Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 palinmaz Sep 22, 2010 7:54:31	My wife and I are having some troubles with our characters, and we’d like some advice on the best way to handle it. The two of us had never played 4E before, (I had never played a pen and paper RPG), so earlier this year we went online and found a group. It ended up consisting of us, another couple, and the DM, who is the only one who has experience. It’s a good group; friendly, funny, no problem players. We rolled our first characters, I a paladin, my wife a Warden, an Avenger, and a Wizard. Within the first few levels my wife and I were unhappy with our characters. My wife doesn’t like melee combat, and I just made a really crappy paladin. When we started, we were playing in a level 1-30 campaign. Unfortunately our DM didn’t realize that the fan made campaign hadn’t been finished beyond level 5. So he asked us what we wanted to do, and we decided to head to a big city so we could play some side quest, and try out some different characters. I dumped my Paladin and built a Dwarf Battlemind, who I altered into a fighter soon after. My wife tried a Sorcerer/Cleric, before ending up with a Warlord. We are at level 11 now and we’re both itching to try something new. The characters we have now are solid, but we really want to broaden our horizons. We want to make informed decisions about what roles and classes we do and don’t like playing. Most of all we want to find characters we love to play as much as the other members of our group do. The loose structure of our campaign is perfect for this right now. The problem is our DM is dragging his feet letting us change again. I can see the problem from his perspective. He said he that he thinks everybody in the group should swap roles, but that’s problematic. He has two characters, (The Avenger and Wizard), who are absolutely in love with their characters and would probably be upset having to change. On the other side of the table are two people who can’t seem to be happy with a character, and who finally are playing characters that compliment the party well and are well built. Making changes is going to be a headache. I’ve suggested to him that just my wife and I switch roles, but I haven’t heard back from him.  Are my wife and I handling this wrong? Is wanting to swap characters frequently abnormal? Should we suck it up and play what’s best for the group?
#2 mobar2008 Sep 22, 2010 14:53:17	Not as new to the game as you are.  There are so many options and possible builds its easy to get indecisive.  I do have a couple of questions however, how long is the current campaign going to last? What is it about your characters that you don't like? Or what is it about another character type you are liking?  You mentioned that you didn't make a very good paladin, could you elaborate?  Just what kind of hero are you wanting to play?  Have you put any thought into your characters background?  I'll let you chew these over.
#3 palinmaz Sep 22, 2010 16:14:07	Not as new to the game as you are.  There are so many options and possible builds its easy to get indecisive.  I do have a couple of questions however, how long is the current campaign going to last? What is it about your characters that you don't like? Or what is it about another character type you are liking?  You mentioned that you didn't make a very good paladin, could you elaborate?  Just what kind of hero are you wanting to play?  Have you put any thought into your characters background?  I'll let you chew these over. We were planning on going to level 30. I'm playing a polearm fighter with heavy control. The Wizard and I tend to step on each others toes a lot. My wife wants to play a more offensive magic character. My Paladin wasn't focused at all. I picked powers at random. I ended up unconscious almost every encounter, and mt damage ouput was painfully low. I would like to play a striker, especially a barbarian. My wife really wants to play a controller, particularly an Invoker. Unfortunately this conflicts with the party as is. I have a leader build, and my wife a hybrid defender/controller we're willing to try to try new roles. Background...Most of the party in more concerned with Rolls than Roles. The DM and I are the only one who try to get into character. It dosen't help that the DM is the only one with tabletop experience, so we don't have anyone to learn from.
#4 Pashalik_Mons Sep 22, 2010 16:42:46	First, wanting to try out new characters isn't abnormal at all, especially for new players. My advice: 1.  If you have the rulebooks, or at least a good understanding of the rules, pick up a campaign module(or download Keep on the Shadowfell for free from the main site).  Have your wife make two characters, and you make two characters and then jointly control the monsters(or pick one of you to do it).  This gives you a bit of a playtest for new classes, and since you do it all at home with your wife, you don't have to set a time and day.  You can just pick it up and leave it off whenever you like.  In the meantime, you could stick with the characters you've got in your main campaign, while you get to explore other classes on your own.  I find this can help take the edge off the wanderlust, so to speak. 2.  Find and join an additional campaign.  This one obviously takes a larger investment of time, but if you have the time, it can be nice to see how a different group handles things.  And again, you get to try at least one new class each.  Also, you will have more people to learn from.  Online games are good for this, in my experience.  Play by post can be particularly nice if you want to roleplay more.