PC Replacements

[jmucchiello]

So harsh. It's a game.

All players have the same XP total (minus Item Creation expenditures). All new character start at the same XP total as well. New characters start with standard gp money as a pc of appropriate level. (No more than 1/3 on any single item.) Dead character equipment is shipped to the character's family and does not fatten the party's pockets. Players can swap out their characters with warning if they are finding them less interesting than they had hoped when creating them. We only ask that they try them for 4 sesssions at least before dumping them. The exiting character takes his stuff with him. All forms of Raise Dead revive the character at full level. (There are no permanent level or ability drain abilities in the campaign world either.)

Perfect for the group that just wants to get together and beat stuff up and maybe save the day.

 

[Boojum]

New PCs (whether from a new player or that of a dead character) start with 100 X level less than the current lowest experience total in the party. They get the full treasure amount for their level, no single item more than 1/2 that total. I work new PCs into the story as soon as possible, as wanderers, chance encounters, prisoners, defecters, mercenaries, etc. While the story is important and I try to maintain continuity, it's much less important than letting the players play, and not making them sit out for 1/2 a session until they can be worked in.

 

[wedgeski]

The only penalty I introduce is that the new PC starts 1 level below the average level of the party. Provides enough incentive to try and keep your player alive/raise them after the fact, which is all I'm concerned about, but isn't so bad that it irritates my players, and they can be assured that they'll be back on an even keel soon enough. I want my players to stick with a character if possible.

ATEOTD though, introducing minimum 'wait times' seems like a pointless exercise unless you run your campaign so tightly that complete chronological 'realism' is a priority. Surely you run the risk of the rest of the party simply advancing the adventure in their absence, or otherwise just sitting around for a week to be 'fair' on the new player. What does either achieve? I say, get your player back in the game ASAP, or you may risk losing <insert gender neutral pronoun here>.

 

[Wombat]

There are no race restrictions in my game (...other than the fact we have utterly different races...), but a player may be from any of them. As there are no intelligent races outside those available to PCs, there are no problems with half-races, etc. The monsters are, for the most part, unintelligent/animal-level intelligent; the only intelligent ones would be undead, and they don't really count along the same continuum.

All PCs must belong to the same club in one town. If there is a reason why the character they are creating would not belong to the club, they are not allowed to play that character -- this allows for continuity as well as a pool of characters to draw upon. This also ensures that the players have ties in the area, rather that just acting as free-floating types. Equally it means they can draw on back-up and reserves if the going gets really tough.

As for levels, well, new characters will start 1 level behind the lowest character of the moment. It is comparatively easy to catch up.

 

[The_Universe]

New PCs have two choices - start at 1st level, or start at the same level as the lowest level party member.

Replacement PCs usually start at 2 levels lower than the highest level party member, or at the same level as the lowest level party member, whichever is lower.


Story-wise, I try to encourage people to introduce new/replacement PCs at story-apropriate times. I do this either by holding off on the first PCs actual death until it's easy to replace him or her ("you're dead, but still breathing until I tell you to stop" - that sort of thing), or just by keeping the story flexible. PCs can die at any time, and you don't want to have a player just sitting around.

 

[Silver Moon]

We have a pool of NPC's (many of the having been characters of former players) and always bring one along with the party. That way we have an established character along who everyone is familiar with as a possible replacement character in the event of death or serious injury. It also works well for having a character for guests to play.