So do most of you play the same Character for a long time or change around alot? i was asking because one of the groups i gamed with changed characters 3 times in the last 4 months because of death or adventure ending and not starting up again... anyway i was wondering because i have been playing the same character for 27 levels now ( 2nd Ed mage AD&D) its been like 4 years in the go and it was hard for me to make a new character every other week and care about him enough to write a detailed history... anyway i was wondering because i love to hear about other peoples old characters who have been through years of game play and wanted to know if there was a place to post historys and such about those characters. anyway thanks in advance for the read :)
I've done both; we often play consistent characters for a year or two, but will mix it up with one shots when other friends return to town from college, the GM's sick or stuck, etc.
Good question.
For me, it depends on (a) the game system and (b) the mood I'm in when I make the character.
In D&D, generally the dice tell me the story about the character when I'm generating the ability scores. If I'm lucky, the character will live long enough for me to bother giving that character an actual name. A bit more luck and the character developes an actual depth of personality.
Since 1981, I've had ONE D&D character, my first, live to a very ripe old age and retire. One was the green slime thief who was forcibly retired by the GM at the time prior to earning an actual name from me. One is the namesake of my alter ego here on Paizo's forums, a charming little hobbit / halfling who ate the hearts of his enemies. Urm ... think that does it for D&D in the past 25 years' real time. Oh, and a still nameless forest gnome monk/rogue with a fetish for grenadelike weaponry. He still draws breath too. So, 4 still-alive characters after 25 years' playing D&D.
Think I need to check my medication again ... *wanders off*
Considering that in campaigns I have played resurrecting dead is very rare there is definite change in characters. Not to mention that the campaigns usually take only some months. So my characters come and go, some die, some find something else to do, some show up in new campaigns as NPCs or historical footnotes...
As can be guessed, few of my characters have gone on high levels (high means above 10 here).
I do have bunch of basic character concepts I have reused in different campaigns so if I am playing with new group I just make, say, a half-elf bard and give her the same name and background as for the half-elf bard in campaign couple years ago. The new folks don't know her, and I can slip into role more easily.
I think I must have played dozens and dozens of characters in all the years I have been playing D&D. Some stand out for the way they died (one paladin I played died fighting drow in the underdark), some for particular actions they did (an evil cleric that cast hold person on a Dwarf, after he had been chucked onto the tavern fire) or for just generally being fun to play (my first 3.0 PC was a Elven rogue, who was a bit crap at being a rogue but was once extraordinarily lucky when making a diplomacy role in a very tense situation). Each character I have played usually has some thought go into background, some have fully written histories, other just a few vague ideas that never actually come up. When I GM a campaign I like that the players get to keep and develop the same characters but PC death does occur sometimes.
I usually play whatever the campaign needs that other players dont want to play and find a way to make that character interesting; everyone trembles in fear when I play the thief; rolls their eyes when I play the knightly warrior type; and groans when I play the cleric type. I have some characters over the years they still tell stories about so I try very hard to make sure that none of my characters attitudes and motivations are very similiar. With all the new classes since 3.5 I have not yet repeated any class, but in the old days you really couldnt help it so the roleplay part made much more of a difference. I would be curious if people tend to stick to the same races rather than classes; in the old days there were always a disproportionate amount of elves in any campaign due to the racial bonuses especially the immunity to ghoul touch paralyzation. Hehe my current mage character in one game is a fairly twisted lovesick dwarf more or less modeled after the Alice Cooper song Poison; he truely loved a woman who turned out to be a powerful necromancer and was slain by a different character party; so he joined a character party to get tuff enough for revenge, but he mopes and crys a lot, pulls his beard out; bangs his head on things; drinks till he is flat on his face; stuff anyone how has been separated and divorced knows a lot about. Pretty fun character for me; fun composing love diddies to my lost love who yet may return :) for example; I tend to frown on players who play, like one guy in my group; the same carbon copy over and over whereas you cannot tell the character apart by anything other than gear they have. That is very sad and seems to miss the point of the game. Those type characters tend to be mun*****; k wont say it.
I'm a comic book artist, so like every hour I have a new character I want to play in my head! BUT, I do tend to either try to help balance the group or try something, depending the otne of the campaign. I had a player, who was a great player, but died like once every 2 sessions. Everytime he did, he played osmething different just to try it out and see how it works, and they always grew on him. Now he plays everything with a hint of Sorcerer or Wizard since he likes having access to it.
I also tend to play the same class (Thief), or multi-class with it, but each one has thier own personalities really, some smile and laugh, others grimace and scowl, but either way, they stab from the darkness.
I think the best bet is to play with a bit of an open mind and see what are the bunuses of playing a character class.
Except Bards, they suck.
Well i got alot of ideas about other peoples play sytle here, kinda cool i allways wondered how other people gamed... i have played alot of characters too i just prefer to play one of the characters i have grown attached to... lately i have been going away from the randomly generated character and playing alot of my old ones just for kicks.