Troublesome player/character

[Greenfield]

The Aventi, as a race, aren't a problem. He gains some aquatic abilities but gives up the "human" bonus to skills and feats. It's not even slightly unbalanced.

The conflict is in the social aspect, that he's playing his character as if she didn't actually come from Aventi society.

So why did I accept him? I'm not the DM, or at least I'm not the only DM. It's a group vote.

Why don't I dump him? Same answer. It's not up to me. I've dumped players before. Never pleasant, but sometimes it needs to get done.

I was in fact advised that he'd be unlikely to join in our current campaign, since he actually has about six character builds he plays, and has a history of refusing to start from level one. He wants his power combos in place from the start. For this reason I honestly believed we were leaving him behind when we ended the last campaign.

One reason the group hasn't dumped him is that there's another player who drops by, hoping for an open seat, and he's worse than M.

 

[Dandu]

In that case, I suggest you buy a water pistol and squirt him when he acts up.

 

[Greenfield]

A humorous aside: One of the other players wants to retcon his Dragon Shaman/Sorcerer from a multiclass to Gestalt.

The change will actually limit the character more than he is, but our troublesome player is complaining that Gestalt is too broken and that the character will be too powerful.

Of all the people to complain about that particular issue ...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Many who dish it out cannot take it.

 

[Oryan77]

All I'd like to say is, imagine how much time you could be spending focusing on better aspects of your game than dealing with a problem player.

I noticed long ago that we're doing the group a disservice when we are spending more time figuring out how to deal with a problem player and his annoying character than we are spending time on improving the game in ways that actually matter. I'm sure I'm not the only one that would agree that a powergamer can never be turned into a roleplayer. We've all attempted it. I've never heard of a single success story.

For thee sake of you and your other players, discuss this issue and vote on kicking him out. You have a month to get a new player. You also have a month to cater to the backstory of another player that probably deserves that kind of attention much more than this problem player.

 

[Greenfield]

Fair point. Mind a fair answer?

First, our game is on hiatus at the moment and will be for three more weeks.
Second, I'm not the DM. At least, not at the moment. We trade that duty around.

So in that sense, I have plenty of time, and no "story building" duties to speak of.

What story duties I do have involve planning an adventure to dovetail into our current one and move the grand plot forward. And that may or may not invo9lve dealing with the inevitable conflict between the Cleric of Taiia and our Paladin of Dagda (Celtic deity.)

I had the opportunity to explain to our problem player that he doesn't get to rationalize how his deity will let him be her "champion" without ever actually championing her cause. The DM(s) run the gods, not the players. Players can and should make suggestions and come to an understanding with the DMs about what works and what doesn't, but simply deciding that the goddess will overlook transgressions isn't the way it works.

I pointed out that he selected a Deities and Demigods deity based on powers and domains, and ignored our campaign standard of "Classic, historical religions of Europe, Africa and Asia." Now that he's made that choice, and doubled down on it with Pious Templar, he kind of has to live with it.

Don't know if I got through. We'll see. It's an ongoing conversation.