Monster-PC: Thoughts and Ideas

Biata

Biata

Well, long story short, I've had the same character in the Java RP area for years. These past several years, I've tried to learn about D and D (started with 3.5) and my husband actually got me set up with being able to play a ''human bard that could turn into a griffin''.

Eventually, we came across the book that lets you play as a monster PC (Savage Species).

So far, I've been able to balance this Bard/Griffin out reasonably well not really ''broken'' in any shape or fashion.

But I'm curious, with a creature that was balanced out and worked hard on, does anyone think that I would be able to play with this character outside of my house campaigns? I'd really like to continuing leveling her up and seeing where she goes storyline wise, ect.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

FemmeLegion

The short answer is "that's going to depend on the GM". That's also the best answer I can give.

First, you'd need to find a campaign that was either going to start, or is currently playing, at your character's level. Then you'd need to shop the character to that GM specifically. Make sure you write up the backstory for the character, so it actually *looks* like a character you're genuinely invested in and not just something you created because ZOMG SO COOL (i.e. half the Asherati PCs in the Living Greyhawk campaign). And just as importantly, be willing to work with suggested changes to the backstory, especially with regard to how and why the character can effect this shape shift. This may be difficult depending on what has happened to your character during his/her career, but if you give your new GM that opportunity to tweak things, it will make it easier for him/her to fit your character into his/her world. Bear in mind also that "balanced" and "broken" are relative terms, and house rules (or local interpretations of Rules As Written) may affect how balanced the character is in a given campaign.

I don't think it'd be impossible to find another campaign for this character, but a shapeshifting griffin-bard is going to be pretty darned unusual in a lot of campaigns. Some GMs would immediately relish the challenge of trying to figure out how such a creature might come to be in the world they've built. Other GMs would simply put up their hands and say "too weird for me". Your best strategy in both cases is to be respectful and at least a little bit flexible.

Good luck!