I Need Some Advice About Working with my party's rogue...

[Angcuru]

Ok, here's the rundown

I play an elven ranger. Another Guy plays a dwarven fighter/cleric. Another one plays a homicidal human mage. The last guy, however, plays a 6'7" human rogue who dresses like robin of batman fame, has green hair and a yellow cape with a big "T" emblazoned in the center. by the way, he runs around saying "I'm a master thief. SHH! Don't tell anyone."

Don't get me wrong, I love it and it's great for game, but it's a bit straining on party tactics. He's more like a battle thief than a sneak around a steal stuff theif. It's a bit amusing because the dwarf always keeps him in the front of the group searching for traps, even when we're in dense forest.

Any suggestions?

 

[Crothian]

Okay, interesting thief, but what's the problem?

 

[blackshirt5]

You weren't supposed to tell anyone that Madias is a Master Thief!

 

[Angcuru]

i didn't mention any names. dumbass.

 

[blackshirt5]

Just a BUMP since he's probably gonna end up killing me for killing his thread, and he probably still wants answers.

 

[Crothian]

I still want to know what the problem is. So, we have a rogue that is not a typical rogue. Why does his Ranger not like that?

 

[blackshirt5]

Well, I'll detail a few of the problems that I(as the DM) have with this character(Madias), and then we'll see how well they match with Angcuru's when he gets home from work.

1. He isn't really good at anything. He diversified to the max, to the point where he's got only 1 or 2 skill points in most skills. He's completely useless when it comes to: Picking Pockets, Opening Locks, Disabling Traps, Using Magic Items, Searching for traps...I think you get the idea. When the Cleric is more likely to find the traps(without Detect Trap) than you are, there's a problem. Especially when you call yourself a "Master Thief".
2. The character has no real depth(although I can partially take the blame for this one, we just haven't had a chance to work out much backstory or anything like we have with Angcuru and Gremore[our Dwarven Cleric/Fighter]). I think Angcuru would like to see a lot more depth in the character, since the campaign is pretty story-driven.
3. The costume. For the love of god, the costume. I've actually considered having his opponents in combat be affected as per Color Spray, just because of the living technicolor HELL that is Madias' costume. Angcuru describes it in his first post.

That's about it as far as I can think of. He's a great guy and a joy to be around, and it is his first character, so I cut him some slack. But the colors, oh dear lord, the colors!

I'm gonna go read the Exorcist to get some more wholesome imagery into my head.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Hehe. This reminds me of the last campaign I played in. One of us was a first-time player, and she chose to play a gnome druid who liked to cross-dress and collected toilet paper. And dumped water on the heads of friend and foe alike (curse Create Water! ) We pretty much let it go until the gnome wanted to wear a dress to our meeting with the appearances-obsessed Duke. At that point, the rest of the party had a sit-down discussion with the gnome and explained that if he chose to endanger the party with his antics, we weren't going to travel with him any longer. Period. And he did shape up. Kept right on cross-dressing and adding to his "collection"...but not when we were invited to the castle.

So my point: let it ride unless it gets to the point where the rogue is knowingly endangering the party, then explain to him that such behavior won't be accepted. Otherwise, why not let the player have fun?

 

[Crothian]

So, he's not the best rogue in the world. Have that play out in game. The PCs can make remarks to his character that he really isn't that good. Also, since he is new does he realize that he might have spread himself thin skillwise?

Character depth can be a problem for new people. Just eith er try to develope it in game or through e-mail in between game. Help him along with it and make it fun.

The costume is great!! Have stories of him reach far and wide and then he won't be able to live up to the stories. Or make him a target because a rogue who is actually much better has taken offense to him claiming to be the best.

So far I really don't see where the problem is. Sounds like a fun character.

 

[Angcuru]

Oh, I LOVE the character, don't get me wrong. He just doesn't function like a.......rogue. Blackshirt gave a good description. Humorous, but ineffective as a thief.

which reminds me about how he's working on drawing a group sketch of our party. He'll have to use larger paper or draw is in an odd perspective just to allow for the height differentiation.

Blackshirt, how tall is Tak, anyway? 5'11", right?