If I did this to you as a DM, would you be upset or intrigued?

[reveal]

After reading the latest Nodwick (http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/nodwick/gamespyarchive/newnodwick.html) I thought, "That would be neat to do to my players" and started thinking of ideas on how that could work.

Then I thought of something like this...

Let's say you came to the table and the DM says "Ok. You all wake up from your evening's rest in the Inn. You look down and notice something's wrong. Your body is not your own. Everyone pass your character sheet to the person on your left."

So, for some reason, everyone is in the body of a different PC. I have no idea what the reason is, or how long it would take the PCs to find out what happened and reverse it, but, as a player, would it interest you to, in effect, play someone elses character for at least a session or two, or would you be upset because the DM forced you to play a character you didn't want to play when you worked so hard on your own?

 

[WizarDru]

Well, transforming their characters as part of an adventure, as in Nodwick: Cool. Having them switch PCs? Not so much. You get into some risky territory there. Might as well ask them to swap dice.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I'd say it could be fun... although I know some people who'd really hate the idea. Guess it varies on a player by player basis.

Why not find out what your group thinks?

Just come straight out and ask them.

 

[Timely Drought]

Are you switching bodies/physical stats? Passing the whole sheet along doesn't seem to accomplish much.

If it made sense somehow as part of an adventure and it wasn't the DM just screwing with the players I'd be into it.

 

[JimAde]

Sure I'd be up for it. This is a classic I've done a couple of times in my GMing career. As long as you have reasonably mature players it should be fun.

Assuming it only goes on for a session or two of course.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I had a D20 Modern GM do that to my group for two sessions. We actually switched with people from a few weeks in the past - before we accidentally set the world on the path to destruction

My alternate form was a Man in Black who took great pleasure in finding out he was married. He nearly killed his former self (a martial artist student) because the person controlling him wasn't playing him properly. Of course, I had to come up with an excuse to kill that guy's old character as well so I never got around to it.

I stole a manual on how to fly an alien spaceship with that character. He wasn't built for a fight (in fact, I never even saw his character sheet) so we had to do things a little bit differently.

 

[Janx]

Personally, I'd run it as a BodySwap episode (StarTrek, StarGate, they've all done it).

SOMETHING causes the players minds to swap bodies.

Everyone shuffles character sheets around

Each player is the personality of themselves, but they get the stats and gear of their new body.

Things to figure out:
does player keep his old class or use the new
does player use his old Skills or use the new
does player use his old feats or use the new
Is there a delay/penalty to using the new abilities (assuming they swap those)

Doing a flat swap of all character abilities is easier to calculate (just hand the sheet over). But it may seem less "realistic"

To do a "true body swap" you'd need:
swap all your gear (easy with gear cards)
swap character stats (str, con, dex, int, wis, cha)
Swap hit points (no need to recalculate, you've got their CON)
Retain your original class
Recalculate skills and attack numbers (since STR changed)

The downsides to the above method:
you're really just playing with their body and their gear
you're not forcing the players to try a different class (half the fun)
it's a lot of calculation
it retains the realism (I had 10 ranks in Knowledge:BasketWeaving, you're saying I forgot?!)

Making some ruling that the entire char sheet swaps (but you retain your personality) has more impact on the game.

In any case, this kind of event would be a temporary thing. The goal is to challenge each player to use a new set of tools (another player's gear and class/skills). Presumably, the PCs would be working to restore normality. I'd only run this as a one session event. Basically, they get swapped, solve some real problem, solve the swapping puzzle, get XP, go home.

Janx

 

[diaglo]

as a one shot it would be fun.

as a long term campaign it would take some getting used to...

 

[Stormborn]

So, for some reason, everyone is in the body of a different PC. I have no idea what the reason is, or how long it would take the PCs to find out what happened and reverse it, but, as a player, would it interest you to, in effect, play someone elses character for at least a session or two, or would you be upset because the DM forced you to play a character you didn't want to play when you worked so hard on your own?

Actually,just started somethign similar to the Nodwock thing in my game. Last week the PCs particiapated into a ritual to learn the origins of an artifact possessed by one of the PCs (low magic game BTW, think of this a s a ritualized version of legend lore in surround sound). At theend of the session they awoke in a dream like state where they watched themselves, in different bodies, in a totally different world. I gave them all new character sheets on monday so they can familiarize themself with whats going to start tomorrow. The new PCs are straight DnD, with tweaks to some of the classes, set in a magic-so-high-it-makes-Eberron-look-like-d20-Modern world with floatign cities and a sprawling demon war. They are all looking forward to it.

I think even the character sheet swap would be intersting for a session, with my group at least although I know of groups where it wouldn be awful. A possible scenario for you: a small Wild Magic Storm has passed in the night and cause all manner of random transformations that the PCs must deal with. The effects wear off in 24 hours, but they have no way of knowing that, nor do all the innocent villagers who have now been turned into harpies and oozes and the like. Have some clue as to the direction of the storm, such as the effects of the storm were worse the further south you go. If they want to investigate it you can have some powerful magic item/demon/demi-god/portal comign active to the south in whatever settign is appropriate for your game. Maybe even at the instigation of the PCs long runnign foes.

 

[DragonLancer]

So, for some reason, everyone is in the body of a different PC. I have no idea what the reason is, or how long it would take the PCs to find out what happened and reverse it, but, as a player, would it interest you to, in effect, play someone elses character for at least a session or two, or would you be upset because the DM forced you to play a character you didn't want to play when you worked so hard on your own?

I have played in a game where this happened (not D&D though) and it was really good fun. Everyone had a good time with it.