How to Handle a "Character Switcher"?

[Villano]

As a player, I haven't had the need to switch PCs, but I understand why people do.

Sometimes, as others have said, a PC doesn't have anything to do. I played in a short lived PBEM of RttTotEE as a monk.

Unfortunately, the character was pretty useless. My AC was good enough so that I wouldn't get hit, but I couldn't hit anything either (and the things I did hit had DR, so my punches didn't affect them).

Of course, monks are good at being sneaky, so I could act as a scout along side the rogue. The DM, unfortunately, didn't want the group to split up because it would slow things down.

This left my PC as a mage bodyguard. While forcing me to the backlines of combat, it was a role I could easily fulfill (with dodge and mobility, I could stop anything from getting near them). The problem was that none of the mages I was protecting wanted to cast any spells on me so that I could actually stop the things attacking them.

I just jumped around, slowing attackers down until a fighter or the mage could kill the opponent.

I was bored out of my mind. My PC did nothing.

Fortunately for me, the DM quit, so I took that time to drop out of the game (the group was too big and chaotic and there was no teamwork whatsoever, which contributed to my decision).

Another reason someone may want to change is that a new book was released, and they suddenly had options they didn't have before, whether they be classes, feats, or PrCs.

I'm currently involved in an online Rokugan game. When we began, only OA was available, so everyone chose their PCs from that.

Personally, I thought the sohei (warrior monks who wear armor, but don't have unarmed attacks) was pretty cool. Unfortunately, according to OA, it wasn't available in Rokugan. In the end, I went with a Crab samurai ("Crab" is the name of one of the clans, btw).

When Rokugan came out, everyone picked up a copy. Now we have new feats, classes, and PrCs.

Our DM was cool and allowed feat-swapping and other changes (I switched "Heavy Armor Profeciency" with "Way of the Crab" which give you profeciency and better speed).

Still, it would have been better to have all these options available when we started (especially since Rokugan states that sohei is available in this world).

I'm sure the DM would have allowed me to switch (since I mentioned my interest in the class before the game began), but I decided not to change PCs since we were well into our adventure and I like the character I was using.

Now, as to PC deaths. Personally, I'd rather have my characters stay dead. Part of the reason I like Roku (aside from loving samurai movies) is that, with few exceptions, dead is dead.

I think that having the very real threat of a permanent death brings more excitment to the game.

And I don't think that players should suffer any penalties for bringing in a new PC if their last one gets toasted. Players shouldn't suffer XP for getting killed since that's the very nature of the game (fighting monsters and facing traps).

Just my two cents.

 

[tarchon]

I think you missed the point a little.

The point you're now making was not what you expressed in your first post.

If you're talking about retiring a character after a long career, yeah sure. If you're just messing around with a new game system, great! Try different stuff.

If we're talking about a real long-term RPG campaign in its juvenile and adult phase, things are different. You're saying there's a motivation to change characters to fit the DM style, with the admonishment: "Make sure you are doing everything possible yourself in the campaign before you dictate how a player should act."

I agree totally that the DM should be adjusting for unsatisfied players, but there are much better ways to do that than letting them change characters willy nilly. It's also possible to allow them to adapt by constantly giving them free magic items or new abilities, but that is also a bad solution. Just because allowing them to change characters freely or giving lots of free magic items lets players adapt, that doesn't make either of them a good way to do it.

In your pick-pocket example, the better answer is not for the DM to keep making everything a pitched battle and let the player run, say, a barbarian instead; the better answer is to introduce elements in the game that are more suitable to the character . Let there be crowds of normal easy marks, not supermen who can instantly detect the slightest rustle of a pursestring. Put interesting things in their pockets. Remind the player that Pick Pockets also allows various forms of legerdemain, and introduce opportunites for it to be used (having an NPC do it is usually a slick and subtle way).

As I've said, I can see letting a new player adjust or maybe even change his character initially, just because he may not be used to the game, but you're recommending that willy-nilly character switching should be a regular part of the game, so that the characters can accomodate to however the DM happens to be running the game. I get this point; I disagree with it. The only way this should be necessary is if the DM constantly, radically changes the nature of the game and does nothing to give the PCs a way to adapt.

Now, the players should be making some adjustments to how they play as the situation in the game warrants, but it's the DM's responsiblity to give them the tools in the game to do that. If the DM just capriciously changes the campaign without regard to the characters, we shouldn't be recommending "oh, so let them change characters all the time," but rather we should be recommending "set up your game to suit your players' characters."

I can conceive of a game format in which constant character changing is the norm, but that's really more in the realm of computer and wargaming, in which what the players have are more like character sheets, collections of statistics, than characters. There's a place for that kind of game, but it's not exactly an RPG and I don't think that's what we're talking about here.

I haven't seen anybody yet say "completely disallow character switches," if that's what you're objecting to. What most people are saying is "discourage it a little in most cases, and especially discourage doing it frequently." This is perfectly reasonable, as it does tend to disrupt a long-term RPG campaign to have the characters constantly being replaced.

 

[Dreaddisease]

Exactly what I was trying to say. Sorry abotu the confusion. sometimes to get a character switcher to not be so bored with his character just takes some setting changes. Accomodate but don't make it ridiculous. Even test things out. These are suggestions.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

There are several simple solutions.

1. Character comes in 1 level lower than lowest level character in party.

2. DM approves all magic items.

Then there is the player solution. As a player I don't like people who are excessive character switchers. So my character doesnt give them the benefit of the doubt. You start a new character for no reason then my character is going to make him earn all his trust himself. Expect new boy to be party gopher for a while and his opinions to be ignored for a bit until the rest of us trust him. Just because the player is long standing doesnt mean we automatically trust a new character he brings in. Also he should fully expect to be at the bottom of the heap in the party when it comes to magic items we find. Why give a great item to a new guy if you are not sure he is truly loyal and going to be around for the long haul.