D&D 5E Challenging a tanky one-trick pony PC

[Benjamin Olson]

Personally I would hate playing a character so locked in to one repetitive strategy (especially one involving turns of just taking the Dodge action), and I don't think it really pays off at a lot of tables. But it seems to be what the powerbuilders of the land of Theorycraftia love most, and it seems to be working at your table. And the bad news is that most the downsides of such a character came at those lower levels where he had to play a compromised character whose one trick didn't work yet, not at this lofty level where everything seems to have come online for him.

But the big downside now is that he is in third tier play and Spirit Guardians is all he's bringing to the table, as he plods around trying to get into a melee clump with his allies. He now has unbreakable concentration and unbeatable armor, but all he can do with it is 3d8, or 4d8, or 5d8 radiant damage to creatures that get within 15 feet of him.

So let him have his power fantasies a bunch of the time. He built his whole character to do this one boring thing. And accept that you'll never break his concentration (or not often enough to make a difference). Just make sure there are also lots of fights where he can't get within 15 feet of multiple enemies, or where he can't clump up with the other frontliners. Target him for advantaged attacks by minor enemies, hoping for crits and at least making him burn a few casts of Shield, while having the heavy hitters work on his allies to make him burn through resources on healing.

At some point have him fight a pack of skulks. They are invisible, so they will have advantage on all their attacks, and they are immune to radiant damage (in the MToF formulation, they lost this in the MoM revamp). See how Mr. Spirit Guardians likes that.

And have a high level mage Feeblemind him at some point. There's no way he's proficient in Intelligence saves, and I'm going to guess its his dump stat. Even with Luck getting a 17-19 DC without a modifier is a pain. You can beat up on him with Mind Sliver, Mind Whip, and Synaptic static as well.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Hi all,

I am running Dungeon of the Mad Mage for one of my groups. The PCs are pretty close to hitting level 13, and one of my players has found an annoyingly effective combination of class features and combat tactics that make his PC something of an unkillable one-trick pony who makes fights too easy more often than not. The other players all love how effective his PC is at making fights easier, of course, so I'm looking for some ways to shake things up so he can't always rely on the same tactic.

The PC in question is a dwarf forge cleric 7 / watcher paladin 4 / storm sorcerer 1. He has an AC of 23 thanks to his plate armor, shield, cloak of protection and class features, and what he likes to do is wade into melee next to the fighter and the barbarian, cast spirit guardians, then dodge to impose disadvantage on anyone trying to attack him to disrupt the spell. He also has the Protection fighting style, so once per round he can reduce incoming damage to one of the other PCs standing next to him. If he doesn't use that, he also has the option of casting either shield or absorb elements to further protect himself (and lessen the likelihood of losing spirit guardians).

One way I could deal with this is have the group face more enemies who can cast dispel magic. Another way might be to use the same tactics against the PCs and see how they like a taste of their own medicine. Has anyone got any other ideas?

Again, I'm not looking to punish my players or take away their cool toys. I'm just looking for ways to shake them out of their habits and get a little more variety into the way they approach combats in the dungeon.

In case it matters, the other PCs are a human evoker 12, a dwarf berserker 12, a half-orc samurai 12, and a half-elf swashbuckler 7 / hexblade 5 (who likes to use the other annoyingly effective darkness + Devil's Sight combo).

Your thoughts would be most appreciated.


EDIT: I forgot to mention previously that the PC also has the Lucky feat, so even if I do manage to roll well enough to get through the disadvantage and the high AC, three times per day at least he can just force me to reroll (which generally means I'll miss).

On top of that, the PCs have just leveled up to 13, and I see that the player has finally taken War Caster, so now the PC has advantage on his Con saves to maintain spell concentration on top of everything else. Sigh ...


EDIT 2: The forge cleric's player couldn't make it to a few sessions. I ruled that Halaster had snatched him away to give the monsters on the level the group was exploring more of a fighting chance. When the player returned, his PC only remembered dreaming of weird spider-like crystalline creatures and strange purplish lozenges. Now, every time he uses his one-trick pony tactic, Halaster is going to teleport in a mage hunter or two (with the Mage Slayer feat) from the Strixhaven book. We'll see how he likes that!

I wonder how well he swims? Seems like some non-combat challenges are in order.

 

[pukunui]

I wonder how well he swims? Seems like some non-combat challenges are in order.

He survived a fall into a lava lake thanks to his high hit points and fire resistance. And, of course, D&D 5e's simplified rules don't impose any sort of penalty for swimming in heavy metal armor ...

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

He survived a fall into a lava lake thanks to his high hit points and fire resistance. And, of course, D&D 5e's simplified rules don't impose any sort of penalty for swimming in heavy metal armor ...

'Rulings, not Rules'...

 

[pukunui]

'Rulings, not Rules'...

Fair enough. I'm not sure there's any water deep enough to matter on any of the lower levels. That being said, on level 16, there are "bottomless pits" that transport people to the Astral Plane as well as a portal that leads to an asteroid. So the PC could potentially get lost in space (or the Astral Plane).

 

[Stalker0]

In case it hasn’t been said, what I’m hearing if you have 3 melee characters in perfect fireball position. Take 1 5th level wizard/1 level fighter, and double drop fireball. That will bring some pain!

 

[pukunui]

In case it hasn’t been said, what I’m hearing if you have 3 melee characters in perfect fireball position. Take 1 5th level wizard/1 level fighter, and double drop fireball. That will bring some pain!

Not anymore. The party makeup has changed since I first started this thread.

In addition to Mr One-Trick Pony and his berserker cousin and the evoker, we’ve now got a goblin armorer and a gnome wild mage. The half-orc fighter’s player moved away.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I don't know if someone mentioned it:

The best way to deal with such enemies is hit and run and repeat. Everytime they are casting spirit guardians just retreat. At some point they will chose when to use that tactic and when not.

I like sleet storm to cover your retreat and force some concentration saving throws.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Fair enough. I'm not sure there's any water deep enough to matter on any of the lower levels. That being said, on level 16, there are "bottomless pits" that transport people to the Astral Plane as well as a portal that leads to an asteroid. So the PC could potentially get lost in space (or the Astral Plane).

Yeah, I was just stirring up trouble, or in another way of saying it "promoting out-of-the-box thinking." Seriously though, face him up with some non-combat challenges that he's spent no resources on being good at and where he will probably be 2nd fiddle to some of the other PCs. Not to make him fail, but to make it more interesting for all the players. Besides, it will be awesome if he sneaks past a guard or talks his way out of being arrested .

 

[Clint_L]

Re-reading the OP, it is clear that that particular party composition will always dominate tank'n'spank fights. I mean, it's not just the tanky cleric, it's the tanky cleric plus a fighter plus a barbarian. You have to hit them with environmental effects, ranged attacks, flying opponents, and so on if you want to challenge them, because that trio could basically sit in front of a tarrasque all day long.

Be a bad day against a dragon fly-by, though.