D&D 5E Anybody ever want to change characters a lot? How do you prevent that?

[Wulffolk]

When I used to run a Vampire LARP it was considered to be active 24/7. People were free to meet up and RP any time they wanted to between the scheduled sessions. Much of the interaction was political plotting and behind the scenes stuff described in email exchanges. This kept players engaged constantly, and on their own schedule.

I am not suggesting that you make your D&D group into a real-time 24/7 experience. What I am suggesting is that it is possible to modify this to suit a table-top group. You could encourage players to communicate between sessions to flesh out details of shared background stories, or add depth to the relationships between characters.

Between session exchanges could be utilized to handle the mundane in-town activities, so that game night can get straight to the action. You could encourage players to share plot hooks or story suggestions with you between sessions. My Vampire players thought it was really cool when they discovered an Easter Egg weeks or months after mentioning an idea to me between sessions.

As a player I like to write little inconsequential short stories about my character when I am between sessions. I share them with other players as a story that my character might have told around the campfire during a long rest, or over a pint of ale at the last tavern. The better that you know your character the more attached you become to them and the more engaged that you feel.

 

[cbwjm]

I don't think this feeling ever goes away. So many options and you want to try them all. We've just had a bunch more options come out with more character ideas, it's hard to settle into just one. Playing in more than one game helps if you have the time for that.

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[touc]

As others have said, it likely has nothing to do with the character or the classes. If you're not immersed, invested, or otherwise interested in the campaign, it's a fairly common reaction to manufacture interest through a new "build." It could be a large group where, as noted, you have less chances to have your character in the spotlight, or it could be the campaign is too mechanical (all about die rolls). Have you ever had a session where there wasn't one die roll, just pure roleplay of some kind? I ask because I've come across this before.

So to solutions:

(1) Talk to your DM if dissatisfied with any aspect of the game. Problems don't get fixed by in-game projection.
(2) Think about a split in the group. It's 1-2 players too large for my tastes. More people = more time players sit quietly as others have the stage, whether that be in combat or with an NPC.
(3) Consider your background before your race, class, etc. Play the story. When I tried the pregens, I thought the fighter's story about being mayor of a town buried by a volcano and seeking to be a leader elsewhere was great. In the GenCon debut, our table of 6 players spent the first 2 hours purely roleplaying. It's worth mentioning to the DM if the campaign seems to be all about die rolls to resolve things.

If all other advice fails, play a bard.

 

[hawkeyefan]

At the start of 5E, my group made several characters to test out the game and the classes. We all kind of collaborated on making the characters. Then each session each player would pick a character and play them that session. So everyone got to playtest a variety of races and classes.

Slowly, some players picked their favorite. A couple kept rotating among the remaining characters. But it worked because the characters already had a place in the story. And it also helps when a player’s absent...chances are one of the other players has run the character before.

I would see if the other players would be interested in something similar. Even maybe just swapping PCs for a session can be fun.

 

[Shiroiken]

This may not be feasible at your table, but I set up my game in such a way that both players and characters can be swapped out regularly. I have 8 players but limit a given session to 5 PCs and each player usually has two or more characters. So week to week, the party composition may change. This would be a good scenario for someone who likes to switch characters.

So it might be worth talking to the DM to see if something similar is possible as it accommodates those who want to stick with one character and those who want to try out several.

My campaign is somewhat similar, but I use xp, so players build a stable of characters of various levels, either focusing on a few, or spreading out the xp for several of similar levels. I provide various adventure hooks (with associated levels) and allow the players to pick their character after hearing the full introduction. It really allows players the opportunity to try out many ideas, both mechanically and storywise, to see what inspires them.

 

[iserith]

My campaign is somewhat similar, but I use xp, so players build a stable of characters of various levels, either focusing on a few, or spreading out the xp for several of similar levels. I provide various adventure hooks (with associated levels) and allow the players to pick their character after hearing the full introduction. It really allows players the opportunity to try out many ideas, both mechanically and storywise, to see what inspires them.

Yeah, same. It's fun and for me solves any scheduling issues for the most part. If the DM can play, there's a game.

 

[Tallifer]

This may not be feasible at your table, but I set up my game in such a way that both players and characters can be swapped out regularly. I have 8 players but limit a given session to 5 PCs and each player usually has two or more characters. So week to week, the party composition may change. This would be a good scenario for someone who likes to switch characters.

So it might be worth talking to the DM to see if something similar is possible as it accommodates those who want to stick with one character and those who want to try out several.

As a dungeon master, I have been allowing this for a long time in my campaign. New characters (and new players' characters) just start at the same experience points and drop right in at the present scene. My players can usually come up with a creative and entertaining explanation. Furthermore, total experience is always the same for everyone: if you miss a session, your character still gets the experience. Loot on the other hand goes to whoever was present (and players cannot pass loot on to their new characters).

This works for so many reasons: casual players can participate; new players can join; restless players can keep switching characters; long-term players enjoy being the ones in the know as far as the world and story.
I don't thinking switching characters is a problem at all: just a different style of play. For the same reason, I let one player play the exact same character with slight variations from level 1 all over again in every world and campaign.

 

[ccs]

I think @Warmaster Horus' idea is good: Have a plan for character advancement. This gives you a goal toward which to orient yourself along with built-in steps you have to take to get there. That's good in both D&D and in life.

I would add to this: Remain flexible. Because no matter what you planned out on paper on 1/6/2018 as far as lv7, lv11, lv20 etc, sometimes a game will take unforseen twists/turns/developments.

For ex;
In our PF game I was playing a LE Tiefling Wizard (divination) compelled to serve alongside numerous Paladins. Between 6th-12th lv my alignment gradually shifted to LN.
During 14th lv the character found themselves stranded solo in the Abyss, being hunted by, fighting off, & hiding from assorted demons. All the dice rolls said that the combats & evasion attempts were successful. I would not have placed a bet on that since we roll everything in the open....
The character absolutely believes that this was due to them beseeching the aid of Iomodea (the goddess of the paladins) & vowed to convert and serve if they made it out/back. Eventually the rest of the party managed to open a portal.
When we leveled up to 15th a few weeks later the other players were surprised that my Wizard donned a suit of plate & went into the field as a LG wizard (divination) 14/PALADIN 1....
Shifting to LG & MC into Paladin 1 after 14lvs of LE/LN wizard is not how I'd envisioned the characters arc going (especially as I don't like to MC!). But it fit the character and the story.

 

[redrick]

I find this happens to me when I lose interest or focus in the goals and personality of my character. I went through a while where I felt like my character's personality and motivations changed week to week. If we didn't play for a month, I would forget who my character was and what they were doing, beyond just "the quest."

At the start of last year, as a bit of a new year's resolution, I decided to spend a little time "prepping" my character between every session, just like I would spend a little time prepping my adventure every week.

I now tape my character sheet onto the first two pages of a composition book. (I have to reduce the size by about 10-15% to get it to fit.) I googled some advice for role-playing player characters better. (We have so much advice on being a better DM and so much advice on building a better sor-lock, but not so much advice on role-playing a better character.) I found some lists of "questions to ask your player character", and I answered some of these and taped those inside my composition book.

I make an entry in the book for every game session, where I could take notes — sometimes story stuff, sometimes just a list of loot, sometimes sketching out a map of a dungeon. If the DM sends a session summary, I print that out and tape that in there as well. Once, before the next session, I try to open the book and ask myself, "How does my character feel about the other PCs in the party? How do they feel about the major NPCs currently in the mix? How do they feel about their current quest/goals and why are they invested in them? Has anything changed for how my character views the world?" At the very least, I make sure to review the book on my train ride to the session. (Living in NYC, a significant portion of my D&D prep happens on the subway.)

Also, I scan and print out the relevant pages from the PHB for my character class and race and tape those in the very back of the book. That way, I can leave my player's handbook at home. D&D night as a player is just grabbing "my character" (the composition book) and my dice bag and throwing those in my shoulder bag on the way to work.

 

[krunchyfrogg]

Thanks everybody!