Do you get the chance to shine in the game?

[Piratecat]

A campaign set against the White Kingdom of the Ghouls, for instance, doesn't much allow for a cool rogue character to shine. Notice there are no rogues in P-Kitty's campaign.

Yeah, but there is a hunter of the dead.

You know, if there WAS a rogue, this adventure would have been significantly different. I would have changed a bunch of stuff around in order to make sure that there were opportunities for a rogue to have fun, or maybe give out a weapon that allows sneak attacking of undead. Otherwise I would have had a really unhappy player on my hands, and justifiably so.

I think it's the DM's job to change the plot around so that everyone has a chance in the spotlight, and everyone has a chance to shine. I learned this from Sagiro, who has been fantastic about spreading around character-centric plot threads evenly.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Wow, who's the gnome? Did you skip over him in your SH?

Point: The Jester

 

[Piratecat]

Poor Priggle. Thanks to Plane Sailing, I've gotten more mileage out the Mongoose feats "low key" and "contemptible foe." Boy, those are fun to have in play. When we decide who has to get excluded from a spell effect (either beneficial or harmful), Priggle gets the nod.

 

[LazerPointer]

I have two games going.

My lvl. 8 spiked chain specialist takes the lead in combat situations, though others, esp. an archer and a higher-level cleric, shine there as well. The wallflowers in this game are the fighter/rogue and wizard combos. I think a big part of that is that they don't sneak enough, or often get themselves into position to sneak attack. If they read the rules through better, I bet they'd have some ideas about how to be more effective.

In my other campaign I have a lvl. 5 elven cleric. He's moved from a support role to a more primary role for two reasons: 1) he's started to get a wider selection of spells, so I can do things that other players don't expect, and 2) I've started roleplaying better. My character speaks his mind about tactics more, and I don't hang back when the party talks to people.

 

[Pants]

In the game I play in: absolutely. I designed my sorcerer around being useful in quite a few situations. He has noncombat spells and combat spells. I didn't want to create a character focusing exclusively on dealing damage as that is... boring, even when you're the best at it. Thus, I get quite a kick when I help someone out by using a Resist Energy or when I helped save the party with a couple of Silent Invisibility spells.

In the games I run I try to give everyone an equal chance. It's very hard, especially in an undead heavy game with a Rogue. In most encounters, the Wizard usually ends up being the most effective. I try to throw as many sneak-attack-able foes as possible for the Rogue, or foes that allow the melee fighter to outbeat, and enough High-Reflex, High SR foes to keep the Wizard from dominating all the time. It's hard and I know I haven't mastered it yet.

 

[Ogre Mage]

Being a shining star

I play in two games.

In the first, I play a lightly armored but battle oriented cleric with 16 STR, GMW, divine favor and divine power. Judicious castings of hold person and blindness have also gone a long way. I can confidently say this character has been the backbone of the party not just as the sole healer, but being a major force in every combat as well as several non-combat situations.

In the second, I play a rogue with high dex (20) but mediocre cha (10). Our DM has been running us through the adventure path series, so there have been several rogue-related opportunities -- find the hidden treasure, disable traps, etc. Nevertheless, there have been times where I felt useless -- particularly during combat. As a rogue, I've found you often have to proactively seek out your opporunities to contribute to the party rather than waiting for them to come to you. You need to take the initiative and scout ahead, for instance. I had never run a rogue prior to 3rd edition, so it took a awhile to settle into the role. But now I'm glad I tried it.

 

[Darklone]

Most often I joined existing games or waited till the others picked their chars, checked out the other group members and build something together to cover the partys weaknesses. That's my moment to shine when the group is fighting a level 10 mage who's invisible... and the level 4 bard pinpoints him with Dancing Lights and See Invisibility.

 

[Elf Witch]

I used to in our old game I played a sorcerer in a low magic world and I often got to do cool things.

Not so much in our new game. I am now on character 5 who died last night. The problem is we have a big party We have a paladin, wizard, druid, monk, ranger/rogue + me so it is hard to come up with something that is not doing what someone else is already doing.

I designed a heavy duty deal out mass damage fighter. I played her for the first time last night two massive damage fire spells later and she was dead I got to swing her sword once.

Its now back to the drawing board. To see what I can come up with now.

The ability to shine in a game depends on so much the situation the DM throws at the party, how big the party is, what character classes are in play and the role playing being done by the characters.

 

[Liolel]

Does my character shine? Yes. Its a simple matter of a small group (3 players) and my character being the only character with only levels in a fighter type class. (Paladin in this case).

So with 77 hitpoints and an armor class of 25 at 8th level (lucky dice roles, and some treasure picks that were very convient.) I am easily the character in the group who's best suited to being in melee and protecting the spellcasters.

Before you think that I'm a muchkin for such choices, my defense was what I focused on because the party has had in the past characters that could dish the damage out in melee but not take it.

 

[4everdm]

I try to coordinate with my players what character they want to play and where they see their character 5-10-15-20 levels down the road and work with them so they all get a chance to shine and be the best they can be. IMHO I think this works out best, with the exception of some players who always want to grab the spotlight even if it's not meant for them & then get frustrated & upset when things don't go their way.