D&D 5E Deal Breakers - Or woah, that is just too much

[Salamandyr]

This isn't the real world. You don't live up to your god's values, he's going to remove those powers.

And herein is why my dealbreaker is the requirement I play the cleric. I won't play a character whose entire schtick is being an NPC's butler.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Hemlock, why are paladins who study a bit of sorcery 'not allowed'?

Sorry, can you rephrase the question? I read that and think, "Who says they're not allowed? Not allowed by whom? Why is he asking me this question?"

 

[ccs]

And the same suggestion as Skip Williams made about the games he runs and shared as the Sage. Don't give your character a joke name or one from famous literature. You'll get tired of it and so will everyone else.

You'd hate my Fri night game then.
We have;
*Rollagin - an elf ranger, who's the 4th PC the player has made since last Oct.

*"I'm-NOT-Jeff" - a dwarven fighter - that due to circumstances various party members believes to be their henchman Jeff transformed into a dwarf (Jeff is a human). The dwarf HAS a name. Just some (3) of the players keep insisting on calling him Jeff. 2 more know/use his real name, 1 other doesn't speak common or dwarf so PC wise doesn't understand. & Rollagin is played as being confused because he's missed a few sessions. So he's settled on just "Dwarf".
The dwarfs PLAYER also tends to refer to the character as "Not-Jeff.

*Steve.
Every character this player makes in any game is called Steve. Doesn't even have #s after the name.

*The nameless tiefling barbarian.
He's nameless because he was raised by wolves. He has a name - in wolf/canine. Nobody but him speaks wolf/canine.

*an earth genasi fighter - who's name escapes me atm. It's a play on some type of rock....

And then there's an "appropriately" named 1/2 elf & Norse cleric.

 

[Celtavian]

And herein is why my dealbreaker is the requirement I play the cleric. I won't play a character whose entire schtick is being an NPC's butler.

Butler? That NPC is your god and the source of your power. That NPC literally answers your prayers with every spell or ability you use. You are his priest and he your god. Why play a cleric if you don't intend to play a cleric or paladin. If you want to wield magic without worrying about following particular tenets or serving a god, then play a different class as far as I'm concerned. If you play a cleric or paladin, that god has things he needs done. You are his worldly agent that he has deemed faithful enough to grant power to. That power is not given so further your own ends. It is given to further the ends of the god.

 

[Salamandyr]

Butler? That NPC is your god and the source of your power. That NPC literally answers your prayers with every spell or ability you use. You are his priest and he your god. Why play a cleric if you don't intend to play a cleric or paladin. If you want to wield magic without worrying about following particular tenets or serving a god, then play a different class as far as I'm concerned. If you play a cleric or paladin, that god has things he needs done. You are his worldly agent that he has deemed faithful enough to grant power to. That power is not given so further your own ends. It is given to further the ends of the god.

And I do. Note I said my dealbreaker was having to play a cleric.

 

[was]

...IME, I have never encountered any table/group rules that I could not adapt to. My deal breakers usually stem from personal habits and mannerisms.

...I have walked away from only two groups in my gaming life. The first group had several passive players, and a GM, dominated by one very self-centered individual. The second one had a player who disliked bathing and the stench had me gagging the entire night.

 

[Mistwell]

Here is an example of the rules being too strict that is based on a true story. The Sword & Board fighter gets into his first encounter of the day. He says that he sets aside his torch right before we go into a non-surprise battle. Initative is rolled.

DM: Alright, these guys beat your initative. One of them shoots at your ally.
Fighter: I use my Protection ability to impose disadvantage!
DM: You need a shield to use that ability.
Fighter: I'm... using a shield.
DM: You never said you were equipping your shield.
Fighter: What? I'm a Sword & Board fighter.
DM: But you are holding a torch and your sword.
Fighter: Yeah, but I set the torch down right before the fight.
DM: No, we rolled initative and they beat you.
Fighter: Okay, I still have a shield on my arm.
DM: No, you need a free hand to wield the shield.
Fighter: It's strapped to my arm!
DM: You can't hold a shield and a torch at the same time, so your shield is not equipped. They rolled a 17. You are Hit.
Fighter: My AC is 18.
DM: Not without the shield.
Fighter: @#@*^@#

That's just a DM being incredibly inflexible. Nothing in the rules dictate that result.

 

[Mistwell]

1) Eberron, Planescape, Spelljammer
2) DM didn't think about the races, cultures, deities (including their priests/priesthoods) of their world prior to character creation
3) DM not having a printed list of house rules and banned content
4) DM uses adventure paths or modules
5) DM tied to telling their story/can't adapt to the actions of the PCs or them going off in a new direction
6) Hack and Slash campaigns
7) Dungeon crawl campaigns
8) Monty Haul campaigns
9) Pun or otherwise non-serious campaigns
10) Spaceships, blasters, robots, firearms etc.
11) The group is compromised of min-maxers and/or individuals heavy on either the butt-kicker (a.k.a hack and slasher) or power-gamer axis.
12) Evil PCs
13) Player vs. Player: I am fine with pcs having disagreements or rivalries, but not to the point that they would kill or screw over one another.
14) Dragonborn, Tiefling, Aasimar, Genasai, Dhampyr, Shadar-Kai, Githyanki, Githzerai, or one of several other races as PC.
15) Magic shops other than for potions, scrolls, and minor trinkets and talismans
16) Players unable to handle not having the spotlight on them for short periods.
17) DMs that favor certain players (e.g., a girlfriend/boyfriend, best friend, etc.) over the others
18) lots of plane hopping
19) PCs modeled after comic book super-heroes

Yes, really. I have walked out on a Spelljammer campaign. I have walked out on a campaign in which characters were modeled on super-heroes (specifically, Wolverine, Green Lantern, Doctor Strange, and Iron Man). I have turned down offers to play in Eberron and Planescape.

Things like he Dm having thought about their setting and having house rules ready prior to character generation are important for me to decide if I have an interest in what the DM is offering. The campaign information is also important to help ground me in the setting and therefore my character.

With regards to specific campaign settings and styles, I have a strong dislike for many elements in Eberron, Planescape, and Spelljammer. I am also easily bored by both hack n' slash, dungeon crawls, and Monty Haul style games as well as campaigns built around puns, camp, parody. There is no point in my wasting my time with those settings or styles. Finally, for Evil campaigns, I don't see the point. I am there to play a heroic character fighting evil.

In terms of races, my preference is for all human campaigns. Barring that, I am fine with the traditional races of 1e and 2e along or perhaps one or two of the following as PC races: half-ogres, orcs, kobolds, gnolls, lizardman, and minotaurs as PCs (just no more than one or two in the party) . In an Asian themed settng, I am fine with some other races. However, many of the PC races introduced starting with 2e are not the type of fantasy in which I am in interested or I find the concepts to be extremely lame (and often a desperate attempt to create something interesting and hope it "gains traction")-again, not the fantasy that interests me, personally. Therefore, why waste my time playing in such a game. Others mileage may vary and all that stuff.

Some of the things make me wonder why we are not playing with a different system or wish we were. For instance, if the characters are based on super-heroes, I am going to be wondering why we are not just using a system like Icons: Assembled, Marvel Heroic, Supers! Revised, Mutants and Masterminds, etc. Similarly, if we are blending fantasy and technology, I would much rather use one of several other systems other than D&D (Savage Worlds, Cartoon Action Hour) . I don't like the AC system, Levels, Hit Dice, etc when technology is introduced. Furthermore, there better be a strong theme for the blending of fantasy and technology (e.g., a Thundarr the Barbarian type apocalypse).

I am curious how much you play these days, given your tastes are fairly particular at this point in your life?

 

[Waterbizkit]

I've luckily never had to literally walk out on a session. As other have said, there may be reasons I won't come back, but thankfully those are very few. The obvious would be social issues, rude, abusive and the like that don't need to be listed. It's a game we play for fun and more than anything else a lack of social respect will ruin my fun.

Other than that I'd have to say that anyone who sat down to my table with a list of "deal breakers" as long as my arm would ironically enough be a deal breaker for me. I have my preferences certainly, but I'd rather play outside of that comfort zone and have some fun with a group of people than be so inflexible about it. Missed opportunities and all.

Of course I've been my groups DM for a very, very long time now so if anyone showed up with an utterly ridiculous list of deal breakers I could simply show them the door. In the end though it's all about compromise because I try to run games that'll be fun for the most people possible, so when I'm willing to bend but someone else won't... it's them who's going to break, not me.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I don't think anyone really wants to be stuck playing as a specific class (that is required by the group rather than getting to choose their class) so that is understandable.

Another way I like to play the cleric is as the embodiment of the their domain. Rather than serving a war god, your cleric is war and he shall bring destruction to his enemies!

That idea is so much cooler than regular clerics. Cool enough that it could actually persuade me to play a cleric and not hate it. Reminds me of Zelazny's Lord of Light and the fight between Mara, Lord of Illusion, and Yama the Death-god.

I'm going to file this under "Cool Ideas: Clerics as god-wannabes instead of god-worshippers."