Atm i'm running Lost Mine of Phandelver and the party is about 45% in the Cragmaw Hideout. But 1 player wants to switch character and andother 2 guys want to join.
I was thinking on killing 1 and let them find a way to contact the Lords Alliance and they sent the new characters to help.
I disagree that the player needs to be a level behind the other players. If you feel like having a penalty for dying then by all means go for it, but I'd consider it by no means a necessity. Especially if you're playing with newer players, starting a level behind everyone else can make them feel like they're not able to contribute as much or use any of the cooler abilities their friends have, and can unbalance encounters leading to more player deaths.
Level penalties for player death is more of a hallmark of older style more hardcore games. It's not a very newby-friendly practice, but might be something to work your way up to if your players decide they'd like to play a grittier style of game.
I disagree that the player needs to be a level behind the other players. If you feel like having a penalty for dying then by all means go for it, but I'd consider it by no means a necessity. Especially if you're playing with newer players, starting a level behind everyone else can make them feel like they're not able to contribute as much or use any of the cooler abilities their friends have, and can unbalance encounters leading to more player deaths.
Level penalties for player death is more of a hallmark of older style more hardcore games. It's not a very newby-friendly practice, but might be something to work your way up to if your players decide they'd like to play a grittier style of game.
Atm i'm running Lost Mine of Phandelver and the party is about 45% in the Cragmaw Hideout. But 1 player wants to switch character and andother 2 guys want to join.
I was thinking on killing 1 and let them find a way to contact the Lords Alliance and they sent the new characters to help.
So you have a few options that I can see.
First, for the character that wants to switch, if they are just interested in changing class because they didn't like their choice, they could keep the character, you could just change the class for them, under the guise of something like the adventuring stress has revealed their true nature or something.
For introducing chars at this point you could:
Have one or more be captives at cragmaw hideout, and have them have some information related to the party's main goal. The disadvantage here is that started a new player out in such a weak position isn't always very fun.
Have one or more also be "staking out" cragmaw hideout, and they all meet as the battle ensues. You can then forge a party bond by an initial mutual shared combat. You could set this up as "the party inside hears goblin horns.. reinforcements are coming" while the party outside sees more goblins approach and can then act possibly breaking them and then proceeding into the hideout.
Have the new folks be in Phandolin, so the next time the party returns their, they can meet at the inn, or somewhere else. They could be agents of neverwinter, or of some other faction, or just be other adventurers.
Hope some of the above helps give you some ideas.
Atm i'm running Lost Mine of Phandelver and the party is about 45% in the Cragmaw Hideout. But 1 player wants to switch character and andother 2 guys want to join.
I was thinking on killing 1 and let them find a way to contact the Lords Alliance and they sent the new characters to help.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
Atm i'm running Lost Mine of Phandelver and the party is about 45% in the Cragmaw Hideout. But 1 player wants to switch character and andother 2 guys want to join.
I was thinking on killing 1 and let them find a way to contact the Lords Alliance and they sent the new characters to help.
So you have a few options that I can see.
First, for the character that wants to switch, if they are just interested in changing class because they didn't like their choice, they could keep the character, you could just change the class for them, under the guise of something like the adventuring stress has revealed their true nature or something.
For introducing chars at this point you could:
Have one or more be captives at cragmaw hideout, and have them have some information related to the party's main goal. The disadvantage here is that started a new player out in such a weak position isn't always very fun.
Have one or more also be "staking out" cragmaw hideout, and they all meet as the battle ensues. You can then forge a party bond by an initial mutual shared combat. You could set this up as "the party inside hears goblin horns.. reinforcements are coming" while the party outside sees more goblins approach and can then act possibly breaking them and then proceeding into the hideout.
Have the new folks be in Phandolin, so the next time the party returns their, they can meet at the inn, or somewhere else. They could be agents of neverwinter, or of some other faction, or just be other adventurers.
Hope some of the above helps give you some ideas.
Atm i'm running Lost Mine of Phandelver and the party is about 45% in the Cragmaw Hideout. But 1 player wants to switch character and andother 2 guys want to join.
I was thinking on killing 1 and let them find a way to contact the Lords Alliance and they sent the new characters to help.
I was planning on doing your last option but let them be contacted by the party and let them coming in as help for the boss fight and let them be agents for The Lords Alliance. The party did let the NPC die (Sildar Hallwinter), by letting them use a sending stone but due to the beatup Sildar got will explode, mainly to kill the pc of the guy who wants to switch but i think the option to work new players in like that will do nicely. What do you think?
I'm with Charles, no need, generally, for a level penalty for people joining in. No matter how you spin it, it absolutely is a penalty. The exception I could see would be if a player constantly changes characters to the point where it's annoying, and you actually want to penalize them. But if they die, or even if they just decide they don't actually like the character they made (this goes double for new players who might not have understood what they were getting into), there's no need to ding them for it. But we're getting into a philosophical disagreement I have with BigLizard where they think the story angle is more important, and I think the game angle is more important (I certainly respect the standpoint, but I disagree with it). So, rather than re-litigating that derailing the thread, here's my ideas for incorporating the new characters.
The classic way is to find a prisoner and rescue them. But you can't go to that well too often, usually I only allow myself to do it once per campaign.
If you have three new characters, like it seems you do, its easy enough for those three to be working together and have them meet up with the original party, have similar goals and decide to join forces. You could even do a quick session with those three to let them work out how they meet up and set them on the road to meet the original party.
Depending on the personalities of the new characters, you have other options. They could be someone seeking knowledge (or just money) and they heard there's something down where the party is going so ask to join up. They could just like fighting, and want to go along with these guys who are fighting things. They want to recover something taken from them or their family/church/guild/whatever by the BBEG. Basically, they just need some reason to be going for the same goal at the original party, so the characters can realize that working together is a good choice.
For my group, we tend not to worry about this sort of thing too much. Its more important that they all get together and move forward. How they join only matters for a moment. Other groups may concern themselves more with integrating the characters into the story, and it can take a couple sessions for that to fully work itself out. Only you know where your group falls, so do whatever's going to work for you.
Also, I wouldn't kill the PC of the player that wants to change characters. Maybe work with the player for a reason their character should leave the party (something backstory or personality related, most likely. If there's no backstory, maybe one of their parents gets sick and they need to go tend to them). Then you can turn the PC into an NPC, which can be really fun. Either they stay generally aligned with the party, and can pop in sometimes to help them. Or they turn against they party and you can have them turn up to fight them or otherwise mess with them. Either way, keeping them alive give you lots more options going forward.
If I am understanding correctly, Sildar had a Sending Stone, and used it to call for aid from Neverwinter just before he died.
The next group was sent by Neverwinter to assist... Is this in their backstories? You can force them into position, but I would hesitate against forcing too much into their backgrounds. Or, they may have already all agreed that they are agents of Neverwinter.
A lot depends on your new characters, and if they have any connections to each other. If they do, they could be a 2nd party that comes in and helps, if they don't then having them as agents of a different power (ie neverwinter) could be easier.
Sorry, not sure if I helped with any of the above :(
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
You did understand that correctly mostly, but because 1 player wants to switch i was planning on killing them off by letting the sending stone be very damaged and explode after use (killing the holder). The player is okay with that way of switching pc.
I asked the new player to make a backstory and while in a call with them i asked them to add that they are in someway affiliated with the Lords Alliance. So they can still make thier background as they want but they just have to include 1 thing (I think that is fair).
I'm with Charles, no need, generally, for a level penalty for people joining in. No matter how you spin it, it absolutely is a penalty. The exception I could see would be if a player constantly changes characters to the point where it's annoying, and you actually want to penalize them. But if they die, or even if they just decide they don't actually like the character they made (this goes double for new players who might not have understood what they were getting into), there's no need to ding them for it.
I agree 100% with Xalthu. The only way I would impose a level penalty is, as he said, it's some sort of pattern that the player keeps changing characters like the rest of us change socks.
I'd also be careful, again agreeing with Xalthu (I do that a lot....), about killing off the PC. You don't want to set the precedent that player characters only live at the DM's whim. Although you might technically have this power, you shouldn't ever use it. Characters should die as a result of in-game actions that make sense, not because the DM decided today, for good reason or bad, that you die and there's nothing anyone can do about it (which is what you're doing if you are "going to kill the PC").
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
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What are some good ways to insect new players into an ongoing campaign?
Atm i'm running Lost Mine of Phandelver and the party is about 45% in the Cragmaw Hideout. But 1 player wants to switch character and andother 2 guys want to join.
I was thinking on killing 1 and let them find a way to contact the Lords Alliance and they sent the new characters to help.
I disagree that the player needs to be a level behind the other players. If you feel like having a penalty for dying then by all means go for it, but I'd consider it by no means a necessity. Especially if you're playing with newer players, starting a level behind everyone else can make them feel like they're not able to contribute as much or use any of the cooler abilities their friends have, and can unbalance encounters leading to more player deaths.
Level penalties for player death is more of a hallmark of older style more hardcore games. It's not a very newby-friendly practice, but might be something to work your way up to if your players decide they'd like to play a grittier style of game.
i'm not talking about the lvl diffrence but the way to put the new characters in.
So you have a few options that I can see.
First, for the character that wants to switch, if they are just interested in changing class because they didn't like their choice, they could keep the character, you could just change the class for them, under the guise of something like the adventuring stress has revealed their true nature or something.
For introducing chars at this point you could:
Hope some of the above helps give you some ideas.
Atm i'm running Lost Mine of Phandelver and the party is about 45% in the Cragmaw Hideout. But 1 player wants to switch character and andother 2 guys want to join.
I was thinking on killing 1 and let them find a way to contact the Lords Alliance and they sent the new characters to help.
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
I was planning on doing your last option but let them be contacted by the party and let them coming in as help for the boss fight and let them be agents for The Lords Alliance. The party did let the NPC die (Sildar Hallwinter), by letting them use a sending stone but due to the beatup Sildar got will explode, mainly to kill the pc of the guy who wants to switch but i think the option to work new players in like that will do nicely.
What do you think?
I'm with Charles, no need, generally, for a level penalty for people joining in. No matter how you spin it, it absolutely is a penalty. The exception I could see would be if a player constantly changes characters to the point where it's annoying, and you actually want to penalize them. But if they die, or even if they just decide they don't actually like the character they made (this goes double for new players who might not have understood what they were getting into), there's no need to ding them for it. But we're getting into a philosophical disagreement I have with BigLizard where they think the story angle is more important, and I think the game angle is more important (I certainly respect the standpoint, but I disagree with it). So, rather than re-litigating that derailing the thread, here's my ideas for incorporating the new characters.
The classic way is to find a prisoner and rescue them. But you can't go to that well too often, usually I only allow myself to do it once per campaign.
If you have three new characters, like it seems you do, its easy enough for those three to be working together and have them meet up with the original party, have similar goals and decide to join forces. You could even do a quick session with those three to let them work out how they meet up and set them on the road to meet the original party.
Depending on the personalities of the new characters, you have other options. They could be someone seeking knowledge (or just money) and they heard there's something down where the party is going so ask to join up. They could just like fighting, and want to go along with these guys who are fighting things. They want to recover something taken from them or their family/church/guild/whatever by the BBEG. Basically, they just need some reason to be going for the same goal at the original party, so the characters can realize that working together is a good choice.
For my group, we tend not to worry about this sort of thing too much. Its more important that they all get together and move forward. How they join only matters for a moment. Other groups may concern themselves more with integrating the characters into the story, and it can take a couple sessions for that to fully work itself out. Only you know where your group falls, so do whatever's going to work for you.
Also, I wouldn't kill the PC of the player that wants to change characters. Maybe work with the player for a reason their character should leave the party (something backstory or personality related, most likely. If there's no backstory, maybe one of their parents gets sick and they need to go tend to them). Then you can turn the PC into an NPC, which can be really fun. Either they stay generally aligned with the party, and can pop in sometimes to help them. Or they turn against they party and you can have them turn up to fight them or otherwise mess with them. Either way, keeping them alive give you lots more options going forward.
If I am understanding correctly, Sildar had a Sending Stone, and used it to call for aid from Neverwinter just before he died.
The next group was sent by Neverwinter to assist... Is this in their backstories? You can force them into position, but I would hesitate against forcing too much into their backgrounds. Or, they may have already all agreed that they are agents of Neverwinter.
A lot depends on your new characters, and if they have any connections to each other. If they do, they could be a 2nd party that comes in and helps, if they don't then having them as agents of a different power (ie neverwinter) could be easier.
Sorry, not sure if I helped with any of the above :(
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
You did understand that correctly mostly, but because 1 player wants to switch i was planning on killing them off by letting the sending stone be very damaged and explode after use (killing the holder). The player is okay with that way of switching pc.
I asked the new player to make a backstory and while in a call with them i asked them to add that they are in someway affiliated with the Lords Alliance. So they can still make thier background as they want but they just have to include 1 thing (I think that is fair).
I agree 100% with Xalthu. The only way I would impose a level penalty is, as he said, it's some sort of pattern that the player keeps changing characters like the rest of us change socks.
I'd also be careful, again agreeing with Xalthu (I do that a lot....), about killing off the PC. You don't want to set the precedent that player characters only live at the DM's whim. Although you might technically have this power, you shouldn't ever use it. Characters should die as a result of in-game actions that make sense, not because the DM decided today, for good reason or bad, that you die and there's nothing anyone can do about it (which is what you're doing if you are "going to kill the PC").
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.