Character Death

[Greenfield]

I can think of one very good reason to choose Air Elemental over Water Elemental: We adventure on land.

Now, as noted, every player chooses race, ability, class, skill and feats to try to build something, usually an effective something. I don't hold that against him.

Am I now "jumping at shadows", with regards to his behavior in play and character construction? Probably.

Comes from playing with a serial abuser, I suppose. After a while, you learn to duck on instinct alone.

I plan to talk to him, suggest a different back story, one that might involve being a childhood friend, but not a sibling. Something that might have made him think of her as a "sister", despite being a different species.

But since I'm supposed to be the next DM, I am going to do that character audit, and suggest corrections where appropriate.

 

[Dandu]

Ehh... adoption?

 

[N'raac]

I can think of one very good reason to choose Air Elemental over Water Elemental: We adventure on land.

-4 to hit when you are a 2 HD creature in a L8 - 10 party seems like it makes little difference from where I sit. That's also another reason that being aquatic isn't really a power gamer choice. That Small water elemental can put out fires up to Large size, which will be more useful than any combat ability.

That said, I think this fellow's history shows he often thinks he's getting more power than he really is.

Am I now "jumping at shadows", with regards to his behavior in play and character construction? Probably.

Comes from playing with a serial abuser, I suppose. After a while, you learn to duck on instinct alone.

Note that, while I am saying "let's take a step back and assess whether these specific actions are really as problematic as they seem", my only concern on the character audit is "WTF? The DM didn't vet the sheet before even introducing the character?!?" At best, this is a Trust but Verify situation - and I'd emphasize the latter a lot over the former!

 

[Herobizkit]

Chances are the Kid sees the Air Elemental as a super-Dust Devil, able to carry and drop stuff

He also likely views the Air Elemental's Whirlwind power as something far stronger than it actually is.

Also also, an Air Elemental has a movement of Fly 100 ft. (perfect) (20 squares) which I'm sure he'll find ways to exploit.

 

[Greenfield]

Character audit: The DM was handed a sheet at the start of the session, while the other players were waiting. It was computer printed, and therefore readable (in theory), but the player's spelling is atrocious, approaching cryptography.

The DM checked the stats (which may have been wrong, because the Amphibious template from Stormwrack includes a -2 Dex adjustment, to make up for the aquatic abilities.)

He would need to have all the books available to check which items were legal, and whether the character is in budget. Presuming that he could make out what the words were.

The character generator this player uses has an "Equipment" section that's separate from "Magic Items". Any slotted items not currently in their slots show up as Equipment, so it's easy for a DM to miss the fact that there's a magic item listed that might need to be evaluated. He's used that to slip things by in the past.

With most players we simply double check their math and give the sheet an eyeball sanity check. If someone abuses the trust implicit in that, it's not hard to slide something by a DM under time pressure to get the game rolling.

I'll be taking over at the end of next session, tomorrow. I'll want a copy of the sheet, so I have a week to go over it before we really begin play.

 

[Dandu]

Please show me this sheet.

 

[haakon1]

At some point someone will notice that he's not actually the same race that she was. So, approaching an adventuring party by night, in a valley of the dead, under cover of a Darkness spell, and then introducing yourself with an obvious and easily provable lie is not the way to begin a relationship. Adventuring together means risking your lives together. That requires trust, which he has shredded before we finished exchanging names.

He seems trustworthy.

 

[Greenfield]

We pointed out the problems with his Human character being the brother of an Aventi. Children of a Human and Aventi marriage are always Aventi, according to the book.

We offered suggestions on how it might work out. He listened, nodded, and then said, "It's important that he be her brother.", and wouldn't change a thing. I think we're going to introduce his character to the idea that maybe, just maybe, his mom fooled around a bit.

It's funny. He has long term development plans for the character, even though he knows that the party will be trying to bring his old one back.

It's like things don't click in his head, that he hears "2+2", but can't reach "4" on his own.

I made another post regarding all of the rules he "failed to read fully", and I haven't even begun the character audit. I'm supposed to get the PC sheet sometime this week.

 

[Herobizkit]

[MENTION=6669384]Greenfield[/MENTION] Between your Problem Child and that other guy who just couldn't let go of his gaming group, you fill my EnWorld days with lots of fine reading. Thank you.

 

[Greenfield]

I think they're the same player.