Pre-Generated PCs: Do they work for you?

[AFGNCAAP]

I have a question for both DMs & players: please respond with your opinions & experiences.

What is your opinion on pre-generated PCs? Good? Bad? Ugly? Are they great to have in times of need, or are they a waste of the DM's time since none of the players will use one anyways?

How do you create your pre-gens? 4d6k3? Point-buy? Variant point or dice system?

What amount of detail do you put in them? Do you completely flesh them out? Or do you leave a bare-bones skeleton of stats to let a player flesh out (no name, physical description, or the like--maybe not even AL if class abilities aren't affected by it). Do you spend every coin of starting money for the pre gen's gear, or just spend the bare minimum & let the player spend the rest?

What kinds of pre-gens do you create? Are they run-of-the-mill D&D/fantasy archetypes (dwarf fighter, elf mage, halfling rogue, etc.)? Or are they bizarre/unique/atypical (half-orc sorcerer, gnome barbarian, spiked chain-wielding elf paladin, etc.)? Do you make up any sort of race/class combo, or do you limit it to races & classes not used by any of the players' PCs?

How do the pre-gens fare? Do they do as well (or better) than the player-created PCs? Do the players enjoy playing the pre-gens? Do players use pre-gens throughout a longterm campaign? Or do the players despise using pre-gen characters? Are they only good for short-term themed campaigns/adventures?

What has your experience, as a player or DM (or both) with pre-gen PCs? Good? Bad? Ugly?

What do you think?

 

[diaglo]

as both a referee and a player i never had problems with pregens.

esp at tournaments they were handy.

 

[Desdichado]

Pregens are great for one shots or quick games. Pregens suck for long-term campaigns. In my experience.

 

[S'mon]

Pregens are great for one shots or quick games. Pregens suck for long-term campaigns. In my experience.

I agree completely. Tournaments & one-shots require a completely different approach than campaigns - for one thing, they're the only time I'd use the DMG 'wealth by level' tables to outfit the PCs. Tournament & one-shot play works best with good 'pick-up and go' PCs; long-term play requires PCs that the players will want to stick with and see develop over months of play, they need to be invested in the character.

 

[Buttercup]

In addition to tournaments and one-shots, I think pre-gens can be useful for new players. Some potential players may get overwhelmed by the whole character generating process, so having a selection of pre-generated characters for them to choose from bypasses this problem.

 

[Zappo]

I agree with Joshua Dyal. I've found that pregenerated characters come in very handy at cons, first of all because the game becomes substantially more predictable for the DM (which on the short run is a very useful feature), and secondly because it cuts on the time needed to start the game.

 

[Berandor]

Pre-gens are great for one-shots, because you cut the time normally allotted for character creation, you can have the PCs fit into the specific adventure...
best of all, though...
The players don't get too attached, and you can kill the pregens off without much trouble

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

I don't min pre-gens for one shots or very short campaigns. But I'm going to care a lot more about, and have a lot more fun with a character I create myself.

We just played a Star Wars one shot and I liked my pre-gen (we all had pre-gens). I just made up my character for the real campaign and I based her off of the pre-gen but added my own touches, and obviously, background , history and name that the pre-gen didn't have.

 

[Marimmar@Home]

I never used pregens but my gf liked to take the starting package characters from the PHB. For a newbie it's far more easy to get into the game and learn the rules as you go instead of trying to studying them beforehand which is a boring passtime IMO.

~Marimmar

 

[Umbran]

Like many, I find pregens work nicely for one-shots and mini-campaigns.

In cases where the GM and players know each other very well, you can also make good use of pregens for longer stuff, but it has to be done carefully, and with some understanding on all sides. Allowing the GM to design a PC gives them a chance to focus the game in a number of ways, but this doesn't work if the players won't play along. And taking on a PC that isn't precisely what you'd make for yourself is a great way to stretch and expand your role-playing and tactical skills.