Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 279 - Changing Characters

Episode Date: July 5, 2026

In this episode, we explore the pros and cons of letting players swap characters in the middle of a campaign. We discuss exit strategies, player motivations, and how DMs can facilitate this change with minimal loss to game momentum.   #rpg #ttrpg #dnd #pathfinder #gmtips #playertips #characterchange

This week on the Taking 20 podcast. Be open. Communicate to your players about this in session zero. Yes, you'll work to accommodate desired character changes, but there may be times when that will be harder than others. Thank you for listening to The Taking 20 Podcast, episode 279, talking to DMs and players about the tricky situation of changing characters mid-campaign. I want to thank this week's sponsor, Umbrellas.

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Links are in the description. Whether it's due to character death or simply a player feeling like the current character no longer fits their play style or maybe even the story, The desire to change characters mid-campaign is a common hurdle for many groups. I'm going to dive into why this happens, how DMs should handle the request, and the best ways to transition to a new character without completely derailing the adventure. All right, picture this. Editor Jeremy here. No, I'm not going to do the picture this thing to start my episode again.

I actually started to, but it just disgusted me. I've ridden that horse for two straight episodes now, and I need to give it a break in the barn, so let me start the opening again. For whatever reason, a player may want or even need to play a different character in the middle of an adventurer campaign. Maybe their character died heroically or comically last session. Maybe they've been playing a paladin for the last three months,

and being the moral compass for a party of murder hoboing Neraduels is starting to weigh on them. No dark love or night moon or shadow. O-wing or Ashen Blade or Onyx butt or whatever the Edge Lord Rogue's name is in your party, you can't just stab the city watchman because he wants a two-copper-piece city

entrance tax. Or maybe you're the party cleric, and they have basically relegated you to heal-bought. You patch up wounds, occasionally make charisma checks, and that's about it. You're tired of in-combat being as useless as a stealth bard

wearing neon underpants, and you're ready for a change. But as someone who clerics a lot, by the way, believe me, I get it. But whatever reason, you approach your GM with a request to change characters. Meanwhile, my beloved DMs out there, you have an entire adventure arc built around that cleric's backstory. If they change characters now, it's going to invalidate a bunch of work. So what do you all do?

Not to overstate it, but the fun for two people and possibly the entire group could be at stake with whatever decisions that you make. So let's start my beloved DMs out there. I'm not going to tell you that you have to allow a character change. Hell, in RPGs, there's very little that you have to do. I once thought that you had to have dice to play RPGs. Then I learned about a group in prison who wasn't allowed to bring dice in, and instead they used 20 playing cards, 10 red and 10 black, ace through 10.

If you drew a red card, it was like you rolled the number on the card itself with the ace being a one. And if you do a black card, it's like you rolled the card value plus 10, so a black 4 would be a 14 on a D20. It was actually beautifully simple, and it's stuck in my head, and it allowed RPG playing in a place where they could not have dice. Sorry, I just chased a rabbit off the trail there. I'm getting old. I apologize. GMs, to be frank, you don't have to allow the player to change their character. As someone told me a long time ago, the word no is a complete sentence. and you can always disallow any character change. But I do urge DMs out there to have a good reason if you're going to say no.

For example, there may be cases where a character change is just not even feasible in the game at this time. The characters are eight levels deep in a dungeon or on the elemental plane of fire or floating adrift in the desolate blackness of space. There may not be any rational in-game explanation as to why there'd be someone else to sub in for the character that the player wants to see depart. In these cases, there's nothing wrong with asking the player to either wait or maybe play a monstrous PC or a temporary PC until the opportunity to change presents itself.

The PCs go back to town, they return to the trading hub, come upon some prisoners, et cetera, voila, you can make your change. Now, that being said, you should recognize that if you do say no, you may be forcing the player to stay with a character they don't enjoy. Just as a resurrection only happens if the soul is willing, meaning the player still wants to play the character, a player should only be playing characters that they want to invest in. Players usually have a good reason for wanting to change,

and forcing them to play a character against their will is at best. It could lead to disinterest by the player, or it could escalate to complete dislike of the game, or maybe they even leave the game entirely. So my first big piece of advice to my beloved hardworking DMs out there is that if a player wants to change out their character, generally, find a way to say yes if it makes even a modicum of a hint of sense in your world.

I mean, sometimes the change is planned, but there are times when character changes have to be sudden because of an injury or death to a character. Dice are a very harsh mistress and can sometimes turn on you in a bad way and for an extended period of time. I've had multiple night runs where my D20s all betrayed me and refuse to roll over like a six or seven.

It's frustrating, and what's worse, could be the reason why a character dies. Or maybe the encounter wasn't quite as balanced as you thought it was, and one of the characters dies. Or the player makes some, shall we say, less than optimal choices, like sticking their arm into an orb of swirling dark energy or jumping off a cliff,

rather than having a conversation with baddies who have them surrounded? Or maybe the player forgets their character was poisonous, or diseased or cursed or some other malady that does damage over time, and it wears them away to zero hit points. Nah, nah, no, we didn't kill him. He fell backwards on a knife four times. These things happen. It's a dangerous world out there.

If a character dies, give the rest of the party an opportunity to mourn that character. Yes, I've talked about that before. Maybe it's a classic funeral in the rain scene, or the characters share memories about what they remember by interacting with that character. Maybe share with the party the beginning of that character's afterlife, approaching the plane of infinite goodness in your game, being welcomed by family and friends they'd previously lost, or, you know, the plane of eternal torment if they were complete assholes.

I'd probably not use that last one, unless it's a great story beat later. Yeah, like you rescue the paladin from hell, that kind of game. God, that'd be fun. Anyway, character death, especially one due to the capriciousness of the dice, can be hard on a player. Dealing with character death could be, by the way, an episode all its own, but I'm not going to start peeling that onion completely. I mean, if it sounds like an interesting topic to you, by the way, message me or email me, let me know.

Links are in the description. As an aside, my recommendation, by the way, is that the dead character's equipment is either buried with them or sent back to their family. Let the new character come in with level appropriate stuff they've collected while adventuring off screen. Do not let the party keep both the dead characters equipment and get it. a completely new set of gear from the new character. Maybe, okay, yeah, individual piece swaps always allow that. The Dead Barbarian had a plus two acts. The fighters wielding a plus one axe, sure, fine.

Swap those two, no problem. But keep an eye on character wealth. After a few deaths and equipment swaps, party equipment can get out of hand very fast. Now, to change over your character, to begin with, you'll need to have an entrance strategy for this new character. In the best case, by the way, the party's in town. and Tina the inventor heard that the brilliant five or whatever the hell the party's name is needs a fifth member.

They are here to apply for the job. Michael the rogue leaves the party, Tina the inventor joins. Bada bing, bada boom, easy, pizy, done and dusted. Or a traveling group comes upon the party's camp in the evening and one of the travelers wants to join up. As an example, one of my groups is adventuring in the Abomination vaults right now. The port town of Otari is an hour's walk away. ships are constantly arriving and departing, bringing goods and services and potential characters with them. In that campaign, I've told my players who've wanted to switch that there will be ample opportunity to do so.

In another campaign, rain of winter, there were areas where every ancestry was readily available, but there were also times in that campaign where PCs go far away from their traditional inner sea home, and changing characters at that time might limit their options or might not even be available. Be open. Communicate to your players about this in session zero. Yes, you'll work to accommodate desired character changes, but there may be times when that will be harder than others. There may be times when the party is somewhere really remote, where travelers and other civilizations is distant echo from where they are.

In those cases, my beloved DMs out there, you may have to resort to, I don't know, something creative. Add prisoners of one of the groups the PCs were fighting when the previous character had left or died. The hobgoblins were keeping a prisoner for information, or the Etans had this person in a cage till they could eat them, or maybe the orks are keeping someone alive for ransom or leverage in negotiations. They're found in a holding cage.

Or maybe they've locked themselves in the bathroom, or they've been hiding in the attic. Whatever the reason, even if the reason seems kind of hokey, or threadbare, find a reason for the player's new character to be in the area and available to adventure when the previous character wants to leave. That'll solve the entrance strategy problem. But once you have the entrance, you need to figure out the exit strategy for the existing character. Unless it's character death, you'll need some way.

How does the existing character leave the party? Don't just have the character disappear in the night. Honor the accomplishments they had while they adventured with the party. Maybe they no longer crave the dangerous life and retire to open a music instrument shop in Neverwinter. They have duties and responsibilities they can no longer ignore they've been called back home to lead their family or clan. They have a moral epiphany and suddenly realize

that you know what, this murder hoboing life isn't the best thing for their soul. This toll of living adventurer life is taking... It's too much for them. It's taking its toll on them. Give them a reasonable reason. Reasonable reason. God, learn to talk, Jeremy. You know what I mean.

Give them a reason why. the character needs to leave now so the replacement can come in and maybe even give the entire party the role play opportunity to make that change. One of my PF2E players had never played a bard. She played it for three levels.

Hated it. She wanted to play something a bit more fightery, so she asked if she could play a guardian class. Her bard? Okay, sure, called back to the ongoing war with the undead in her homeland. Lo and behold, they're just

so happened to be someone, a guardian by chance, who had been captured by the Morlock Scouts. The guardian had been with a different group, she had sacrificed herself so that the others could escape, and now this new group, frees her. It allows her to adopt this other group to protect them. Would Morlocks take somebody like this captive? It doesn't matter what the Monster Manual says, it's your world. These Morlocks took a prisoner, and it just so happened to be the character this player wanted to play. Exit strategy done, entrance strategy done, players happy. Me, the GM, does a little bit of rebalancing behind the screen and the

campaign continues on. Now, all this being said, I'm trying to encourage my DMs to be as accommodating as possible, but to my players out there, before you pull the trigger on a new character, I want you to ask yourself why you want to play a new character. Is there a mechanical reason for the change? like there's a party role that's missing, or are you just missing that new adventurer smell? Remember that complexity increases exponentially with level,

and starting a new high-level character means managing a dozen or more new abilities and spells immediately as soon as you make that change. I alluded to it a few seconds ago, but your GM probably has to do some adjusting of the adventure to accommodate the previous party and now has to do it again for the new party member. Maybe the party is melee heavy and the DM made upcoming adventures better for an all-melee party.

You're wanting to suddenly play a ranged rogue or spellcaster could require the DM to readjust encounters they had already prepared. Now, by no means am I saying never request a new character. I'm saying don't do so capriciously or so often that the DM feels like they're constantly on shifting sands, trying to balance encounters from all these different characters coming and going. And if you do change, ensure that your new character has some sort of connection to the campaign world and a clear reason to work with the existing group. Don't create a loner who makes the game harder for everyone else. Ooh, I'm edgy and I hate everyone and I'm going to steal from the rest of the party to get rich.

Good, that character just fucking died because they stepped in the party bonfire. Make a different character. Your new character should support the party, want to be with the party, not make it all about them or attempt to take over as the main character just because they're new and shiny. Finally, and sorry, this could have been in the DM section as well. DMs don't punish the player for changing characters. Old ancient rules used to mandate that new characters

or replacement characters start their adventure a level lower than the rest of the party. But all that did is punish the player for trying to have more fun. Keep the replacement characters at the same level as the rest of the party so they can effectively contribute to the success of the party as a whole. Allowing character changes mid-campaign can make your game better, more fun for one or maybe even more of your players if it's handled with care. DMs should prioritize that player fun, create meaningful exit strategies for old characters,

and find ways to add the replacement character that makes sense in the game world. Players should ensure their new character fits the world, has a reason to be with the party, and is someone that are generally excited to play through the complexities of higher levels. If you plan and execute accordingly when a character change is needed or desired, I'd be willing to bet that you all will survive it

and have fun doing it. Thank you for listening. I thrive on feedback, by the way. Please email me, feedback at taking20podcast.com, or send me a link on my social media. Links are in the description. Tune in the next episode where I'm going to be talking about different debilitating conditions for characters like chanthropy and curses.

But before I go, I again want to thank our sponsor, Umbrellas. My umbrella tried to get a job in accounting, but couldn't handle the overhead. This has been episode 279 all about changing characters mid-campaign. My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game. The Taking 20 podcast is Copyright 2026 by Jeremy Shelley. The opinions or views expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect those of the host. References to game system content are copyright their respective publishers.