jgsugden
Legend
A character is more than their abilities. They have a story. This can manifest in a lot of ways.Where are you drawing the line between pulling out the character sheet that they used in the old game, and simply generating the same character according to the rules of your game?
I'm really not seeing much of a distinction.
The character may have ongoing storylines that have been unfinished. For example, when I moved across the country, I was playing a Heblade Warlock that had several ongoing storylines that were not wrapped up. Some related to his relationship to his Patron. Some related to his relationship to his tribe. Some related to interactions with other PCs in the group.
If I had the right opportunity out here where I moved, I might have discussed continuing this PC with another DM. If that DM embraced the idea of continuing the story of that PC, they might collect the information about the Patron to provide a consistent continuation of my PC's relationship with the patron. They might have found ways to weave those tribal relationships into their current setting. They might have made NPCs in the setting that were those former PCs.
Think about it in the context of Comic Books. Sometimes, when an author leaves a comic book, the new author looks at what the last author was doing and respects the fiction. They work with the lingering storylines and weave them into their new plans - perhaps resolving them according to the original plans, or perhaps by moving them in a different direction. At other times, the new author has a bunch of ideas they want to move forward and no respect for what came before. There, they either wrap up lingering storylines with a handwave or ignore them all together.