. We might then pretend that the first character never even existed and the replacement has always been here, or we might want to get into detail about why the old character left and the new one was accepted into the party. Too many variables for a usefully simple answer.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Retire.

By level 2 you should have more money than you'd ever dreamt of. By level 5 you should be able to buy a large farm or tavern and set yourself up for life. Why would you keep adventuring until you die?

Quoted for truth. You'd think that a lot more characters who are "in it for the money" would play the odds and retire before their number came up!

 

[ceratitis]

once when i wanted to change my char (mostly 'cos the dm and i disagreed on how it should be played which made my char suffer) my dm took over my char on a session i couldnt attent and he suffered a mental breakdown. needless to say i didnt like this solution but it gives a twist on the retired option.
Z

 

[Herobizkit]

We've handled it a number of different ways.

1) Remodel. The character gets a complete mechanical overhaul. Personality and appearance remain the same, but now the character is custom-built from scratch or tweaked mid-level. This happens a lot when the PC develops without a "levelling plan" and stumbles upon a cool concept, but due to feat, stat etc. requirements won't see it come to fruition until late in their adventuring career.

2) Retire. The PC sets up shop/builds a home/joins the army and disappears from play. Best done at the end of a story arc or planned adventure.

3) Reconsider. Talk with the DM, find out exactly what it is you don't like about the character and work out a solution that will make everyone happy. Sometimes a break is all that is needed; put the PC in a semi-retired state, start up a new PC, and if the player wants to play the old one again it's all ready to go.

3) I'm out of re's, so consider making a character tree. Borrowed from the Dark Sun game setting, the concept goes like this: the PC makes three characters, who all share XP. As one levels, the other two level in kind but are never played at the same time. If/when the PC dies, or gets tired of his character, or wants to try a new concept, he's got two other characters already worked into the story.

 

[Seravin]

You can also try having the character kidnapped. It could make for an interesting diversion for the other characters to go rescue the guy. Afterwards, assuming he survives the rescue attempt he can then go on a journey of self discovery or retire.

In one game where I'm using this the rescued characters will become recurring NPC's and an information resource as they investigate other pieces of an ongoing mystery.