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<blockquote data-quote="Remathilis" data-source="post: 4499193" data-attributes="member: 7635">I've spoken to this before, coining the term &quot;Avatar&quot; vs. &quot;Persona&quot; playing. Avatar play is exactly that; the PC is a vehicle of which the PC is challenged via proxy. Persona play assumes the character is a challenged, and the player is responsible for dictating how that character reacts. A classic example is the Tomb of Horrors. Many of the traps in the ToH cannot be affected by the character's action. There is no skill, save, check, or AC that can save the PC, purely it is the player telling the DM the &quot;correct&quot; answer in the time allotted to do so. The biggest flaw (and many have pointed out) to Avatar play is that it reduces the character to a mere puppet. If I'm not a wizard, my intelligence score can be a 3 or 18 and it doesn't affect the way I played him. Ditto charisma. I could be the smoothest bard with a 25 charisma, but if I can't convince the DM, my smooth talk fails. By contrast, Persona play has the problem of personality (and personality conflicts) can get in the way of the game. The classic &quot;whats my motivation?&quot; with characters come up, and inter-PC conflicts can derail the whole game. Personally, I perfer Persona play. To the point that playing avatar play is akin to playing a video-game; I'm merely controlling a character rather than playing him.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Remathilis, post: 4499193, member: 7635"] I've spoken to this before, coining the term "Avatar" vs. "Persona" playing. Avatar play is exactly that; the PC is a vehicle of which the PC is challenged via proxy. Persona play assumes the character is a challenged, and the player is responsible for dictating how that character reacts. A classic example is the Tomb of Horrors. Many of the traps in the ToH cannot be affected by the character's action. There is no skill, save, check, or AC that can save the PC, purely it is the player telling the DM the "correct" answer in the time allotted to do so. The biggest flaw (and many have pointed out) to Avatar play is that it reduces the character to a mere puppet. If I'm not a wizard, my intelligence score can be a 3 or 18 and it doesn't affect the way I played him. Ditto charisma. I could be the smoothest bard with a 25 charisma, but if I can't convince the DM, my smooth talk fails. By contrast, Persona play has the problem of personality (and personality conflicts) can get in the way of the game. The classic "whats my motivation?" with characters come up, and inter-PC conflicts can derail the whole game. Personally, I perfer Persona play. To the point that playing avatar play is akin to playing a video-game; I'm merely controlling a character rather than playing him. [/QUOTE]

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