You can create a character for the player before the player joins Obsidian Portal -- I've done it. You can create the character as a PC in your campaign, with you as the original "owner." When the player joins Obsidian Portal, issue an invitation to him/her to join your campaign. Once they are listed as a PC in your campaign, you can edit the character to reassign the character to the player.
I've not done the second part, but I imagine that if a player decides to drop out of the campaign, and you remove him/her as a PC, you have the option ahead of time to have the character reassigned to you. I don't know if that would require the player to do the reassignment, or you can do so as the GM. Currently, the player can't withdraw from the campaign, the GM has to kick him/her out, so at the very least you can always copy the information (GM's have edit rights to PCs characters) to save. That way, even if the player's removal means the disappearance of the character, you can always re-create the character.
Create the character under the NPC Tracker tab. On the drop-down menu, there is an option to use the character as a PC in any campaign in which you are the GM. Select the campaign. From the Home page of the campaign, the character should be listed as a PC in the campaign with you as the player.
Click on the link to the character, and edit it. At the very bottom of the page, there will an option to "change PC owner." There is a drop down menu for you to select what other player to give the PC to.
It seems like you can do this only for PCs where you are the current owner -- I can't change the owner of PCs in campaigns where I am the GM, though I can do it for characters that are my PCs in other people's campaigns.
Comments
1) Can I create characters before a player joins in membership?
2) If I remove a player is their way to retain their character's existence?
Basically, I'd like to understand the differences between the two and the relationships that exist there.
I've not done the second part, but I imagine that if a player decides to drop out of the campaign, and you remove him/her as a PC, you have the option ahead of time to have the character reassigned to you. I don't know if that would require the player to do the reassignment, or you can do so as the GM. Currently, the player can't withdraw from the campaign, the GM has to kick him/her out, so at the very least you can always copy the information (GM's have edit rights to PCs characters) to save. That way, even if the player's removal means the disappearance of the character, you can always re-create the character.
Click on the link to the character, and edit it. At the very bottom of the page, there will an option to "change PC owner." There is a drop down menu for you to select what other player to give the PC to.
It seems like you can do this only for PCs where you are the current owner -- I can't change the owner of PCs in campaigns where I am the GM, though I can do it for characters that are my PCs in other people's campaigns.