Character Hopping

[Kzach]

Also, just thinking out loud here, could you maybe remechanic your character, but keep the fluff? For example, say you were a shaman in 4th Ed, and don't like how the class works. Could you remake your character as a warlord (or cleric, or artificer, or whatever) and explain the change away in your game world?

Personally? No, I couldn't do this. I don't really separate between crunch and fluff. To me, they're part of an organic whole that forms the character, each bit as integral as the other.

That and part of the problem in my instance is that the characters just aren't performing their role in a satisfying way. The first one I had, for instance, was all about manipulating the battlefield by moving PC's around it. It could be good but it really required a LOT of inter-party meta-gaming to be anything above average. And then the second one required a lot of timing on my part because 90% of it's powers were interrupts or immediate reactions which just annoyed everyone at the game and weren't very effective. Neither of the characters were doing their job of leader very well, and so for me at least, neither were very satisfying.

 

[Vaslov]

One guy I game with loves the mechanics of the game and is constantly switching out characters as he comes across concepts. Across the various DMs and campaigns it's become a bit of a game for us to see how long we can keep him on his current character. I don't think any of us really mind.

One DM came up with the idea of creating an organization that all of the character's came from to give us some story cohesion. Blatant ripoff of the old character stable idea. Perhaps your various leaders could all come from the same church or trading house.

However it plays out do not sweat it too much. You play the game for fun. Give it a try and if it does not work try something else. Good luck to you.

 

[GSHamster]

Personally? No, I couldn't do this. I don't really separate between crunch and fluff. To me, they're part of an organic whole that forms the character, each bit as integral as the other.

That and part of the problem in my instance is that the characters just aren't performing their role in a satisfying way. The first one I had, for instance, was all about manipulating the battlefield by moving PC's around it. It could be good but it really required a LOT of inter-party meta-gaming to be anything above average. And then the second one required a lot of timing on my part because 90% of it's powers were interrupts or immediate reactions which just annoyed everyone at the game and weren't very effective. Neither of the characters were doing their job of leader very well, and so for me at least, neither were very satisfying.

Maybe part of the issue is that you seem to be getting "too cute".

Rather than going for a build which is conceptually clever, maybe you should try a meat-and-potatoes leader build. I.e. the archetypical cleric or warlord.

You mention that you are unfamiliar with the role. Maybe the best way to familiar is to start with the basics and play that for a few levels. That would give you a better understanding of the role.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I kinda admire people who can play one character for 2+ years in a single campaign, but I am not really one of them. I like to try new things and concepts na so on. Makes the game more interesting for me.

 

[S'mon]

That and part of the problem in my instance is that the characters just aren't performing their role in a satisfying way. The first one I had, for instance, was all about manipulating the battlefield by moving PC's around it. It could be good but it really required a LOT of inter-party meta-gaming to be anything above average. And then the second one required a lot of timing on my part because 90% of it's powers were interrupts or immediate reactions which just annoyed everyone at the game and weren't very effective. Neither of the characters were doing their job of leader very well, and so for me at least, neither were very satisfying.

Yeah, what most other players want is a reliable source of healing, not a source of being slid around the battlefield and being granted fiddly to-hit (etc) bonuses. Unless you're the kind of selfless player who really enjoys buffing his team mates with little or no appreciation (and trust me, you're not - neither am I) then I'd suggest you look at building a PC who can still reliably minor-action heal them if they drop (or if they're bloodied and screaming for healing), but not so much with the buffs, slides, interrupts etc. Instead of that, create a character who can do satisfyingly large amounts of damage on his own account.