PCs and the gimmie gimmie's

[DumbPaladin]

I think basic social disorders are beyond the ability of an RPG messageboard to solve.

Actually, everyone who's posted here has pretty much got this one solved.

 

[Nebten]

Cursed items and a sinister grin.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I tend to introduce such players to the toe of me boot.

If I'm in a good mood then I open the door first.

Players like this are not 'necessary' they are 'expendable'.

The Auld Grump

 

[Croesus]

So I'll make this short

I have a group of 5 players and 1 players pretty much wants everything we find...even if he can't use it and/or doesnt know what it is/does, and if you tell him 'no' he gives you attitude or sits and skulks and (him being the cleric of the party) needs to have high moral so he will keep the others going


how do I work around this?

oh..he also wants to buy a piece of land and create a town in human lands (him being an elf) and create a church for his religion (think high-elven orthodox church) in the human land (humans worrship the 'human orthodox' church)

so how do you deal with that player who just kinda expects to own a town at level 4?

My first thought is that the player is bored.

You mention that the party needs his healing. Is that the kind of character and role he wants to play? If not, let him create a new character and turn his cleric into an NPC.

On the other hand, if he likes his character, by all means, encourage him to pursue his goals. Let the character research how to get it, how to recruit worshipers, what responsibilities (legal, moral, religious, political) he'll be taking on, the costs, and so forth. If he plans to continue adventuring, he'll have to recruit retainers and a manager. To keep things moving, agree to handle the details between sessions, via email or in separate face to face sessions.

Then reward the player by bringing his extracurricular activities back into the game. Perhaps a human sect takes exception to his elven church and engages in vandalism, or attempts to recruit away his worshippers. Perhaps a local baron gets involved, or he has to protect his flock from an outside threat (bandits, monsters, whatever). You could easily have a situation where he's asking the party to help with his problems, which can be handled during your normal game sessions.

You'll have to decide if this is a waste of time. But personally, I love having players who have goals outside of simply going on one adventure after another, so it seems worth encouraging that trait in this player.

 

[Summer-Knight925]

He is the main healer and is also working on turning him into a deadly archer, which is fine.

I like just about everything about his character accept that, im my setting, high elves are dying out on their now desolate home island...they care little of the outside world and have no will or power to spread their religion....and he wants to make a village to spread his religion to the human land, a very un-high elf thing to do

he seems to not understand that and it makes me as DM question why he would play a xenophobic elven cleric if he is infact not xenophobic and seems to care more about trees than a high elf should.

pretty much he will not take "no" as an answer and if the rest of the group vote to sell something (which this did infact happen) and he wants it, he almost begins to cry..

so I guess I'm going to give more treasure that he cant use

i.e. martial weapons, magic wands, stealthy armor, ect. ect.

not to mention that he finds a powerful artifact down the road (anyone for a +3 keen dragonbane longbow that is also a staff of healing?) and if he completes his quest then he will get land in his elven homeland...

I just think he doesn't get it that it goes against his character to do this

 

[Croesus]

He is the main healer and is also working on turning him into a deadly archer, which is fine.

I like just about everything about his character accept that, im my setting, high elves are dying out on their now desolate home island...they care little of the outside world and have no will or power to spread their religion....and he wants to make a village to spread his religion to the human land, a very un-high elf thing to do

he seems to not understand that and it makes me as DM question why he would play a xenophobic elven cleric if he is infact not xenophobic and seems to care more about trees than a high elf should.

pretty much he will not take "no" as an answer and if the rest of the group vote to sell something (which this did infact happen) and he wants it, he almost begins to cry..

so I guess I'm going to give more treasure that he cant use

i.e. martial weapons, magic wands, stealthy armor, ect. ect.

not to mention that he finds a powerful artifact down the road (anyone for a +3 keen dragonbane longbow that is also a staff of healing?) and if he completes his quest then he will get land in his elven homeland...

I just think he doesn't get it that it goes against his character to do this

I don't mean to be argumentative (really), but why does the character have to be xenophobic, just because that's how you see high elves in your campaign? After all, his character is already adventuring with characters of other races, involving himself in other races' affairs. Sounds like he has chosen a different path from that of most of his people. If they want to turn their backs on the rest of the world, why should he?

Or perhaps his motivation is to find something that will save his people. Perhaps he believes that by spreading their religion they will gain the favor of their gods, or bring good fortune to them. Or maybe he's just focused on proselytizing vs. staying home on that "desolate island".

If this is truly a player problem, none of what I've said matters. But if this is a case where the player wants to play the character in a way that you wouldn't, will it really hurt the campaign to allow him to do so? I can understand that your world is your world, but what's wrong with letting a player bend the tropes a bit, especially if it opens up new paths for the character and the campaign?

After all, it's not like he's trying to play a Drizz't clone.

 

[On Puget Sound]

I just think he doesn't get it that it goes against his character to do this

I think you misunderstand the meaning of the word
"his". You define the high elves in your world, fine, but he defines this particular high elf, not you.

If his goals are not shared by most of his race, then he'll get little support, but that's a powerful role playing hook too. What if Drizzt's GM had told him "no, you can't go to the surface and become a good hero; that's not what drow do in my world"?

 

[DrunkonDuty]

I've got agree that a player who wants his character to interact with the game world in ways that don't involve killing and looting is a great thing. If his character is a departure from the mainstream High Elves, well so be it. As a GM I love this sort of thing. Croesus made some good suggestions about directions you can go.

On the other hand the player's attitude to shiny stuff probably does need to be addressed. Go with the "have a friendly but clear chat outside of the game" crowd, not with the "dump that zero and get yourself a hero" crowd.

cheers.

 

[Ulrick]

I had a player like this long, long ago. As a DM, I never cured him, but it was fun to jerk him around from time-to-time, because he would always take the bait.

I reiled on a dusty tome called Grimtooth's Traps, particularly the section featuring trapped/cursed items.

Check out the "The Idiot's Vase" or a special wine called "Blue Rose: Bottled by the Voiceless Ones." Even the "Cape of Dorian Grey" or "The Rope Serpent" might be in store.

My player/character eagerly went for each of these items before anybody else could speak. His skin turned green reaching into the vase for the gold in the bottom. He drank the wine and was told that would die if he spoke. He aged 50 years because of the Cape, and the Rope Serpent nearly choked his character to death. And yet he still didn't learn.

I even let him chase after EXCALIBUR (in a GREYHAWK campaign mind you!) just because I wanted to see what would happen. He insisted that his paladin must have the best of all Holy Avenger swords. And boy-oh-boy did he get upset when he failed the Test of Humility, where he had to give stuff away in order to proceed.

 

[Hussar]

I find this reply ... interesting.

He is the main healer and is also working on turning him into a deadly archer, which is fine.

I like just about everything about his character accept that, im my setting, high elves are dying out on their now desolate home island...they care little of the outside world and have no will or power to spread their religion....and he wants to make a village to spread his religion to the human land, a very un-high elf thing to do

Few questions. Did you make this point absolutely clear to the player at character generation? If you did, why did he make this character in the first place?

Second question. Is your setting more important than this player? That's not meant to be snark, but rather, how flexible are you with the players making alterations to your setting? If this is carved in stone then there was some serious miscommunication at the outset because he's obviously not singing from the same hymn book you are.

he seems to not understand that and it makes me as DM question why he would play a xenophobic elven cleric if he is infact not xenophobic and seems to care more about trees than a high elf should.

Again, this should have been dealt with when the character was created. But, as it's his character, you have to decide whether or not you want to be flexible with your setting. He's made changes to how you have presented the setting and it's now up to you to find out why.

pretty much he will not take "no" as an answer and if the rest of the group vote to sell something (which this did infact happen) and he wants it, he almost begins to cry..

so I guess I'm going to give more treasure that he cant use

i.e. martial weapons, magic wands, stealthy armor, ect. ect.

not to mention that he finds a powerful artifact down the road (anyone for a +3 keen dragonbane longbow that is also a staff of healing?) and if he completes his quest then he will get land in his elven homeland...

I just think he doesn't get it that it goes against his character to do this

I think that last line makes me really cringe. "It goes against his character to do this"? Really? It's his character. Or would it be more accurate to say, "It goes against how I think his character should be played based on how I understand my setting"?

Obviously, from what you've said here, the setting that is in your head is not the same setting that he's playing in.