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View Full Version : Taking Over Someone Else's PC, While Still Doing Your Own



Runa
2007-10-20, 02:04 PM
Has anyone ended up doing this before?

Here's what happened:

1.) Our group starts getting together on Wednesdays for Game Night. The group is about half new, half old (Rob, me, Alan and Ralph were all in the old group together; Catherine, Ryan and Skippy are new), and we're trying something new to boot - Gestalt. Because our band of characters is such a bizarre combination - I'm playing a fun-loving, Elistraee-worshiping Bard//Pal of Freedom Drow; Ryan's a sneaky Rogue//somethingorother Psion; Alan's a goofy Druid//Barbarian; Robert's a semi-Spartan-esque Hieroneus-worshiping Cleric//Duskblade or somethingorotherBlade anyway (who inexplicably has tons of ranks in singing); Skippy's a weird Necro//something; Ralph's the DM now; and Catherine's a Dionysus-worshiping Bard//Rogue who's ostensibly a sexy and sly vixen/drunk - we half-jokingly decided we must be a group of "carnies" (we really did end of up being a group pretty much of traveling performers who also happen to adventure a little on the side, which has been pretty fun so far).

2.) It quickly becomes apparent that Catherine (who's never played D&D before) is not having fun, though it's not for lack of us trying I don't think. She complains she's bored/doesn't know what to do during the battle the first week we actually play; the second week of play she doodles whenever it's not her turn instead of watching to see what's going on; the third week, she and Ryan (who she lives with) don't even show up, so their characters get captured by the army of raiding goblins and we're down both our Rogues; the fourth week, we did a hilarious performance in the town (which she clearly actually enjoyed for a change; see the "I Summon... A Porpoise!" thread for details), but then another week she did homework when it wasn't her turn; the past two, she hasn't shown up, and it's become clear she probably won't ever give it another chance.

In the meantime, Ralph (who is DMing for the first time, and trying to make up adventures from scratch tailored to the party, partly because the method of using downloaded or from a magazine adventures didn't exactly work for us in the past, and partly because he's a masochist) is attempting to include stuff relating to every character - so that everyone gets treasure that's tailored to them, fun things to do, etc. He liked the idea of her character being a vixen (even though - and I mean no disrespect for her, but this is honestly true - she really didn't play a "sly vixen" very well, admittedly in large part because she wasn't interested enough to think of something to do most of the time, and partly because, to be frank, she doesn't always think before she does things - you know that PC Stupidity Stories thread where someone tries to "seduce the evil army"? That's exactly the kind of thing Cath would do with this character). And so, he was disappointed when she basically decided to leave, because the character had potential.

And also in the meantime, I had been under the impression that, given Catherine's actual usage of the character, mine would have some very funny interactions, mostly on the lines of "Siiiigh what did you do NOW that makes the Mayor want to kill you?", and mostly in the spirit (despite them being different races) of an older sister having to look after that annoying little sister that always manages to get herself into trouble. Which sounded like fun, actually, if played right, you know?

And then she leaves. Well, crap.

So the group's current plan (since Ralph's been having to play her, which is just weird for the DM as you can imagine) is for me to take over her character. While still playing my original one.

Now, I don't have a problem with the idea of playing her sly-but-ridiculously-impulsive vixen Bard//Rogue - it's a fun concept, and Ralph's outright said he's got a really fun plotline he was going to do for it including a "crazy Satyr Bard" that happens to be her nephew. I also don't have a problem really with playing two characters at once and keeping track of the two, ostensibly. The only weird thing is something nobody else currently seems to have a problem with - which is that I'm the only one doing two PCs instead of one (though granted, she's squishier than me, and thus tends to have a different role in things like combat to begin with). We're testing it out to see how it works this coming week, at least until the plot ideas Ralph had worked up have resolved and all, and we can develop her out of it or whatever.

I'm just wondering if anyone else here has ever ended up doing this kind of thing, though - even temporarily - and what they found it to be like? Do you think it could work for a short time (a few sessions, say)? Do you have any advice? I don't think it's going to be permanent, somehow, and even though I think the chances are slim of her coming back, it's not impossible (and I don't think she'd have a problem with me playing it, given her apathy towards the game most of the time when she did play it).

-Runa

CasESenSITItiVE
2007-10-20, 02:37 PM
one time, during a campaign me and my friends were playing, my brother wasn't able to come, and i played his character. it went ok, with no major complications, but i wouldn't suggest doing it long term. it gets hard to develop you character when you're staying on top of another one

Tallis
2007-10-20, 03:35 PM
Be clear on each character's motivations. They may occassionally disagree on things, this is where it gets challenging (and fun). Also, unless it was an established pattern of behavior already one should not be subserviante to the other. They shouldn't share their stuff any more than they do with other party members.
I've had to do this before and had a lot of fun with it. My original character was a half-elf mage/cleric, the one I took over was a dwarf fighter. It was fun playing 2 very different personalities and party roles.
Just be careful not to hog too much of the spotlight.
If you're careful to keep them as seperate characters you should be fine.

Runa
2007-10-20, 05:20 PM
Be clear on each character's motivations. They may occassionally disagree on things, this is where it gets challenging (and fun). Also, unless it was an established pattern of behavior already one should not be subserviante to the other. They shouldn't share their stuff any more than they do with other party members.

Oh they won't be subservient to each other much at all, for a number of reasons:

Since my character's a Paladin of Freedom (which requires CG alignment, plus a general thematic element of being a champion of freedom/good, as you might suspect), she respects the right of others to make an idiot of themselves so long as no one gets actually hurt, and she'll let folks get by on their own if she can help it - it's only when Catherine's character was getting herself slapped around or threatened (because she said exactly the wrong thing to the wrong elected official in an attempt to flirt her way to his pocketbook - failed Diplomacy check, in case you're wondering) that she stepped in at all in the past - mostly because she knows darn well Catherine's character (don't ask me to spell the name, it's something weird and I don't have her character sheet with me) is very, as they say on these forums, "squishy" and gets hurt easily.That, and since they've ostensibly been traveling together for a while (we hardly ever do the "they meet in a tavern" setup) she knows the girl doesn't MEAN to say or do exactly the worst things she possibly could, she just kind of has a habit of doing so.

They do have a vaguely sisterly relationship already in that they'll hang out together and jam together and of course they go on adventures together and such - she's also CG aligned, to boot - though she's what I'd consider "a Chaotic character that happens to be Good, at least at the moment", compared to mine, which I consider to be "A Good character that happens to be Chaotic", if you will (something I think a lot of people don't realize maybe is how variable the behavior associated with alignments actually can be, depending on which areas you do or don't emphasize or how you reconcile it with your classes: her Good alignment can and so far has been extant but secondary to her strongly Chaotic nature, which is perfectly understandable for a traveling Bard//Rogue Dionysus-worshiping drunken vixen, whereas my character's still pretty easygoing, but more actively spiritual and devout, with a diety that seems to emphasize Goodness pretty strongly. I'm not entirely sure I can't think of Catherine's as also "devout" given her choice of deity, but I'm not sure I'd label her "actively spiritual" either :smallwink: ). I figure I'll keep that difference in "alignment reconciliation" in mind, given that it helps define the characters a little better. Though come to think of it, I should probably look up some stuff on Dionysus (the real-world Greek god of wine and entertainment, allowed because we already mix and match settings a little anyway). It may help refine my understanding of the character (and her potential interactions with my Paladin). Granted, the fact that Catherine's character's a lot more reckless and irresponsible could be (and has been) a source of minor conflict, but we'll see how it works out.

Catherine's character's only established behavior thus far is as follows, though:

*She likes to get drunk (unsurprising, given her diety...)

*She can be lazy and more than a little impatient (gets her into trouble, for sure).

*She's... um, a bit of a harlot. To use the prettier-sounding of several possible words... :smallbiggrin: (This is deliberate and we knew she was doing this. When your entire group is making "Unseen Servant" and "Grease" and "Animate Rope" jokes of a certain kind, this isn't entirely odd nor should it be surprising. Needless to say during character creation there was much talk of how she should get "studded leather armor" and "masterwork furry manacles" and a whip...)

*She loves to try to dance (ahem) or flirt her way into a guy's pocketbook, but is not, strictly speaking, always that good at the latter due to low ranks in Diplomacy (which I think we're remedying with the last two levels, but are still a problem...). Which tends to get her in trouble. She's still got marks from her own whip from one incident, for instance...

*She's not the type to go up to the front in a battle (admittedly, this is actually pretty smart of her, heh)

We tend to share treasure pretty equally amongst the party, thanks to Ralph's
tendency to really, really think about what he's giving out and tailor it to the needs to each member. So, that shouldn't be a problem either.



I've had to do this before and had a lot of fun with it. My original character was a half-elf mage/cleric, the one I took over was a dwarf fighter. It was fun playing 2 very different personalities and party roles.
Just be careful not to hog too much of the spotlight.
If you're careful to keep them as seperate characters you should be fine.


I'll try, thanks for the advice - it definitely reminded me of things I need to keep in mind. :)

-Runa

AslanCross
2007-10-20, 05:38 PM
Our Swashbuckler (who was snarky, spoiled, greedy, and immature) couldn't stay in our group anymore, so I had the ranger take over. Ranger has 18 WIS as opposed to Swashbuckler's 9. And yet the player had such a hard time switching between the two characters. Sometimes I (the DM) take over just to make the session interesting (because the Swashbuckler has a stronger personality than the 18 CHA Paladin), but I've found her to be more trouble than she's worth.

The next boss in our adventure will kill her off for good. <_<