Team Players

[Ahnehnois]

On the flip side, it can also be an asset. Believe it or not, not everyone likes the "you can play *anything* you want!" form of character creation.

I, personally, find I am more creative and interesting in my character concepts when I am given restrictions. I want to know the party needs a fighter, for example, because I am personally better at answering, "How do I make a fighter interesting?" than I am at answering, "What one concept do I want to play right now?"

Understood. That's why there's no wrong answers here.

Limitations do breed creativity, however it's worth noting that party dynamics are only one possible source of such limitations. For example, a setting might dictate them, a DM might dictate them, or a player might self-impose them for other reasons. Teamwork is one prominent example of a limitation that can force players to think more creatively than if they're on an island building their own character.

 

[Storminator]

In my game I always had a couple of players who were the team players. They'd find out what other people wanted to play and then fill in the gaps.

To my mind, this meant they got stuck with the same roles a lot. I had to encourage them to speak up if they wanted to do something different.

I'll often do this when I play. I'm usually more interested in having my PC fill gaps than I am in a particular class (or character type in classless games).

And as it happens my favorite D&D class is cleric, so I'm often the healer.

PS

 

[Ruin Explorer]

On the flip side, it can also be an asset. Believe it or not, not everyone likes the "you can play *anything* you want!" form of character creation.

I, personally, find I am more creative and interesting in my character concepts when I am given restrictions. I want to know the party needs a fighter, for example, because I am personally better at answering, "How do I make a fighter interesting?" than I am at answering, "What one concept do I want to play right now?"

I think the issue here is that whilst it breeds creativity for some people, those people could otherwise come up with perfectly good characters, and are unlikely to see their long-term enjoyment of the game compromised by having to come up with a character from a broad range of possibilities rather than narrow (I mean, it's easy to self-limit - or roll randomly or whatever).

So the maximum harm is minor inconvenience.

Whereas if a player is forced into a narrow range of possibilities, none of which strongly appeal, but where they feel they can't object, either (for whatever reason - usually this is due to a role being perceived as necessary, or not wanting to tread on toes - the latter usually due to some PCs being created before others), if they end up picking a PC they don't actually want to play, that can cause serious long-term problems, sometimes not just for them, but for the rest of the group too.

So the maximum harm there is serious long-term problems, potentially spreading to the group.

I'm not saying that gives us a "right answer", but it does perhaps tell us that DMs should consider their players, and try and find out who is "open to anything" and/or likes limitation, and ensure it's those guys who end up going last in the process (if it's sequential, as, in my experience, it often is), and gap-filling, rather than just letting it be a matter of whoever does it first.

With the groups I've run and played it, virtually every character generation has fit into 2), so that how I answered.

 

[Umbran]

however it's worth noting that party dynamics are only one possible source of such limitations.

Of course.

For example, a setting might dictate them, a DM might dictate them, or a player might self-impose them for other reasons.

Cognitively, the player self-imposing is just another form of choosing blue-sky, so it isn't a whole lot of help. DMs can dictate them, but in my experience rarely do. Settings almost never restrict choices enough on their own to be useful in this regard, as they need to be inherently broad enough to please everyone, and so leave most of the options open.

So, while all those things do happen here and there, having the choice narrowed by previous player choices is a mode that's almost always to hand. All you have to do to get it is wait to be last

 

[Ahnehnois]

One thing I've found from non-D&D games is that when I'm running a horror game with "civilians" who aren't really adventurers, those characters will often get made independently, and sometimes I'll even bar the players from talking to each other or have secrets between them to add uncertainty to the scenario.

Conversely, in running adventure-driven sci-fi games, I've actually as a DM required the players to provide a complete working team, and dictated that their characters had to fit into or cover certain roles.

In D&D, I've seen mostly towards the middle, where there's some cross-talk but players aren't really building a party and are mostly focused on their own character, with maybe a nod to making the group work. However, I've done it all three ways.

 

[The Human Target]

On the flip side, it can also be an asset. Believe it or not, not everyone likes the "you can play *anything* you want!" form of character creation.

I, personally, find I am more creative and interesting in my character concepts when I am given restrictions. I want to know the party needs a fighter, for example, because I am personally better at answering, "How do I make a fighter interesting?" than I am at answering, "What one concept do I want to play right now?"

I think that's very common.

Most people want a little structure.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Most people want a little structure.

They do. "Go make a character" without any other guidelines is a tall order.

 

[The Human Target]

They do. "Go make a character" without any other guidelines is a tall order.

Yeah in my experience maybe one or two players come to the table with a clear idea, and everyone else kind of waits to see how things shake out.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I voted "other" ()- whether I collaborate or not depends on the campaign and how I feel, and if I have any particular concepts in my head I REALLY want to play.

 

[Jacob Marley]

They do. "Go make a character" without any other guidelines is a tall order.

Interaction between players and having character creation guidelines are two separate things.