Not fully playing a class.

Sunseeker · Sep 3, 2014

Lets face it, classes aren't perfect and they often come with baggage. There are abilities, powers, spells, even whole features that some people simply do not like. Other than those specific features, the player in question loves the rest of the class. Perhaps it's a ranger without a pet, or without spellcasting. Maybe it's a paladin who never uses channel, a priest who doesn't take any offensive abilities, or a wizard who goes straight damage and not utility, or even only casts specific types of spells. The player may or may not RP this into their character, or just simply not use those abilities because that's not how they like to play.

So my question is to you, the rest of the party, the DM, how does that make you feel? Does it bother you when a player won't play a certain part of their class, even if it's very useful to the given situation? Even if their reasoning is as simple as "I don't want to."? Or do you care? Do you feel it's their character to gimp as much as they want? To play as they want?

Yes there's a reason and logic that can be applied here, but I'm more curious how it makes you feel? How do you react to it, not how do you rationally reason and understand it.

Umbran · Sep 3, 2014

shidaku said:
So my question is to you, the rest of the party, the DM, how does that make you feel? Does it bother you when a player won't play a certain part of their class, even if it's very useful to the given situation? Even if their reasoning is as simple as "I don't want to."? Or do you care? Do you feel it's their character to gimp as much as they want? To play as they want?

I generally don't care. As a GM, if I see someone doing this so much that the character is "gimped" to the point where it makes for problems in play, I may have a discussion with the player about why they are ignoring relevant options. But I don't see that very often. Most players seem to choose their characters and class combinations so that there isn't all that much they must leave behind.

Crothian · Sep 3, 2014

I think its great. It means they have thought a little about the character and willing to modify the class to fit the character. I encourage players to be creative.

the Jester · Sep 3, 2014

Eloquent shrug.

Crothian · Sep 3, 2014

How does that differ from a regular shrug?

Hrothgar Rannúlfr · Sep 3, 2014

Speaking from the player's side. I had a lot of fun playing an Elven Sorcerer (in Pathfinder... with the Undead bloodline) in a short series of adventures, last year. His fascination, fear of, and yet comfort with undeath contrasted well with the long lives of the elves. Made him somewhat spooky to NPCs and the other PCs, too.

I didn't take any combat spells. Only utility spells and relied on his Elven Weapons (bows and blades) and a lot of luck and hiding behind warriors while acting like an archer to get him through the battles. I role-played him as if he were a lot higher level than he was. Bluffing NPC's into thinking it would be more dangerous to mess with him that it was. Also, relied on some skills (his intelligence allowed him some bonus skill points that allowed him to branch out, somewhat, skill-wise).

He was a lot of fun to play and will be remembered in our games for a long time to come.

I'd much rather play a memorable character than a highly optimized one.

Ryujin · Sep 3, 2014

Crothian said:
How does that differ from a regular shrug?

By degree of Gaulishness.

That sort of thing doesn't bother me, at all, because I'm even more likely to do that sort of thing than are the rest of my usual group. I'll play Bards who don't sing or play to buff. I'll play Rogues with absolutely no thieving skills. I'll play Wizards or Sorcerers who act more like Bards, singing to cast and using defensive magic to help the party. I come up with an archetype, that I want to play, then find a class that I can make work with it. One of my most memorable characters was an Elven Mentalist, in the Character Law system, who was deadly accurate with a bow (took down an earth walker dragon with a single critical hit, at level 6).

I can't really be annoyed when others do it too.

GMMichael · Sep 4, 2014

shidaku said:
So my question is to you, the rest of the party, the DM, how does that make you feel? Does it bother you when a player won't play a certain part of their class, even if it's very useful to the given situation? Even if their reasoning is as simple as "I don't want to."? Or do you care? Do you feel it's their character to gimp as much as they want? To play as they want?

I'd feel like I was in a roleplaying group. Which would actually be fun.

The darker cousin to this is the player who doesn't play his class simply because he's out to screw around. Or forgets about that imperative of all mortals: self-preservation. These people, I can do without.

the Jester · Sep 4, 2014

Crothian said:
How does that differ from a regular shrug?

It says a lot more.

A regular shrug might say, "Hey, whatever," but an eloquent shrug says, "This doesn't really matter to me, and honestly, I really don't think it's anything for anyone else to get upset over, either. After all, it's not your character, and if your character and the rest of your group ends up finding that character too useless, you can always fire him or her from the party."

Minigiant · Sep 4, 2014

When I DM, It doesn't bother me too much as I tend to gauge difficulty based on how characters are played by their players and not based on "average play".

As a Player, I act as my player would. D the Mage would stab them in their sleep for being a load. Three Eyed Tim would just yell a lot.

When I see it (done for RP reasons), it bothers me more about the game itself and its rigid list of default archetypes than anything.

Not fully playing a class.

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