How to Tell a Player, "No"?

This is the concept exposition:

My background in video games is kind of a mix of characters and I am wondering if we could figure out a way to bring some of those elements into this D&D campaign.

Jurassic World Alive - hybrid dinosaurs, the hadrosaurs are generally healers with some other helpful boosts such as increasing allies speed (initiative)

Diablo 2 - a bunch of different types of elemental damage. I think I want my character to be a highly trained doctor who always pushes the limits of what is possible and sees that there are elemental damages out there and tries to capture them and imbue his dagger with those. I figure this would mean I would have low damages but it also means I am somewhat immune to the immunities that monsters have and I would almost always be able to do a bit of damage.

Skyrim - smithing to improve the weapon a little bit, enchanting to improve the weapons elemenental damage, and alchemy, he will always be making potions (healing, poisons, elemental, etc)


I just don’t have the ability to make this work in the campaign we’ve decided to run (5E rules, 1368DR Forgotten Realms setting in Dalelands.)
I'd explain that I have an existing world/setting that I'm working from, and an existing set of rules, and I don't have a ton of bandwidth to design custom rules or characters for people.

If I had dragonborn or similar sauriel people in my campaign setting I would offer the player one of those, as you have.

Re: character abilities, I'd let him know that one of the key differences between solo computer RPGs and team based tabletop RPGs is that characters usually have a bit of a narrower skill set, so different people bring different things to the table and fill different roles without a ton of overlap. Whereas in a solo computer game your character kind of needs to be able to do everything.

But based on the concepts he's presenting of doctor, healer, team-buffer, smith, making potions, I'd steer him toward classes and spell options which could do that or something similar. Likely Cleric, Bard, or maybe Artificer.
 

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Of course, you could weave a backstory where his character is an awakened hadrosaur from the Jungles of Chult, uplifted by a Druid driven mad by their experiences in the Tomb of Annihilation, later transformed against their will into a more humanoid form.

With the scattered teachings of their mentor (?), they have embraced the Path of the Druid, and now walk the earth, hoping to achieve enough enlightenment to use the power of Wild Shape to once again assume their true form!
 

If the player is a novice gamer, do they know that this is an unusual request for a PC?

If they are a veteran player, do they have a sourcebook they are asking to be used?

I think you can offer something similar to the concept, but you are in your rights to say no if they keep pushing back. "That's a concept that I will have difficulty squaring with given plan for the game."
 

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Just say no. It's easy. Are you afraid of the player?
 

@TheAlkaizer nailed it, but . . .

So, I moved to a new country for work. Pretty similar to my home country, but still a different country.
I'm going to need info on how to do this myself.

So, anyway, I have nothing against this individual, but I'm not going to be the DM for the game they are looking for and I'm concerned that even if I was that DM, it would be disruptive to the other players. So, how do I say, "no"?
This is why "I'm going to run a D&D game, who wants to play" isn't the safest announcement. "I'm going to run a King Arthur-style adventure with D&D" will nip those dinosaur-ideas in the bud.

“I’m sorry, I actually received a lot more folks than I expected who were interested in the game, and we’re full up. However, if there’s an opening in the future, I’ll send you the information for the meetup. Thanks for the interest!”
Risky. It's a small town, and the players are already assembled online. There's no way to hide it when Steve drops out, and suddenly your game isn't "full-up" anymore. Plus, "I was talking with Lisa over our lunch break, and she thinks you could easily fit another player into your game! She even gave me your address! So, here comes Godzilla!"
 

Of course, you could weave a backstory where his character is an awakened hadrosaur from the Jungles of Chult, uplifted by a Druid driven mad by their experiences in the Tomb of Annihilation, later transformed against their will into a more humanoid form.

With the scattered teachings of their mentor (?), they have embraced the Path of the Druid, and now walk the earth, hoping to achieve enough enlightenment to use the power of Wild Shape to once again assume their true form!
It could work.
 

My first thought is this is stupid as naughty word.

Then I remind myself I let my kid play an intelligent fruit person. Turns out she has wings and likes to magically make cupcakes.

Amazingly fairy fits fine and and goodberry…I mean good cakes works just fine for her plant based ranger.

But this is if it’s about mechanics…if it’s flavor and king Arthur’s court a Dino is a no go. In a wild campaign an awakend Dino might? Be possible.

You can also say sorry dude. PHB is what we can choose from. Finis.
 

Id probably tell them its better to start with D&D where it is at, as opposed to starting it where the player is at (video game background). Learn how to adapt D&D to what you want, not insert your ideas directly into it.
 

They were like, "I want to play a dinosaur." They then went on to explain they had never played D&D but just wanted to expand this concept.
Playing a dinosaur is the easy part. You just stat it up like a PC species with abilities that seem on a par with others. But them never having played, makes the rest of their concept... problematic. They don't have the experience with the game system, presumably, to sort that out.
Jurassic World Alive - hybrid dinosaurs, the hadrosaurs are generally healers with some other helpful boosts such as increasing allies speed (initiative)

Diablo 2 - a bunch of different types of elemental damage. I think I want my character to be a highly trained doctor who always pushes the limits of what is possible and sees that there are elemental damages out there and tries to capture them and imbue his dagger with those. I figure this would mean I would have low damages but it also means I am somewhat immune to the immunities that monsters have and I would almost always be able to do a bit of damage.

Skyrim - smithing to improve the weapon a little bit, enchanting to improve the weapons elemenental damage, and alchemy, he will always be making potions (healing, poisons, elemental, etc)
This is where things are definitely going a bit off the rocker. Some of these things could be easily modeled with spells like elemental weapon or subclass abilities like the warrior of the elementals monk. But I would assume the player doesn't really have experience with how these abilities are given out and their limitations within the D&D context.
 

Risky. It's a small town, and the players are already assembled online. There's no way to hide it when Steve drops out, and suddenly your game isn't "full-up" anymore. Plus, "I was talking with Lisa over our lunch break, and she thinks you could easily fit another player into your game! She even gave me your address! So, here comes Godzilla!"

Deal with each problem as it comes.

If someone drops out, then the issue of the PC can be addressed and they can say “We’ve got an established game and dinosaur PCs won’t work.”

Ultimately OP is talking about inviting someone who may not be great for the group into their own house too.
 

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