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Starsign
2011-02-23, 02:10 PM
I've had a rather... bad track record of getting into games, usually D&D epic games. I've worked hard on characters (well, most of them, and for me they take awhile to make), and to not use them after fully finishing them is often disheartening for me. So while I take time off trying to get into every epic game I get in, I was wondering, for the characters you make that often don't get into games (said characters should have lots of effort put into it, both crunch and fluff), what would your opinion be on reusing them for another game if you really liked the character? :smallsmile:

DukeofDellot
2011-02-23, 02:22 PM
My brother played a character twenty so odd times... he changed the stats and the name each time, but it was the same character (Gnome Rogue with a tweaked up Bluff skill). We were going to play a Supers game, and he got rather ticked that his character didn't fit in.

Then again, there's Naresh who has played his character Paror in nearly one hundred separate campaigns...

...

Yeah, it's cool if you reuse characters, I get the urge every once in a while, not like these two, but whatever. Some might talk it down, but honestly, some professional writers reuse characters between stories.

Fenryr
2011-02-23, 02:34 PM
When I DM, I use them as NPCs. Of course is not the same but it's good enough. At least they help the new heroes to get their quest.

Comet
2011-02-23, 02:39 PM
It's a great idea, if you're doing a new campaign in a new setting so that there won't be any awkward "hey you look just like that other guy" moments.

And besides, re-using old characters can give you an opportunity to take them further, to invent new stories and personality traits for them and flesh them out even more than you did initially. Everybody wins!

graeylin
2011-02-23, 03:04 PM
unless you use the exact same stats, die rolls, gear, etc., it's not the same character, it's just the same concept.

i have reused dozens of concepts/characters, until I get them out of my system (ie, played them long enough to have fun, explore their lives, etc.). Rarely will a DM allow an exact PC to move into his world whole cloth, but I have moved lots of partial PCs around between games.

DukeofDellot
2011-02-23, 03:30 PM
unless you use the exact same stats, die rolls, gear, etc., it's not the same character, it's just the same concept.

No. Changing stats does not make a different character, hell you can revisit a character a couple million times (http://www.goblinscomic.com/02112011-4/) and still have the same guy. New abilities, new motives, and a new costume don't make the hero. A personality, a face, a theme, and a reason for being combine to make a character (though which aspects exactly are most important can be argued).

For example, Superman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_and_abilities_of_Superman). Originally he only had Super Strength, then they gave him flight and heat vision, and then the ability to create powers on the spot, then they toned him down to only having everything. He's still the same character.

I have a character, Kazuzhu... the Great Kazuzhu, Grand Contractor Kazuzhu, Kazuzhu the Wise... each time I use him (as an NPC) he shows up and tries to sell something to the PCs. Usually something important, and they only ever have one chance to buy it, and whether or not they do has a heavy impact on the story. How he obtains the item changes, sometimes he's a fence, sometimes he's the actual thief, sometimes he makes it, occasionally a cultist trying to make enough to build a temple, once he was a grand heroic wizard selling the old trinkets he found, and sometimes he's an honest trader. But his role, his voice, his name (more or less), and his personality never change. His stats change, but he doesn't.

...

You know, rereading this, I feel like a ****... I didn't mean to... I just wanted to say "I disagree!"

Kerghan
2011-02-23, 03:42 PM
I refer to them as "stock" characters, i.e. characters I've already played before, and thus know how their personalities, and the build works. They're good in a pinch when someone randomly decides to start up a campaign, and I'm not feeling particularly creative at the moment. Sometimes you can't think of new character ideas, and just end up sitting in front of a blank character sheet like its a test you hadn't studied for. It can be disconcerting.

Darth Stabber
2011-02-23, 03:50 PM
I rarely directly reuse a character, but I will convert a character to use in a different game. I had a divination focused cowardly cleric in 3.5 that got converted into a Void Shugenja in L5R. Aside from a few minor tweaks to fit setting he had the same personality and mannerisms, just without the fullplate. I even converted his greatsword into a no-dachi. 6'5" coward priest with a giant sword that he never used on his back, that is probably a character in an anime.

Kerghan
2011-02-23, 03:52 PM
God I hope so, cause that would be friggin' hilarious. If it isn't, someone should make it. Hey, maybe you could market that.

WarKitty
2011-02-23, 03:54 PM
Our group tends to actually somewhat encourage this. It helps that we have DM's that run at different levels. Any character that survives to the end of one campaign is considered to be available for other campaigns that are at or above that character's final level.

Amnestic
2011-02-23, 06:36 PM
For example, Superman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_and_abilities_of_Superman). Originally he only had Super Strength, then they gave him flight and heat vision, and then the ability to create powers on the spot, then they toned him down to only having everything. He's still the same character.


Following your own link, his original powers were:

* Enhanced Strength, speed, endurance, and stamina.
* Durability
* Superhuman control of face muscles.
* Telescopic Vision
* Super-sensitive hearing

For some reason he lost that bolded power. I can't imagine why though.

General thread topic: I'll generally rewrite a character rather than reuse them directly. They'll be based off the same "skeleton" but still be different, so...yes and no, I guess?

starwoof
2011-02-23, 06:47 PM
I generally don't like using the same character more than once. The exception is characters I've only played online or only played in a one off. One of the last characters I built was a warforged warlock who I had a really awesome concept for... played him once, campaign ended. I'll play him again though, I swear it.

Once I recycled my very first character into an online game. That was great, seeing him again. Old characters are like friends you haven't seen in awhile.

nedz
2011-02-23, 07:09 PM
NEVER
There are probably half a hundred characters I haven't had the chance to play yet. I wouldn't want to miss that opportunity.

Sure you put a lot of work into them. You should try DMing, there are entire worlds I have made and never used :smallcool:
Still that just an excuse to make some more:smallbiggrin:

DukeofDellot
2011-02-24, 11:17 AM
Following your own link, his original powers were:
...

In the original series, they introduced his powers over time, in the first issue they only displayed his super strength (though they used it to explain durability and speed).

Hazzardevil
2011-02-25, 10:39 AM
I often use charecters from previous games as parts of my background or just to further the plot as some heroes that die heroically or guys the party fight in a bar to put them in their place.

NichG
2011-02-25, 02:05 PM
I haven't done so, but I don't see the problem with it. In fact, I've seen it used as an interesting plot element if the character really is the same character (i.e. has memories of the previous campaign in some form), especially if they're from a very different place. I could see it being overused, but it definitely gives the character a big shot of initial depth and history that new characters often lack.

One of my players has a character 'Eduardo' that he re-uses, who has quite a bit of history, and so there's always a number of strange stories Eduardo can spontaneously tell about his past (that actually happened in other campaigns), or weird connections he makes.

I'd be tempted to reuse a character I'm currently playing, but it'd be pointless without keeping the memories in some form or other though. Even if they're bizarre recurring dreams or something else subtle. If the campaign wasn't the sort of campaign where that kind of weird was okay, I just wouldn't do it at all.

TroubleBrewing
2011-02-25, 05:00 PM
I use a recurring villain in every single game that I run, whether D&D, CoC, AO, UA, 4E, nWod, or d20 Modern. He started out as a representation of Nyarlathotep, now he just shows up to taunt the characters. He references their RL stuff occasionally, and it has a habit of freaking out the players who have encountered him before.

WarKitty
2011-02-25, 05:19 PM
I haven't done so, but I don't see the problem with it. In fact, I've seen it used as an interesting plot element if the character really is the same character (i.e. has memories of the previous campaign in some form), especially if they're from a very different place. I could see it being overused, but it definitely gives the character a big shot of initial depth and history that new characters often lack.

One of my players has a character 'Eduardo' that he re-uses, who has quite a bit of history, and so there's always a number of strange stories Eduardo can spontaneously tell about his past (that actually happened in other campaigns), or weird connections he makes.

I'd be tempted to reuse a character I'm currently playing, but it'd be pointless without keeping the memories in some form or other though. Even if they're bizarre recurring dreams or something else subtle. If the campaign wasn't the sort of campaign where that kind of weird was okay, I just wouldn't do it at all.

I have to agree with this one, actually. While I love re-using characters, I refuse to de-level them or re-write their backgrounds. It just feels too weird to me. So I don't actually get to do it a lot.

flabort
2011-02-25, 05:45 PM
If your character actually survives to the end of the adventure, I see no problem with that. Whether the adventure's a whole campaign, or a one-timer, it still means the character could hook up with another party later for another adventure.
Too, if the DM says "This adventure happens at such and such a time before event X", and you know your character died during or after event X, sure, use the character again, so long as it doesn't interfere too much with continuity. (Do not use Character X during the same month he was across the globe, stealing artifact Y, or give him equipment you gave him at a later time)

Or if the world is close enough to an alternate reality, no matter how distanced. Any of those scenarios, I'd allow you to use the same character again. Otherwise, no.

NichG
2011-02-25, 08:18 PM
I have to agree with this one, actually. While I love re-using characters, I refuse to de-level them or re-write their backgrounds. It just feels too weird to me. So I don't actually get to do it a lot.

I'd be okay with some de-levelling, especially if I'd be playing the character in a different game system entirely. It'd be frustrating though if the character fundamentally cannot do something that is their core mechanic in the new campaign.

Of course, the last two campaigns I've been in had de-levelling of various sorts happen during the course of events, so I've gotten a bit used to dealing with power fluctuations.

Narren
2011-02-25, 08:36 PM
Whenever I play in Dragonlance, one of my players always makes a character from the same Solamnic family. We always play in different periods, so interaction with previous characters is rare. It's a human family, but other than that he usually varies age, gender, class, and alignment. And race, when he made the half-elf.

Vknight
2011-02-26, 01:36 AM
I make references to past NPC's and PC's from completly different campaign worlds.
My players have found a statue of a Elven Ranger with the symbol for Boar on its base. One player if he plays a ranger always has a boar companion.

Other stuff like that

ninja_penguin
2011-02-26, 02:38 AM
I've reused characters once or twice. I've recycled concepts a lot more often than that. I generally try a character once or twice, and then retire them into a 'fondly remembered and not watered down' standing in my head. Sometimes they get turned into NPCs if its appropriate.

Saintheart
2011-02-26, 05:03 AM
Some might talk it down, but honestly, some professional writers reuse characters between stories.

David Eddings, for example. The guy must have a thing for dark-haired women who are functionally immortal and mages.