D&D Crisis

I've played Dungeons and Dragons for a very, very long time.

I remember the joys of second edition. The very concept of THAC0 - a complete reversal of what most people consider sane is, to me, an old dear friend. Twisting your mind around the concept that low numbers are good, negative is better and that a magical +1 item could mean +1 or -1 depending entirely on the topic....sounds so easy, doesn't it...

But I've run into a crisis - and it's a big one.

I can't create another character.

No, really - this is worse then it sounds. I've tried a number of approaches and failed them all.

I've sat there with the rule books (more as a prompt then a reference, really) and gone through the classes, looking for something to excite me. But where ever I looked I didn't see ideas - I saw a tree of options, with branches loped off, hacked back and bare.

Take a rogue - a simple ne're-do-well. A thief to some, a conman to others. Forger, plunderer and trap finder. Nimble fingered or silver tongued. All those branches.

Pick one - the thief, who picks locks and loots, with a careful eye out for traps and other nasty surprises left by the soon to be poor.

I pick this branch and already I see the pruning sheers of sanity cutting away at my options. Can't take a half orc or a gnome, half elf or dwarf. All their bonuses aimed at things that can't do, don't need or for some - half elf - useless for anything.

A human for the extra feat and skill points, a halfling for the dexterity, handful of targeted skills and the extra saving throws....or you've the the elf. Skill bonuses, dexterity (without loosing 1/3 of your movement speed), skilled with more weapons, can see better in the dark, immune to sleep effects and is always counted as searching for secret doors.

Well, that's an easy choice then. How you get your stats doesn't matter - dice, points, crazy ass array...doesn't matter. High dexterity and intelligence, medium strength and constitution and dump anything you want in wisdom and charisma. Though a wisdom of 10 is good if you can afford it....the will saves....

The skills are a straightforwards thing. Tick the ones you want, up to your limit, put max ranks in each - but there isn't really any "choice" here. There's the classics you need for your job - search, spot, open lock, disable device, hide, move silently, listen and tumble - then you get a couple of free choices. If you're lucky, that's 3 choices.

Feats...if you're first level you get one or two. The one you need you can't start with (weapon finesse) . So it's back to the classics - improved initiative (so you act before everybody else....essential for a class that wears next to no armour). Dodge to not die, if acting first wasn't enough. Combat expertise - to keep you alive if you were lucky enough to survive being hit for a round.

Just a few things left - name, personality...but the CHOICES just arn't there.

But I hear you cry - why not make something you want to play. Ignore the optional and play what you feel like, something fun.

Been there, tried that. See also the monk who has been (effectively) forced out the party, couldn't actually damage anything which wasn't wearing a redshirt and was, to be honest, "just" a character which wasn't built for anything special - laughed at and useless.

But I've also tried looking at what the party needs, right this minute. Which happens to be the rogue I built 2 minutes ago, above.

Maybe I should find a personality for the character then work the rules around that. Which really leaves me with the problem finding a character I can wrap my mind around and understand. But I've played so many that I can't bring to mind some facet that I've not played before.

Or I can leave it all to chance - I've done that, and it works a treat - if there's randomness. But in a game with a fixed point buy system, you can't roll the dice and let them fall where they may. My Thursday character was born of the dice, chance and a random comment made on the first day of play. But this time, I can't use dice.

So people, I'm stuck. Trapped between to much knowledge, certainty and hatred of playing a character that can't do anything.

In this game I've had a monk who I didn't "min max". I didn't build it to be godlike. I could have...but didn't. And so I had a monk who did less damage - physical, weaoon based damage - then a sorcerer with a crossbow.

I will not play something without something to bring, some shiny reason to exist.

Some soul