When to allow players to change out characters

[Jhaelen]

That would drive me nuts and I would say I don't think your play style is compatible with mine as a DM. It is obliviously a player who would change classes at different levels just because of mechanics is not invested in the actual story of the game. And while there is nothing wrong with playing the game this way it is not the way I want to play.

I don't think I'd ever had a player trying to abuse the license to create a new character 'at will'. What happens way more often is that a player wants to keep her character but make a couple of adjustments because some of the choices she made (feats, spells, powers, etc.) didn't work (as well) as she expected.

In our current group every player has a 'backup' character, anyway, so there's even less reason to roll up a completely new one. If a player wants a break from her primary character, she simply plays her backup for a few sessions.

 

[jasper]

.. It is obliviously a player who would change classes at different levels just because of mechanics is not invested in the actual story of the game. ... I think he is caught up in his plot and I do understand that.

I never had a player change because of mechanics. Either tired of old pc. Or new player and he has not settle down to figure out what he wants to play.
I don't do stories or major plot lines. The story is what happens due to die rolls and player actions in the village of hommlet. Not "Hommlet villiage" starring xyz. Not doing stories/ major plot lines comes from me/them moving/drilling/ excising, or life bites situations.

 

[Gamgee]

For the most part I would let them change at any opportune time that doesn't interfere with a plot point or a fight. So at the nearest convenient opportunity. If I can't see one in sight I'll do my best to try open up a point. While this has never happened there could be a situation where a player might have to have an extended wait to switch character.

Some games I encourage less character switching to better fit the theme or setting for role playing purposes. These can also cause delays in a new character.

 

[Elf Witch]

Roll with this, as a way to make a new character.

Do the characters know that their abilities have changed?

Maybe your caster, with insight into the strange mysteries of the universes, remembers the way things used to be and can't live with it. This leads to erratic behavior as caution is thrown to the wind. Death, and a replacement character, are then inevitable. Unless he doesn't let PCs die, which is another problem.

I don't think it ever actually happened in my games, but if a player wanted to change PC, I'd let her do so freely.





I don't DM to provide enjoyment for the players, I DM to provide enjoyment for myself and my friends. I don't put myself before them but I don't put them before myself.

That said, I really believe that my plans are not so important that they cannot be changed. As a matter of fact, my "plans" are normally about the playstyle, the campaign themes and flavor, and sometimes a few key ideas that can be either narrative or functional. My "plans" are not about things proceeding in a predetermined way, in fact I love using the dice and random tables to make some decisions in my place. In the same way, I love seeing players really determine what happens in the story, so that also for me it feels like watching a movie I don't know the ending of.

Player's entitlement irritates me when I want to set a classic western-medieval atmosphere, and a player insists in playing a Monk, or if I have setup a campaign in a world where magic is rare and powerful, and players demand to have magic item crafting rules or wands shops. I believe it's important for a campaign to have a flavor that distinguishes it from other campaigns, and I believe it is the DM's duty to choose the flavor (unless gaming in "kitchen sink mode", which is a valid option), so once I have set the flavors & themes, players should accept them. If their current pet character idea doesn't match at all, they should simply shelf it for next campaign.

But changing character mid-game in general is not a big deal for me. Does it disrupt the story? Then it disrupts the story, and I will do my job of adapting the story. Nowadays we have an example of a fantasy series (Games of Thrones) where the story is constantly disrupted by important characters dying unexpectedly, and still a lot of people like it.

To bad he didn't change the system before we left the fairy realm because that could have been used to explain the changes.

I hate when players do that too. In my campaign I have reasons why things are the way they are. For example dwarves are not open as a player class and elves are the only one who do psionics. I had one player who at first said I want to play an elf sorcerer. I said no, but you could play a half elf and do that. I have story reasons why elves don't do magic. After many emails and complaints the players came up with a character they ended up loving a bard spellscale.

I agree that players should try and make characters that thematically fit the DM world.

 

[pickin_grinnin]

I work with players. The idea is to have fun - if a player is tired of his or her character, I have no problem with changing it out for a new one.

I wouldn't switch systems while mid-campaign. That's an odd move.

 

[billd91]

I wouldn't switch systems while mid-campaign. That's an odd move.

Depends on whether or not the game rules are really working for the campaign the GM wants to run. Going from D&D to Hero is a bit more of an extreme switch than most, though.

We switched systems twice now for a Mass Effect campaign. First we started with GURPS but that became a bit unwieldy. Then we used Star Wars Saga Edition but the GM was having a bit of trouble balancing some opponents against us because we ranged from some fairly weak defenses to really high (I'm not really sure how that happened since SWSE characters tend to have unusually high defenses in general, but there you go) and he's be munching through the biotic and tech PCs while I with my soldier/scout would skate by untouched (evasion rears its ugly head as extremely good in this game too). So we're trying out a fan-creation of a d20 Mass Effect game that he found from a site in Portugal. Frankly, I think SWSE has been our most successful outing yet even though the d20ME has powers that more closely mimic what's in the console game, but we're keeping an open mind.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

If yes you might want to suggest some compromise like play it until the plot has evolved enough for your character to no longer be essential. Maybe even have your character die at some suitably dramatic moment thereby spurring on the survivors in a quest for revenge.

Interesting character death (pre-approved by the player) is a great way to take them out of a campaign.

As to the OP, it sounds a bit weird to me also. I mean, as a DM I tend to stand firm on allowed character concepts. What I'm doing now is writing up a description of what the campaign is about, what is on the table and off the table, and then when players sign on they know what they are getting into. That's of course harder to do when gaming with an existing group where some of them may be on board with it and some of them won't.

I can't really see myself disallowing a player to choose a new character. If they switched characters frequently, I'd schedule some time to talk and figure out what they are really looking for in a character. I'd do my best to make sure they will enjoy what they create, and if they are just a restless soul who gets bored playing the same character, I'd suggest making two that I could provide ways for them to switch back and forth between as needed. I mean, it's been said already, but why force someone to play a character they aren't enjoying?

As a player, I tend to be really flexible. I'll figure out what is allowed for the campaign, sometimes I might even ask what others are playing so I can cover a base nobody else has hit. Then I pick an option that fits both me and the campaign. Heck, I wouldn't even mind a complete rules-switch mid-campaign a lot of the time. But being forced to stick with a character that didn't turn out the way I hoped is not a very appealing choice--especially if I can see options I like a lot better.

What I might tell your DM is that you made this character because you liked how his/her concept worked out in System A, but that concept just isn't working out in System B, and you feel like this is a new character you weren't even able to choose. If you're going to need to be playing a new character, all your asking is that you can create them rather than being assigned them.

 

[Storminator]

I'm probably the most spineless DM ever. My players don't even need to tell me when they rebuild the same PC with different stats/powers/feats/whatever (every session? whatever). I do like a little notice when they change PCs completely, but again they can do that whenever they want. Fortunately, most of my players keep a PC around for a while (some even when the PC dies . . . ).

I designed my campaign as the rise to power of a particular goblin clan, so if players want to bring in new clan members to replace old ones we've got a ready excuse. I haven't had any PCs swap out mid-fight or mid "dungeon", but I'd probably roll with it if they did.

PS