Does anyone else feel that Character development is more important than Character advancement?
if the other players care about your character. Otherwise character development is something a player ponders on his or her own.
I started a new game with a party member I met for the first time at the game, and for that reason I saw the character as the character, rather than the player. And that was cool. But otherwise it's often hard to know a character, or care for the character, or feel good or bad for that character, since all you see is the game as game.
Hmm... I'm now going to try and do a better job of conveying who my character is during games, and what they want, and what they care about. And hopefully in a way in which the other players will cheer or jeer when that character experiences things.
I say character development is cool if GMs allow for private moments, and the players are such that they'll stay tuned in for those private moments.
I don't think one is really more important than the other. Both are fun in their own way (though each individual's mileage may vary on each).
Sometimes they're even tied together, though sometimes not.
It just varies by table. I don't see why you had to be sacrificed for the other though.
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I have always felt that character development is important, I like the idea of characters having back story and likes and dislikes, this all helps develop a character as they interact with the other players characters.
Was there an implication in the OP that there can sometimes be a trade-off between Character development and Character advancement? I thought that potential trade-off would be what was discussed in this thread.
I agree that you rarely have to trade one for the other, and that both make the game better.
I really like character development in a campaign. I dont think character personalities should be static. After all all these very interesting events are happening in your life, all these dramatic moments, and these incredible people, you are bound to change in some way. You are also changing in your abilities, quite drastically. Who goes from relatively normal guy to spiderman and doesnt change somehow?
Both are important. I think most of my group is interested in character advancement more than development. It's really disappointing for me. I could play low levels all day if it means there's good RP time and a chance for characters to change. I would love to see nothing more than a pivotal moment occur, and someone change their path - like our high charisma fighter go and say "I must dedicate myself to a higher cause" and go Paladin.
It's not in the Player's nature though, so it'll never happen. But I can dream.
As a GM, I try to encourage character development when I can. I also encourage focusing on what's actually interesting to them rather than XP or the like (we don't track XP - when I think it's appropriate, I say, "Level up, everyone"). I intend to introduce plot twists for my PCs (and their Cohorts) that will really make them sit and think and make decisions real people would have to make in those circumstances. Lack of Backstory in a few of my characters hurts this process.
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I find Pathfinder to be more centered towards 'gaining levels' than actual character development.
Really depends on whom you might be playing with. Former Friday group was initially okay with a bit more RP than XP; we all developed our characters as we went along. Some folks got phobias, some got odd rewards, some died and after rezzing changed what they found important, and some alterations to the flavor of certain storyline elements in the AP happened. (Edit: for me, that WAS the magic of our Friday group. The RP interaction and the world altering.)
My experience has been that the younger the average age of the group's players, the more they usually want to play PF as a version of Munchkin--kick open doors, fight stuff, get pfhat lootz, and then of course max out the character. The more experience and maturity of the group, the less likely that is to be true.
Of course, YMMV.