Coward in our midst

[TheEvil]

*snip*
He doesnt role play, he just shows up tells everyone the rules raises the party level and goes home. Problem is hes a nice guy and noone else really cares but me.

*snip*

Unless anyone has a better idea, Ill role play it to its fullest never really giving up on him in character.

It sounds like the only reason the player is there is to socialize. What is your relationship to the group? Are you all friends from the beginning? Were they a pre-existing group you joined? If you joined the group, then you are probably out of luck and even appropriate in-character reactions to his character will not be well recieved. So many things we don't know.

Roleplaying-wise, I would definately not let him off easy for his behavior. Heck, next time there is a NTPK, have your new PCs ask what his background is. Afterall, if he tells you outright 'My last party was wiped out while I watched from a distance', would you let him join?

 

[lonesoldier]

Well, you can confront the Xp problem by first dealing with the in game cowardice. Now, I'm not sure of your religion's rules, but most paladins/fighters would be rather pissed off someone is not pulling their weight. No treasure for him!

 

[Philip]

In general - please don't use DnD to solve personal problems.

Gizmo, cannot agree more, that's what I thought.

Player A doesn't like that player B's character gets XP because player B's character never participates in combat. It's not the cowardice that's a problem, it's the XP.

Focallength seem to feel that the other player is unjustly rewarded. None of the other players feel this, and the DM doesn't have a problem with it as well. And why should they?

If you play the game like a competion maybe this is a valid a point, but if everybody is having fun, what does it really matter if someone else gets more or less XP. If that's important to you, focallength, talk to the DM and other player(s) about it.

Really, your fun should not be diminished by someone else getting a reward which you feel is undeserved.

 

[focallength]

Ok heres a little background on the player and character, He dosent play a character he plays himself. He dosent role play, I can understand playing a coward, thats ok. But he dosent he plays himself all the time, his character technically should be a very determined and deadly foe. (hes playing a scout) And he does fight, he just dosent fight when were facing something he feels he cant do anything to or its too powerful and were all going to die, and hes detemined hes not going to be one of us. Like I said its not a roleplaying issue, if you confronted him in game he would ignore you, if you called him a coward he wont care, if I gaurd him hell think its cool and use that to not fight at all. If I threaten him he will most likely laugh in my face and if I attack him he will kill me and laugh about it. So my only recourse is to leave the party and make something else. And if I make something that attacks party memebers then I will be the bad guy and I will get turned on, its a very confusing situation.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Ok heres a little background on the player and character, He dosent play a character he plays himself. He dosent role play, I can understand playing a coward, thats ok. But he dosent he plays himself all the time, his character technically should be a very determined and deadly foe. (hes playing a scout) And he does fight, he just dosent fight when were facing something he feels he cant do anything to or its too powerful and were all going to die, and hes detemined hes not going to be one of us. Like I said its not a roleplaying issue, if you confronted him in game he would ignore you, if you called him a coward he wont care, if I gaurd him hell think its cool and use that to not fight at all. If I threaten him he will most likely laugh in my face and if I attack him he will kill me and laugh about it. So my only recourse is to leave the party and make something else. And if I make something that attacks party memebers then I will be the bad guy and I will get turned on, its a very confusing situation.

But how will attacking the character change the player? If you kill him won't he just make another character exactly like this one? So then you'll have to kill that one too: Kill Create, Repeat. The end result is this person may get PO'd enough to quit altogether (is that what you are hoping for?), or quite possibly, you PO the rest of your group to the point they kick you out.

I think you need to deal with this as real people, out of game. If this annoys you that much, but the rest of the group is OK with it - time to find a new group. If the rest of the group is bothered as well (doesn't sound like that is the case) then ask him to leave. And if you just have to play with this group, and nobody likes the idea of asking him to leave, then you need to suck it up, ignore him as much as possible and play on. Remember, these are imaginary characters. He isn't really taking anything from you, XP and GPs are not real currency. You are not actually fighting anything, you are rolling dice and roleplaying a character. The only reward you earn from the game is your own satisfaction, unless you get such a rush from having your imaginary character gain imaginary power that it is worth real world stress.

 

[sniffles]

Ok heres a little background on the player and character, He dosent play a character he plays himself. He dosent role play, I can understand playing a coward, thats ok. But he dosent he plays himself all the time, his character technically should be a very determined and deadly foe. (hes playing a scout) And he does fight, he just dosent fight when were facing something he feels he cant do anything to or its too powerful and were all going to die, and hes detemined hes not going to be one of us.

Are you secretly a member of my group, focallength? We have a very similar player. As TheEvil says, this player is probably there only to socialize, not to roleplay. If it is not annoying the other players as much as it annoys you, there may not be much you can do aside from look for another group. The question is whether this person's behaviour is worth letting yourself be pushed into changing your character or leaving the game.

 

[focallength]

But how will attacking the character change the player? If you kill him won't he just make another character exactly like this one? So then you'll have to kill that one too: Kill Create, Repeat. The end result is this person may get PO'd enough to quit altogether (is that what you are hoping for?), or quite possibly, you PO the rest of your group to the point they kick you out.

I think you need to deal with this as real people, out of game. If this annoys you that much, but the rest of the group is OK with it - time to find a new group. If the rest of the group is bothered as well (doesn't sound like that is the case) then ask him to leave. And if you just have to play with this group, and nobody likes the idea of asking him to leave, then you need to suck it up, ignore him as much as possible and play on. Remember, these are imaginary characters. He isn't really taking anything from you, XP and GPs are not real currency. You are not actually fighting anything, you are rolling dice and roleplaying a character. The only reward you earn from the game is your own satisfaction, unless you get such a rush from having your imaginary character gain imaginary power that it is worth real world stress.

No its just annoying be cause he hasnt died so he adds about 2-3 levels to our group level so we have to fight stuff thats way out of our league, he runs and hides, some of us die make new characters and he just keeps going up in level. Eventually well all be 5-6th average and hell be about 16 and we will have to fight stuff that will kill us with their bad breath and hell just run off again. I think others care about the problem too as its come up before. Were freinds so were not kicking anyone out, I think everyone else just deals with it and Im tired of dealing with it.

 

[Janx]

well, if he gets to 16th level, and y'all die, won't your new PCs come into the game around 14th level (-2 levels from the lowest PC)?

Certainly it's a player issue. I'm a big fan of escalation. Make it so it's an unavoidable conversation/conflict.

Meaning, the next time you get to a battle where he is NOT helping, call a time out. Ask him directly, "why is your character not helping us?"
he'll probably give some answer that won't matter
next question: "why should I fight this if he's not helping?"
another answer that won't matter
next question: "why is he still in the game if he's not helping everyone else?"

ultimately, by having the conversation WHILE the bad behavior is happening, the rest of the group will be in the heat of the moment and be likely to agree with well framed questions. This will put slacker-boy on the spot. People need to be put on the spot when they're not pulling their weight.

You may have to come close to driving him out, in order to get him to join your game. He's not really there anyway, so what's the loss?

And there's the ultimate nail in the campaign coffin last response: "I don't see the point in playing a cooperative game where everybody isn't having fun" then get up and leave. You haven't quit the group, you've made a statement about the current situation.

By your example of his character, he has the power, and he's using the party to do all the work. Your character can't beat his. He uses this fact to get his way. therefore, take it out of the game, where he has no more power than you.

 

[S'mon]

By your example of his character, he has the power, and he's using the party to do all the work. Your character can't beat his. He uses this fact to get his way.

I don't understand why the other PCs can't ask the deadweight PC to leave? After all it would (apparently) mean they'd get easier fights & more XP!

 

[Templetroll]

No its just annoying be cause he hasnt died so he adds about 2-3 levels to our group level so we have to fight stuff thats way out of our league, he runs and hides, some of us die make new characters and he just keeps going up in level. Eventually well all be 5-6th average and hell be about 16 and we will have to fight stuff that will kill us with their bad breath and hell just run off again. I think others care about the problem too as its come up before. Were freinds so were not kicking anyone out, I think everyone else just deals with it and Im tired of dealing with it.

You seem to change whether or not the other players or the DM care about this. The DM wants players to deal with it so he doesn't have to, but you also say the guy is playing 'in character'. What about his character makes this bizarre behavior reasonable?

You can refuse to take on anything, any mission, that might scare this guy's character. He obviously has a track record of accurate threat assessment. Retreat, because it is the wise thing to do, and report the things that scare his character.

You also need to talk to the DM about his oddball encounter design. If his character ever dies, he should be knocked down a level, but the DM should stop dropping the other character levels when they die to something encountered due to his higher level. The ohter option is ask to have everyone else be allowed to create new characters to match his level. Do this over and over as he gets 4 levels higher than the rest of the party average.