Help reign in a player who refuses to play his role

BASHMAN · Jul 11, 2008

So, I have a player in my group that REFUSES to fulfill his role as defender in the party. He is a paladin-- who chose daggers as a weapon because they did the least damage (he is trying to make his character less effective for some reason). He insists on hiding in the back ranks and throwing daggers, and because he is a Paladin of the Raven Queen, he refuses to use his Lay on Hands on dying PCs because "it's their time".

How do I deal with this guy? So far I have come up with the idea of using peer pressure and a set of agreed upon rules (our mercenary company charter, seen here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=235454).

Of course we have tried talking to him-- explaining that maybe warlock, rogue, or ranger might be better for him, but he insists he wants his "character concept" to be a halfling paladin who dual-wields daggers.

Anything else I can do?

Gort · Jul 11, 2008

Are you DMing? I'd have thought your players would be the ones to pressure him in this way. I certainly wouldn't want someone in my party who's going out of his way to get me killed.

DracoSuave · Jul 11, 2008

Have someone else roll a Defender, and fulfill that role, while your dagger-throwing holyroller (lol whut) does whatever he does. Don't try to convert him or rely on him. Replace him, and let him do his thing.

This way, no one loses.

Ricochet · Jul 11, 2008

He sounds like a horrible group player.

How do the other players feel about him? Sounds like a classic attention-seeking person to me from the description.

In the groups I've GM'd lately, we've had some set "You guys are friends, so can we keep the selfish "I steal the treasure while the others don't watch" and "I don't want to heal you guys" to a minimum" rules in place. It has worked wonders.

Dungnmaster001 · Jul 11, 2008

Normally I'm all for letting someone play their character how they see fit, however in this case it seems the player in question is intentionally trying to disrupt gameplay for whatever reason.

If I were the DM in this case I'd try talking to him privately and see if some kind of understanding can be made, but if it persisted I'd have to question why he's even playing in the first place.

If he's only there to disrupt everyone else's fun then I'd have to say he's not really needed at all.

Lord Ernie · Jul 11, 2008

If he's purposely assing up his role like that, then either one of two things is happening:
1. He should play another role
2. He's being a jackass

I'd try talking to him, see why he's so interested in playing a character that does what he does. Maybe he's better off playing a rogue, or a ranger, and someone else should take the defender role (Incidentally, a rogue follower of the Raven Queen sounds like an interesting concept to me. Hrmm...).

If he doesn't want to do any of that, well... usually this sort of thing is self-correcting. Either he'll be pressured by the other players to do his job properly, or he'll get the party killed.

If he persists on playing like this in every party role, well... then maybe 4th/D&D is not for him.

ForbidenMaster · Jul 11, 2008

Have the rest of the characters not give him any loot for one. If you have a purposefully ineffective party member they shouldnt get a share of the loot. Also, if I was the DM I would cut his XP reward. You get XP for helping the party, not for being a hindrance.

Jack99 · Jul 11, 2008

Perhaps he doesn't want to play 4e?

Anyway, when looking at this problem from an in-game perspective, the result is very simple. The group tells him to take a hike, and they keep doing so with every one of his characters that doesn't pull his wait. I mean, realistically, no one in their right mind would ever go "adventuring" (something which must be considered extremely dangerous) with someone who doesn't pull their weight in combat.

icarusfallz · Jul 11, 2008

tell us, is this fellow anti-4e? Is he acting this way because he really doesn't want to play? Would he have tried the same tactics in 3.x?

BASHMAN · Jul 11, 2008

icarusfallz said:
tell us, is this fellow anti-4e? Is he acting this way because he really doesn't want to play? Would he have tried the same tactics in 3.x?

Actually in every rpg I have ever played, he tends to make characters that cause problems for the group. His sense of logic is... off. For instance, in 3.x he had an epic character who was Chaotic Good. All of his characters are chaotic good (except the current who is unalligned). Anyway, his epic character, who HATES slavery-- bought a personal slave. This upset everyone in the party, who kept trying to get his slave freed. He said, "She's not really a slave-- she can claim her freedom whenever she wants." I said, "Good, I'll go tell her that," and he said, "But then she would only be doing it because you told her-- she has to ask for it herself or it won't count..." We then asked, "Why are you having a slave in the first place?" He said, "I need a mate and I also want to train her to be my apprentice". Note "she" was a kobold. Also note-- this was one of the sanest characters he ever had.

Actually last week, in a BASH! Sci-Fi game that I run, he litterally pulled a "LEEEROOOOYYY JEEEEENNNNKIIIINSSS" move on the rest of the party. They were exploring the ruins of some ancient space-ship that had a bunch of killer robots on it. Just one of these robots nearly took out the entire party. They were there to find an artifact & leave. They found the artifact... and he ran towards the engine room, opened the doors where 3 of them were and got them to chase him towards the Party's ship. I was REALLY hoping he tripped and fell during that chase scene, but he got away. Another party member told him that if he did it again he was going out the airlock.