How do you handle character creation?

[Treebore]

A character becomes a players character by starting as a creation of the player. It is hard to get into a character without the birthing process of creating it.

 

[Thanee]

I can see (tho I do not agree with it) how a DM would like to create the crunchy bits, but the personality of a character should absolutely be the player's part.

If it is just that he is worried to see minmaxed characters, or something like that... I mean he does not have to accept anything and can ask players to change certain parts. Shouldn't really be much of a problem.

It's definitely more fun to build your own character. I don't really like playing premade characters (tho I see the benefit of them in convention one-shots and the like).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Ibram]

I've never played in a game where the DM created character personalities before, though I have been in games where you had to create a character from a specific class.

In my games I usualy tell my players several sessions before the start of a new campaign. I tell them a basic bit about the campaign (such as "You are all going to be mercenaries working for the Empire durring the height of its power"), any special rules (such as no plate mail allowed), and what level we will be starting at. I usualy use a 75 point buy, and allow players to pick from a limited range of gear (like "Chose any light or medium armor, no chainmail")

 

[Evilhalfling]

I have done a lot of pregen for convention games, and here are the advantages for a DM, especially when most of the players are newbies
1. using the rules you feel comfortable with.
2. not spending hours as players try and read though books to figure out how things work.
3. balanced characters
4. involved plots, much of the story can be set up before hand,
complete with existing relationsips between PC's and NPCs

So..
Ask him why he wants to design all the characters.
# 1-2 suggest trying a one shot first, with his PCs - then make char when everyone is a little more comfortable. Send everyone a link to the SRD, not everyone will use it, but some will.

#3 use point buy for stats and average HP, then have him look over charaters and make suggestions.
# 4 - some great advice from this board, was to make little flash cards with
background details, 1-2 words each and allow players to pick from them
then weave all the chosen cards togeather.

or if he has a different reason, post again

 

[Lhorgrim]

Evilhalfling,

My DM told me that he wanted to create all of the characters so that they would be balanced, and so everyone would have an opportunity to contribute.

I understand where he's coming from on that, but we only have access to the core rule books at this point so it doesn't seem to be about unusual classes or races. I'm not sure about why he wants to create the personality of the PCs.

There has been some great advice on the thread about reasons to do things one way or the other, but I'm in the camp that feels that creating your first character can teach you alot about how the game works. I know it can be time consuming to dedicate a session to PC generation, but character gen is how I learned about the basics of the new edition when there was no group to actually game with.

I have talked to the other new players, and they both have pretty good ideas about what they want to play. One wants a cleric, and the other wants a fighter type. They both want to start with human characters.

I'm going to suggest to the DM that we have a PC generation session and discuss some of the expectations he has for us. I am also going to suggest that we have some mock combats so that we all get a chance to get more familiar with the more tactical feel of 3.5. This will give the DM a chance to see what he has to work with, as well as more time to prepare the adventure.

Thanks for the input.

 

[pogre]

A character becomes a players character by starting as a creation of the player. It is hard to get into a character without the birthing process of creating it.

I agree. I would let him know that folks are likely to be more invested in his campaign if they have the opportunity to make their own characters.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

I have lurked and sometimes posted on these boards for quite some time, mainly because I have been without a 3.X game group. The two other players in my group are die hard 2E fans. I have wanted to move into 3E, and now 3.5E since 2000.

Now I have the chance to bring this group into the new game, because I went out and found some players that are willing to try D&D (no small task in such a small town). They used to play 2E in high school, around 8 yrs ago, and seem interested in playing 3.5. One of the guys bought the core books the day after we talked about playing.

Here begins my question/quandry. The guy from my group that acts as DM most of the time has volunteered to DM 3.5. He ordered the core rules, and has some familiarity with 3.0 even though I couldn't get him to run a full campaign of it. The situation is that he wants to create all of the player characters and have everyone pick from the pool that he has made. I don't mean just class, race, and stats, but personality and equipment and everything.

I have played that way in 2E, but only after years of playing my own characters, and usually just as a one off adventure. I really want to create my own character, and I think the new guys would benefit from making their own choices as they learn the new rules. I don't want to get in an argument with the DM, because I don't think it'll take much to send him back to 2E. I can't find enough players in my area to start a new group, so I'm hoping to drop some hints that making our own PC's is the best way to go.

So Enworlders, give me some feedback on how you handle character creation. Not how they're rolled(that's been covered on these boards many times), but whether the player or the DM creates them. Or, just help me come up with some good justifications on why players should be able to create their own when they're first learning the game.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I highlighted the most important part.

He's just starting to GM 3.5E, and has never run a 3.X game before.

This is a good idea, and shows that he's taking it seriously. By doing this, he can become familiar with the vast amount of differences between 2E/3.XE during play rather than just in the books.

While I use a lot of different PC generation, I actually use that when trying a new game system.

 

[pogre]

I usualy use a 75 point buy

[off topic]Holy Cow! Now that's a high powered campaign start! That's four 18s, a 13, and a 14. Do your players insist on high stats to start?[/off topic]

 

[shilsen]

[off topic]Holy Cow! Now that's a high powered campaign start! That's four 18s, a 13, and a 14. Do your players insist on high stats to start?[/off topic]

I assume he's referring to just dividing 75 pts among the stats, rather than the actual point-buy method.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Most of the time I let the players pick their background.

however, for conventions, one offs, and playtesting, I have no problem letting the GM hand me a character with history. There's nothing saying that i have to stick with the GM's idea for the character.

"After years of being a warrior, I realize that magic is where the money's at and now multi-class into a mage!"