What do you do when your player is unhappy with the direction of their class and wants to change over into a new class mid-campaign, but with the same character?

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave answer a listener question about their player that wants to change their character’s class from Paladin to Sorcerer at 5th level. We delve into not just the narrative components of a change like this, but also the mechanical effects that such a change would inevitably bring. Along the way, we offer tips, tricks, and questions you should ask yourself if you’re planning on something like this in your own games.

3:45 First questions: will this completely break immersion and is this an offer you’re ready to make for all the players?

4:30 DM Chris fondly remembers Clyde from Every Which Way But Loose and discusses the “Buyer’s Remorse” of character choices and how to work with it.

7:00 The benefit of starting at lower levels and the character building that comes with it. How a 5th level character might feel a little more “pregen”, as DM Tony refers to it.

8:45 The benefits of One-shots, Session Zeroes, and Playtests to understand better the choices you’re making. What if Aragorn never leaves Bree?

12:30 DM Tony’s workaround for swapping power sets in 4th edition.

13:14 Learning the rules of the class as you level… the kid who hates the elite sports car they just got.

16:30 How we have and would narratively approach changes like this in our own games.

18:00 How do you handle the mechanical changes that would come with such a change?

28:50 DM Tony recounts how DM Thorin had narratively and mechanically done this very thing in a 4th edition game… the return of Cassidus, the wizard made of a pile of undead bugs!

30:35 “It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to”.… the time needed to evolve the character and how to balance realism and fantasy.

34:05 Final Thoughts

The tavern. It’s the start of 23 different campaigns that DM Tony has been in over the last three decades. It’s a fantasy adventure trope and gets a lot of hate out there for being basic and unimaginative, but is that necessarily a bad thing?

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave return to our RPG Mythbusters series and test the myth, “Is a tavern the best place to start an adventure?” Will it be confirmed, plausible, or busted?

0:49 The return of RPG Mythbusters, all the way back to Episodes 39 and 42.

1:56 Everyone knows what a tavern is as opposed to, let’s say, a Paladin’s Chapel.

3:50 Taverns are a historically accurate meeting place; the true “town square.”

6:45 DM Dave returns to the Lord of the Rings novel and reminds us that Gandalf drops lore in Bilbo’s house for 25 pages. Taverns can be much more organic to reveal the plot.

9:50 The tavern affords an easy, stress-free environment to introduce the players and their characters to the story and the world – which can be especially helpful with new players.

14:15 Session Zero could be a “tavern” by providing an intro to introduce the adventure.

15:40 The type of game can change whether a tavern is a good or a bad idea; in can be a phenomenal time sink.

17:20 Our tangent into 7-11 and Denny’s being modern-day taverns when we were teenagers.

18:10 Implied consent: the unsaid agreement between DM and players that you’re ready to go on an adventure for the session.

24:55 What type of adventure/campaign are you running? That should guide how and where you’re starting.

33:08 Lore Tolerance: how Taverns and “In Media Res” starts allow you to control the flow of lore dumps.

36:45 DM Chris’ idea that combat is the best way to bring characters together: A Band of Brothers. And how DM Dave leaned into this for our Dragonlance campaign.

43:15 Final Thoughts: Myth Confirmed, Plausible, or Busted?

With our recent Forged in Fire article series, DM Chris realized how many Conditions that monsters have resistance and immunity to, especially in 5e. With that, we began to discuss how much (or little) we play with Conditions in our home games, and how that might be limiting what we can do to craft engaging, thrilling, and challenging encounters.

In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave delve into the Conditions mechanic (both in and out of 5e), the issues we have with some of them, what ones we find to be somewhat limp, and the ones we would love to use

more. We also delve into what we have found is a Condition we often times inflict on ourselves as DMs: Expectations.

3:00 DM Tony returns to his problem with Stun mechanics… all the way back from Episode #4!

4:00 Making your game challenging without having them turn into “Gotcha” moments for your players.

6:20 Developing encounters with certain Conditions in mind. DM Dave’s Lair of Dragansalor from DM Chris’ 12 person Birthday game.

7:45 Seeing Advantage and Disadvantage as a Condition.

8:35 The power of Conditions through multiple systems and editions.

11:10 Using Conditions to control combat… more interesting than bags of hit points.

13:15 How Conditions, like Stun, have the players control the combat. Should you change it?

21:40 Skills, Saves, and the Rule of Cool article link.

22:45 Expectations: Conditions we place on ourselves as DMs.

32:45 Heroes of the Realm (including our Star Wars analogy): Be excited when the players mop the floor with the bad guys, regardless of the Conditions.

42:05 Resource management, Short, and Long Rests as Conditions.

46:15 Final Thoughts