Wrecking characters

[Warpiglet]

Hello gang,

i love D&D. Started before I could comprehend the rules and now playing as a middle aged! Guy.

i really am coming from 1st ed AD&D...we played it all the way until third edition. Skipped 4 and have really enjoyed 5th.

there has been a weird evolution in my game life. Most has been good. The backgrounds has prompted some unique combinations and has enriched character development for us. We made lengthy histories before and quirks but I have been happy with a renaissance of sorts for us with the latest edition.

however, I have encountered a problem which is a newer one for me personally: I stray from my original concept too often. It starts off well but as I decide on feats or multiclassing, I get distracted by shiny things and lose my focus. Recently I wanted to play a fighting celestial patron warlock (maybe a little gandalf like?) in robes with a staff. Planned moderately armored to have chain shirt under robes and blade pact for extra smacking. So far, so good.

But it I hate managing 2 spell slots and wanted a couple extra. I started as cleric for one level (wears a mount celestia symbol which is where the patron hails from). I don't want to debate whether or not following a plane is possible for a cleric or not...but in effect he draws on it for clerical power.

before I knew it I was wearing heavy armor and using a maul. We're level four now and I have no mechanical complaints at all. However, I have lost my initial concept unintentionally.

with the newer editions I find I do this to myself more readily because there is more to tweak and to be swayed by.

i am no junior thespian...we are combat heavy and like dungeon crawls. I don't think obtaining bonuses or optimizing is bad, but I sometimes let it distract me.

it is not a weakness of the game or edition! It offers choices...I just don't always make good ones!

in the future, I am going to be more careful about feats and multiclassing and ask myself if the choice immerses more with flavor or dilutes the original intent and vision.

there is no wrong way to play if you are having fun but for me Immersion and theme is paramount and I have done a good job sabotaging myself by losing sight of that from time to time.

 

[Seramus]

You know what I hate?
Roleplaying characters that evolve into something that is no longer fun. Like they take on a life of their own, and have their own inertia and destiny now. But for whatever reason, where that character is going is not your idea of a good time at the gaming table.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I understand the way mechanics may tell you something is more or less optimal than another option. And I keep that in mind.

But I try to make decisions on mechanical choices for a given character as if I were that character in that game world. If I’m playing a dragon-obsessed PC, I will try to opt for more dragon-centric choices. If I am in a campaign that is currently embroiled in a zombie apocalypse, I’m less likely to choose combat options that are ineffective against them.

I don’t always ACHIEVE those character-building goals, but I always keep them in mind.

 

[Ganders]

Sounds like you're getting distracted by new shinies because you're trying to think of too many characters at the same time. Getting your warlock into melee with decent armor is already a mix of two concepts. Then you want to multiclass as well! Now, I myself am guilty of this... I almost always look to multiclass my warlock to get some extra low-level spell slots. Nevertheless, this is my advice:

Learn to concentrate on one concept at a time in 5th edition. Just as you've had to learn to cast one buff at a time, because of concentration.

You can do everything you want to do... if you're willing to do it in several different characters, not all in one.

 

[Blue]

Sounds like you're getting distracted by new shinies because you're trying to think of too many characters at the same time. Getting your warlock into melee with decent armor is already a mix of two concepts.

No, it's not.. It's a single *concept*. It's just one that 5e isn't well suited to realize without the benefit of ...

Then you want to multiclass as well!

You beat me to it.

You see, concepts have nothing to do with classes, races or anything mechanical. Those are just tools to help realize the concept in the game system. Really, most concepts can't be described well by any one game system. Pick a few characters from novels and movies and you'll see disagreement over how to mechanically realize them - what class(es), ability scores, etc. And they still won't be able to do everything they can in the source, and can probably do things they can't in the source.

Think of concepts as pencil marks all over a piece of paper. Now drop a dozen coins on the paper. These are what the classes can each model using it's mechanics. Some marks are covered by a coin - these are ones that we can use the class to model. Some concept, say an "archer", actually have coins overlapping it - this can be modeled using multiple classes.

Still the majority of concepts aren't under coins. What would be useful would be a way to stretch the reach between coins - concepts that are close to one, close to another, but neither coin covers it.

And there comes multiclassing. Multiclassing is just a way to take mechanics that models certain things and use them together, in a game balance way. It allows coins to stretch towards each other and therefor cover a lot more concepts without having to add more mechanics.

Now, there's still coins that are far apart and multiclassing doesn't work well to model the concepts between them. And there are concepts that are between a coin and the edge of the paper - no way for the mechanical model to stretch in that direction.

When I first introduced my daughter to D&D, she had scores of character concepts. None of which fit the classes well. It made me realize that because of playing the game for such a long time that I limited myself to character types that fit what the classes could easily mimic, and that I was self-censoring so many good ideas but ones that wouldn't be easy to model in the system.

But that doesn't mean they aren't great concepts, and ones that can be modeled more or less successfully in the mechanics of the game, especially when willing to stretch in various ways.

(Note: Charactr power is yet a different axis - If my concept is "the second best swordsman in the Empire", that's not something I'll be able to model with a 3rd level character.)

 

[Raith5]

Ahh man. Now I want I want to roll up a Gandalf in heavy armour and Maul!

 

[Immortal Sun]

Translate your own existential crisis into one of the character. Play out how how it's affecting him, how he has lost sight of his goals, the way he wanted to live his life and the things he wanted to accomplish.

Or make a character who craves power and would make any sacrifice to get it.

And have the existential crisis when he finally takes over Metrocity. Er...the dungeon.

 

[Ganders]

One of my concepts is a character that wears plate mail but has expertise in stealth, uses both a wand and a sword, does bonus damage when striking from hiding, and can cast fireballs, heals, and resurrections while tracking his favored enemy. Call it a 'concept that isn't modelled well with existing classes' if you like, but I think it's trying to be too many things at the same time. 5e doesn't model that well because it doesn't want to. It doesn't think any one character should get more than a couple of gimmicks.

 

[Li Shenron]

[MENTION=6689161]Warpiglet[/MENTION] I don't think you're doing anything wrong, if you enjoy the game. But if you think you're not, then if I were in your situation I'd probably just try the following:

- promise yourself not to multiclass or take feats that dabble in another class feature, at all
- trust your ability to play well without worrying for optimizing, or realize that unoptimized means harder means more fun
- write down a short list of "must-keep" conceptual traits for your PC, and check against them each time you level up so that you don't deviate too much

 

[Imaculata]

I've recently challenged myself to play outside my comfort zone. I'm playing a diplomatic character with a focus on hacking, for a D20 Future campaign. Normally I tend to lean towards combat characters (paladins for example), but I've really fallen in love with this character, thanks to a DM that gives me enough to do, and a group that allows me to fill a specific niche. That's key I think in sticking with your out-of-comfort-zone character, being allowed to be unique, but also being allowed to be useful. I'm also making sure not to tread on other people's speciality, and this informs my feat choices.