the Jester
Legend
Booting him most certainly IS an option.
First off, you don't have to game with someone to be friends with him. Secondly, I find that, with the exception of couples, the "But he's friends with two other members of the group!" concern to be fully overblown. In almost all cases, a problem player's friends in the group are also annoyed by his problem playstyle. They may be happier to see him leave than you are!
On the other hand, what if you do lose 3 of your 5 players? You recruit a few more! It's really not that hard, I swear! Get friends, coworkers, people you run into at the game store, someone from the local board game club, someone you meet at the movies, whoever- everyone likes fun, and most people are open to trying new things. This isn't the 80s anymore, where you have to hide your gaming proclivities from your parents and teachers or else get assigned a mental health counselor (obviously that's an exaggeration anyhow, though).
The problem with "We don't boot anyone, no matter how badly they behave" groups is that they end up settling for crappy games that reduce or ruin the fun of everyone except the problem player. New group members either flee or learn that the problem player is, essentially, rewarded with attention and no consequences, so the new guys start to emulate the problem player.
Seriously, talk to him out of game, talk to him in game, kill his character, fire the pc and have the player make a new pc, do something- but don't let the problem guy ruin everyone else's fun. It's absolutely not worth playing D&D with people who spoil it for the rest, friends or not.
