Rename Character After 2nd Level?

[graypark]

I have an old character I'm going to dust off and play again after it sitting idle for a few years. However, my concept for this character has now changed and I don't plan to play him the same way he was originally played. I'm fairly certain the rules don't disallow me from changing his personality and backstory, but his original name no longer fits him well. Am I allowed to freely change his name? I'm not changing anything mechanical; all of his ability scores, traits, feats, classes, faction, etc. will stay the same.

[Duiker]

I can't imagine that this would be disallowed. It simply doesn't affect anything, mechanically or otherwise, and I don't recall there being any rules about naming in PFS at all, nor should there be other than "don't name your character something offensive".

[UndeadMitch]

Yeah, you're fine. You can change the name of your character.

[Wei Ji the Learner]

It's not like an MMO where they charge you through the nose for the privilege, or some living campaigns that prohibit such things, as far as I know?

Now, if your character was renamed 733t G0b, and they weren't a goblin or perhaps from Numeria, that might raise some eyebrows...

[GeoffA]

I have a character who went through the change from "Cat" to "The Amazing Katarina" to "Trade Princess Katarina". That's probably not so dramatic as what you are proposing, but nobody has ever given me any hassle over it.

[BigNorseWolf]

As long as he hasn't made 10 posts under his name he's good, just edit the character and change the name. If the names taken try Name the Adjective or Name of Placehere

[Wei Ji the Learner]

Even if you can't change the forum sign for the character, you can always change it in the profile for the character and save the changes. Not a perfect fix, but something better than nothing.

[Carla the Profane]

Hells, I went from Carla to Carlos to Carlito and now I'm back to Carla. Elixir of sex shift is such a wonderful thing.

[Duiker]

TIL: My PFS characters are my aliases on the messageboards. I never clicked that before. "SLW-9" and "SLW-10" have some identity issues I suppose.

[Brian Lefebvre]

The Guide says that you can change the name during the level 1 rebuild, but it is not an option available for retraining after level 2.

You can call your character anything you want during the game, but the name should be kept the same for all of its paperwork.

[Duiker]

Brian Lefebvre wrote:

The Guide says that you can change the name during the level 1 rebuild, but it is not an option available for retraining after level 2.

You can call your character anything you want during the game, but the name should be kept the same for all of its paperwork.

SLW-9 and SLW-10 are going to be devastated, as they are both GM credit babies with several levels of chronicle sheets. No children, you don't get real names, father was lazy about paperwork while you were still in the metaphorical womb...

[UndeadMitch]

Brian Lefebvre wrote:

The Guide says that you can change the name during the level 1 rebuild, but it is not an option available for retraining after level 2.

You can call your character anything you want during the game, but the name should be kept the same for all of its paperwork.

Character name has no mechanical effect, so there's no reason a player can't change a character's name, and "The Guide Says...." isn't really a valid reason, at least when it comes to things with no mechanical benefit. A character can change their gender freely between scenarios* so I don't see how a name is any more problematic. Their PFS number isn't changing, which is what is really important.

*: Yeah, I know that ruling was before the Elixir of Changing Genders (can't remember it's actual name) was an item that people could buy, but unless Management says otherwise I'll stick to that ruling.

[Alanya]

Duiker wrote:

Brian Lefebvre wrote:

The Guide says that you can change the name during the level 1 rebuild, but it is not an option available for retraining after level 2.

You can call your character anything you want during the game, but the name should be kept the same for all of its paperwork.

SLW-9 and SLW-10 are going to be devastated, as they are both GM credit babies with several levels of chronicle sheets. No children, you don't get real names, father was lazy about paperwork while you were still in the metaphorical womb...

Until you actually play your character, you can change anything you want (except their PFS number). For now, they're still incubating. ;)

[Leg o' Lamb]

Go with what Brian said. Keep the name as registered and call the character whatever you like.

You may want to alert the GM so that when he or she goes to report the session the different name won't be a surprise.