Pixie as a Player Character

J-Fro · Post by **J-Fro** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:15 pm

I have a 3 year old that want to play C&C with me and her other 4 brothers and sisters (12, 10, 8, 5). She wants to play a pixie and I want to accomadate. I have done some research; bought tall tales of the wee folk, and have found postings of Hackmasters "pixie Fairy" set in a C&C game system, seen the hypertext srd d20 stuff regarding pixies, I also have M&T 3rd. In the interest of continuity and balance I seem to be struggling with what the Pixies racial abities would be in order to make a balanced character. also should I make a player class or racial class of the pixie and how would I go about doing that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jackal · Post by **Jackal** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:21 pm

I'm off to work on school assignments shortly so I'll post more thoughts later. For now, one of the things I would want to address up front is the problem with size (either for your game or your daughter, depending on the situation).

One thing you can do is allow pixies the racial ability to change size (say to about the size of a gnome). Add in a bit of back story about pixies doing just that on the rare occasions they choose to travel with the big folk and you've got that problem solved. This also gives your daughter a rather neat ability to become very small to fit through keyholes, etc. and you would be under no obligation to make her effective in combat at that size.
_________________
Baron Greymoor
Troll Lord Games
Castles & Crusades Society

J-Fro · Post by **J-Fro** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:33 pm

Thank you very much for the input!!

My 3 year old will probably not be too concerned about Hand to hand combat, pixies have a bow 1d4 I believe. I'm looking more toward the roleplaying aspect of the pixie, and want the character to have the applicable balanced racial abilities. I think no matter what I do with the pixie my daughter will be happy flying around looking in dark caves for the group, fitting in small places they can't go, but when the combat hits I would hope she will be someplace safe. There are also times when it's late and it's time for my little ones to go to sleep and my 5 yo sons barbarian and 3 yo daughters pixie will become NPCs, and I need to make sure there abilities are balanced, So I as the CK don't overhelp my 3 oldest.

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:44 pm

Since it is for a three year old, I see no reason to care about balance -- let her do whatever she wants. Pixies turn invisible, they fly, and they have magical sleep arrows. That is all one needs to be concerned with. If you must, limit the invisibility to once or twice only, perhaps for a given number of rounds. An experienced gamer could wreck havoc with it, and so will a child who still imagines with that carefree "who f'n cares" mentality that we're all trying to recapture.
_________________
If it matters, leave a message at the beep.
Serl's Corner

DerGolem · Post by **DerGolem** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:50 pm

I've had a pixie in a 2E D&D game before and between their size, invisibility spell abilities and flight they are entirely unbalanced. That makes them perfect for a young player. They are free to be out of harm's way when they choose, and (as you mentioned) they can serve a unique scouting role in the party. A great way to balance them is through roleplaying. If a pixie has the capriciousness and limited attention of, say, a 3 year-old girl, they will not always be available to help out the party. Who's to say the pixie doesn't feel the need to take a nap in the middle of combat, is called away to the Fey Court at inopportune time or has an urgent need to investigate a glittery object at the edge of the horizon.

I would resist the urge to class your daughter's PC until you get a feel for what pats of play she enjoys and you are used to the character's effects on play. Other than their low HP, a pixie's abilities are useful right out of the gate. If you do want a pixie class, some standard combination of fighter and illusionist or wizard.
_________________
"I'll be up to my baldric in +1 scimitars before you can say 'cure light wounds.'" -Stephen Colbert

J-Fro · Post by **J-Fro** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:56 pm

Thank you for the input serleran and DerGolem!!

gideon_thorne · Post by **gideon_thorne** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:02 pm

Ya. Best at that age to just let her 'play a pixie' and not worry about issues involving game balance.

Don't sweat the details and just wing it.
_________________
"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

Jackal · Post by **Jackal** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:09 pm

I guess it shows that I've never had to create a character for a three year old before huh? lol

After reading the last few replies, I'd definitely go with those suggestions. Especially, as DerGolem pointed out, your daughter will most likely balance herself out anyway.
_________________
Baron Greymoor
Troll Lord Games
Castles & Crusades Society

J-Fro · Post by **J-Fro** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:26 pm

Thanks for all the input,

I think I'll go with M&T pixie with a fighter class, to help with the bowing ability and 1/2 hp on rolled HD per level. All other creativity I'll leave up to my 3 yo. I've been struggling with this for a while and appreciate any and all suggestions

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:55 pm

I did a similar thing with my daughter back in the day. As mentioned above their short attention span and childish whimsy will make for the best role played Pixie you have ever seen.
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

Dagger · Post by **Dagger** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:55 pm

I've got a 4 year old daughter and I ran a game for her to see if she would take to it. I let her pick out a miniature and then told her she could pick two special powers. She decided her character could:

1. Kill things

2. Turn bad guys into good guys

Power #2 floored me by the way... I gave her 4 hit points with every hit by an enemy doing 1 point. Whenever she tried to use one of her 2 powers I had her roll a d20 and it would succeed on a roll of 11-20.

That game went extremely well, and I can't imagine making it any more complex than that for her.
_________________
Rusty

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:59 pm

Dagger wrote:
I've got a 4 year old daughter and I ran a game for her to see if she would take to it. I let her pick out a miniature and then told her she could pick two special powers. She decided her character could:

1. Kill things

2. Turn bad guys into good guys

Power #2 floored me by the way... I gave her 4 hit points with every hit by an enemy doing 1 point. Whenever she tried to use one of her 2 powers I had her roll a d20 and it would succeed on a roll of 11-20.

That game went extremely well, and I can't imagine making it any more complex than that for her.

At the age of 3 I think the biggest challenge will be to get them to release the dice when its time to roll them. Encouraging them to get a big number helps.
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

Deogolf · Post by **Deogolf** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:06 pm

I did the same kind of thing with my daughters. They wanted to play fairies and had them check out the Caves of Chaos looking for another fairy sister of their's that had been captured by the minotuar. I can't remember what happened though, it was some time ago. I know they had fun with it though.

Yeah, don't get too caught up in balance. Just let them have fun!
_________________
Eulaliaaa!!! Give those rapscallions blood and vinegar, wot?!

Be sure to check out Jim's artwork for sale:
http://jimhollowayart.com/id5.html

J-Fro · Post by **J-Fro** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 5:40 am

ok, had a chance to play tonight with the family. My oldest daughter is currently controlling a human bard / 1/2 class thief, a half-elf ranger, and a halfling rogue (I've told she is going to have to narrow it down), 2nd daughter a elven wizard, 3rd daughter a wild elf druid with her animal friend panther, my 5 yo son is appropriately a human barbarian, and the NPC dwarven fighter/ 1/2 class cleric worshipper of Steel and ultra violent (his solutions seem to be all martial in nature, but I keep him one dimensional so he's easier for me to play and not give to much away), and last but not least the 3 year old pixie. We are currently going through the ruins of ramat (which I have changed to "the ruins of Corthain", fits nicely into the Airdhe setting with the 'spear of ramat/corthain')

I've got to say the erratic pixie was disappearing and reappearing several times throughout the night as my daughter would come and go from the table, it made for interesting play and was enjoyable to everyone, thanks to everyone for there suggestions.

CKDad · Post by **CKDad** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 3:42 pm

Quote:
my 5 yo son is appropriately a human barbarian

Talk about typecasting!
Glad you & yours are having fun with it!
_________________
"I don't wanna be remembered as the guy who died because he underestimated the threat posed by a monkey."