Players: Do you plan in advance for character progression?

[JoeBlank]

i plan ahead too. and throw out red herrings to keep the others off my scent. even the DM doesn't know what's in store next for my character.

Oh, I know what's next. Fiddle reveals that he has been a doppleganger for the last half dozen sessions, and tries to kill everyone else. TPK ensues, and then we reboot and you finally get to run your OD&D game.

 

[KB9JMQ]

I plan far ahead.

And then change my plan based on events and character development.

And then change it again.

And again.

And then start over with a whole new plan.

And then change it.

In short, I plan ahead, but rarely stick to the original plan.

This is what I do. I have an idea in the beginning but changes as the campaign changes.

 

[Vlos]

Changing ways...

When I started back in the old days I never planned out a character. Just created and saw where it led me. Even in 2nd Ed I didn't plan much.

When 3rd Ed came out, I still didn't plan much. But then I realized I could not get the cool PrC's at the next level, so I then had to start planning out a level or two in advance.

Now I am playing in an Epic level campaign, and WOW do you have to plan. To get a decent character at a respectable Epic level (at least compared to the other players in the group) I seem to have to play the character from birth. Now I did join the campaign late, so he was Epic to start with, but then we started a new side campaign to give the GM a break and flush out the world a bit. Its a low level campaign, starting level of 4. And I found myself planning all the way to his Epic progression, just to be able to qualify for the proper Epic PrCs.

Of course he died that first night.

On one hand I don't like to plan out, because its basically writting the ending of the book and then forcing the character to follow the path. I feel this really restricts the character in some ways. Where as in the old days I just took the path that was presented to me by the GM.

I cring at the fact that I am planning my Epic level character for 3 levels out now, and that I need 'X' stat, 'Y' skill and 'Z' feat at this level to be able to get into the PrC (or Epic feat) and what happens when the character is not presented with the appropriate opportunity to get 'X', 'Y' or 'Z'?

It sort of takes the "Role" playing out of it. It would be very interesting to just develop (Play) a character with no goal in mind and wing it at every level. This would have to be supported somewhat by the GM otherwise the character would possibly lead to a dead end.