D&D 5E DM's: what do you do with players who want to switch characters?

[krunchyfrogg]

Player A no longer wants to be a dwarf paladin, now he wants to be a human ranger (or whatever). Do you allow him to just switch with no XP penalty?

Do you start him with less XP?

What if that dwarf paladin had magic items? Does the human ranger get them?

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Switch with no XP penalty - the player should have a character they enjoy playing, not be incentivized to just quit the game and join up for the next campaign because they weren't digging their original character anymore. And it is a penalty to the entire party to be stuck with a lower-level character, so it isn't fair to everyone else to levy that penalty to someone who is trying to stick with the campaign and have fun.

As for magic items, I usually handle that by having the character that is exiting the party leave behind anything that is "owned by the party" and take whatever is "owned by the character" and have the new character arrive with items appropriate to the campaign's level and type on the helpful table in the DMG on page 38 or so.

 

[krunchyfrogg]

Thanks!

 

[Lanefan]

Quoting out of order here...

As for magic items, I usually handle that by having the character that is exiting the party leave behind anything that is "owned by the party" and take whatever is "owned by the character" and have the new character arrive with items appropriate to the campaign's level and type on the helpful table in the DMG on page 38 or so.

This, exactly.

Switch with no XP penalty - the player should have a character they enjoy playing, not be incentivized to just quit the game and join up for the next campaign because they weren't digging their original character anymore. And it is a penalty to the entire party to be stuck with a lower-level character, so it isn't fair to everyone else to levy that penalty to someone who is trying to stick with the campaign and have fun.

But not this; not often anyway.

First off, we need more information about the party and campaign in which this change is occurring. Is there already a level spread within the party? (if yes, new character comes in at level matching the lowest established character) Has the same player done this sort of thing before? (if yes, and it's because the player gets bored of any character after a few sessions (I've met these types), consider giving an xp penalty to encourage some stick-with-it-ness) Has anyone else in that game ever cycled characters in and out like this, and if so what's the established precedent?

Second, we need a bit more information about the character coming in. Does it already have a played history in the campaign, i.e. is it a previously-retired character coming back into the party? If yes, it comes in either at whatever xp it was last seen at or at that plus whatever xp it has earned since (you'll need to set aside some time with the player to update the returning character, if only to see if it's survived) with whatever possessions it had when it left again plus whatever it might have acquired since.

This character cycling happens in my game all the time - usually between adventures - and you know what? I kinda like it. It helps keep things from getting stale as the party makeup is always slowly morphing, and as new (as opposed to returning) characters come in at level matching the party's lowest it helps (in an odd way) to slow the overall level advancement...which is also good when you're trying to make the campaign last as long as it can* before the levels get too high and the wheels fall off.

* - obviously, if you're running a tight adventure path that you want to get done in 6 months this is irrelevant; but I don't run games like that.

Lan-"I always have reserve characters rolled up and booting around somewhere in whatever game world I'm playing in, and I'll cycle them in and out of the party as chance permits"-efan

 

[Vicaring]

Personally, I'd talk to them about it first. Might they be happy with just multiclassing for future levels?

If not, and they really had their heart set on a brand-spanking new character, I'd personally have them make a new whatever, start them at the minimum base experience for the party's level (which usually puts them a little behind the rest of the party), and no way in hell would I let them bring magic items in that they hadn't earned.

And this is 5e, where magic items aren't that important anyway, so it's not nearly as big a deal as it was in previous editions.

Also, you're blowing my mind that somebody out there isn't happy with a Paladin. My one character so far in 5e (I'm usually the DM) was a Paladin, and ho-lee crap did I enjoy laying down the smites.

Come forth, demon, and I will smite thee with my mighty smite of smitefulness!

Yeah, I called everything demon. Whatever.

 

[ad_hoc]

The character leaves and takes their stuff.

The player makes a new character as though their character had died.

That means lower level but it isn't a penalty. It is to give them time to grow their character from a lower level. They will level up quickly anyway. The fun is the journey, not the destination. If level is all that mattered we would just start at level 20 or 50 or whatever.

 

[Li Shenron]

Player A no longer wants to be a dwarf paladin, now he wants to be a human ranger (or whatever). Do you allow him to just switch with no XP penalty?

Do you start him with less XP?

Start at the beginning of the level of the lowest-level PC currently in the party. It's not really a penalty, it's just where a newcomer to the group would start with her new PC, and this one is also a new PC so...

In 5e I would be tempted to just let him start at level 1, but only if the current party level is not too high.

What if that dwarf paladin had magic items? Does the human ranger get them?

No. The equipment belongs to the first PC, who is not leaving it to the party. If we use magic items in the campaign, and the new PC starts at a high level enough, he'll probably also start with some magic items of his own.

 

[wedgeski]

Player A no longer wants to be a dwarf paladin, now he wants to be a human ranger (or whatever). Do you allow him to just switch with no XP penalty?

Agree with others here: he's not having fun, allow him to switch, don't penalize, just come in at the lowest level of the party.

What if that dwarf paladin had magic items? Does the human ranger get them?

Absolutely not. This incentivizes switching into classes that would benefit the most from the items he'd already accumulated.

 

[delericho]

Player A no longer wants to be a dwarf paladin, now he wants to be a human ranger (or whatever). Do you allow him to just switch with no XP penalty?

They can retire their character and bring in a new one at the same XP as the lowest-XP character in the group. Though these days I keep everyone at the same XP total, so that's largely a moot point.

What if that dwarf paladin had magic items? Does the human ranger get them?

Nope. The items belong to the character, and if the character leaves then so too do the items. The new character starts with gear appropriate to his level.

In 5e, that means that any 1st - 4th level character starts with the gear from his class + background (or the rolled money per the equipment chapter). For 5th level characters and above, I let them start with anything they want from the PHB, but nothing from the DMG (or other books).

In 3e, that meant consulting the Wealth-by-Level table and buying whatever items they wanted for that money. I should perhaps note that I ended up giving out way more (but non-optimised) gear to PCs as they adventured, thus correcting for the ability of a new PC to optimise his gear. So the Dwarf Paladin might walk out with 250k of gear, while the incoming Human Ranger has only 100k - but he can buy exactly the items he wants, while the Paladin probably has a bunch of less-than-ideal items.

 

[S'mon]

With my 5e and pre-3e games, I generally have new PCs come in with half the XP total of the old PC. With 5e I say your old PC has to have had at least 600 XP, since the first 2 levels go so quickly, otherwise start at 0 XP.

3e & 4e I find work best with a single party XP tally where new PCs come in at the same level as everyone else. 5e doesn't need this though; the initial XP progression is very close to double-each-level, and bounded accuracy means lower level PCs can contribute fine alongside higher level ones. Also, the 5e CR system doesn't need PCs to be close to monsters in level; last night my ca 8th level group killed a CR 17 dragon turtle!