Retraining to better define a character

[Stormspace]

I'm currently in a game Forgotten Realms based where the PC is an escaped scion from Thay, come to the west to find his family. My original PC design was all Warrior and didn't include any of the "extras" available that were built into the character background.

He started at 4th level and is now 8th and the more I played him it became apparent to me that my understanding of the rules severely hampered this PC. I petitioned the DM with a new design.

The new design took everything I had already written and played with flavor and quantified it. A magic background, noble birth, and a penchant for diplomacy. I had a few chances to optimize him further but I wanted the BAB and HP to be nearly the same after the retraining.

So I submitted my Paragon 3/Wiz 3/Fighter 4/Purple Dragon Knight 1 to the DM and I'm happy to say he allowed it. The retraining didn't give him anything he really didn't have before, other than 1st and 2nd level Wizard spells and the chance to have fewer cross class skills.

The retraining was fun, especially given that I had a solid background and template I was sticking to and the character background was detailed enough to justify the changes.

If I were the DM I'd allow this type of thing as well at no cost because defining a character better within the rules makes the game more enjoyable. So instead of claiming Noble Birth, he has the feat. Son of a Red Wizard, he has some wizard levels. It's been great and I'd encourage other DM's to allow that kind of thing.

[Uncle Pine]

In my older group we've never had a retraining for many years until the 2nd interlude of the current campaign, when the party had to locate and help a nomad tribe of centaurs guided by an old friend of the Wizard's teacher, so that he could better understand the pros, cons and hows of Conjuration spells and rebuild his character as a Conjurer into Malconvoker (he started as a Swashbuckler/Wizard multiclass and didn't really enjoy how it turned out). Everyone was happy because they had the chance to discover something else about the setting and got to kill some ogres.
In my newer group, the Barbarian/Warblade took accords with a group of Arcane Swordsages raptorans to train with them and take some Arcane Swordsage levels, but since I talked to him about the Master of Nine PrC and he looks interested I plan to let him swap a couple of feats and reallocate skill points during the training to finangle a couple of levels in said PrC before the end of the campaign. He's new to 3.5, so I'm not going to screw his character because he built it slightly wrong.

[Âmesang]

I wish my last group were more open to this; not that they're against retraining, just that they weren't very heavy on roleplaying. :smalltongue: We had a necromancer retrain his prohibited schools because I believe it was his first wizard so he took the suggestion to prohibit schools that wouldn't hamper him as much as before (I think he has enchantment and illusion now?).

Had a bard/rogue/druid/Fochlucan lyrist simplify down to bard/lyric thaumaturge which he was happy with… easier to describe his character but it also meant no more monkey companion.

One player preferred to just drop a character altogether and bring in a new one with absolutely no in-story explanation for why the last guy disappeared and the new guy came in.

My longest running character did a spot of retraining here and there, but it was mostly non-mechanical; slowly piecing together a richer, more cohesive backstory as I learned more about the WORLD OF GREYHAWK® setting. Mechanically any retraining was simply making it easier to swap out old sorcerer spells with new ones, dropping the headache-inducing shadow spells (and replacing Spell Focus with the more Suel-minded Spell Focus [transmutation]), and using a kind-of loophole to keep her Bluff skill maxed out whilst taking levels in archmage.

(I don't know if it hurt or helped that my character was based on one I originally created in a videogame series, but has allowed for some pretty interesting coincidences that ties in nicely with [I]The Shackled City adventure path… you know, if the party cared about roleplaying that is…)

I'm fine with character retraining, if for no other reason than because not everyone can plan things far in advance and, even then, it may not always work out the way you planned.

[Uncle Pine]

One player preferred to just drop a character altogether and bring in a new one with absolutely no in-story explanation for why the last guy disappeared and the new guy came in.
Well hopefully he wasn't named like the previous character with a II at the end.

[Âmesang]

Nah, he'd play different races/classes/alignments, it was mostly just a "okay, this guy doesn't quite work, let me try something else" sort of thing.

Granted, once he played as a paladin only because we obtained a holy avenger as part of some random loot… and then dropped him the moment the sword got destroyed.

Though speaking of that, I've been meaning to take some notes regarding my sorceress' father if I ever get the chance to play 1st Edition or perhaps 5th (since I think in the latter the default GREYHAWK® timeline was bumped back to 576 CY?). Perhaps a lawful neutral (with lawful evil tendencies) Wee Jas worshiping mage to counter his much more (in-the-future) chaotically inclined daughter, and since she'd be a year old at the time it'd make for some interesting roleplaying/backstory for either one of them (especially if he dies early on, not to mention the Greyhawk Wars possibly being in his future).

Don't think I've ever played as a prequel character before. :smalltongue:

[Flickerdart]

I let my PCs rebuild whenever they want. Nobody's abused it. Good times all around.