How Can You Politely Say, "Your Character Sucks?"

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Let him play his character, you play yours. If the game is bogged down or disrupted in some particularly eggregious way because the player is a clueless noob, THEN you might have standing to say something. Otherwise, the character is HIS to screw up in whatever way he can manage. Wait 'till you are asked for advice or assistance before heading down that mine-strewn road. However innocent and generous your intent may be, telling another player how to build and run HIS character is just not tolerable. As a player you wouldn't stand for it from your DM - why should it be any more acceptible coming from another player?

At most you might spam an offer to everyone in the game to grant them free access to your experience and knowledge and see what that gets you. I know you're only trying to be helpful, but I firmly believe that even new players would ultimately rather learn from their OWN mistakes (and SHOULD). Or better yet, that they should be allowed to do their OWN explorations of what THEY do or don't want to do or try within the game.

 

[Nifft]

I think the first step if for you to realize that his character doesn't suck. Nor do his choices in building the character. You simply have a different idea about optimization than he does.

If his character concept is "not so good at combat", then he's on the right track.

Of course, if that is his concept, I wonder how he got through the interview process to get into the adventuring party.

Let's remember that a couple of editions ago, having a 9 in your 'prime stat' was acceptable enough to qualify for a class.

Paladins needed a 17.
I hereby negate your edition war.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Hussar]

While a 9 might have been enough to qualify for classes in previous edition, I think there's significant enough anecdotal evidence to put to bed the idea that playing a 9 Str fighter was really anything other than an anomoly. If you put a 9 Str fighter on the table, I'm thinking everyone else at the table would likely have a few words with you.

While it is a very good idea to be polite about it and, as was mentioned 10X nicer than face to face, there is nothing wrong with asking. If the player has made the choice deliberately, then fine, let it go. Most people are confident enough in their choices, when done intentionally, that being asked a simple question won't piss them off.

OTOH, he might just not know any better. And a little advice now might help him in the long run.

 

[Hunter In Darkness]

This is another case of "You must be optimized or you suck" I am not sure when this came to be ok to tell someone else "you suck" based solely on not making a pc the way you would. There is nothing wrong with choosing not to dump your highest stat in your prime ability, he may not want to play a super smart swordsage, I had players that played wizards with a 15 in INT, not your standard wizard but they had a great time with it. The point of the game is to have fun, and if he wants to play his class with an INT of 14 what right do you have to say he is doing it wrong?

Not optimized does not equal sucks.

 

[Hussar]

/snip
However innocent and generous your intent may be, telling another player how to build and run HIS character is just not tolerable. As a player you wouldn't stand for it from your DM - why should it be any more acceptible coming from another player?
/snip

Why not? If the DM had more experience with a system than I did and he mentioned, not told, not ordered, but mentioned to me something along the lines of "Hey, you know, that fighter you're making, if you put an 18 in his strength, he'd be a lot better in a fight." I cannot imagine being annoyed or bothered by that.

Hell, the PHB actually specifically TELLS you that a given stat is most important for your character. Perhaps the player couldn't be bothered actually reading his class writeup. I've met more than a few players like this over the years.

There's a world of difference between jeering at someone's choices and offering a bit of constructive criticism. I'm thinking most people are not quite so sensitive as to not know the difference.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Why don't you complain about how in this other group you play in one of the other players has made a character that is not well optimized. Based upon how the unoptimized player suggest you handle the problem, you can then proceed using the knowledge you just gained.

 

[Crothian]

I wouldn't worry about. Part of gaming (and living) is learning from people's own mistakes assuming this is a mistake. If the character dies or he wants a new one at some point then you can politely advise him.

 

[the Jester]

I think the first step if for you to realize that his character doesn't suck.

Yes, it does.

Nor do his choices in building the character.

Yes, they do.

No they don't. There are people out there who play rpgs for the roleplaying. Maybe he has put 14s in a ton of different stats. Maybe he wants to be well-rounded. Whatever, it's his character and it's his choice.

That said, if he honestly doesn't realize that a high intelligence will help him out a lot in combat, it's only fair to inform him, but before you guys go tweaking his pc, make sure the dm is okay with that. Some completely reasonable dms might have issues with retroactively rewriting your character without prior dm consultation.

 

[fba827]

"Hey, just curious -- any particular reason you decided to go with a 14 as your PC's Intelligence score? It just took me by surprise when you mentioned it so I thought I'd ask, that's all. By the way, it was really cool in the game when ...(insert recent game-related scene that focuses on something the group did as a whole, or game related question about 'hey, what do you think we should try and do now that we've seen this fist hint of the bad guy's plan?')"...

I don't really believe it IS a problem, but If I said anything at all, the above is probably what i'd say. But beyond that, i (personally) wouldn't offer any advice, or even suggest that he's doing something wrong (pointing out that int is a prime stat for swordmages would be a passive way of saying he is doing something wrong).

He may very well have something else in mind (such as not wanting to sacrifice his scores in other attributes if point-buy) or he just doesn't care. Given that you don't know the person and that it's difficult to convey intent and tone in written emails, anything else may be misread and just make him annoyed.

Now, if he ASKS after you've posed a nonconfrontational question of curiosity, that's another story.. but still keep it light hearted and not get in to exact numbers (don't say "you should have at least a 18 in this, and a 14 in that' -- it's his PC not yours to build. howver, saying something like "well, i'd just have thought the int should be a little higher since his attacks and defenses and some damage all depend on it" - i.e. keep it as vague suggestions rather than dictating specific numbers)

 

[GMforPowergamers]

If I were you, I would wait and see what happens... I mean a sheilding swordmage with a high con and a 14 Int who started with focused expertise would have the same to hit rate as a 16 stat (The base line of the system) and has a way over the top mark effect...and high hp... or he could be planing on multi classing for a diffrent attack stat for a good portion of his attacks...

On the other hand he could have made a mistake... no way to know till you see it in play.