How would you do a "New Game+"?

[Thrasher92]

Let's assume that your party is able to make it to level 20. They each write a way to retire their characters and their characters have kids. Now, if they wanted to create new character sheets for the kids and play as those character (advancing the timeline some), would you give them any bonuses?

Perhaps they would get an interesting background, an additional proficiency, or maybe at least some extra money? Do you think an extra feat would go too far?

What would your ideas for a "New Game+" be?

[Millstone85]

Have them inherit mommy's +2 sword.

[Nifft]

- Pantheon choices include former PCs.

- Background choices now include service to former PCs, or the causes they championed.

- Spell choices now include innovations from former PCs.

- Magic items created by / for / because of former PCs (which each bear a former PC's name).

- Every new PC gets an extra GP on creation.

[carrdrivesyou]

As a DM, I would say that a bonus proficiency or language would not be excessive, but I would be careful about it. I would limit it to something that the retiree would obviously be able to teach. Barring that, I would start them with more gold or better gear. All in all thought, I think that character creation is supposed to involve and include all of that. So it really breaks down to whatever your DM is okay with.

Personally, I had a player whose characters all came from the same clan/family (mostly because they kept dying). Eventually, I wrote them into my game world and gave them an entire city in which they were the rulers. Was pretty cool honestly.

[BobZan]

29-point buy and an uncommon magic item

[ErHo]

Right, just easy access to magic/items/funds

[ko_sct]

Depending on your usual starting level, you might simply consider starting the new characters at a slightly higher level.

If you usually start games at lvl 1, why not have them start at lvl 2 or 3 this time to represent better training and access to more resources/information/opportunity ?

[Ganymede]

Gaining free levels isn't really a benefit. All that does is skip the opportunity to have lower level adventures.

I think the best way to do a next-generation campaign is to ensure that the game world is significantly shaped by the heroics and legacy of the previous party. One good source of inspiration for this is Final Fantasy 4: The After Years.

[Sharur]

Normally, I wouldn't go for a "New Game+", at all. Then again, I've never been able to have a group reach level 20...

If I was going to go through with it though, I'd give a small bonus to ability scores. This is a simple change,

Normally, during character creation I use "rolled arrays" when DMing: I have the players collectively roll scores, as if for one character, and then all of the players use the results as an ability score array. This satisfies both my desires (there is no "better" or "worse" set of scores) and my player's desires (they get to roll). So I would give them a bonus when rolling their array: perhaps a 7th score in the array, or extra dice while rolling; perhaps "roll 5 keep 3" or a pool of extra dice that they could use while rolling their scores (Something like, here are three extra d6s. If you don't like the result you can roll one or more of these, and still pick your preferred 3).

If you use a standard array, you give them a better array, or a floating +1 to a single stat (perhaps restricting it to something not already increased by racial bonuses).

If you use point buy, you could do something simple, and add a few extra points to their pool.

[Foxhound438]

do what pokemon does, inherit 3 stats at random and roll the other 3

"boy are you glad your dad dumped int and charisma now"

*unintelligible murmurings*


What I'd actually do is allow for "teachable techniques", where you can get a class feature that the parent had at the cost of some downtime.

[jiriku]

I do this a lot, but the benefit is not a mechanical boost. Rather, it's the ability to roleplay in a world shaped by the past characters.

20th level characters topple nations, build empires, found dynasties, create new gods, and found religions. Often their failures are responsible for large-scale wars, plagues, and natural disasters. Lay those scars and victories deeply into your campaign world, then advance your timeline a few decades or a century and extrapolate how those changes will snowball into even larger events and happenings. And then feature all that junk heavily in the setting of the new campaign. Your players will love it.

[thoroughlyS]

They gain the first ASI/feat the parent had as a bonus (regardless of prerequisites), and one magic item from early in the parent's career (of appropriate relative power). They were directly trained by their parent from an early age, but that means the parents will have to focus on something they were good at, whether it be their oldest, most reliable trick, or just instilling the raw talent into their child. Plus a family heirloom.

I have personally played in games with free feats (currently in one with free half-feat and Prodigy for everyone) and games where you have a free early game magic item. Neither impacts the game that much.

[Angelalex242]

Probably an attunable item that the parent doesn't have slots for anymore. I like the idea of getting the first feat the parent had as a bonus feat.

Free Sentinel rocks. ;)

[Kaliayev]

To really get the new game+ feel, I would do the following:

1. Give a bonus to ASs at creation, using one of the options Sharur outlined.

2. Give a free feat to each character at the start of the game, with the feat matching one that the parent had. It's not a stretch to say that such heroic parents would be able to offer their children the feat training outlined in the DMG's other rewards section.

3. Let the characters start with some magic items. Don't make this a blank check to have all the characters start with legendary items/artifacts. The moonblade is probably one of the few examples of a magic item that might specifically be passed down from generation to generation of a family. Others tend change hands or disappear over time. Perhaps the parent pawned some of their magic gear for the sake of a comfortable retirement or passed on their best weapons and armor to their immediate protégés, so that those magic items might still be of use to the world.

Have the players think about what their characters would have kept in their possession over the course of 20+ years. Have them consider irl inheritance and whether the heirs necessarily end up amazed by what is left to them. For example, one's grandfather fought in WWII and kept some mementos from the war, including a Luger P.08. When the grandfather died, the gun was left to his grandchild. This gun has historical and sentimental value, but it is functionally inferior to a modern firearm.

4. Modify the challenge rating and stats of monsters to some degree. The challenges faced by the new generation are not the same that their parents dealt with.

5. Have the characters live in their parents' shadows. Various NPCs may treat the PCs differently based on how those NPCs view the PCs' parents. Some might be more helpful, more dismissive, etc.

[Cybren]

Gaining free levels isn't really a benefit. All that does is skip the opportunity to have lower level adventures.

I think the best way to do a next-generation campaign is to ensure that the game world is significantly shaped by the heroics and legacy of the previous party. One good source of inspiration for this is Final Fantasy 4: The After Years.

??? You can run the exact same adventure for level 3s that you would for level 1s. The extra levels will change the tone of the adventure but needn’t change then content

[JellyPooga]

I do this a lot, but the benefit is not a mechanical boost. Rather, it's the ability to roleplay in a world shaped by the past characters.

20th level characters topple nations, build empires, found dynasties, create new gods, and found religions. Often their failures are responsible for large-scale wars, plagues, and natural disasters. Lay those scars and victories deeply into your campaign world, then advance your timeline a few decades or a century and extrapolate how those changes will snowball into even larger events and happenings. And then feature all that junk heavily in the setting of the new campaign. Your players will love it.

This. So much this. Freebie power boosts are about as exciting as going shopping; great for about 5 minutes while you coo over your new toys, then the excitement wears off and you've just got more stuff.

Lasting legacy of the old PCs actions, deeds and failures is much more powerful a "reward"; the changes to the story, the campaign, the entire setting that the players made; that's going to excite your players every game, because in every game (ok, maybe not literally) they'll uncover some other little snippet of how the world has changed because of them.

[SociopathFriend]

Let's assume that your party is able to make it to level 20. They each write a way to retire their characters and their characters have kids. Now, if they wanted to create new character sheets for the kids and play as those character (advancing the timeline some), would you give them any bonuses?

Perhaps they would get an interesting background, an additional proficiency, or maybe at least some extra money? Do you think an extra feat would go too far?

What would your ideas for a "New Game+" be?

If the DM is okay with the New Game+ idea then it's surely on them to decide what "bonuses" they want to give the characters along with what is "too far". If I did this I would rule that the kids can get one of three things:
1. A free +1 from the previous character's main stat (offers ripe roleplaying if this is not the child's main stat)
2. A skill/tool proficiency their previous character had
3. A feat their previous character had
4. If they are both classes that gain Fighting Styles, they can have their parent's Fighting Style as well (cannot stack the same style still)
5. If they are both classes that share self-sufficient casting (Sorcerer or Bard for example) then they can have one additional spell known from their parent that doesn't count towards the spell known maximum.
You can pick only one.

However, I would also absolutely have the kids targeted by vengeful figures from their parent's past, who better to attack/kidnap/turn to the darkside than the children of the one who wronged you?

[Ganymede]

??? You can run the exact same adventure for level 3s that you would for level 1s. The extra levels will change the tone of the adventure but needn’t change then content

To clarify, when I said "lower level adventures" I meant "adventures at a lower level." I didn't mean "modules for low level characters."

[iTreeby]

Here is what I would do;

1) start everyone at level three at least.

2) start everyone with a magic item or two that are THEMATICALLY RELATED to the parent that gave them, these could be ones they had in the previous game or made afterwards.

3) design a cool hideout anf/or boat that the party has made, give the players options and see what they go for. Make it as mundane or magical as is thematically appropriate.

4) play on the fact that they are related to really famous people. Doors will be open to these children that were not open to their parents.

5) the world is different. The consequences of the last game have changed the world and your campaign is going to have to go In a different direction so you can show the depth your world has.

Just my 2 cp

[Knaight]

After a 20 level D&D game the last thing I'd want to do is play another game of D&D - that's time to abandon the entire fantasy genre for gaming for a few years, even. That said, if I wanted to create a legacy game my first instinct would be custom backgrounds, emphasizing the softer background traits that aren't just skills. More important is the changes in the world, and the way the relations of the parents will affect the new PCs. There will be inherited allies, inherited enemies, inherited reputations, all of which need to be navigated. That's the interesting part.

If you wanted to emphasize the mechanical inheritance you'd be better of with a game that does that, which are comparatively uncommon (though if I can finish writing and editing one that count should be going up soonish).

[No brains]

I think one thread once mentioned the idea of using a permanent True Polymorph to New Game+ by turning into dragons and then advancing again by level.

[Mr.Spastic]

I think that there isn't much that you can do mechanically besides giving some cool items and excessive amounts of gold. The more fun thing you get to do is create a future shaped by your characters actions. The other fun thing is that if all the characters are kids of the last party they don't need a contrived reason to be together.

Other fun things are more dependent of the classes of your party. If you had a warlock, and one of the new characters is a warlock, you could have the new one make a pact with the old one. I think it makes it even funnier if it's not their kid. The kid spends a week with their crazy magic uncle and comes back with magic powers.

If you have a cleric, they would probably run the church. Same with a paladin. A rogue might be the head of the criminal underground who brings their kid into the "family business."

I would suggest letting the players play each other's kids(if their down with it). Makes interactions easier. Also, you have so many quest hooks as the old party would be in charge of a lot of things.