PCs who protect their own skins. Help!!

[Belen]

Hi all,

I thought I would jump into the mix with a fairly big question. I am been a GM for nearly 8 years. I have had several very different parties under me, but never one that can be so frustrating as my current crew.

I have three very experienced player and one newbie female player. First, I have to pull their teeth to get them to help her with tactics. (I recuse myself because I am the GM and do not want to inadvertently give anything away.) Second, they always leave her in situations where she will get killed or seriously harmed.

Last weekend, they fought a dragon. She won initiative and went first taking a full round action. Then the dragon used its breath weapon. The rest of the party moved as far away as they could on their turn, leaving her alone under a hovering dragon that she had hurt on her round.

As no other targets were there, the dragon wailed on her, dropping her to -9. The others in the party were a fighter, monk and wizard. She is a Cooke bard. The fighter and monk immediately attacked the dragon first rather than move to stabilize her. I had to beg the wizard to run forward with a potion and the only thing that caused him to do it was to inform him that she was at -9!!! Note: She is the extent of their healing in the party.

What can I do to promote some teamwork in this party!? She tends to be pretty selfless and brave such as running through threatened squares to get to a fallen comrade despite the AoO. They usually do not return the favor until they are informed that she is about to die.

They guys are good people and they really know their stuff, but the "teamwork" that has occurred under other parties that I have GMed in the past seems nonexistent.

Any advice would be great!

Dave

 

[JacktheRabbit]

If her party hangs her in the breeze so often then might I suggest that you quietly tell her some time to start taking a "1" on her initiative?

That way she can see what kind of actions the rest of the party is taking before she moves forward expecting to be supported.

Also is a purely an accident/ lack of communication/ poor teamwork causing her to get left hanging in the breeze? Or are the other players using her as bait knowing she will move forward to get popped while they hang back?

 

[Gothmog]

My advice would be to make the behavior she displays (you said bravery and selflessness) rewarded in game and out of game. Have her gain more recognition by NPCs, have first chance at magical rewards, and award her extra XP. Hopefully, they guys with her will quit using complete metagaming thinking are start role-playing instead of roll-playing. I have had a similar situation arise a few years ago, and this really helped to kick the problem players into gear. Just make sure that before you do this, tell everyone that you'd like to see more party unity, and that unrequested acts of true bravery and selflessness will be looked on kindly by the DM (but DON'T tell them exactly what the rewards will be).

 

[diaglo]

and she isn't taking the hint or reading the writing on the wall by herself?

if a party left me high and dry like that too often. i think in character i would be looking for more friends. maybe if she held back on healing or didn't cast spells or started falling in line with the rest of the group the others would also take a hint.

 

[Pielorinho]

Tough situation.

You may want to exchange some emails with her, giving her some possibilities.

First, she'd be totally within her rights to, in-character, chew the other characters out for abandoning her, and to withhold the benefits of her music from them. After all, she glorifies the brave, the noble, the selfless in song, and the other PCs are none of these things. If they don't want to be the subject of scathing satires, they'd better shape up.

Second, she needs not heal anyone besides herself if the others can't be bothered to save her.

Third, she might hold back for awhile, providing support to the party from a distance, until they learn to be effective.

Fourth, she might advise them to retreat together if that's what they're going to do. Ruleswise, this means they should shout, "Retreat!" and delay their action until everyone can retreat together. Technically this won't work, since if you delay your action, your turn isn't occurring right now, and yelling is a free action that you can only do on your turn -- but enforcing this too strictly makes combat communication ridiculously difficult.

Finally, as a DM, you may want to tell people that you're not going to reveal PC hit points any more. If you know she's at -5 hit points, describe her grievous wounds, tell the others that they're not sure if she's alive or dead. Tell players that if they go into negative hit points, they can describe themselves falling down, but unless they go way negative (-15 or more), there should be no indication whether their wounds are minor or mortal. Encourage players to discuss amongst themselves what to do if a party member falls: if they're smart, they'll decide that healing a fallen party member takes top priority in almost all cases.

Good luck!
Daniel

 

[Belen]

I would give out more gear, but the party seems to proportionate it out together. In fact, that seems to go badly for her too. At one point, they found a +2 ring of protection. The fighter took it and gave her his +1. The fighter had the most AC in the party already!

I have moved to solve this by giving out specialized items etc. The fighter has the least amount of items so far, but he is a powerhouse character.

 

[LuYangShih]

I don't really see the problem. If I was in an adventuring party and my companion was too foolish to get out of the way of a Dragons breath attack, I wouldn't be running over to aid them, I'd be trying to kill it off before it got a chance to do the same to me.

I also don't see the problem with the Fighter taking the Ring Of Protection. He needs the best AC in the party, as he's the main tank, and he needs a good AC, especially with no Cleric around. Bards are second rate healers at best. I suggest explaining tactics and such better to your new player, instead of trying to force your more experienced players to change their playstyle to accomadate hers.

 

[reiella]

Hmm, I just got a funny mental picture of a Fighter using a Staff of Power for the +2 Luck AC bonus.

The problem I see is mostly that the new player needs to be get a better grasp on their relative limits.

Something you may want to consider however, is running a Challenge of Champions (or Adventurers, whatever it was) type adventure.

Very very combat light, challenges the party to puzzle-solving and use of various 'trademarks' items in D&D (Immovable Rod notably). It wouldn't actually place the bard in risk, and at least help partially get an idea of some limits and how to approach some challenges. The challenge adventures also (at least imo) do wonders for improving group communication and teamwork in general.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

I don't really see the problem. If I was in an adventuring party and my companion was too foolish to get out of the way of a Dragons breath attack, I wouldn't be running over to aid them, I'd be trying to kill it off before it got a chance to do the same to me.

I also don't see the problem with the Fighter taking the Ring Of Protection. He needs the best AC in the party, as he's the main tank, and he needs a good AC, especially with no Cleric around. Bards are second rate healers at best. I suggest explaining tactics and such better to your new player, instead of trying to force your more experienced players to change their playstyle to accomadate hers.

It should be the other players that are doing the helping. The DM is the world around them. The other players are her team mates. They should be the one saying:

"That is a Dragon if you charge forward like that he is going to rip you in half. Stay back like the rest of us."

Unfortunately it looks like the other players are thinking more along the lines of:

"Well the dragon is going to breath on someone. If we all hang back it could be any of us. On the other hand if we let the newby bard charge forward she will get toasted and we will be safe."

I am suspicious that they are using her as bait.

 

[Belen]

Well, that is mean. The party should watch out for newbies. How else will the hobby grow if the group does not try and help someone learn.

The fighter and the wizard tend to take damage badly. If the fighter gets hit, then he immediately challenges me and asks how he could possibly be hit with a 27 AC.

Neither the Bard nor the Monk have that trouble. They take the damage, write it down and keep playing. Sometimes, I think those two keep me sane!

However, she has gone down almost every major fight, so they have in-game reason to stick with her and help her. I do not think it is any personal trouble IRL. They seem to like her and she is a great role players.

They just look after numero-uno first and it is frustrating. They hardly every look after each other.

Maybe I am too nice with them and they believe that I will not allow her to actually die...