help with player / gm tiny problem 3.5ed

[Tim Hubick]

as a GM, i have a player (ok its my brother) who doesnt know how to really roleplay and add flavor out his char (unlike the rest of the players in the group). so he compensates for rolling up power hungry chars and hides behind his hack and slash tendencies. he's always been like this and its really irking me to the point where i kinda wanna teach him a lesson in game.

so right now in the group he rolled up a new character, a Goliath Druid (lvl adj +1) that's wielding a goliath greathammer only. and picked out an animal companion, which is a megaraptor (sighs) so now he has a HUGE animal companion. along with wild shape and spells (which spells he took i'm not entirely too sure of).

just recently a new player that was going to play with us, had to hold off on us cuz of family issues. but he was going to be playing a cleric. so i went to my brother and told him if he can add in more healing spells to his list of spells, that'd be super great! and he said, ok if i do that then i want my lvl adj gone.
so basically i totally told him no, cause the lvl adj is there for balancing. and he went off on me and telling me that "i'm too by the book". but all the other players i talk to, say i'm not. sooo.... :\ i want him to have fun. i dont want him out of the group but i still wanna teach him a lesson in a sense.
I also dont wanna be a bad GM, i wanna be able to treat everyone as equal. but since it IS my brother........lol.

as it also stands right now, i need to learn how to adjust battles. our group is killing off monsters in 2-3rnds. we have 5 players playing = 5 chars. any help on that account is greatly appreciated.

 

[GMMichael]

1) Treat all your players equally. Brothers or no.
2) If you let the PCs get out of hand, then you'll need some big monsters to rein them in. Or big villains. Have a Golbez walk through and just lightning-bolt the he** out of everyone. You know, the kind of lightning bolts that knock people out, but don't really hurt them...

 

[Herobizkit]

Compromise.

Tell him you'll drop his LA if he drops his megaraptor to a velociraptor. There should always be a compromise between DM and Player desires id possible, but if not, you're the DM and your brother needs to understand that means that you're in charge.

Also, if you're playing 3.5, he should already be able to "memorize" healing spells. If he chooses NOT to, well...

Game on and hope the fighter hits hard. ^_^

 

[doghead]

1) Treat all your players equally. Brothers or no.

Seconded. Don't go after your brother's character. That been said, if you have recurring adversaries, then there is nothing wrong with having them adapt their tactics based on their previous encounters with the party.

I also like occasionally throwing a encounter at the party that is well beyond their ability to defeat in combat. They don't have to fight, there should aways be alternatives. But is interesting to see what they do. And sometimes the combat monster just has to have a go

Compromise.

Tell him you'll drop his LA if he drops his megaraptor to a velociraptor. There should always be a compromise between DM and Player desires id possible, but if not, you're the DM and your brother needs to understand that means that you're in charge.

This is a perfectly valid option. But I would be more inclined to level the LA in place and let him take the spells he wants, and let the chip fall where they may. If the party cops a flogging because they lack healing spells, the players can sort it out.

thotd

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

A lot of getting the goliath druid combat monster to see that his healing is needed is to, as others have said, let the group get hurt. If he doesn't learn to keep some healing in reserve, the rest of the group will teach him quickly or he'll end up alone.

That also ties in to your problems of your group killing monsters too fast. There are several possible solutions to this:

• Increase the hit points of the monster you have planned.
• Add more monsters to the encounter. If the characters kill your first planned encounter too fast have "reinforcements" arrive or have it magically summon more help.
• Make it harder for the character to hit the monsters. Have flying monsters that use Fly-by-Attack. Have sneaky rogues that hide and snipe. Have invisible monsters (my group will never forget the time the mage nearly died at the spores of a phantom fungus). Use xorns or bulettes or earth elementals that burrow up from underneath and back again. Have the monster be aquatic and the players in a boat. Limit access to the monster - like it's fighting them on a narrow bridge (the players will have to learn to rotate or fully support the guy in front).
• Have the monster be smart. If it gets hurt, have him flee. If it's intelligent, use spells or magic items. Have it use healing potions or wands on itself, have it use expeditious retreat to run circles around the characters. Mirror-image, long-range attacks, that sort of thing.
• Have it use familiars or sneaky minions to scout out the party's weaknesses and plan accordingly.
• Have it use hostages so that killing the bad guy would cause innocents to die. Bring in moral dilemmas. If you have a paladin-type or lawful sort in the party, you could even have the bad guy surrender, so they have to decide whether to honor the conventions of war or risk their alignment by killing him in cold blood.

 

[delericho]

as a GM, i have a player (ok its my brother) who doesnt know how to really roleplay and add flavor out his char (unlike the rest of the players in the group). so he compensates for rolling up power hungry chars and hides behind his hack and slash tendencies. he's always been like this and its really irking me to the point where i kinda wanna teach him a lesson in game.

Have the NPCs talk to him. Keep doing it, and have different NPCs interact with his character in different ways. Eventually, he'll hopefully start adding some characterisation. And if he doesn't... well, that's really his prerogative, I guess.

so right now in the group he rolled up a new character, a Goliath Druid (lvl adj +1) that's wielding a goliath greathammer only. and picked out an animal companion, which is a megaraptor (sighs) so now he has a HUGE animal companion. along with wild shape and spells (which spells he took i'm not entirely too sure of).

What level is his character?

I ask because in order to take a megaraptor as a companion he needs to be a minimum of 10th level as a druid (an 11th level character given the +1LA), and his companion advances as though he is 9 levels lower than normal. So, really, that shouldn't be a big problem.

so i went to my brother and told him if he can add in more healing spells to his list of spells, that'd be super great!

I'm with your brother on this one - the druid has healing spells on his list; if he doesn't want to use them then that's his prerogative. Of course, that means that the party will have to manage without healing, so I'm not sure it's a real problem.

I also dont wanna be a bad GM, i wanna be able to treat everyone as equal.

Treat everyone as equal. Always.

as it also stands right now, i need to learn how to adjust battles. our group is killing off monsters in 2-3rnds. we have 5 players playing = 5 chars. any help on that account is greatly appreciated.

One thing to bear in mind is that the CR/EL guidelines given in the DMG are, at best, a very rough tool. Especially once you start allowing supplements, especially if you allow the purchase/manufacture of magic items, and double-especially once you get above fairly low level, they really start to break down. So I would recommend simply posing tougher challenges overall. My recommendation would be add monster numbers rather than using a single higher-CR creature, though.

Additionally, although it's not explicitly stated in the books, different monsters have different 'perfect' uses - some monsters work best if encountered solo, some in packs, and so forth. I'm afraid I can't advise much more fully than this - only experience can gain you that experience!

 

[Janx]

How old are these guys?

Who authorized a Goliath Druid w/ Megaraptor? Was this first level? Holy crap.

Lock that high power stuff down or you'll have a munchkin on your hands.

stick to the core books for a new game/campaign. Only allow wierd stuff (other books) for subsequent characters (replacements) or if you start a new party in the game. This keeps things under control, while you figure out the power levels of D&D. Players do not get to choose whatever book they want for making a PC.

Don't force your brother to play a healer if he don't want to. It is not strictly his job to fill in a niche you think needs filling. The party can figure that out together.

Don't force your brother to roleplay because that's not a play style he's interested in. He's clearly a combat twink. Let him play the style he prefers, your job is to reign in the power level so it's "fair" for the rest of the party, and to make sure his behavior isn't disruptive to everybody's fun.

It is possible for him to be as combatty as he wants, within the power constraints you set by making reasonable "allowed material" choices. His focus on combat does not have to detract from other people's wanting to roleplay.

D&D is about getting to do what you want within the confines of limited resources (both ingame and out) and within the social norms of being a team player.

 

[Umbran]

he's always been like this and its really irking me to the point where i kinda wanna teach him a lesson in game.

This may come across as a bit harsh...

The phrase, "I want to teach the player a lesson in game," should not be in a GM's lexicon.

I'm sorry, but I classify such actions as passive-aggressive BS - rather than just talk to someone like a mature adult, you do something inside the game without explanation, and hoping the target "gets the hint". Bad idea. Rarely works. Creates anger and hurt feelings when they don't understand why you're making them into a victim or otherwise frustrating them. Just a really bad idea.

Talk it out. He's your brother, for goodness sake! If you can't talk through it like friends, there's much, much larger issues at hand than your game.

 

[jasper]

Dear brother, your play style sucks. I told mom you ate her Valentine candy.
Dear brother, I made a mistake with allowing your build. Please drop down to xyz.
Dear brother, no I am no longer allowing that. My mistake. Sorry.
Dear brother, I let Umbran's grand kids use your books as coloring books. Doesn't the purple elf look lovely.
Ok joking aside. Tell your brother you made a mistake and swap in a new pc. And remember NO not allow is always a proper response.

 

[Zhaleskra]

My GMing style has evolved over the years, and I am quick to tell people that my GMing style will not mesh with their playstyle, and yet still get some of them wanting to game with me anyway (though that's probably more a social issue than a game one). There even was a time when I was in favor of punish the character in game for the player's actions and hope he gets the hint.

Is your brother's playstyle making the game less fun for the other players?
Did you talk to your brother about the style of game you wanted to run before you let him join the group?

There are other ways to get around not having a cleric beside forcing someone to memorize healing spells if they don't want to. While I am normally opposed to easy to purchase magic items, I'd imagine most churches would at least have potions of "Cure Light Wounds" available. You did say he's a druid? They were at least as long ago as 2nd Edition a kind of nature priest: he can probably make poltices and natural healing potions himself if he wants to.

As for the fights, have more monsters and have monsters fight smarter, not harder.