D&D 5E Should I ask my DM to kill my D&D character?

[TheSword]

I'm admittedly being a troublemaker here, so I'll knock it off, but my point is this--these kinds of questions and threads don't exist for a properly designed system, and particularly one that doesn't incentivize MMO-style constant combat. No one says their Street Samurai is OP because they fight better than the Netrunner/Decker, because in a cyberpunk game it's understood that fighting is only one part of the play experience, not the biggest of all possible pillars. There's something--or really lots and lots of things--about D&D that centers essentially everything around combat, creating all sorts of debates about player skill (almost always referring to combat effectiveness) and spreadsheets comparing damage-per-round calculations for every subclass and on and on. This post just seemed like a real unintentional distillation of all of that.

But, again, I'm just being a party crasher. Sometimes I can't help myself. I'll see myself out.

Over powered is a relative term. Could be in relation to either the difficulty of the adventure or the relative strength of other characters. Also it can have nothing to do with combat… play pathfinder for a few years and you’ll see overpowered outside of combat.

Most systems with sufficient choice can be ‘gamed’ I’m some way to create an optimal outcome.

 

[Eltab]

I was DM'ing and one player told me he wanted to trade out his current character for another. The group was on a long boat trip, so I found a way to oblige: "Nessie" showed up and attacked the boat, trying to knock some munchies into the water. The player's character (along with most of the sailors but few PCs) fell overboard. I rolled a die and counted off the result: the Loch Ness Monster chose the PC to snack on first.

Next time I do that, I'm going to give Nessie the Swallow Whole ability - so I do not have to grind through all those HP, the rest of the group can try to rescue the PC in question, and Nessie can chase down more snacks before they all get back in the boat.

 

[Ancalagon]

Maybe the original poster's PC isn't actually OP. Maybe the others are under powered?

I don't know what that PC is. Maybe it's something like this: "Ok, so I'm going to make a fighter, and make him dex based, duelist, background sage and a psi warrior, and distribute stats as best as I can!"

That's not an OP character. It's fun! (I'm playing one right now! ). But it's not amazing, it's just a competent build over a fun RP frame.

Now imagine that the other players do...
"I'm going to make a dwarf thief! He's super duper tough, but he's really clumsy!"
"I'm making a blind wizard with a bad knee! I'm going to summon elementals... one day!"
"I'm making a life cleric who only heals and has maximum charisma! She's a tortle!"

There is nothing wrong with this. This is going to be (unless the DM is a bit of a jerk) a super fun game! But in that game, the fighter is going to be a combat monster compared to the others. He's a good tank, he does the most damage, he's stealthier than the thief, is knowledgeable and is probably the best archer in the party. Even a very vanilla strength-based shield and board fighter would do great in combat in this bunch. So the original poster feels that their fighter is OP. But it isn't, in reality.

 

[Azuresun]

Yeah, I'm still waiting for Fighter and overpowered to explained in the same sentence.

It depends on how it is relative to the rest of the group. Outside of the forum bubble of ultra-optimisation, things are far more varied in the real world.

This thread is kind of a big-time indictment of 5e--the fact that you can legitimately create an OP character (with almost no one on here questioning this sad fact) and also that typical 5e gameplay is so rote, repetitive, and combat-centric that being OP in this way is an issue. Just bummers all around.

Sounds like you really hate 5e, and don't find it any fun. You might want to consider leaving a forum mostly dedicated to talking about 5e, and instead spend time in a community that talks about things you don't hate.

 

[Mort]

This thread is kind of a big-time indictment of 5e--the fact that you can legitimately create an OP character (with almost no one on here questioning this sad fact) and also that typical 5e gameplay is so rote, repetitive, and combat-centric that being OP in this way is an issue. Just bummers all around.

None of what you wrote has actually appeared in this thread!

We are still waiting to hear HOW the tiefling fighter is actually overpowered (especially relative to others in the group) because, this is a very unusual complaint.

 

[aco175]

My group tends to have PCs that are not really optimized and could be seen as weaker if another player brought over something with good feat combos and such. I would not have a problem with it, but would need to adjust the combats. Other areas I think would be harder to overshadow.

I also find that some DMs are shy about killing a PC and have ways to save them or bring them back. There are a few threads about this. My point is that if you tell the DM it is ok to kill your PC, he may feel freed to do it. Just get in a goo monologue when you die.