D&D 5E Retireing characters

[TallIan]

After a party death my group of players have been left with no front line characters. As a DM I would normally work around this, but another player has expressed an interest in retiring his character and bringing a zone control tank into the game.

All the players are happy with this and I only have a slight concern as a DM that this might open the flood gates. I don't really want to say no because that just leads to suicidal characters and I've been on both sides of the table when that happens and it's not fun.

I just wanted to run this past people here for any potential pit falls or recommended penalties to help prevent a whole new party every other session.

Tall

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[ccs]

Well, you've already got to work the new replacement character into the action. So you might as well work this other new character in at the same time.
Make it plausible in-game why/where these two new members are joining & why/where the retiring one leaves..

 

[jasper]

What is the problem? If I want to drop my wizard and bring a tank, what is stopping me? and if Morrus wants to drop his Warlock and bring in a life cleric what is stopping him? I assuming swapping pc for same level pc.
Is because of story reasons?
Is because we were trapped in quicksand at the end of last week session?
"...recommended penalties to help prevent a whole new party every other session.". Ok, the only penalty I see is Plot/prewritten dungeon problems. Ex. As dm if I did the Terrible Tickling Tieflings of Toronto write up and have the rooms all map out. And went to the extra work of throwing in encounters which matched the party. Then jasper and morrus swap out pcs which will make the next 2 rooms hard fights. I generally go with what I have already mapped out. The penalty is the harder difficultly.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Warmaster Horus]

We mix high and low in my group quite often. As long as the new characters watch their step they generally catch up pretty fast. Or you could just say that players get one, and exactly one, level-equivalent character to bring in if and when they loses a character to death or permanent retirement.

 

[Ath-kethin]

I can understand some hesitation, but ultimately I don't see how forcing a player to keep playing a character they no longer wish to will benefit anybody.

 

[Oofta]

I let people swap out characters if they want to do so, I've never seen an issue. In fact, one of the "new" characters has become pivotal to the campaign in a relatively short period of time.

I also allow the new people to write up characters similar level, items and resources as everyone else. We've never had an issue with this over the years, just run it by your group first.

If someone does want to swap out characters "just because" I don't see an issue. The game is about having fun.

I do warn people that their old PCs become NPCs under my full control which can have all sorts of fun impacts on the story.

 

[WarpedAcorn]

I just wanted to run this past people here for any potential pit falls or recommended penalties to help prevent a whole new party every other session.

Tall

Talk with the player first to make sure the reason for the change is sincere. It might be that the problem is so minor that you can fix it without rerolling. Maybe the Fighter picked a bad Feat or aligned his stats wrong. Maybe he thought that a Greatsword Swinging Champion would have been fun, but now he feels he can be a better teammate by being a Sword & Board defensive Fighter. Those are easy fixes that might not need a reroll. I switched from a Paladin to a Fighter/Cleric to accomidate another player. Later, I was unhappy with the character and my DM offered me the option to swap back to Paladin. I did not take it, but I did get happier with the build and the character.

We had another player who was playing a Land-Druid. He was not happy with the class and was not doing the things he imagined doing. Truth be told, he was playing the Druid like a Wizard and not taking advantage of all the Druid skills, but what he really wanted to do was play a Wizard. So now he is playing a Wizard. The only penalty imposed was that the new character started off 1 Level lower than the highest level of the group, and he had starting equipment as per the PHB. I think those are fair "penalties" for bringing a new character to the table. It has a bit of a sting so you don't want to do it every few games, but it doesn't really debilitate or hinder the character.

 

[jasper]

Lowkey13.
1. ….So, here's the counterpoint - which, as you note, has to do with both story and "difficulty" (reliance) reasons….
2…This is the difference between campaigns, and successive "one shot" adventures. Both are fun ways to spend time; but if you just wish to play a succession of different characters, then you probably shouldn't play a campaign…
Number 2 first. Different view here. A campaign is series of adventures under the dm Talltan. One session we are exploring the temple of slightly moldy evil and the next we are in Virginia City and assassinating Marshall Dillon.
Number 1 second. Story! Story! If you want a story, the dm and players need to write a novel. The story is not Jasper’s barbarian, Morris’ wild wizard, ccs’ tank, and Warmasters life cleric vs. the evil lich lowkey of the 13 hearts. The story is where Jasper rolled 4 fumbles in a roll and his barbarian had to saved by Morris’ used of a cantrips.
I have seen too many “STORY” games ruined because Morris shipped out, Warmasters discovered girls, and Jasper had finals (insert other reasons here). It is great when Talltan creates “the evil lich lowkey of the 13 hearts” as a main villain. But it blows if Talltan expects and demands I play my opening PC from zero to hero. Especially if I want to drop the pc when it hit 6th level. Now I will for story line play a pc for an extra session or two, if I am having some fun and I know the dm is going to let us hit a town to give a logical story reason for the pcs to be swapped out.
As a DM I love when I can get a good story line going with the same pcs and players, but I do not count on it. Now I been in the military, been in college, and live in a military town. So I have not be able to keep a stable group which lasted more than 2 years. And in envy of those lucky enough to have the same players for 4+ years.