combo character
Welcome to combo character!
Concept: This section looks at a combo player character featuring all of the aspects of a Role Playing Game (RPG). There are several different cases where combining player classes makes a lot of sense.
The current work on this combination character is focused on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition. Once that is done, work will proceed through the editions in order.
Solo: If there is only one player in an Role Playing Game, the concept of a team with complimentary strengths and weaknesses pretty much goes out the window. Hence the need for a stand alone solo character. Because there will be only one character class in a game that is designed to require multiple different roles playing together, it really doesn’t make sense to pick only one of the character class and slog through.
Yes, it is possible for the Dungeon Master (DM) or Game Master (GM) to create specialized adventures that fit just the one class’s capabilities, most of the game will be unavailable to the single player and GM/DM combo. Having a single solo Player Character (PC) that spans all of the classes will make the game playable. There is the problem of limited action capability. When a team of four or five players work together, they have at least four or five actions, while a single solo PC has just the one character’s possible actions. And anything in an adventure that requires two or more players cooperating together (such as turning both lauch keys on a nuclear submarine) won’t be possible (unless the PC has hired an NPC assistant).
Nonetheless, this makes the standard RPGs available for just two people, an NPC and a DM/GM.
Pairs: Like the case when there is only one Player Character (PC) and one game Master (GM) or Dungeon Master (DM), when there are only two players and a GM/DM, it is difficult to play regular adventures. Yes, there are possible combinations of just two player classes that are manageable, but even those pairs will be missing key game actions. And the playable pairs may not match what kind of character the two players had in mind for their characters.
So, this is a good option when there are only three people in the game, one DM/GM and two PCs. And each player can concentrate on the aspects that they wanted to role play, while still having in reserve the additional game capabilities needed for specific situations. Just because your PC has a particular capability doesn’t mean you have to use all of the capabilities. You can simply have them available as rarely used actions in those situations where you absolutely need some capability to complete the adventure.
Trios: By the time you have four players (three PCs and a GM/DM), the needs for combination characters is greatly lessened, but three character adventuring teams do sometimes run into the problem of missing a key component of the game to solve a specific situation in an adventure. It probably makes more sense for the GM/DM to adjust those rough edges to the existing player classes rather than ging with all three players running a combo PC.
Elite Team: This category will generally only work with skilled players (not to be confused with skilled characters). This can be a fun option if the players are able to remain cooperative and not end up in competition with each other.
The two elite Special Forces units in the US military are Delta Force and Seal Team 6 (both are operational designations, like Air Force 1 and Marine One). They take two different approaches. Seal Team 6 only includes SEALS, so that everyone has the exact same training and capabilities, so that as long as at least one member is still alive, all of the skills needs to perform the mission exist. Delta Force builds a custom team based on the mission. The best personnel for each task, including obscure specialized tasks, are chosen from all of the uniformed services (Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, Public Health Commissioned Corps, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps), as well as federal civilian agencies (FBI agents have been included in Delta Force). If a player team wanted to take the approach of a team where everyone has the same training, then his character would also apply.
New Player: This character can be handed to a brand new player. They don’t have to go through the entire process of character creation before starting the game. They can experiment with aspects of all the character classes without being told that their new character can’t do something in the game simply because they chose the wrong player class. They don’t usually understand the ramiffications of the different character classes when they start the game.
With this combination character, the new player can freely experiment with different parts of the game and find out which parts appeal to them in particular. And because the sample character here is way over-powered, they will have more freedom to make beginner mistakes without having their PC die on them. Once they get a feel for the game, they can create their own PC using the normal rules.
Power Gamer: This character is obviously the power gamer’s wet dream. Any GM/DM who allows this into a regular game deserves the lack of balance that will ensue.
Augmented Life: The character assumes that technology or magic or something exists that can combine characteristics of multiple species. This may be of interest indepdent of gaming.
Note: Because of the nature of this website, the sample character is a sissy hermaphrodite. You can remove that aspect with little change and run a cis male, cis female, bi male, bi female, gay male, lesbian, or any other combination of gender and sex and sexuality you so desire, or even run your character without sex, gender, or sexuality.