Hold onto your d6's, because 'Turn of Fortune's Wheel'—an adventure set in the Planescape setting of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons—unveiled a brand-new twist on character creation. Instead of one singular player character, you'll now be making three 'glitched ones' that'll appear throughout the adventure.

Each 'glitch' might have a different appearance, background, class or even species—but despite everything, it's still you. If this already sounds confusing, the rabbit hole goes even deeper with a reincarnation mechanic and a seven-level jump in the adventure that involves all three 'versions'. But don't fret; this guide aims to demystify the process of building and running "glitched" characters for players and DMs alike.

What Is A Glitch Character?

In the D&D 5E adventure 'Turn of Fortune's Wheel', your player character has gotten themselves caught up in something much bigger than themselves.

The character has become something that the multiverse cannot make sense of—for reasons that will be explained in the later parts of the adventure. As such, each time you die, your character is replaced with a "glitched" version of themselves.

A glitch character comprises three different incarnations of the same character. The difference between each incarnation can range from something as small as eye color or hairstyle to something that completely changes the character, such as your subclass, class, or even species.

Imagine the other versions of your character as originating from alternate realities, where any number of things can be identical or different from your own universe.

Reincarnating As A Glitch Character

If you're playing 'Turn of Fortune's Wheel', you'll quickly become familiar with the reincarnation mechanic of the adventure. Here's the rundown:

• When your character dies, their body remains in the world for a brief period of time.
  • During this time, revival spells such as Revivify will still work on the body.

• After some time has passed, the body disappears, and a new incarnation of yourself appears.
  • As written, the player gets to choose which incarnation appears, but it has to be different from the one that just died.

• The DM can choose how long it takes for the incarnation to respawn, as well as where they appear.
  • As written, if a character dies during combat, they do not return until the end of combat.

• The new incarnation has no idea how they got here.

Glitch Character Nexus Features

Because reincarnations might not always respawn near the party, and because they might look completely different from their previous incarnations, it's important to have at least one defining feature for the party to recognize them by.

Nexus features are characteristics that stay constant between all three incarnations of thꦅe character.

These Nexus features can be a physical trait, such as a scar or a birthmark, or an object or prized belonging, such as a family heirloom or childhood trinket.

How To Build A Glitch Character

Now that you know exactly what a glitch character is, how do you go about starting to build one?

Here are some questions you can consider when building your character and their incarnations.

This list assumes that you'd prefer to have each incarnation carry narrative significance. If you and your table would prefer the incarnations to vary in smaller ways, much of this list might not apply.

1. What was the original or primary incarnation's backstory?
2. What happened to cause each incarnation to 'diverge' from this original backstory?
   • Consider things that your character wishes they could have done or major decisions that could have altered the course of their life.

3. How are the three incarnations different from one another in terms of appearance, personality, and abilities?
4. Do the incarnations have any shared fears, aspirations, or quirks?
5. Are there shared memories or experiences that span all three versions?
6. How does each incarnation feel about the other two?
7. How might relationships with other party members or important NPCs differ between incarnations?
8. How is your Nexus feature significant to each incarnation's story or journey?
9. How does the character feel about their own mortality, knowing they cannot die and can reincarnate into other versions of themselves?
10. Do the incarnations have varying moral compasses or alignments? How might these differences manifest in decision-making or interactions?
11. Does each incarnation have a unique goal or are there shared objectives?
12. Are there specific challenges or obstacles unique to each incarnation?
13. How might the experiences of one incarnation influence the growth or evolution of the others?
14. What personal revelations or discoveries is your character seeking/do you want your character to undergo?
15. How will each incarnation fit into or affect the dynamic and composition of the party?
    • You may need to speak to the DM to ensure that the party isn't too homogenous, both in terms of RP and combat.
    • For instance, a party with all tanks and supports might struggle to make a dent in their opponent's forces. In the same vein, a party full of chaotic-aligned folk might find it hard to stay on course without a voice of reason.

Tips For Playing A Glitch Character

The concept of glitch characters lets you delve deep into the alternate realities of a single character. When taken advantage of, it can be a thrilling exploration of destiny, choices, and the intertwining paths of the multiverse.

Here are some tips to help you get the most out of this unique mechanic throughout your journey, to weave a compelling story and form memorable bonds between both your party and your incarnations.

• Embrace the dynamic roleplaying of the campaign.
  • Be prepared to explore multiple facets of a personality or different life outcomes of your glitch character. It's rare in D&D to be able to explore the "what-ifs" of a character's life so directly

• Use the memory gaps to enhance your roleplaying.
  • Leverage the amnesia mechanic of the game. Work with your DM and party to introduce elements that trigger 'forgotten' memories or spark internal conflicts.

• Encourage party members to have unique relationships with each incarnation.
  • Perhaps one version gets along better with certain party members than the other ones, creating tension or a unique party dynamic each time one of you dies.

• Come prepared.
  • Just like it's basic player etiquette to know your character features, start the game with a basic understanding of each incarnation, even if they're not currently active. This ensures a smoother transition upon death or reincarnation.
  • On that note, don't be afraid to adjust or even entirely change your initial incarnation idea as the game goes on if it becomes apparent that a different idea would best suit your table.

• Avoid over-complication or going overboard.
  • If you have as many backup character ideas as we do, it's tempting to make each incarnation drastically different.
  • Unfortunately, this can quickly become overwhelming for both you and the DM. Keeping some elements consistent can help, both for role-playing and for tracking abilities and traits.

• Lean into the death and reincarnation mechanic.
  • Seeing your character die multiple times might be challenging for some, and you might be tempted to fight tooth and nail to keep your character breathing. Remember that death is essential for this adventure, and embrace the roleplaying opportunities that the reincarnations can provide!

Tips For Running A Campaign With Glitch Characters

For most DMs, this multiversal-reincarnation stuff is all new territory. Here are some tips to make sure your adventure proceeds smoothly and that all your players have a good time.

You know your table better than we do (probably!), so treat the following as a list of loose suggestions. If you're certain your table would enjoy another playstyle, then that's the way to go!

• Explain the unique nature of this adventure to your players.
  • While it can be tempting to surprise them with a sudden death and reincarnation, not all players will enjoy having such a big playstyle change sprung on them without warning.
  • You should only do this if you are very familiar with your table and have absolute certainty that they won't mind.

• Avoid making the respawn time too long.
  • Though using respawn times to punish player deaths might also be tempting, be mindful that players might not have a good time if they're left unable to play for long periods of time.

• Use your best judgment about where the player reincarnations respawn
  • If your players keep getting wiped by the same creature, it might be time to spawn them in a different room or even section of the city or Outlands.

• Communicate about player expectations!
  • Since there is little penalty for death, there is nothing stopping your players from throwing themselves at ridiculous fights, except table etiquette. Make sure to discuss these expectations beforehand.

• Be transparent about the difficulty of the campaign.
  • For glitch characters to really shine, the player characters will need to die, lots—there's no way around it. This might clash with players who prefer to play a heroic, glory-filled adventure.

• Vary challenges to fit reincarnations
  • For each encounter, challenge or puzzle, design multiple solutions that cater to the strengths of the different incarnations in your party.

• Lean into the weirdness of the multiverse!
  • You can even use the multiversal nature of this campaign to showcase temporal distortions and play with time: maybe one incarnation comes from a future or past version of the world. You can use these differences to drop hints or clues about upcoming events.

• Connect the narratives.
  • For maximum narrative payoff, help your players interweave their incarnations' stories with each other to guide them towards a common goal or enemy—ideally even the main antagonist of the adventure.

Things To Decide With Your Table Before The Campaign

As you might imagine, there are a ton of new mechanics to running a campaign with reincarnations and multiverses. 'Turn of Fortune's Wheel' is, unfortunately, not entirely clear about some of them, which might pose a problem for crunchier groups.

Here are some variables you may want to decide with the table before starting the adventure.

• What happens to the player's inventory when they die and their body disappears?
  • The book states that players remain attuned to the items they had, but would a frail wizard incarnation want the heavy greatsword that their barbarian incarnation was swinging around?

• Could the player's feats or ability score increases persist through reincarnations?
• Decide early on if incarnations share knowledge or memories.
  • How much does each reincarnation remember of the adventure so far? How much do they remember of what the other incarnations have experienced?
  • If they don't, players will have to roleplay deciphering what their other selves have learned. Depending on the table, this can be a fun challenge or a tedious chore.

• How much control should the players have over their backstories?
  • As written, the characters don't have any of their memories when they wake up at the start of the adventure. Will your players share in their characters' lack of knowledge, or will the players have planned out their backstories beforehand?

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