Either way. Post constructively or not at all. I'm going to filter out the borderline flames and "CHILD PC PLAYERS SUCK" posts soon and I'd rather not see them return.

Okay, so these are all my personal opinions! They are in no way official Amia rules, the opinions/declaration of the DM team, and as such should not be treated as Amian law! Now that I've gotten my disclaimer out of the way....

Maryns Guide to the Properly RP’ed Child Characters

1. When you play a child, take into account how it effects other people’s roleplay. Other people’s enjoyment should always be your number one concern, past your own enjoyment.
Example: An adult character is roleplaying with a few others, and a child character who is supposed to be their son or daughter. OOC’ly, the adults player would like nothing better to do then to run off and kill something in the abyss with said group. Make an IC excuse for them to run off and have their fun, and change characters. Maybe your child got left with a babysitter. Don’t hamper other people’s roleplay for the sake of IC’ness. It is irrelevant, IC’ly that someone should have stayed behind to watch the child.

2. Have a solid background of where your child came from, and where they are going. So they are an orphan in Cordor? Okay! Don’t get pissy when someone tries to drag them off to the orphanage. That’s what its there for IC’ly! Roleplay accordingly.

3. The biggest complaint heard of child characters, is too many levels. Keep them down to level two or three at the most. Yes, I understand you can probably make a very interesting story as to just why your level thirty child is the way they are… I’m sorry, no one cares. It’s only fun for you. Children are children for a reason. If you want to play an epic prodigy, I suggest playing Baldur’s Gate single player.


4. If you are playing the child of other people’s characters, avoid logging in when they are not around. If your character sneaks out from home, try to avoid any overly dramatic conflicts such as kidnapping, murder, etc. without the ooc consent of all involved. Remember, you are effecting the parent characters roleplay directly, and they may not be interested in such roleplay. Refer back to rule number one, FUN FOR ALL!

5. I understand your child character might be a rebellious little brat. That’s okay, I’m all for free thinking, and making your character unique! Don’t make people feel like theyre babysitting ooc’ly. It ruins the enjoyment of the game for them, and can make them want to avoid your characters entirely. Try to keep it balanced, and don’t overdo it.

6. Please, please, please, for the love of all that is holy, if you are going to play a child character, make it very clear in your description that your character is a child, and not a hin. The last thing any player of a hin character wants to do, is find out they were ICly flirting with a child, or for some adventurer to find out mid-dungeon crawl that they brought a 6 year old along.

7. Stay in character, and have fun.


(Updated February 25, 2009)

If there are child characters that have DM permission to be of high level, how do we know that? If there is such a case.

2. Have a solid background of where your child came from, and where they are going. So they are an orphan in Cordor? Okay! Don’t get pissy when someone tries to drag them off to the orphanage. That’s what its there for IC’ly! Roleplay accordingly.

I believe this is the way it is due to inexperienced roleplayers, and inability to grasp the wheel of seeing through the eyes of maturity on a video game level and setting.

Consistency is one of the biggest issues child characters face. If people are not going to care about NPC children then it boarders on meta-gaming to rush to the aid of PC children. If someone is going to play a child chaacter then it is obscene for them to develop a perfect vocabulary due only to the fact that they are being derided by another character.

Yeah, you don't need permission, but 100% of the DMs and 99.9% of the playerbase will cringe and want to gouge out their eyes whenever they see you.

Either way. Post constructively or not at all. I'm going to filter out the borderline flames and "CHILD PC PLAYERS SUCK" posts soon and I'd rather not see them return.

Make sure you add a "Think it through first" option to your guide.

However, at age of 14 I think a child becomes stronger, and many fighters have conquered things at that age in History, in legends and in D&D novels. You have being training all your life with a wood sword, you have your conviction, you need to become a hero, you are more flexible than most adults, so dexterity based classes for fighting will do well. Maybe you even learned how to hide in the shadows already. But, definitely you are still not able to use powerful spells that consume the body and the mind of a mage.

The way I see it, a child can be a great rogue lvl 30. There are many street children that steal you penniless using a knife. Their fingers are small and would do well with removing traps, with taking your bag of gold from your pocket.

The way I see it, a child can be a great rogue lvl 30. There are many street children that steal you penniless using a knife. Their fingers are small and would do well with removing traps, with taking your bag of gold from your pocket.

Maybe 3rd level. Maximum.

That said, child characters aren't a problem for me per se - it's just when you see those 6-11 year olds bashing ogres and PvPing that one has to wince. I think it is best if one finds a child character that one reacts as one's character would. My evil drow finds a child in an area she can't steal it? It will be ignored. My kind Salandran? She'll help it.
That said, a child character hunting is ruining suspension of disbelief for everyone involved.