When “Waterdeep: Dragonheist” was released I decided to create a Paladin. Not just any Paladin but an AD&D style lawful-stupid Paladin. There were groans and eye-rolls from my fellow players. “Never fear,” I assured them. My Paladin will have a fatal flaw. He will believe in his heart that everyone can be redeemed. So when the rogue wants to go off and steal a thing my character will just give him a pep-talk about how he could be so much more. Assured that I would not use my character to derail other people’s fun we began play.

During Dragonheist I had a great time. My Paladin was played as a naive and sheltered noble seeing a community he had sworn himself to for the first time. As the party learned about Waterdeep my naive young Paladin learned about the dire circumstances of so many in his beloved Waterdeep deepening his commitment so serve his community. Unknown to all but the DM he dutifully tithed 90% of his treasure to help those less fortunate. But when the campaign turned toward Undermountain it was apparent that my character’s time with the party had come to an end. There was just no way he’d muck around in a dungeon when there were so many in need in Waterdeep.

I admittedly spend a good 95% of my time as a Dungeon Master and as such I probably have a much more cavalier attitude toward the life-span of my characters than most. Because of that I had no problem going to my DM and telling him this Paladin wasn’t going to work out. But I think we can all benefit from recognizing that sometimes our character’s have completed their purpose before the campaign is over.

When to Retire

Identifying when to retire was pretty easy in my situation. I was in organized play, Undermountain was the next part of the campaign and my character’s goals were clearly divergent from the direction the game was taking. But the signs are not always so clear.

The first question to ask is, “Do I like the game?” I know this flies in the face of modern DM advice but if you as a player are not enjoying your DM’s game its cool to exit. Bonus points if you can do it while remaining friends. I understand. I’ve played in small friend groups where this move could be a social misstep. I’ve also played in organized play with 30+ regulars where people who I like don’t play my games because they don’t enjoy them and there are games I won’t play in no matter how much I like the DM personally. D&D and RPGs generally rely a lot on group chemistry that is difficult to manifest.

The next question to ask is, “Is my character concept working?” In my example above the Paladin worked in Waterdeep but stopped working when we left. That was 100% my fault since I knew exactly where the campaign was headed but that won’t be the case in all situations. When I ran “Curse of Strahd” one of my player’s was enjoying his Bard until he realized Barovia was depressing and the rest of the party was somewhat less serious. We spoke and he wrote his Bard out in favor of a Paladin that was in on the party’s joke. Sometimes the campaign or the party are just driving so hard in a given direction or our characters latch on to some tangential subplot that despite the DMs best efforts and intentions playing a given character may stop being fun.

After that I’d ask, “Can my character have a change of heart?” You may have stubbornly decided to retire your character based on the last question but I think this is one worth asking. A less told part of the story of my Paladin is that he developed a large animosity toward the Xanathar guild. This was in no small part because I’m very much aware of Xanathar lore and its residence in Undermountain. So I though cool, this gives me a reason to keep playing my Paladin. I took my DM aside and said look I’m not that into Undermountain. But if I can kill Xanathar and after doing so denounce my oath, go oath-breaker and crown myself the new Xanathar I’m in. For various reasons this wasn’t in the cards for my game but perhaps something like it or something less dramatic in scale could be. It’s worth consulting your DM.

There are myriad more situations but if you’ve answered “No” to any of the above then you have some thinking to do. If you don’t like the game and you don’t know anyone in it well it may be fine just to ghost. If you’re playing with friends then you may need to say, “Thanks for the opportunity, this just isn’t the game for me.” Your friends feelings might be momentarily injured but there a lot of fun pastimes to share with them. Failing that you’ve decided it’s time to retire your character so the next question to ask is how.

How to Retire

When you decide it’s time to retire a character the first thing to do is have a talk with your DM and let them know what you want to do. He or she may have some ideas about where the campaign is going or unresolved plot points or some idea about writing one character out and another in. Another good idea is to go to your DM with a plan. When my player decided to retire his Bard in “Curse of Strahd” he said his Bard planned to return to his people (the Vistani) and his Paladin would just walk through mist like the characters originally did. When I was looking to write my Paladin out of the Waterdeep campaign I told my DM that he would politely bow out explaining he had other duties the next time the party returned to the surface. My new character could be a patron of the Yawning Portal.

It’s not uncommon at this point for the DM or other players to feel like they’ve let you down in some way. You may need to be prepared to do some convincing or some waiting. But ultimately it shouldn’t be a big deal and you can often find fame or infamy for that character on the way out.

In my games I let my players know up front that if they’re having fun with the game but not their characters they should let me know so we can make an adjustment that will make them happy. Communication is key. Sometimes sessions go off the rails or the DM or payer’s misinterpret something that was said. Sometimes the DM is trying to get the player’s back on a plot point you were enjoying but it’s taking longer than expected. Sometimes the DM just can’t get there.

Whatever the case may be never be afraid yo speak with your DM or retire a boring character for a fun one.