Shub-Niggurath
First Post
In the midst of running a 3rd ed. Planescape game, one of my players has several problems. First of all, the boggling habit of running off alone with his characters, usually ones with low hit points, and inevitably running into something that makes short work of him. In every case he leaves the party behind, purposefully, even when asked if he's certain he wants to do so, then he asks to go back on his course of action when he's been disintigrated or killed by a finger of death in two cases now on two different characters. Last time the group was in a tower full of Yugoloths, and in the midst of assaulting the tower, he leaves the group behind in the middle of a large scale battle on one level of the tower and ascends nearly three levels, running right into the Arcanoloth who's the highest ranking fiend present. One disintigration later he's complaining. But the party succeeds in their goals and razes the tower and the fiendish occupants are slain. They are promised a reward, and the character in question is given a true ressurection by a high ranking celestial. Thats a damn nice reward. The first words out the characters mouth however are, 'What'd we get as loot.' Then shortly thereafter, 'Where's my stuff. You didn't take any did you?' This was said nonetheless to another celestial.... I'm beginning to think its half the player thats just greedy and not the character.
His last character was an ascending succubus he'd managed to wiggle his way into playing, against my better judgement. He'd obviously been playing a bit too much Planescape: Torment lately. I let him know the drawbacks of playing the character, who would be a blood war deserter by her very nature, and would be attacked on sight by any other Tanaar'ri, as well as Baatezu. Well, the group at the time was looking for information, and they run into two Archmages, both of them evil, one a lich, the other human looking. Both offer to give them the information they seek, if they'll help them kill the other mage who've they've been locked in a magical stalemate with for neigh on a thousand years or more. The lich is LE, the sorceress is NE. The entire group flies over to bargain with the Lich, this one player does not, and says he's flying over to the other mage to make his own bargain. He says this not once, but twice when asked if he's sure. The lich takes the rest of the group and seals off his side of the tower complex with a wall of force. The NE archmage at this point realizes she's lost the help of the group. This archmage also sustains herself by draining the magic off of other living creatures or magical items. She's eyeing the succubus at this point like a side of beef. The players goes, "Umm... hi." I tell him she's hasting herself. The player says, "Umm... we can just talk you know." I'm giving a flabbergasted look at this point as he's neither running, or doing much else as she's all but licking her lips at his character. I mean, you don't haste yourself to just talk. She's an evil Archmage, not the micromachine guy... But suffice to say, his succubus got nailed by a DC 31 finger of death shortly thereafter, and imprisoned in a soul gem to be that evenings main course more or less. He then asked to ret-con the whole happening, because, 'people were talking and he couldn't concentrate.' Admittedly, quick thinking could have saved the day, he could have fled back to the antimagic field that was about 100 feet away, might have made it there too. Or, suddenly announcing, and bluffing that he represented an Abyssal Lord seeking to deal with the archmagess could have bought time too. But not to be.
Now, his new character has been busy embarrassing herself in conversations and social events, because well, lets face it, the character may have 15 ranks in bluff, innuendo, diplomacy and sense motive, but the player in question simply doesn't have the same social graces. I'm trying my best to roll with this and get the player and character more involved in both the plot and the other characters in game, but the character is very quickly not fitting in and alienating the other PCs.
Advice anyone? I've been co-DMing a game for about two years in a different setting, and this current game on the planes since November, but its my first attempt at running. And while I'm putting my heart and soul into the plot and all my players are gushing over it, I want to resolve if possible, the problems with this one player and those his characters seem to have by extension.
His last character was an ascending succubus he'd managed to wiggle his way into playing, against my better judgement. He'd obviously been playing a bit too much Planescape: Torment lately. I let him know the drawbacks of playing the character, who would be a blood war deserter by her very nature, and would be attacked on sight by any other Tanaar'ri, as well as Baatezu. Well, the group at the time was looking for information, and they run into two Archmages, both of them evil, one a lich, the other human looking. Both offer to give them the information they seek, if they'll help them kill the other mage who've they've been locked in a magical stalemate with for neigh on a thousand years or more. The lich is LE, the sorceress is NE. The entire group flies over to bargain with the Lich, this one player does not, and says he's flying over to the other mage to make his own bargain. He says this not once, but twice when asked if he's sure. The lich takes the rest of the group and seals off his side of the tower complex with a wall of force. The NE archmage at this point realizes she's lost the help of the group. This archmage also sustains herself by draining the magic off of other living creatures or magical items. She's eyeing the succubus at this point like a side of beef. The players goes, "Umm... hi." I tell him she's hasting herself. The player says, "Umm... we can just talk you know." I'm giving a flabbergasted look at this point as he's neither running, or doing much else as she's all but licking her lips at his character. I mean, you don't haste yourself to just talk. She's an evil Archmage, not the micromachine guy... But suffice to say, his succubus got nailed by a DC 31 finger of death shortly thereafter, and imprisoned in a soul gem to be that evenings main course more or less. He then asked to ret-con the whole happening, because, 'people were talking and he couldn't concentrate.' Admittedly, quick thinking could have saved the day, he could have fled back to the antimagic field that was about 100 feet away, might have made it there too. Or, suddenly announcing, and bluffing that he represented an Abyssal Lord seeking to deal with the archmagess could have bought time too. But not to be.
Now, his new character has been busy embarrassing herself in conversations and social events, because well, lets face it, the character may have 15 ranks in bluff, innuendo, diplomacy and sense motive, but the player in question simply doesn't have the same social graces. I'm trying my best to roll with this and get the player and character more involved in both the plot and the other characters in game, but the character is very quickly not fitting in and alienating the other PCs.
Advice anyone? I've been co-DMing a game for about two years in a different setting, and this current game on the planes since November, but its my first attempt at running. And while I'm putting my heart and soul into the plot and all my players are gushing over it, I want to resolve if possible, the problems with this one player and those his characters seem to have by extension.
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