ReeboKesh
First Post
One of my players just sent me this link and I just have to throw my 2 cents in.
First off we play Pathfinder and I have recently discovered Adventure Paths (though have yet to run one). What I think is the greatest thing ever is that the Players Guides to the APs loosely tell players what's in store for the campaign and suggest the types of characters would suit it. Most importantly they state that the AP is a story that the DM and players work together to see to the end. Right there that should be a sign that creating a character who has some long term goal to be a king or rich merchant or some such other thing that has nothing to do with the AP, is a bad idea.
As a DM, I've had my fair share of characters who wanted to do their own thing or didn't want to do the adventures that I set before them, so I've pretty much come to the decision that I'll be running APs from hence forth and if you want to play in my game your build a character who wants to see the AP's story to the end. Finally D&D has become a group game and not one where the DM is serving the players every whim.
(Just a little background on my rant above. I started running a campaign last year and had a least three adventures that I had written and prepared for turned down by the players. I'm sorry but I call bull@#$% on that. Back in ye old days (1st and 2nd Edition) you rocked up to the game to play the adventure the DM had ready for you. I think video games, especially sandbox style video games have spoilt players these days to the point they think their DM has his own R&D churning this stuff out. As a side I have to laugh when players who play these sandbox style campaigns cry when their characters are killed by Owlbears at 1st level because they wandered into the "bad hex". Hey moron, you asked for it!)
Anyway on to the type of characters I can't stand (I’m going to throw players in there too because they are their characters):
1. The Chaotic "I can do whatever the @#$% I want" Neutral alignment character which to me is pretty much throwing alignment out the window because you can just do whatever you want and your character really doesn't care, you know like selfish people in real life. What's the point of playing a character who is just a spellcasting/sword swinging version of yourself? It's a roleplaying game, play someone who isn't you! How's that for a challenge?
2. The "I'm higher level than you Mr town guard/innkeeper/peasant/king so I can treat you like a @#$% and you can't do anything because I can kill you with one attack" type character. Really? You're supposed to be a hero and yet your still act like an arrogant @#$%? Just once I'd like to take a page out of the WoW and have the City Guards be High Level and just @#$% slap the rude player silly and then kick him out of the city. I guess that’s the problem with games that have hit points per level.
3. The "I'm bored with this character, I'm rolling a new one but he’s pretty much the same person" character. This actually upsets other players, especially roleplayers who struggle with the suspension of disbelief when one character who’s been with the group for months leaves and a new one comes along who acts like the original character just soul jumped into a new body. This is even worse when that character has become an important part of a major storyline or has a strong connection to important NPCs/Plot/Item.
4. The players who doesn’t/can’t be bothered reading the rules so their character comes across as a totally incompetent version of that class because they don’t know their own abilities. This is usually the worst with players who play spellcasters because they’ll even assume the spells does one thing and it doesn’t or they’ll waste 1 minute in combat reading the spell they’re about to cast. Really? Did you pick the spell because you liked the name? You’re a @#$% player, read your class abilities/spells, it’s the only homework you have to do!
5. The player who forgets what happened last game or major moments during the campaign. Ok the game was 4 weeks ago (and we have all our sessions recorded on file) but how do you erase these memories especially if it was your characters that did that truly awesome/funny/stupid thing that made everyone gasp/laugh/angry? You recall movie scenes but not a scene you were in? Sometimes I worry that Alzheimer’s is spreading.
6. The “funny man”. Ok everyone likes to joke around and be the guy that makes people laugh at a funny line but why is every character you play the funny man? I think this goes back to point 1, the player who plays themselves, he’s funny in RL so he’s characters are also funny. I guess this is the least annoying issue because everyone has a good time but you can pretty much throw out roleplaying or serious storylines out the window if the funny man takes the stage.
7. The “He’s a BBEG, kill him!” character. This is the character that attacks the moment the BBEG opens his mouth to speak even if the BBEG was probably going to reveal a major plot secret, a potential weakness or the location of the orphans that the players are supposed to rescue. This character just wants to go first in combat in a system that uses Initiative to determine who goes first. How about you just wait and listen to what BBEG has to say? You may learn something like the location of an uber magic item catered for your character but now the DM is going to ignore because, well you killed the BBEG before he got a chance to speak.
OK I’m sure I’ve got more but it’s late and I’m tired.
First off we play Pathfinder and I have recently discovered Adventure Paths (though have yet to run one). What I think is the greatest thing ever is that the Players Guides to the APs loosely tell players what's in store for the campaign and suggest the types of characters would suit it. Most importantly they state that the AP is a story that the DM and players work together to see to the end. Right there that should be a sign that creating a character who has some long term goal to be a king or rich merchant or some such other thing that has nothing to do with the AP, is a bad idea.
As a DM, I've had my fair share of characters who wanted to do their own thing or didn't want to do the adventures that I set before them, so I've pretty much come to the decision that I'll be running APs from hence forth and if you want to play in my game your build a character who wants to see the AP's story to the end. Finally D&D has become a group game and not one where the DM is serving the players every whim.
(Just a little background on my rant above. I started running a campaign last year and had a least three adventures that I had written and prepared for turned down by the players. I'm sorry but I call bull@#$% on that. Back in ye old days (1st and 2nd Edition) you rocked up to the game to play the adventure the DM had ready for you. I think video games, especially sandbox style video games have spoilt players these days to the point they think their DM has his own R&D churning this stuff out. As a side I have to laugh when players who play these sandbox style campaigns cry when their characters are killed by Owlbears at 1st level because they wandered into the "bad hex". Hey moron, you asked for it!)
Anyway on to the type of characters I can't stand (I’m going to throw players in there too because they are their characters):
1. The Chaotic "I can do whatever the @#$% I want" Neutral alignment character which to me is pretty much throwing alignment out the window because you can just do whatever you want and your character really doesn't care, you know like selfish people in real life. What's the point of playing a character who is just a spellcasting/sword swinging version of yourself? It's a roleplaying game, play someone who isn't you! How's that for a challenge?
2. The "I'm higher level than you Mr town guard/innkeeper/peasant/king so I can treat you like a @#$% and you can't do anything because I can kill you with one attack" type character. Really? You're supposed to be a hero and yet your still act like an arrogant @#$%? Just once I'd like to take a page out of the WoW and have the City Guards be High Level and just @#$% slap the rude player silly and then kick him out of the city. I guess that’s the problem with games that have hit points per level.
3. The "I'm bored with this character, I'm rolling a new one but he’s pretty much the same person" character. This actually upsets other players, especially roleplayers who struggle with the suspension of disbelief when one character who’s been with the group for months leaves and a new one comes along who acts like the original character just soul jumped into a new body. This is even worse when that character has become an important part of a major storyline or has a strong connection to important NPCs/Plot/Item.
4. The players who doesn’t/can’t be bothered reading the rules so their character comes across as a totally incompetent version of that class because they don’t know their own abilities. This is usually the worst with players who play spellcasters because they’ll even assume the spells does one thing and it doesn’t or they’ll waste 1 minute in combat reading the spell they’re about to cast. Really? Did you pick the spell because you liked the name? You’re a @#$% player, read your class abilities/spells, it’s the only homework you have to do!
5. The player who forgets what happened last game or major moments during the campaign. Ok the game was 4 weeks ago (and we have all our sessions recorded on file) but how do you erase these memories especially if it was your characters that did that truly awesome/funny/stupid thing that made everyone gasp/laugh/angry? You recall movie scenes but not a scene you were in? Sometimes I worry that Alzheimer’s is spreading.
6. The “funny man”. Ok everyone likes to joke around and be the guy that makes people laugh at a funny line but why is every character you play the funny man? I think this goes back to point 1, the player who plays themselves, he’s funny in RL so he’s characters are also funny. I guess this is the least annoying issue because everyone has a good time but you can pretty much throw out roleplaying or serious storylines out the window if the funny man takes the stage.
7. The “He’s a BBEG, kill him!” character. This is the character that attacks the moment the BBEG opens his mouth to speak even if the BBEG was probably going to reveal a major plot secret, a potential weakness or the location of the orphans that the players are supposed to rescue. This character just wants to go first in combat in a system that uses Initiative to determine who goes first. How about you just wait and listen to what BBEG has to say? You may learn something like the location of an uber magic item catered for your character but now the DM is going to ignore because, well you killed the BBEG before he got a chance to speak.
OK I’m sure I’ve got more but it’s late and I’m tired.
