I'm running a campaign and in my campaign I have 5-6 players. We're about to start our 7th session and one of my players is unhappy with his character. He picked Ranger and was playing well until the last session. Now he wants to switch to Paladin, but I told him he would have to multi-class to do that. And he's unhappy that he can't be a full Paladin and doesn't want to multi-class. So, he's making a new character a Paladin. I just don't know what I should do. Any tips?
It's still early days in your campaign, relatively, and if he isn't enjoying his character I think its fair to give him a do-over. Maybe plan with him a way for his old character to leave and new character join to help make it an event in your game rather than just something happening around the table.
IMO this game is all about fun. If one of my players isn't having fun, then I as DM need to step in and solve the problem.
It's still early days in your campaign, relatively, and if he isn't enjoying his character I think its fair to give him a do-over. Maybe plan with him a way for his old character to leave and new character join to help make it an event in your game rather than just something happening around the table.
IMO this game is all about fun. If one of my players isn't having fun, then I as DM need to step in and solve the problem.
Find a narrative way for his character to leave and a narrative way for his new character to enter. Leaving will be something you’ll have to discuss, but a new character entering is much easier to figure out. I would try to make it make sense though. But I would totally allow a player to switch characters if they weren’t enjoying it. The whole point of this game is to have fun.
Leaving:
1. Maybe a family member has fallen ill, a messenger runs up to him in a town and asks if he is ________ then hands him a letter. He’ll explain to the party he must leave to be with his family member. But again, no idea if this could even work, most rangers tend to start as hermits in the middle of the woods.
2. Just kill him. Tell him to stick with the character a little longer and just kill him. Whether it be cinematic or the best would be to do it organically in a battle but there is no guarantee how long that could take.
New character entering:
1. Quest giver: His new paladin character could approach the party as they are entering a new town or while lounging at a tavern and ask them for assistance with something.
2. His character could be waiting outside a dungeon and ask for assistance that way, or be lying on the ground injured a short way in.
I talked to him and he agreed to stay with the character for 1 or 2 more sessions so I can introduce his new character and deal with his old character. Thank you all for the advice and I agree it's all about fun.
What level are they? At 7 sessions in they could be anywhere from "still 1st" to 17th, depending on where you started them.
If they're low level (say 3rd), then MC'ing into Paladin from Ranger really won't cost him that much. "Not being a full paladin" is not really an issue. The odds your campaign will get all the way to level 20 are, I am sad to say, not very high, if we just go on statistics. And even if they do, a Paladin 17/Ranger 3 is not going to be weakend in any substantial way vs a level 20 Paladin, and might even have some advantages.
If they're a lot higher (say, 7th level), then he has a point, perhaps. But still, if he likes the character but not the class, I would try to find some way to help him keep the character. Maybe make and adventure for him where he finds out some deity is behind his "Ranger Powers" and he does something for that deity who then says (via an intermediary) "you are now my paladin," and converts his class.
I am not a new DM but I am new to 5e (3 sessions in, so you're 2x as experienced as I am with it!), and I have 1 totally new player, 1 player who is also new to 5e, and one person who is rusty out of my 4 players. I thus told them that from level 1-3, consider their character a "rough draft." Anything they want to change (as long as it stays within the rules), they can. The rusty but experienced player already between sessions 2 and 3 asked to move his stats around, which I was happy to allow. The Ranger in our group is taking dual wield for her level 2 specialization, and I told her "if you don't like it by level 3, you can swap it out." The Sorcerer was dithering over spell choices and I told him, "If you don't like them you can swap them out." The idea here is to help people find their "soul mate" in their character. A lot of times new players and even experienced players can't figure that out in the design phase. So I'm happy to let them re-do some of the design in the first few sessions.
Now, I have told them that at level 3, they are locked in with stats. But even then, if they make a level 3 subclass choice that they turn out not to like, they can still change it at 4th level, etc. I want them to love their character not be miserable. Same for your Ranger-Paladin.
I've been running a game for over 2.5 years with largely the same players. One of my players has swapped their PC 3 times now, and another once. Each time, we talked about it beforehand, and we wrote out their old one and their new one in, just transferring their XP across. Why? because why the hell not. They were tired of their old character and they wanted to try something new. I'm not going to sit here and tell them, no, you're stuck with that one forever, make it more interesting. Why would I do that? And how is it different to the player leaving, and another one taking their place? Having someone stay in your game who fits well with your group is more important.
One of my players wanted to switch from cleric to paladin. Told him to go ahead and do it. Came up with a small story to explain it in the game and that was it.
Just let the player switch their characters class if they want to. Doesn't hurt anything.
The most important question: is the player unhappy with the class, but otherwise happy with the background, personality, and relationships of the character? Or is the player unsatisfied with multiple things. If it's just class, I'd find a way to let the class switch happen. If it's whole character elements, it's time to make up a new one.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I'm running a campaign and in my campaign I have 5-6 players. We're about to start our 7th session and one of my players is unhappy with his character. He picked Ranger and was playing well until the last session. Now he wants to switch to Paladin, but I told him he would have to multi-class to do that. And he's unhappy that he can't be a full Paladin and doesn't want to multi-class. So, he's making a new character a Paladin. I just don't know what I should do. Any tips?
It's still early days in your campaign, relatively, and if he isn't enjoying his character I think its fair to give him a do-over. Maybe plan with him a way for his old character to leave and new character join to help make it an event in your game rather than just something happening around the table.
IMO this game is all about fun. If one of my players isn't having fun, then I as DM need to step in and solve the problem.
Yeah, that does sound like the best option. Just want to keep everyone happy.
100% this.
Find a narrative way for his character to leave and a narrative way for his new character to enter. Leaving will be something you’ll have to discuss, but a new character entering is much easier to figure out. I would try to make it make sense though. But I would totally allow a player to switch characters if they weren’t enjoying it. The whole point of this game is to have fun.
Leaving:
1. Maybe a family member has fallen ill, a messenger runs up to him in a town and asks if he is ________ then hands him a letter. He’ll explain to the party he must leave to be with his family member. But again, no idea if this could even work, most rangers tend to start as hermits in the middle of the woods.
2. Just kill him. Tell him to stick with the character a little longer and just kill him. Whether it be cinematic or the best would be to do it organically in a battle but there is no guarantee how long that could take.
New character entering:
1. Quest giver: His new paladin character could approach the party as they are entering a new town or while lounging at a tavern and ask them for assistance with something.
2. His character could be waiting outside a dungeon and ask for assistance that way, or be lying on the ground injured a short way in.
I talked to him and he agreed to stay with the character for 1 or 2 more sessions so I can introduce his new character and deal with his old character. Thank you all for the advice and I agree it's all about fun.
What level are they? At 7 sessions in they could be anywhere from "still 1st" to 17th, depending on where you started them.
If they're low level (say 3rd), then MC'ing into Paladin from Ranger really won't cost him that much. "Not being a full paladin" is not really an issue. The odds your campaign will get all the way to level 20 are, I am sad to say, not very high, if we just go on statistics. And even if they do, a Paladin 17/Ranger 3 is not going to be weakend in any substantial way vs a level 20 Paladin, and might even have some advantages.
If they're a lot higher (say, 7th level), then he has a point, perhaps. But still, if he likes the character but not the class, I would try to find some way to help him keep the character. Maybe make and adventure for him where he finds out some deity is behind his "Ranger Powers" and he does something for that deity who then says (via an intermediary) "you are now my paladin," and converts his class.
I am not a new DM but I am new to 5e (3 sessions in, so you're 2x as experienced as I am with it!), and I have 1 totally new player, 1 player who is also new to 5e, and one person who is rusty out of my 4 players. I thus told them that from level 1-3, consider their character a "rough draft." Anything they want to change (as long as it stays within the rules), they can. The rusty but experienced player already between sessions 2 and 3 asked to move his stats around, which I was happy to allow. The Ranger in our group is taking dual wield for her level 2 specialization, and I told her "if you don't like it by level 3, you can swap it out." The Sorcerer was dithering over spell choices and I told him, "If you don't like them you can swap them out." The idea here is to help people find their "soul mate" in their character. A lot of times new players and even experienced players can't figure that out in the design phase. So I'm happy to let them re-do some of the design in the first few sessions.
Now, I have told them that at level 3, they are locked in with stats. But even then, if they make a level 3 subclass choice that they turn out not to like, they can still change it at 4th level, etc. I want them to love their character not be miserable. Same for your Ranger-Paladin.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I've been running a game for over 2.5 years with largely the same players. One of my players has swapped their PC 3 times now, and another once. Each time, we talked about it beforehand, and we wrote out their old one and their new one in, just transferring their XP across. Why? because why the hell not. They were tired of their old character and they wanted to try something new. I'm not going to sit here and tell them, no, you're stuck with that one forever, make it more interesting. Why would I do that? And how is it different to the player leaving, and another one taking their place? Having someone stay in your game who fits well with your group is more important.
One of my players wanted to switch from cleric to paladin. Told him to go ahead and do it. Came up with a small story to explain it in the game and that was it.
Just let the player switch their characters class if they want to. Doesn't hurt anything.
The most important question: is the player unhappy with the class, but otherwise happy with the background, personality, and relationships of the character? Or is the player unsatisfied with multiple things. If it's just class, I'd find a way to let the class switch happen. If it's whole character elements, it's time to make up a new one.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
He's unhappy with the character overall.
That sounds like he needs to make a new PC and not just change classes.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
He did and everything has been figured out how to put him in the story.
Great! Sounds like you guys talked it over and worked it out in a way that satisfies all parties. That's how it is done.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Agreed.