Player schticks that grind your gears

[reanjr]

I did that early on in my gaming life. Stopped real quick too. I write reeeel slooooow. At least, if I want to be able to read the notes a week or more later. It's a case of either the GM reminds me when I forget, or we waste a lot of time while I sloowwwly write out every single detail. No one cared for that, especially me!

I have to concur there. Not me, but I have a couple of players who are horrible spellers and will constantly interrupt me for spelling clarifications while they're writing.

 

[CrimsonWineGlass]

6. Seventeen-Action Slim. Provides lengthy descriptions of all the various things he's going to do in a single round, and can't understand why he can't do it all.

I allow some of this, depending on the character. I had a player for a level 12 game, he bought 2 stat boosting items that got his dex up to 22 and one that got his str up to 18, combined with the 3 points from levels 4, 8 and 12. He was playing a monk and he kicked over a table and then jumped over it (full ranks in jump by the way) and made a single attack against the enemy on the other side. I allowed him to do that, he is quick, strong and skilled enough to do that. Half an hour later another player tried the same thing, but this one was in full plate armor with a large-sized greatsword and had a dex of 11. It just depends on the character and how much they are doing.

Mr. "But They Should Know Because....": This character thinks that everybody can understand why he is doing what he is doing due to tiny, insignificant details that the level 2 commoner should have picked up on. Last session I did I had a character like this. A series of murders in public buildings had been occuring, the party happened to be in a tavern when an attack was made. They party defeated the attackers but they made a lot of noise and the guard came into the tavern, though they were unable to actually save the commoners in the tavern. The guard came onto 4 well armed, obviously trained combatants covered in blood with blood-soaked weapons and surounded by dead commoners. When the guard drew his weapon and told the party to drop their weapons, this player got mad and got into a screaming contest. When the guard called in for backup and the party was taken to jail this player said that obviously the party had been using different weapons from the ones that made the cuts on the commoners so the guard should have known that they hadn't done it.

 

[CrimsonWineGlass]

6. Seventeen-Action Slim. Provides lengthy descriptions of all the various things he's going to do in a single round, and can't understand why he can't do it all.

I allow some of this, depending on the character. I had a player for a level 12 game, he bought 2 stat boosting items that got his dex up to 22 and one that got his str up to 18, combined with the 3 points from levels 4, 8 and 12. He was playing a monk and he kicked over a table and then jumped over it (full ranks in jump by the way) and made a single attack against the enemy on the other side. I allowed him to do that, he is quick, strong and skilled enough to do that. Half an hour later another player tried the same thing, but this one was in full plate armor with a large-sized greatsword and had a dex of 11. It just depends on the character and how much they are doing.

Mr. "But They Should Know Because....":
This character thinks that everybody can understand why he is doing what he is doing due to tiny, insignificant details that the level 2 commoner should have picked up on. Last session I did I had a character like this. A series of murders in public buildings had been occuring, the party happened to be in a tavern when an attack was made. They party defeated the attackers but they made a lot of noise and the guard came into the tavern, though they were unable to actually save the commoners in the tavern. The guard came onto 4 well armed, obviously trained combatants covered in blood with blood-soaked weapons and surounded by dead commoners. When the guard drew his weapon and told the party to drop their weapons, this player got mad and got into a screaming contest. When the guard called in for backup and the party was taken to jail this player said that obviously the party had been using different weapons from the ones that made the cuts on the commoners so the guard should have known that they hadn't done it.

 

[Vymair]

The "Your Cool Character is Broken" Guy

I play with someone who always complains that the other characters are too powerful due to some rule loophole they are exploiting. He never bothers to analyze their weaknesses, just sees their strengths.

"Just give me 4 rounds to buff and I'll be awesome".

 

[Sejs]

Buh... buh.. I have an EIGHT-TEEN!
Believes entirely in one good stat. If he fails any check dependant on that stat will act as if his world fell apart. This is primarily true of spellcasters w/ knowledge checks, fighters with opposed strength checks, and rogues in their reflex saves.

Heh, in my group the exact opposite seems to hold sway. We have a saying - Lady Luck hates being told what to do.

You've got a +15 fort save, and the DC to resist the paralyzing gas is only 17? No problem, right? Piece of cake.

You will fail that save nine times out of ten if you even dare utter one word aloud about how easy that save will be for you to make.

Likewise, Mister High Fort has a will save of +2? Realize that you're pretty much screwed, and somehow.. -somehow- you'll keep saving against that mind control spell over and over again. It's downright uncanny. At our table fate really seems to favour the little guy.

 

[Hitokiri]

You mean I need to remember stuff? This guy sounds like a Gamist. The player sees the plot as a mechanism to move them from one challenge to another, where in lies their motivation for playing. They are more interested in seeing how their character stacks up against the adversaries the GM pitches at them. If the GM is looking for a more Narrativist experience and expects that the players will take up the plot, follow its developments and are motivated to see how the story unfolds, he is going to get frustrated.

In some cases you are definately correct. I have had gamers that prefer a simple hack and slash to a well designed narritive. Generally, if this is the case, I'll switch gears (or, more often, will run a die rolling marathon from the beginning if I knew about their preference beforehand). However, I also see this in people who like roleplaying (and some who are very good at it). IN those cases, it's more laziness than anything imho.

 

[danzig138]

Joe Genero!
This guy doesn't do anything to make his character special and his stat scores range from 9 to 12. Barely qualified for the fighter class, and is always the monster's plaything.
A.k.a. - The XP Sponge

Meh. Not every character has to have something that makes him special, and not every character has to have high scores.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

Meh. Not every character has to have something that makes him special, and not every character has to have high scores.

I agree, so long as everyone of your PCs is not a Joe Genero.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

Mr./Mrs. Every Square
This is the player that has to have his character Search (whether just a regular search or for traps) EVERY SQUARE. Meanwhile, everyone that's not search just kinds sits there and picks their nose or something.

OTOH, DMs that require their players to do this also grind my gears.

Take 10? PFAH!
This is the player that has to roll every time. He/she won't Take 10 or 20 EVER (or convert dice pools to auto successes in some systems), no matter how much it will speed up the game.

Combine Mr. Every Square and Take 10? Pfah and you get me wishing I could pull out a Stick of Pain and throttle them about the head and neck with it.

Again, DMs that require a roll, even when the player wants to Take 10/20, also get on my nerves.

 

[shilsen]

Take 10? PFAH!
This is the player that has to roll every time. He/she won't Take 10 or 20 EVER (or convert dice pools to auto successes in some systems), no matter how much it will speed up the game.

I've noticed that in four game groups I'm involved with, I'm the only person who ever takes 10 or 20. I think it has more to do with a love of rolling dice, actually.