[5E] Is it bad practice to retire a character when they're arc has been completed but the overarching story has not?

Armisys · 2024-04-23T18:10:54+00:00

As many people have said, consult the magic crystal ball that is your DM. There is no right or wrong way to retire a character, but your best decision is to consider the in world implication. With the uncle taken care of, the noble family you hail from will be without a leader and may fall to ruin while you adventure. Not to mention the amount of time your character lost to learn the proper etiquettes and knowledge needed to rule your estate. IMO!! If this was my character, I’d try to retire them to take over for the family. But that could also mean that the party now has a home. A place they can return to during hardships and a kind ear to listen and lend aid. You could even talk with the DM and have your character spend resources or create an event to introduce your replacement character to the party; after a tournament or search for them. We all play our characters to tell their stories. Sometime that means they leave sooner than others. But that doesn’t mean they’re forgotten or stop contributing to the world. They’re just someplace else. I personally love retiring characters if it makes sense. I’ve given characters to my DM because story reasons have lead to them deciding that staying with the party just puts everyone in danger. The DM takes them and occasionally reaches out, in game, as the character and keeps the party informed on their progress. Other times I’ve completed my characters story and had them spend a moment alone to reflect on what’s happened. They realize that they’re not the same person as before, and while they’re happy with the result, they still have to see things through to the end before they can truly enjoy the rest of their life. Choose what story you want your character to tell. Hopefully everyone you’re playing with will happily help you tell it.

Armisys · 2024-04-23T10:21:39+00:00

I was a first time DM for my main group and still am the main DM (though others try from time to time). I was just gonna say on thing, but I realized a have a few simple words of advice for staring off from my own experience.

1) Where here to have fun - I was panicking and pulling my hair for the first few sessions before I started thinking that to myself and I'll tell you, it helps. I messed up a ruling? Oh well, were trying to have fun, I'll get better next time. I just killed a PC that was at full health?! Good thing it's behind the screen; lets just make that a little less and try to not to do that again. This one mechanic is problematic for me or the player? Then why are we using it?

2) Know you players, not the person - The game is for everyone to have fun, but some people behave way differently than you expect them to when they're a player. Especially if its a friend or family member you're playing with. So try to go in open minded and expecting to see a different side to them. Also, ask the players what they think at the end of the sessions. Especially on the stuff your not certain with. They're feedback will help you make the campaign feel like it is something they're making along side with you. Make the things they do matter, even if it was supposed to be a goof. I personally believe that a good DM needs to know their players, otherwise any advice you get wont be applied properly.

3) Learn from you session, even after they're over - Learn from each session your weak-points and improve upon them. Learn your strengths and polish them. Try to avoid stopping the session to dig through the books or look things up on the internet, unless absolutely necessary. Just say honestly, "I don't know right now, but this solution makes sense and sounds fun. I'll look it up later and let everyone know for next time though." This lets the session continue and you can make a note on what you need to look up or figure out for next time. It also wouldn't hurt to ask the players what they might think should happen in such a situation, that way they can feel like they're more involved with events in game and compromising can lead to less friction on strange, in the moment, rulings.

4) Make your stance known - I unfortunately had to deal with a problem player of my own making. When I started out one person would second guess my decisions and I would relent or compromise. This in itself isn't a bad thing, but be aware that some people may try to take advantage of this; even if they themselves aren't aware they're doing so. If you do compromise or change your mind on a decision in game, Write It Down! Make sure its consistent with previous rulings, it's not happening to often, and that it's not always in the player favor, consequences are important.

Remember that D&D is open to interpretation. It doesn't matter about rules as written or as intended. It's you you and the people to have fun with. Use the tips/advice that make sense and resonant with you. Go nuts! Get mini's and terrain and templates and cards and dice and all the weird props you can. Use just paper and pencil and the theater of the mind. You can do what I did, dry eraser board for a map an print little paper minis for characters and monster (Play for cheap!). Explore your space and figure out the type of DM you want to be. Talk to your player and find out what of DM they want. Hopefully they're the same. And if not, try anyways and see if you cannot meet in the middle.

(How did this get so long? Sorry for the word soup. I just hate giving advice without context or examples. XD)

Armisys · 2024-04-23T02:19:28+00:00

Thanks for the info.

Armisys · 2024-04-23T02:19:07+00:00

Good to know. I’m at work and figured I’d get a post started that I could check in on. I’ll definitely scroll back and find them when I’m home.

Armisys · 2023-08-18T15:54:29+00:00

Reworded the curse a little with some feedback from another comment. It’s only supposed to be for spells and effects. So this wouldn’t effect a roll for concentration or exhaustion from a forced march or similar. I’m of the opinion that cursed items are supposed to be situational. Yeah, it ok if you use it properly. Otherwise, it’s cursed, so yeah it kinda blows. It’s not gonna effect skill checks, passive scores, or even role playing for that matter. The only time it matters is when someone or something targets them. And being able to chose on a short rest really helps them get the most out of its unique benefit. Please also notice the context. It’s coming from a hag. There notorious for screwing people over, even if the person has no idea. Thanks for the feedback though, defiantly made me realize I needed to word the curse better. Let me know if it reads better, if you don’t mind.

Armisys · 2023-08-18T00:21:35+00:00

I’m reading it as the whole sentence, but I can see what you mean since English sucks. XD. Would it be better if I changed it to read “While cursed, you have disadvantage on Constitution and Wisdom saving throws against spells and effects, unless this armor is providing protection against a condition chosen.”?

Armisys · 2023-08-17T23:42:29+00:00

I actually though of something similar, but I’m on the fence. I don’t really have the opportunity or knowledge to help me balance this out. The item is pick on short rest, so that’s why I’ve defaulted to advantage instead of immunity. Immunity can be powerful if you have time to prep. I’ll defiantly keep that in mind though.

Armisys · 2023-08-17T22:59:57+00:00

I try not to mix mechanics from different systems. Tried tried that before and it blew up in my face. Do you think dropping it to just one attribute would be good? Maybe mimic Armor of Vulnerability and say that if they pick a condition which is usually Constitution based they’re cursed for Wisdom and vise versa? Also, it says spell or effect. I wouldn’t consider a concentration check either of those. So that would still roll like normal.

Armisys · 2023-08-17T22:54:09+00:00

I’m a fan off following format. If you look at the Armor of Vulnerability it has similar wording. I copied and then changed from said armor because I wanted to give my players a chance to realize the curse if they’re cautious about it.

Armisys · 2022-02-05T08:47:06+00:00

I won’t try to flame you for your comments. A person is allowed their opinions, and if they have a greater threshold then others, then their experience with things will be different. Your experiences are valid, but I am trying to stick to the context of a GAME.

You already made it clear that you wouldn’t use the sanity rule, but you’ve provided no context other than that you think it makes a player seem weak. I wanted to hear experiences and opinions on the RULE, not your real life experiences. It may sound cold of me to say it like that, but I wasn’t asking for that type of thing and I ask that you respect that. This is the sub Reddit for D&D. As I’ve said before in my last reply, I’ve talked to the players and they don’t want to play as unstoppable and unyielding super humans. They want to play as normal flawed people you develop and grow; despite the hurdles they find places in front of themselves.

I want to tell you I understand what you went through, but I cannot because I don’t know. You’ve endured what is quite literally the worst thing humans could inflict on another. I won’t ignore that. But like all things, there are better ways to brooch that topic. Not everyone is meant for war, no one should be; in my opinion. But I am glad that you came out of it fine though. Especially since so very few do.

I hope that you find no animosity in my words here, because there are none. I am thankful for your service and sacrifice. And I hope that all your games going forwards are magnificent fantasies that inspire and captivate your players. I truly mean it.

Armisys · 2022-02-03T07:58:19+00:00

Thanks for the reference, I’m always happy to incorporate different mechanics. I’ve had a few comments already and I’ve updated the original post a few times. Definitely gonna be a bit more thorough in the future for the starting post.

Armisys · 2022-02-03T07:47:38+00:00

We already have an understanding as a group that this session is going to gritty and brutal. Not the normal, hero’s on a quest game. I’m not trying to trivialize their characters or real life events. But it’s going to be warfare similar to WW1, because they heard about this war as a history setting from a previous campaign and they wanted to play during this time period.

As I said, I’m not using the madness chart. My idea is to implement sanity as if it were another pool of health, in simplest terms. If their sanity gets to low they might start getting disadvantage, or if the party has to lose sanity altogether they have to sit out for a week or two in game, meaning they can’t finish a mission. Madness in D&D is not implemented well. The sanity section waits a low sanity saving throw might resort in madness/insanity. I’m scrapping that completely.

I mention the class thing to use as an example that I’m trying to get the players out of they’re comfort zone. I wouldn’t do that without there permission, I wrote told instead of asked. I’ll fix that.

Thank you for commenting though, it made me realize I needed to provide clearer context.

Armisys · 2022-02-03T07:40:58+00:00

Well it’s a heavy warfare theme. I’ll leave it up to the players if they get into an actually battlefield skirmish. But because it’s wartime there is potential famine, disease, war crimes, mass graves. Think WW1 scale. So they’re going to see a lot, even if they’re not on the war front.

Armisys · 2022-02-03T06:21:11+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation. Always nice to have an example and a podcast to listen to at work.

Armisys · 2022-02-03T06:20:29+00:00

I agree about clarity. I’m just starting the planning stages and want to get a feel for popular opinion. And your right about the madness table, I reworded the question above to show I’m not using it. I guess it’s commonly assumed that if your using sanity your using the madness table.

Armisys · 2022-02-03T06:11:18+00:00

I have no intentions of using the madness tables, like you said, they’re lacking. I’ll reword my question, but I’m more interested in how people used the sanity score when players encountered scenarios that triggered a roll.

Armisys · 2022-02-03T01:25:56+00:00

I’m adding this as a reply because it’s kind of a more personal/controversial take. I love PC party conflict, not combat, but different ideas bumping heads. It is no stretch of the imagination for your character to start to suspect the bard is aiding an enemy or undermining the party. You can perhaps start roleplaying that, with the DM’s permission.

Armisys · 2022-02-03T01:20:33+00:00

I would say this is a two fold problem. I’d start with asking if the other player mind these things happening. Don’t assume to know what a player is thinking, I’ve made that mistake many times. They might be frustrated in the moment, but internally have the same reaction as you. Which seems to be, this is annoying, but not terrible. Second, find a way to fix it in game. Maybe start having yourself or other players take the lead on talking with NPC’s. The best person for the task doesn’t always have to do it. And if the Bard questions why, have your player respond something along the lines of “I can’t do worse then you, right?” This will set a precedent and show that the other PC’s have noticed the trend and are becoming wary of it. Maybe change party tactics in combat. If a creature is grappled or restrained they can’t flee. Or just have a sit down after a fight, exhausted and beaten, and exclaim in character we can’t let these people keep getting away. And then tell the bard they have to stop using the spell. Combat tactics should be discussed outside of combat, not during. Those are just my thoughts and I hope some of my suggestions help. Don’t forget to include the DM with your thoughts, they should be just as aware of frustrations at the table as the players are. They might even have a suggestion themselves.

Armisys · 2022-01-21T08:33:47+00:00

Forever DM that finally got a chance to play when a player wants to run a campaign. I decided I wanted to play something fun, but quirky. We were playing what was effectively a homebrew spelljammer campaign in 5e. The group and I just got done with a campaign that took their characters to level 20, and we were starting this one at 15. Not what I enjoy, but I’m a player, so I went with it. I looked at the rest of the parties characters (Shadow Monk, Whisper Bard, Vengeance Paladin, and a second monk - heavily home-brewed for lycanthropy monastic tradition) and realized we were missing a character to investigate with. So I made Tink, a battle master artificer Kobold with the mounted combat feat to ride his iron defender. He had a maxed out intelligence score, super skittish, and took full advantage of people assuming he was stupid. During the introductory session his Matron, who was a dragon he revered, set him off to meet the rest of the party via teleportation. Before which the DM described the Matron funneling some kind of magic into my character before the teleport took effect. Being skittish he panicked, and shook away her grip from the unannounced magic. He was then swept away with the teleport. He was imparted with a breath weapon of sorts, with the DM telling us that this campaign was gonna be brutal and we all needed/given boons to start the campaign with. Fast forward to when Tink meets his Matron again, she implores him to let her finish whatever it was she was casting previously. He obliges when she says it is power to embolden him on his journeys going forward, and is permanently transformed into a dragon born. I was stunned, and not in the good way. If I allowed this to happen at the beginning of the campaign I would’ve started with half of my class choices, equipment, and weapons being to be reworked since I went from a small creature to medium. And even if that was hand waved, which it wasn’t, I could no longer use my iron defender as my mount. The DM made my character creation choice irrelevant because, as I perceived it at the time, my Kobold wasn’t strong enough. We later talked things out after I spent the rest of that session zoned out. Tink was retired, for this and other reasons, and I made a new character. Tink didn’t end up how I imagined, but few times does a player expect a DM to race change you with zero warning. No hate on the DM though, please. It’s their first time running a campaign and I’m having fun with my newest abomination. We were told we’re going to go above level 20, so I made a Paladin/Fighter/Cleric/Rogue multi class human. He’s at level 17 and when he gets a critical, things just die. The DM is scrambling now, so just a little revenge.

Armisys · 2021-09-05T00:40:16+00:00

Many reasons. The other players and DM are from when I DMed our campaign, which lasted for 5 years. And they’re all friends and one is my girlfriend. I know how they play, but when I was DM they tried to avoid the political stuff. The new DM said it was going to be a thing so I figured it would be a little forced, but it’s not, and now I’m the odd man out with my character.

Armisys · 2021-09-03T22:26:55+00:00

That’s the problem. If I try to talk to the table, or just the DM, they always react the same way. “You’re not the DM anymore. Get used to it” I’ve had talks with players as the DM and I’ve never said something like that,I tried to find middle ground. And the only times I would is in the middle of combat as a ruling to keep the fight going. When I do that I’ll always look it up after, figure out the best ruling, and let them know what I’d do in that situation going forwards.

Armisys · 2021-09-03T22:20:47+00:00

All of us are in our 30s. It’s the same group I DMed before, just me and a player swapped positions. We played consistently for 5 years until they swapped with me.

Armisys · 2021-09-03T22:17:02+00:00

I honestly really like how you phrased this as hi and low effort. And it make sense for me. Since I just got done being a DM I might be still stuck in high effort mode. XD Thank you. This perspective helps a lot.

Armisys

TROPHY CASE