Pathfinder 1E The Barbarian in the Intrigue Campaign

[Fauchard1520]

The titular barbarian is an archetype of a larger problem: Have you ever brought a really cool character to the game, only to find out that it was a terrible fit for the campaign?

What's the solution you opted for? Did you retire 'em and roll up a new guy? Did you adapt somehow? Or did you stay quietly miserable for the duration of the campaign until such time as you were allowed to quietly slink away?

(Comic for illustrative purposes.)

 

[Grogg of the North]

Honestly, that's on the GM mostly. It's not that hard to tell your players in a short email that you're looking to run a campaign that is going to be light on combat and heavy on social interaction. I am, of course, assuming that the barbarian in the comic is geared completely towards killing monsters and has a charisma of 5 and no useful skills in this situation.

As a player, I would probably ask the GM if I could just swap out characters at the next convenient spot. I would rather not devote three hours or so a week to sitting at a table and twiddling my thumbs.

 

[Riley]

Have you ever brought a really cool character to the game, only to find out that it was a terrible fit for the campaign?

What's the solution you opted for? Did you retire 'em and roll up a new guy?

In a 3e campaign, my bard (the eponymous Riley) was eaten by ghouls, because we were lacking front-line defenders, healing, and anti-undead options. So I replaced him with an optimized-for-dungeon-crawling, spiked-chain-wielding elf cleric who could fill our battlefield control, damage-infliction, and healing needs.

Almost immediately thereafter, the campaign evolved into one of urban investigation and intrigue, and he was useless.

I tried (with the DM’s cooperation) to give him a heroic death, but he proved just too hard to kill.

So instead he received a letter from home, and wandered off.

 

[aco175]

Most of this is on the DM. I would let the players make new PCs along the way if one is not working out for them. I feel part of the DMs job is to try and allow each PC some time in the spotlight. That may mean allowing a gang of thugs to burst into the room during an investigation if things need to be moved along. This also allows the barbarian some time to smash. I tend to err on the side of combat myself and like to roll dice as part of the game night.

 

[Fauchard1520]

It's funny... I'm actually working on a mini-dungeon at the moment meant to solve this problem. The reward amounts to a respec. I would think that finding a way to preserve a character while rejiggering powers would be a more popular solution.