What is the worst "I don't know how my own abilities work" you've encountered in a game?

One of the players in my 5e game cannot grasp the difference between Action Surge and Second Wind, and has no idea how often he can use whichever he’s trying to use, or what kind of action it requires. He just can’t get it. We’ve been using these characters since the launch of 5e, and they’re level 12, and he’s been playing RPGs for about 30 years.

I attribute a lot of it to what we can “editionitis”; most of his gaming experience is with the different iterations of D&D, so the subtlechanges from edition to edition just confound him. We all get that from time to time, but he has it the worst.

hawkeyefan said:

I attribute a lot of it to what we can “editionitis”; most of his gaming experience is with the different iterations of D&D, so the subtlechanges from edition to edition just confound him. We all get that from time to time, but he has it the worst.

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Serious, not-trying-to-be-glib question: has he read the book?

For me, trying to pick up a new game by playing it only goes so far. If I ever want to wrap my head around mechanics fully, I've got to actually muddle my way through the combat chapter at least.

Fauchard1520 said:

Serious, not-trying-to-be-glib question: has he read the book?

For me, trying to pick up a new game by playing it only goes so far. If I ever want to wrap my head around mechanics fully, I've got to actually muddle my way through the combat chapter at least.

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No worries....it’s a good question! I assume he has. He has 2 copies of his own and I’ve seen him thumb through it plenty during play. He’s read most of the Champion Fighter abilities out loud during play (most more than once)!

I honestly think it’s just that he can’t shake rules from past editions. He always references 5 foot steps and flanking and full attacks. Also, he intentionally made a simple character and I think that’s left him less actively engaged than other players.

Had a player who couldn't figure out how to track how many spell slots she had for her cleric. 4 different people had explained it - and failed to teach her.

So, I made a sheet for her...

"All boxes with your level or less get a chit when you recover spells. When you cast a spell, take off a chit, and cast it at the SL of the line the chit came from.
SL1: [ 1][ 1][ 2][ 4][10]
SL2: [ 3][ 3][ 4]
SL3: [ 5][ 5][ 6]
SL4: [ 7][ 8][ 9]
SL5: [ 9][10][18]
SL6: [11][19]
SL7: [13][20]
SL8: [15]
SL9: [17]"

That solved her issue. And she rapidly became much meaner to my monsters.

I had a player in Pathfinder who never bothered to learn his cleric abilities but loved using SRDs. In other words, he played every subclass ever made (official, 3rd party, homebrew) and routinely pulled names and phrases from them to say what he was doing. Which no one including myself knew. Then, when he had to know something like preparing spells or healing, he was at a loss and had to be explained how the default cleric worked.

5E player running magic user. Open the 1E PHB and use those spell rules.

I've been in a game where the bard never used her 3rd level spells because she didn't know she had them. This was not a new character.

So we cleared that up... didn't change anything.

As a DM, I get unreasonably frustrated when players don't seem to remember their characters' basic abilities. Second Wind and Action Surge for fighters is a common theme I've seen for most first time 5e fighter players for some reason. I mean, they're the only actively used features a 1st-2nd level fighter has--how can you not remember them? Does you not like kEwL pOwErZ? Our bard also had a really hard time remembering Cutting Words. I literally wrote "Cutting Words" in big red letters on the background of the virtual tabletop for a while to help him start remembering (and it did). That player is highly proficient in D&D; I think it just got into a bad sector in his brain's hard drive.

My main frustration is because, as the DM I remember that they have these abilities*...plus I'm keeping track of a bunch of NPCs, monsters, etc. It seems like a small thing to ask for them to know just their own character's capabilities.

But, although I get frustrated, I'll generally bend over backwards to try to help them remember it. I've created what I call action-oriented character sheets, where I list any particular abilities they need to know that they have in categories such as Actions, Bonus Actions, Free Actions, Reactions, Passive Defense (and I think I might include a Passive Offense for some things). I include a brief description (usually enough to not need to look it up) with how often it recharges, or whether it takes some sort of resource, etc. I do think that helps people out.


*Okay, I don't have them all memorized, and I'm very pleased when a player remembers to invoke some feature they have that I don't remember. And, to be fair, I forgot the player had Cutting Words a lot of the time too.

Arashi Ravenblade said:

I guess the worst part is someone who has access to the book and refuses to even crack the book to bother looking it up between turns, and then has the gall to ask you.

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And, worse than that, when you give your players access to all of D&D Beyond by inviting them to your campaign in D&D Beyond, so they can easily pull up or search for rules...and they expect the DM to do it.

aramis erak said:

Had a player who couldn't figure out how to track how many spell slots she had for her cleric. 4 different people had explained it - and failed to teach her.

So, I made a sheet for her...

"All boxes with your level or less get a chit when you recover spells. When you cast a spell, take off a chit, and cast it at the SL of the line the chit came from.
SL1: [ 1][ 1][ 2][ 4][10]
SL2: [ 3][ 3][ 4]
SL3: [ 5][ 5][ 6]
SL4: [ 7][ 8][ 9]
SL5: [ 9][10][18]
SL6: [11][19]
SL7: [13][20]
SL8: [15]
SL9: [17]"

That solved her issue. And she rapidly became much meaner to my monsters.

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That reminds of my clueless player and how the other guys would make up a "hot sheet" for him with all his stuff, which in the end was just as confusing to him as the character sheet.