Forums » Smalltalk » DnD : a dual character

Hey guys !
I was just wondering.
I'm a DM for my group of friends, and one of them would like a "dual character".
He would basically have two characters that share HP, but never get to see each other BECAUSE THEY'RE THE SAME PERSON (think like the Hulk or Doc. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde).

He would have an intelligent but scrawny human wizard that, sometimes, turn into a savage and powerful thingy (mechanically it's an half-orc) barbarian.
He won't choose when the transformation happens, it's my choice, and I get to screw him up with it. The health will tranfer by percentage. So, if the wizard is mid-life, the barbarian is mid-life. Of course, they are totally separate characters, and self-buffs don't transfer from a character to the other (no raging mage).

I want to ask you what do you think about it.
Is it overpowered ?
Is it too much for a character ?

I think this is a neat idea! I've played with someone who used a character similar to this, but he was some type of blood mage.
I think as long as he isn't able to switch in combat or in other situations for convenience it shouldn't be a big deal, that and as long as he isn't switching ALL the time. If he did it every once in awhile it would be easier to manage on both ends.

I was also thinking about having the beast always raging (and I'm having this beast being a berzerker no matter what) and in frenezy. That means he would take exhaustion each time he turns in the beast form.

And he wouldn't switch all the time, only on sparse occasions, and he would last as a beast only one minute (for the duration of the rage).

Honestly it sounds good fun I would say go with it!
You might want to post on REDDIT for really pointuous advice. Thereis a lot of really rounded-up players.

There is a method to make this concept work differently, but is much more complicated than the one you propose here. Besides, it involves the use of optional rules from splatbooks.
If this is the only character in the party with such an ability, then yeah, its not particularly balanced, IMO.

I think gameplay wise it doesn't change anything. Player count is still the same, no one has more abilities than the Bard (yes, it is a pun, now please laugh) and such.

But otherwise...I fear that this character would feel too special and draw too much attention and spotlight...

That's exactly what I meant.
Either everyone is special somehow, or nobody is.
And it will take a significant amount of effort to make it so that everyone could do it within the system's framework.

Here's the only real balance concern if the character can't control the transformation.

In addition to hit points, Wizards and Barbarians have different consumable resources. Spells for Wizard and Rages for Barbarian. If the transition is often, then it behooves the player to blow through those consumable resources as quickly as possible.

You can combat that by saying only the 'character' who rests gets back the resources.

Barbarian sleeps for 8 hours? Gets back his rages, but the wizard hasn't recovered any spells. Vice versa for the Mage.

If the character could control the transformation, it becomes far more unbalanced, because the character can tailor their strengths and weaknesses for the situation at hand.

Eli_broady :

Oh, my bad, then ^^'
I guess I'll only find out in play...

Corinthi :

Since exhaustion actually tranfers, the character might be very good for a minute (and by very good, I mean potentially at beating its own friends), and then be very weakened...


In a general way, the transformation in a beast would only show up like...I don't know, five time ? It will be extremely rare, last for at most a minute (remember, a full turn not attacking or being attacked ends the rage and thus the transformation) and, while quite okay on short term, it could be a scaring moment for everyone else, and then have very bad repercutions on the character for the rest of the day (exhaustion actually sucks).

It will be more of a story device and a "oh $#¥T" instant than a real ingame mechanic. I just don't want to have that beast doing 1d4 dmg per turn (if it hits) and die in two.

I'll test it in a one shot with one character, and then try a whole party, I'll go back and share results to you after !

Exhaustion does very little to hamper casting spells, mechanically. Unless the wizard half is casting attack spells at exhaustion level 3, there is little worry for a wizard regarding levels of exhaustion. Even having movement of 0 doesn't stop the wizard from teleportation or providing himself with movement through spells.

I would suggest looking up the Bloodhunter class made by Matt Mercer. If you reword the blood curses as magical effects and run them as such, you can easily select the Order of the Lycan for beastly transformations that last longer and provide a balanced effect.

Of course, that all depends on what edition we are discussing. This is a 5th edition solution, where each class is similar in power to each other. If we are discussing any other edition, then a wizardly character would be severely hampered by turning into a barbarian, simply due to how feats, racial abilities, and other bonuses are tied to specific classes.