Can you change your D&D/TTRPG character after the campaign starts?

[@postapocalypticnewsradio]

PANR has tuned in. In my games, everyone gets two rewrites. One before we meet the big bad, one at level twenty.

[@jesternario]

I give a three session grace period. If you feel your character is not working after a session or two, you may remake the character from the ground up, with all the advances gained thus far. However, after three sessions, you should've learned whether or not your character works for you, and have to start from scratch.

[@Madchemist002]

The DMs I've played with don't really have a "period," but they only tend to allow a character change once with a good reason. For example, I switched off my cleric on session 11 just about. He had been stagnating for a while, and I had been having less fun. I talked with the DM and he allowed me to change, so I was able to write a character who was much more connected to the world and setting, and also had more complex nuance.

[@jesternario]

@@Madchemist002 I feel that three sessions is reasonable. By that point, you no whether or not you like your character or if they gel with your group.

[@SunLovinSolaire]

⁠@@jesternariowell, no. There can be plenty of reasons to want to switch a character that aren’t apparent in the first few sessions. I made a Ghostslayer Bloodhunter, and my DM assured me that while there were Undead in the setting, they would not be the focus. I assured the DM that was fine, but that when Undead show up my character would despise them and want to destroy them. The DM oh so delightfully neglected to mention in any way that there was a Faction of Undead that was Good aligned, and there was no hint of their existence until Session 9 in game. Not only that, but they were Vital to plot progression. I have since stopped playing with that DM, but the point remains that sometimes a simple lack of information can make a character that would’ve been great into a horrendously unfun experience.

[@stepgamerdad]

In my current campaign, I started out as a homebrew variation of the Way of Four Elements Monk. Then, I discovered the 3rd Party Source book "Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms" by Loot Tavern on Kickstarter. This source book included an "Elemental Bender" class, that was *way* more in line with how I wanted to play my character, and the mechanics were also way more balanced than what I had thought up. So, my DM and I put our heads together and came to the conclusion that I could simply change classes, because the flavor, roleplay and party role of my character wouldn't change, so it would be very easy to handwave the change.

[@soulfireblue]

Please... Everyone go check out Viva La dirt league's d&d channel. It is an awesome 3+ Year running campaign. The guys there are absolutely hilarious and the DM is an amazing storyteller. One of the characters, Greg The garlic farmer (Alan), grew tired playing as an artificer. This was after at least a year and a half into the campaign comprising of about eight or nine levels at artificer. With the DM's help he came up with a great way and a compelling reason to switch to cleric as the party desperately needed a healer. I seriously cannot stress how awesome the d&d channel is. Their main channel Viva La dirt League has grown in popularity. Also covering loads of different video game content. The d&d game is set in their own made up video game world and they are playing as the NPC characters from their main channel. Seriously check them out. I can't take the number of times I've held my belly laughing at their antics.

[@mac_sour]

what was the great way/compelling reason? don't leave people in the dust, especially because i'm not gonna check out and spend time watching an entire year and a half series just to find out the reason why they switched characters

[@soulfireblue]

@@mac_sour Alan didn't like the way artificer was played. His character also was becoming way more murder hobo than he liked. You could tell that he was very quickly losing interest in playing All together. If I remember correctly he even missed a couple of episodes to take time away. Was probably dealing with some personal stuff. The DM worked it into the story during a meeting with a friendly archfey that she would give him respite while he worked on healing his emotional and mental scars. When he returned, he and the DM explained that during his respite he communed with the gods of his world. he gained a new appreciation for life And vowed to offer healing instead of destruction.

[@Arkios64]

Ngl, I was sure I was about to get the revelation that THEY were the geniuses behind 'Garlic Bread Domain'.

[@skeepodoop5197]

Yes, I suggest you do if you're early into the game and you're not enjoying your character. I almost played a monk, but switched to sorcerer because there was another monk in the game.

[@thetwojohns6236]

I'll allow absolutely any changes until 3rd level. Once the player hits 3rd level, the plot armor falls off, and the character is set. Any changes you need to make after that, short of a new character, can be made through multiclassing. But that needs to make sense, and I'll have fun coming up with a story with you to justify this. I will never understand players that quit because the character isn't working, not when I'm fine with making a change.

[@Jessie_Helms]

It honestly depends. For example, tonight I was told I couldn’t roll a history check for the 4th or 5th time because my character is an (involuntary, one way) time traveler. He’s also a soldier who’s canonically been on campaign before. So even though we’re like 8 sessions deep I asked and was given the green light to drop my history proficiency in favor of survival. Past a certain point you should only correct grave errors in build/backstory. But early on it’s fine. In my games your first 2 session can have you change basically anything about your PC. But after the 3rd session starts I want everything fully locked down (again, glaring mistakes not included).

[@WandererEris]

In 3.5e, the Player's Handbook 2 introduced retraining as a downtime activity you can do at level up. You might need to pay a fee or find a tutor, but you could swap out feats this way. It didn't let you change your class, though. However, in the Tome of Magic (a book that introduced three entirely new magic systems to spice up your game) we got Shadow Magic. It had a mechanic where you could replace wizard levels with shadowcaster levels as you level up. So you could go from a wizard 5 to a wizard 4/shadowcaster 2 when you reach level 6. This was to show the creeping change that would overcome the user of such dark magic, and I think that was pretty cool.

[@Xecryo]

I say sure just talk to your DM ahead of time so they can write a desirable out for your old character and an appropriate entrance for the new one.

[@Sethywethyy]

Two years into a long form campaign one of my players wanted to chance from Bard/Warlock to Bard/Sorcerer. I didn’t allow him to switch classes immediately and without consequence. It was my responsibility to find a narrative thread to allow him to do this. A couple months later (bi-weekly sessions) and the players were lost in the FeyWild on their way to meet an Archfey of a forest and his Moonstone Dragon. Little did they know that the npc they had been travelling with was being tailed by his brothers because he ran away from home. When the party didn’t want to give up the Npc a combat ensued. My plan was for the combat to be so tough it was basically a tpk and the moonstone dragon would revive my players character as a bard sorcerer. The players BARELY scrapped by and won the fight that I built to be nearly unwinnable lol so when they rested that night the moonstone dragon, who’s been known to cast themselves into the dreams of creatures in this forest, created a ‘dream’ and took the pc on a flight above the FeyWild into the Astral Sea in the stars. She plucked the brightest star out of the sky and gave it to Jodie (the pc) for him to swallow. He did and through some fun description I narrated him transforming and becoming what he was meant to be. He woke up the next morning out in a field instead of in his bed, resting within the embrace of the Moonstone Dragon. TLDR: I delayed one of my PC’s class change to find a neat narrative moment that he would remember. He basically became the Boy who Swallowed a Star, and now is an incredibly excited to continue his characters journey but now as a Wild Magic Sorcerer. Full credit goes to Miyazaki and Howls Moving Castle for the inspiration!! **edit** oh yeah for the consequences. He broke his pact with his Genie. The morning he wakes up that Genie is gonna be pissed and is looking for a fight!

[@shanepatrick6836]

My first campaign in Pathfinder I played a wizard. It looked like fun at the time. But for a number of reasons I realized that it wasn’t the class I wanted to play. Because I never told the DM, I tried to get my character killed so I could roll something up. Because I was new the DM avoided taking the bait to attack my character despite my dangerous positioning. The campaign ended with my wizard still alive and as boring as ever. Because I was too afraid to tell the DM I wanted a new character. Fast forward a few years and at my first session zero as a DM I tell this story so my players know that I will never say no if you ask if you can retire your character because you aren’t having fun with them… because I’m telling a story that I want you to have fun with… if something is not allowing you to have fun, it’s my job to fix it. If that means letting you swap out a character, that is fine. My one rule is that we make a good send off for you your departing character.

[@fivestringslinger]

DM here, running a homebrew campaign for 5 players. Mostly first timers. At the start, I had one player who expressed wanting to play a support class and ended up settling on Cleric. Several sessions and a few combat encounters later, they expressed to me that they wished they could contribute more directly in combat as more of a martial class. Paladin, specifically. But they really liked their character. Lucky for me, they had chosen the Retired Adventurer background. This allowed me to weave in a sequence wherein their character felt a calling from their deity to once more take up the sword. Visiting the city's temple and discussing their vision with the Cleric there, she said she was told to expect him. From within the temple's collection of artifacts, she retrieved an old sword and shield and bestowed it on him with her blessing. And thats how I was able to seamlessly help my Cleric player respec into Paladin. It was a fun reveal and everyone at the table loved it. Moral of the story: Fun over RAW. Find a way!

[@joelrobinson5457]

I think it's fair to let players respec stuff if it's not working out for them, though absolutely not if they're just looking up the most powerful build

[@immortalmonk2891]

One of my players about halfway through the campaign wanted to try a different class so his character interviewed his new character as a hireling for their organization. Once he passed the interview was given a job in their organization and the player's old character retired to become an NPC bookkeeper of their organization.

[@cfogarty07]

I would say pull a fire emblem and make them study for tests

[@dragonickmaster]

in the campaign I was playing as Cinder Summerpeak, I was starting to want to take a break from her, luckily Cinder had already bought some land using the gold she got from winning an event at the local cities arena that happens once a month. got the land, had not only a house built but also brewery, got some Druids it put wards up to keep out rats and other pets, and even a second building so she could experiment with making booze out of Potions [something she'd already tried with a common health potion and it worked! only healed 1d4+1 but there was enough for like... four or five swigs of it]. So while Cinder started up brewery AND a tavern she rented in the city, I brought in Mai Darkbolt a Kitsune Fey Wanderer Ranger with a homebrew Shinobi/Ninja background to take her place. Mai's not only a direct descendant of Tamamo-no-Mai who's looking for her ancestor's lost artifact which is a golden clawed gauntlet, but also works as a spy, under the employ of one of the other players who was a dethroned royal due to a cue. So she had two reasons for working with the party and was a damn good shot. Seriously her first shot with her rifle [reflavored Heavy Crossbow with the range of a Longbow], with only the natural damage boost from Fey Wanderer, and Hunter's Mark she one shot a would be assassin out for her boss, and NONE of the assassins even knew she'd hidden in the trees shortly before they arrived. sadly the campaign fell apart not long after but if I get the chance I'm more than willing to play as Mai again, and all it took to start playing her in the first place was simply talking to the DM, and finding a way to work it into the story.

[@kiritotheabridgedgod4178]

So, there's something I had in a game I played in years ago, and have used it in every game I've DM'd since. Rework tokens. You get two major Rework tokens, and three minor Rework tokens. Spending a major Rework token allows you to change your class, subclass, go into a Multiclass that you didn't before, Etc. Although I will ask you to figure out a way through RP, that you've managed to do this. Minor Rework tokens are for changing around what you did with ASI's, for example, you tried a feat you've never taken before, and you don't like it or don't think it fits well, you can change it out. A minor Rework token only applies for the last ASI you took, so on average it gives you three levels to see if it works. For changing your race, there used to be, and think it got added back in with Strixhaven, a potion that could temporarily change your race, consuming the potion again whilst under the effects of the same potion permanently changes your race. You do Rework blood from the race you are becoming to make the potion however.

[@darkhorse989]

I have a first time player that wanted to change their subclass. I wrote a side quest that allowed the change. They had a permanent level of exhaustion until the side quest was done.

[@daedhaed1]

Pathfinder 1e and 3.5e D&D have official retraining rules that permit players to complete rebuild a character if the appropriate amount of time and money are spent doing so. It’s nice to have something like that for when something doesn’t work out the way you thought it would upon 1st reading.

[@TrylleBanjo]

7:14 My current DM allows you change just about anything you gained from a previous level-up, as long as you haven't used it (or at least only once). This is Savage Worlds, so level-ups function a bit differently, but point being: You took an ability leveling up, found out it doesn't work in this campaign, not fun or whatever it may be, and you can change it. It always requires a quick talk, but really the most important part for all of us are: Are we all having fun?

[@sireoslee2202]

I guess we're going to assume that Player #4 is attached to their character Bob the [class] and isn't ready to just kill them off. Step 1: Talk to the DM to understand what it is that is making you unhappy and even the other players. Is the campaign setting not working out for your choice? Is the party in need of a certain role? Did you try to branch out to a new class and your struggling with understanding the mechanics of the new class? Resolving these might make it easier than just some deus ex machina to change your class. Step 2: Would a multiclass, a subclass change, or change in feats resolve the issue? The Oath of Vengence Paladin seemed cool and edgy, but as the campaign progressed you found it to be a hindrance and different subclass (Crown, Conquest) would fit the campaign better. You picked 2 feats for 'flavor' (ie: Dungeon Delver and Healer) but finding they do absolutely nothing for the character and campaign and the DM lets you replace those with more appropriate (but no OP) feats. A one time tweak of the character ... but not an effort to min-max. Step 3: OK ... time for the minor deus ex machina ... are you looking to go to an adjacent class? You picked Ranger for T1 of the campaign, it wasn't working, are you ok becoming a Druid? You're a Cleric/Paladin, are you ok swapping because the party needs a healer or tank? Are tired of playing a raging Barbarian or the character alignment locked Paladin (the Paladin is released from their oath rather than breaking it) and you're ok with swapping to the more vanilla Fighter? Perhaps you're a Warlock that lost your pact and a sudden burst of energy from the weave turns you into a full Sorcerer. Step 4: Something big happened to the players in the group or you're REALLY not having fun and we need to get serious? Here the DM is going to have to get very deep into the lore reason why you're changing character class this severely without killing off Bob the [current class]. Wish or Reincarnate could quickly do it. Are you needing to pray to a god or make a pact with a being? Do you need to spend time near a font of magic? Did player #3 have to leave the table taking with them a needed role AND player #4 is bored of their own char and Player #5 joining the table wants to play something else all together? Just let player #4 get an in game reason why their character changed. After that ... yeah ... some stat changes (ie: swap intelligence for charisma or vice versa) tl;dr: take a few moments to understand what is making the current character unfun and work with the DM to see if a few minor changes can help before you take the drastic route of turning the Level 8 Wizard into a Level 8 Paladin or the Level 6 Druid into a Level 6 Barbarian and having to explain that away in game.

[@colebermudez9706]

Aside from character death, the only time I've allowed it after we finished the Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen module as there was going to be a one-year period when the party was just relaxing. Now they're out adventuring again with only two characters from the original party left (most are still alive but walking their own path).

[@DragonWarlock]

In my group we generally rule it if you have not used it, it does not exist yet. Example: if have not used any of your subclass features yet you are not that subclass yet so you can change that subclass, with DM approval, on the spot

[@glennschroeder3828]

Our group usually doesn't allow changes that aren't roleplay based, especially when multi-classing. For instance, you're not going to suddenly wake up one morning as a Warlock with a pact with an entity that hasn't appeared in or even been referenced anywhere in the campaign. Or your Wizard who has done absolutely no battle training isn't suddenly going to become a skilled Fighter just because he happens to have the Dex requirement. These kinds of things must be roleplayed and developed during the campaign. The only exception I can think of is changing spells on your list in very certain circumstances. For instance one player wanted to try out one of the new spells from the recent playtests and we all agreed it would be ok, but after using it a few times realized it wasn't really what she wanted to be doing. No problem there because we were basically just helping with play testing so she got to change her spell before the next session.

[@WTShammas]

Games Master here. I work very closely with my players during character creation. While I was running Pathfinder 1E, I had a player who wanted to run a ratfolk gunslinger, but the player got bored with the character at around Level 6. He wanted to abruptly change characters to one of his NPCs he had introduced, and while it wouldn't be very jarring for the barroom tough to take on adventuring, I still wasn't a fan. He wanted his gunslinger to go out in a blaze of glory sooner rather than later. I gave him a Monkey's Paw death, but it was also one that related closely to the story. I also penalized some XP for the whole thing, but not enough to really hurt the character in the long run. Unfortunately, it became clear that other than the wizard, she was the only hyper-focused character in a party of generalists, and it got to where nobody was having fun. Now, the third character was a gnome Bleachling, who had a lot more balance to her character. She was a melee monkey, sure, but that just meant you don't want to go toe-to-toe with her unless you were also a melee monkey. (Redcaps make for fantastic enemies.) I would have continued GM'ing that campaign were it not for the Varus.

[@spartanhawk7637]

In my group's games, we're allowed minor retcons and retrainings. Basically the rule is that your character needs a week of downtime to retrain one ability into another, the tradeoff being that you effectively sacrifice any downtime that week in-game. As for rewriting to change a character, we operate based off the retcon style of comics and manga. i.e. a character might say a line one way in the previous session, but between games we might come up with a sick one liner or something, so we alter the events slightly. Changing the overall story is frowned upon and needs the DM's permission, but minor stuff like that is a-okay.

[@Glitch6107-c9n]

i think that as long as you talk with your DM, and they allow it, it's completely fine to change your character, you can even add it into the lore by either making your old character retire, sacrifice himself, or just kill him off normally.

[@UltraManager]

One back up plan would be to add a "Soul Switcher Gem" You basically switch body with a character you created. You lost all your memories and actually become the other character.

[@alejandrocamberosrodriguez4222]

In our current setting, all of us have changed characters at least once: be it due to boredom with a character, wanting to try out new ideas, or due to story beats or a battle that was lost. Example A: our Bard had a family issue that had him on the run from his brother. He and his lackeys found our bard and stabbed him during the night with a petrifying dagger: we took him to a nearby church where he was healed, and my monk was offered shelter for the night. The next day, my monk got a note from our bard saying his goodbyes and explaining he chose to leave to not endanger our party. After that, our player's new character (Orc Cleric) introduced himself to the party after an in-game day. Example B: my monk was defeated by a wild magic-infused white dragon, and functionally killed off (per lore, he's frozen inside a giant chunk of magical ice). After that, since we had a TPK, we skipped 6 months forward and had some returning PCs and I created my current Paladin.

[@MHWorldManWithFish]

As a DM, I say there needs to be a suitable reason. In my current campaign, some of the players left due to external circumstances, so we did sort of a "soft reboot" with new players and new characters for the returning players. When the party reunites with the old party, two of the players will have two characters. My rule is that each player can only control one character at a time and commits to a single character at the start of each session. Additionally, there's 5 characters without players. They're mostly just used as hirelings by the players and play support if the party decides to bring any of them into combat. However any of the players wants to let their main character get some downtime, they can swap for one of these characters. I don't really expect my players to do this, but it's available to them. However, one character, formerly a Cleric, will be undergoing a class change to Paladin, with decent reasons. In character, he's been recruited by a new god who chose to grant him different powers. Out of character, he wanted to play a homebrew Paladin subclass that refills Lay on Hands with damage.

[@3of6mylove]

Important to note that warlocks do not actually lose anything if they break their pact. The warlock pact is essentially an exchange of service for knowledge/experience/skills. More/longer service means more knowledge and thus the ability to use more spells/features. WotC themselves have said that once granted, a warlock's powers cannot simply be taken away by a patron. They are learned. So while they may have to either find a new patron or reconcile with their previous one in order to gain more warlock levels, they still retain all the ones they had before. The consequences of breaking your pact are typically more narrative in nature, like your former patron seeking revenge, or your quest to find a new patron to continue gaining warlock levels. I think it's much stranger that they have the oathbreaker mechanic for paladins, but completely leave out a cleric's deity. Warlocks learning their powers at least makes some sense, but a cleric is literally channeling divinity. But I guess since they don't actually require clerics to worship a specific deity that's also fine. As long as they act in accordance with the "domain" they choose to represent.

[@gruenewaffel1726]

We decided to add Tashas around session 8. I (DM) added a magical book that the party couldnt open just yet but they knew that the author wrote childrens stories in session 6. So I baited them via NPC into saying magic words like "change myself" or something so the book opens, revealing a story about a prince who wanted to be a princess and a fox that wanted to be a wolf. Then in the nearby forest, they were met by a fox of primeveal nature and my rogue, who wanted to be an artificer instead, felt a strong urge to follow this cackling fox of fate. They found a temple with a mirror in the forest as it was mentioned in the book and touching the mirror took him into a vision about him with endless possibilities, ranging from seeing himself as different classes as well as different weapons and also different scales (dragonborn). I judt asked him what he wants to do, didnt even think how he would solve this. In the end, his character grew frustrated and bored by not knowing the answer and just called one of himself over to answer questions and i did a little switcheroo in the narrative that he was asked to answer questions by another him. In the childrens story it was mentioned that nobody remembers the old version so I made everyone roll a wisdom save as if it was a modify memory with the only success being a nat20. Coincidentally, the now artificer rolled the nat20 but he only remembers that something changed, unclear what tho. Later the wolf from the story made my paladin swear his oath as well as testing the new abilities since this was also the levelup to lvl3

[@tskophield9230]

I had a relatively new player start as a half elf paladin. Decided he didn’t really like it too much. He asked to have his player get recruited by an evil deity without knowing they were evil. He started down the oathbreaker path. As he turned evil, he had his new character show up with a vendetta against the people his old character now served. He played his new character(monk) with me playing his old character and they fought to the death. The rest of the party knew his old character was turning evil and were trying to figure out what to do with him when this happened, so they were ok with the outcome and mostly accepted the new character into the group.

[@threadscore]

The group I play with is pretty lenient on character swapping if you're just not feeling the build you had until this point. More often than not, though, new characters are brought in to replace one that has fallen, especially early on when access to revival magic is limited.

[@Evil0tto]

In one campaign we had a player show up with a new character and announce that his previous character had been a traitor all along. He then told us that his new character had killed the previous character off-screen during our downtime and that he was joining the group. The DM was more than a bit peeved (since the player had neglected to inform the DM about this amazing plot twist), but since the campaign was winding down and we just wanted to get through it we just shrugged and said "yeah, whatever." It's not like the previous character had been a deeply role-played much-loved member of the party. He was a warm body, and the new character was another warm body.

[@TheStickCollector]

I would personally say not your race or anything unless there's divine magic or something. Probably plastic surgery or some other physical changes can change you

[@aquawoelfly]

Only under a few conditions.... 1 its your first (few) time/s with this d&d group and you just pulled a premade charector on day 1, but now want to start from scratch. 2 your charector died, or otherwise is lost in the eather. (This can coincide with reason 1 when you bring your new charector in) 3 ITS EARLY in the campaign and you want to rebuild/optimise your charector to suit your backstory/charector arc/something else not realized in session zero. This kind of change can often be disguised [IC] AS LEVELING UP. 4 ALWAYS discus this with your DM. If your tired of a charector sideling that charector and bringing in a new one can be arranged. So cana suitable trauma/situation that explains noticable changes in your charector ("darla plummets off a cliff in an attempt to catch [mcguffin] hits her head and now doesnt want to fight but rather sing and is disillusioned on her height" as opposed to a hand waived "oh yeah darla is not a half orc abrbarian but rather a gnome bard now")

[@nils-peterwihlney8732]

I like to make a rule for this. Try out your character for a few sessions before making the decision to change it. If it is early in the campaign it is less of an issue but at least give a reason why your character is no longer an active member of the group. An alternative rule I have is that you create multiple characters for the campaign and switch between them from time to time if you want to change. One way to do this is to give a character the multiple personality disorder and make them share the same physical traits but change their mental stats. So a cleric goes to a warlock, or a sorcerer becomes a druid. There are a lot of reasons why somebody might want to change character and the best thing to do is talk to the GM and the group about it so that you can work out a solution together rather than just suddenly changing everything on a whim.

[@NeuralNotes5]

Changing of characters: 1) Mechanics wise: Anything is up for a debate as long as everyone supports it. I personally differentiate between mechanics and flavour. You could be literally any class in my game and flavour-text it as a single character let's say king Arthur of Camelot. If you had barbarian levels you'd be more incentivised to go straight to melee battle, whilst if you were sorcerer you'd be more incentivised to sling the magic of yours and Excaliburs from the back or if you didn't want to have your character display their powers as magic but feats of strength, you could describe the firebolt as a precise shot of your longbow possibly with the tip of the arrow on fire, your fireballs as whatever comes to you fist be it hurling giant boulder at the enemies or springing some trap on them and lastly all the buffing and debuffing magic just being your charisma and strength of personality/wisdom and advice you learnt through your life/inteligence coming from all the knowledge you accumulated from your advisors or the books... mind control just you being mesmerising, healing being mundane or motivational making you fight even when you'd have given up a long time ago forcing your emotions to push you back to battle,... IMO it's all about your concept and what fulfills it the most from the mechanical side... 2) You can always just retire your old character and bring in a new one if the concept you want to play right now is just way too different from your current character and what you wanted back when you created it. People change and we play a game for fun, so why shouldn't our characters change with us. (then there is also the question of how to retire the character, could be a tragic and glorious last fight with a self sacrifice..., happy ending with wedding and so on..., or even ascension of the character and them becoming the new BBEG if everyone is on board...) (In reasonable measures of course... if you without a notice tell me you want to play 100 different characters a session I'll be having a questions at least... Bla bla bla... Communication is a key... bla bla...). Much love, take care and bye. 😃😇❤️

[@nabra97]

I changed a character once because it was no possible reason he would go along with the plot in a particular situation (basically, we were asked to do a very specific thing that he swared not to do, and it was emphasized that we didn't have to, so the only reasonable response for him was just refusing; to specify, the DM approved that character limitation, but it was an ephisodic campaign that wasn't fully thought through, which I knew about). Everyone was fine with it.

[@lucielm]

We have had this in our Tomb of Annihilation campaign. Several players dropped out over time and we introduced new characters as pretty much showing up. Though we have had 3 character changes. 1 the Barbarian just wanted to retire and live on a dinosaur ranch. We hooked up with a ranger seeking the same goal as us. The fighter nuked himself against a boss and died. Can't revive because of the campaign issue. We're getting a sorcerer to replace him next session. After that our very evil wizard just wants to retire too and join the Barbarian on the farm, but his new Paladin is probably going to kill the wizard. The party was pretty close to killing him anyway because one was hit by suggestion to do so and my cleric was intentionally hit by 2 fireballs in the last combat. It was so tempting to use spirit guardians to kill him right then and there, but my character is trying his best to not to give into such thoughts.

[@ZombieDish]

if the DM is cool with it why not? We had a long hiatus in our Storm Kings Thunder campaign due to a certain pandemic, and when we were able to play again our DM allowed us to redo aspects of our characters since it had been awhile.

[@johnpatrick1647]

I'm playing two characters in one campaign because I tried to retire my first character (a lawful good war cleric) because the party was way too chaotic for his tastes. When you have to ask "are we the bad guys" is time to rethink your life choices. So, he went off to Vasselheim to pray and study and make amends. So, did our paladin. We literally had no business associating with the rest of the party. We brought in an eldritch Knight (him) and whisper Bard Yuan-Ti husband and wife team that better suits everyone else's characters. My whisper Bard is gone, so I brought in a wildfire druid but my cleric was dragged back in to the mix so I'm playing my first and third charters in the same campaign. When one is out on missions (we're currently under the employ of Ja'mon Sa Ord of An'Kharel) the other is back at base doing housekeeping stuff or off doing their own side quest (we do a lot of one shots between one or two characters and the DM for story purposes). Depending upon why and how I can definitely see a character change (especially if the player themself is not a problem player). If it's definitely storyline motivated, than yes. If it's because of a lack of realization in the character's "fantasy type", i.e. you play a ranger expecting to get Stryder but instead get Legolas, I would say yes if it can't be resolved through a different subclass and feats, ect. (everyone should be having fun and if the class isn't fun for somebody it isn't fun and I'd let them change). If it's simply because someone wants to try out the newest, bestest min-max combo they saw on reddit, then absolutely not.

[@ZombieDish]

in 3.5 I had made a Barbarian character that focused on critical hits... the thing was that I rarely almost never roll crits even to this day so my feat selection was wasted due to my mediocre rolls so our DM let me respec my feats to something that would work for my Barbarian.

[@RenoKyrie]

Just give them a mental breakdown And then have a 4th Dimensional entity that only manifest when someone at their lowest point made them turn into a physical manifestation of what they despise Or ended up growing stronger by self loving or hate while denying the entity

[@zeroknight1311]

Sounds like the Persona Game Series. Namely Persona 4 with how facing your shadows tend to go.

[@Weaponx603]

What I believe is that you can change the character you’re playing as long as you talk to the DM and create a plan to how the first character would leave

[@darcraven01]

i think it depends on what changes you're making, if theres any in game reasons for those changes, and how impactful the changes will be to the game. if you're changing an entire character to a new character than is there a way to explain why an old character is gone and a new one comes? if you're changing subclass, is your class capable of such a switch? a wizard might be able to change his field of study but a sorcerer cant, normally, just change what bloodline he gets his power from (unless you worked multiple heratiges into your back story to allow such a thing).. a warrior might change his training focus but a paladin cant just change his oath (except for becoming an oathbreaker).. etc.. if you're trying to change your race/subrace, is there a way to have been magically altered? reincarnated? those are just a few examples.. basically: is there a way to explain your changes in tge scenario you're in..? if so, than it should be ok. if not.. probably dont change it. an example if a change to a character i made and how it was explained: i had a fairy feylost draconic sorcerer/djinn warlock. i explained in his back story that he was once a gnome but fey magic is weird and seeing as he kept getting lost in the feywilds the magic changed him to a fairy. that was all backstory to explain the feylost background on a fairy. the change i made mid-game was i had made him a blue draconic bloodline sorcerer but wanted to take the feat "gift of the metallic dragon". i didnt think a metallic dragon would be gifting a chromatic dragonspawn anything so he had a vision from a fairy dragon messanger of a metallic dragon (thanks to his feylost background) which changed his scales to that of a bronze dragon (the tips of the scales remained blue). this was really purely cosmetic as the blue and bronze are both lightning elements but it fit. and the explanation fit with the fey magic causing changes to him which i had set up in his backstory.

[@sabliath9148]

As others have said, it's a case-by-case basis. If a character is for some reason not meshing with the group or the player isn't enjoying the character, then i see no reason not to allow them to come up with a reason to change characters. I've had it happened in games: Warforged Paladin wasn't meshing with the group so the DM allowed them to swap.

[@louisup5]

You can change anything you haven’t used yet. Say you picked 4 spells, but only used 3. You can change the 4th spell. But once you have used it, you get into time paradoxes

[@RuBoo001]

Depends on who’s asking and why. DM, asking out of curiosity? Of course! DM, asking to shut a troublesome player up? Up to you. Player who wants a bit of variety? Ask your DM. Player whose character just died? If you have to ask, _find a different DM._

[@styxriverr5237]

Had a buddy in my first group that got bored with characters really quickly or came up with a new one he liked more. So they'd get retired either properly or well died either stupidly or in one case by his next character. He also liked inter-party conflict but had no idea how to set it up correctly that made sense so most of his characters where bipolar at best and just insane at worst. First my first character was a noble and I hog tied his and threw him in a closet for both breaking into my room and bothering the Rogue of our party whom I was entertaining with a game of chess and drinks.

[@davidaward82]

depends on what you mean by 'change your character' ... retire the old one, and bring in a second? Usually easy enough to do, give the players a session as a sendoff for the old character, find a way to introduce the new one... harder if it's mid-dungeon. to change something about their character... i would say it depends entirely on how much they've used the ability they want to drop. if it has been integral to their success, it's harder to handwave away than an ability they thought would be cool but have never had the opportunity to use.

I allow it if it's between story arcs. If someone wants to change their character's class, subclass, equipment, etc... in a major way, there is enough downtime between arcs to justify it. If someone wants to switch to a completely new character, there is enough downtime to integrate the new character into the party. If it's during a story arc, I won't allow it unless someone ends up with a character they completely hate or a character that is absurdly useless, and some ability score rejiggling won't solve the issue. If this happens and the character can be feasibly inserted at the current point, they are. If they can't be inserted, e.g., the party is in the middle of a dungeon, a timequake might happen, replacing their previous character with the new one.

[@EXC334]

As a DM, I don't mind, if you grow bored of your character, sure I want everything to stay fun for everyone. All my players have to do is talk with me and give me an idea of what you are going to switch to and we discuss how their old character will leave the campaign. After that I'll let them make their new character while I write their old characters' glorious death or retirement in to the campaign. It's TTRPG, it's supposed to be fun for everyone, if you want something new that's fine. Edit: For new players I generally allow them to swap classes for them to find something they like or for continuity sake I will allow a player to swap classes as to not affect major plot points surrounding that player and will write in a way for it to make sense in the lore of the campaign.

[@StonedHunter]

I'd say it depends on who you're playing with and how the game is running. You should always ask because 9/10 you can probably come to some sort of compromise.

[@sniclops15]

Here's my take on it: Changing your character is a perfectly fine thing to do. Is it encouraged? Eh, not really. I would personally plan your original character out and have them retire or go out in a blaze of glory during an important quest. If your character just ups and walks away in the middle of a mundane session, it's disruptive to the others. Make your character switch both pivotal and natural. Got in a tough fight where you nearly died? Maybe this whole adventuring thing isn't for you. Backed into a corner and a TPK is inevitable? Tell the party to get outta there while you hold the line. Don't swap out a character just because. Make it meaningful. And of course, plan it with your DM. Make sure they know what you want to do.

[@AnOrdinaryJoe]

Absolutely!, My Players always change out a million things and because I keep and chart everything (plus im kinda unfair to them lol) so I always let them bring in Homebrew or rettcon stuff via questing and storytelling!. People who think you should just keep the same dull character, pressing the same damn paper button and expecting that to be “fun” is bad to me so I make my campaigns quite media res or comedic to keep my players engaged. However if they still feel like they’re getting bored then yeah!, I let them change!

[@mobiusarmoni]

Make the campaign based around an adventurers guild each player makes 3 or so characters a veteran with a high level like 5 just enough for specializing and multi class, a mid or low rank with defined roles, and fresh rookie

[@AzaloonyToons]

That first one of killing the Goliath when their player wasn’t there is kinda messed up.

[@francenkovcan5211]

if we are talking replacing a character with another, as long as you can write in a reason why one character would leave and another of equivalent level join, sure go right ahead changing a character would require either a retcon or an in-game mechanic and both should be difficult to come by so somebody sin't too fickle with the way they want their character to be

[@seanyb5289]

The DM in the game I play in didn't make this an issue, because I just kept getting killed. If you ask me? Far too lethal of a campaign, considering it was almost every other session (also strange it was only me and another player it kept happening to but that's by the by). But hey at least I got to try out most of the classes. Now the game I run may be a SUPER rules light 5e, as I'm a new DM and would rather have people having fun with their character more than killing them. But if someone does want to switch at some point I can just let them retire as an NPC or something and let the new character jump in as and when. There's been a few of my friends who wanted to try it out so it's not much of an issue to me having to have characters move in and out of the story.

[@captainrail88]

Yes/no... depends.... In one group I had a player that changed characters more often than I changed underwear (daily...TMI. I know. but, a necessary evil). I told him no and if his character because suicidal he'd be kicked out of the group. This was after I took over as GM. In the current group. A player had personal stuff and had to leave the group. When they came back they weren't feeling their character. So, I said it was okay this time. I told them about the previous player, rulling, and group. They understood and supported my rulling. We also gave the new character lore I needed the party to have. So when they found them in the dungeon. They learned a lot. Also needed IRL breathers for how much world building I did and the fact they probably will never be able to see everything I made.... Let's just say theys had to start pretending to think 4 dimensionally at my table. SOoo, yes you can under the right circumstances. Ask your GM/DM.

[@justcri]

for me, i think that you can change your character at literally any point of the campaign. just talk to your dm about it and find an in-character solution that makes it so that it makes sense that your character would leave, how they would leave, and how your next character will be introduced. it's not just a "my old character no longer exists, i have another character now", it should be part of the world, it should be more realistic

[@lucienderthel338]

only game i've ever done it was not DnD but Blades in the Dark, it has rules for it. I was playing a Whisper, didn't like it and changed to a Cutter and if youve never played it/read it this is an oversimplification but i changed from a wizard to a fighter.

[@robertheinrich2994]

could a wish spell work? "just" get somebody to wish that you are something else. wish can do everything, it should allow to multi or even omniclass a character.

[@OMGSAMCOPSEY]

Absolutely you can. I dont even understand why this is a question. Your old character gets retired somewhere else in the world and your new character is introduced to the party. If youre in the middle of the dungeon you might want to talk with the DM about how you would canonically do that but its not hard to think of a reason for your character to leave the party. If you want you can even gift them to the gm to act as npc

[@adamwelch4336]

I would say its fine as long as you commit to the character you want to play instead of changing characters every five minutes! 🙄 Like the first character dont flip flop and commit to the game! If you're original character isn't what you want are thought it would be its ok the change but you gotta fit the new character into the game

[@wolvo5441]

I retired my paladin last session, we had 3 tanks at that point and no healer and it was really showing so this week I’m a shadar kai twilight cleric called Sephton Ashdown :)

[@wolvo5441]

Just as an add, the party consists of a barbarian, a fighter, 2 wizards, a ranger and a rogue.

[@garyboyles5762]

I tell players this: Anything can be changed until level 5, where you get one last adjustment, and then they are locked in.

[@RottenRogerDM]

I have always allowed people to change PCs between sessions, no reason. Just hey I am changing pcs. Adventure League allows this too.

[@mossblomma]

You should be able to change your character however you want, almost whenever you want, just talk to and compromise with your DM, any DM that refuses to let you play what you want without compromise is a bad DM.

[@sleepinggiant4062]

As DM: Yes, but not without discussing it with me first. As a player: I better be able to, or I will likely stop playing. No, leveling up is not changing characters. There is absolutely no RAW that say you cannot make a new character.

[@winstonwoodward8325]

I don’t mind if you want to swap a character without the original character I just need some help from the player to make it make sense. What’s the reason that the current character decided to not travel anymore, who’s the new character and why do they want to travel with this group of strangers. We would both have to come together and make it make sense . Just don’t make a habit of it .ie every couple of sessions having a new character show up

[@mrsosek6278]

Pathfinder 2e allows for retraining.

[@TheAngelRaven]

If you're a Paladin who breaks their Oath, instead of becoming an Oath Breaker, why not become a Fighter searching for a way to obtain their divine blessings again? Changing classes feels like a great story guide.

[@Darkwintre]

Yes with a good reason.

[@ReinaSaurus]

oh yeah. when the story starts. the first impact on your life and the reason to begin an adventure. the gm and the party will be testing your patience, your will to endure and your faith in humanity. surprise, your character has been drafted! your reward goes to your party! and you bear the responsibilities of being a wanted criminal! every single time...(just dont give the table any strange ideas about afflicting curses, diseases or loosing limbs)

[@player1connected]

I've never played D&D but I've been watching this channel for years. I get most of the general vibe but really want to play irl. Is there anywhere i can play the game online? I dont have friends tbh

[@disfiguringthegoddess1102]

I let it happen as long as it's before level 2. Totally. Once lvl 2 it's what it is

[@Evil0tto]

In my campaigns I don't allow players to change their character's classes, races, etc. without a damned good reason that we work out well ahead of time. Playing a different character altogether is a different matter. We play long campaigns, and it's miserable playing as a character who is isn't fun when you know you're going to be doing so for the next two years. Maybethey created a melee character and it turns out they really hate melee and would rather sling spells. Maybe there are just aspects of the character class that sound good on paper but don't work out when they actually hit the tabletop. That's my issue with Paladins... I love the concept, but the mechanics bore me to tears. DMs shouldn't tolerate players who want to change their characters on a whim, but in my opinion neither should they lock someone into something when they clearly aren't having fun. These players are supposed to be enjoying the game, and they're your friends. Show some flexibility.

[@Author1219]

Is it okay to switch characters once or maybe twice in a campaign? Yes. Sometimes a character just doesn’t work out. Is it ok to change a few things around? With the GM’s permission, it can be OK. Sometimes you don’t need to scrap a whole character, just make a slight adjustment or two. It is NOT okay to get pissed off because players treat your new character like a different person after every character swap. It is NOT okay to switch characters incessantly, every two to four sessions. It is NOT okay to keep derailing things because you have yet another new character that you “have to play.” Be consistent and considerate. If you want to play lots of characters, consider GMing. Changing once or twice with GM permission is fine. Creating a character carousel and constantly changing isn’t fun for anyone else. Check with your GM before creating or changing characters.

[@Spazielle]

if the player is not okay with playing the character anymore, and it's been a max of 5 sessions, he can change

[@erikzorger3311]

yes, it is called death.

[@louisup5]

We used to have a way to change your character. It’s called killing your old one. But modern people are allergic to that

[@NotEpimethean]

I don't see why you couldn't ask your DM to retire a character if you want to play something else.

[@some_Russian_dude]

Yes. Because its a waste of everyone's time if your not enjoying the game. Why would any dm go out there way to prepare a bunch of stuff for all the characters if you know the one person doeant want to play that character and is just gonna go out of there way to die.

[@TheGenderAnarchist]

nya notifaction squad

[@Babysharkdude]

I personally say that as long as you have a reason other than like “I want a stronger or different power build” and it’s not near the middle/middle end of the campaign, then it’s fine. I always want my players to have fun but when it is to just be stronger and /or make my job harder then I have some problems with that and talk to the player. ALWAYS TALK THE THE PLAYER ABOUT THE DECISION AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO DO THE SAME!

[@JacobL228]

Yes, now come up with a prompt that doesn't have a binary answer.

[@blakethegreatone2058]

Yes,but your character must die.

[@WarChallenger]

Do my eyes deceive me? A thumbnail that upholds REAL ART and not a load of computerized crap? Thanks bro!