Stagnant PCs and what to do.

[Jdvn1]

Don't force anything, always make choices available.

Just wanted to emphasize this.

Ask the player. What's his take on it? It's possible he considers his low Int as a crutch, making it difficult to play his character any differently. Maybe he'd prefer an Int-boosting item? Sure, he'll probably have to pay for it, but it'll give him more flexibility. He also has to worry about Int damage.

To try to develop his character more, I'd try to make a situation that will help him in that regard. Maybe he meets a tribe of Half-Orcs -- he'll probably be the best ambassador. He can relate to the other Half-Orcs. Try to set up some Half-Orc social situations. Show him there's more to being a Half-Orc than hitting things, and maybe he'll embrace his character more.

 

[Impeesa]

My idea is to force some development. I've already established the character is the result of experimentation by evil mages, making him stronger, but more importantly dumber. I've also already established the extensive alchemical and magical alterations to his body will kill him within five years, and I have a character searching for a cure. Here's my dillemma.
Is it appropriate for me to force the PC to change by giving him the cure?

I'd say don't force him to detox. Real juicers burn out with a bang. And if his character dies of magic-induced complications (or whatever else), maybe he can make a new one with more, well, character.

--Impeesa--

 

[moritheil]

Seems to me he wants to go out.

 

[Ravellion]

Perhpas even make the cure more of a "suppressant". After taking it for one week, you lose one point of Str and gain 1 point of int for each day you drink it after that. If you stop drinking it, after one week you lose one point of int and gain one point of str. If he keeps drinking it for 6 months, he's cured.

Rav

 

[MoonZar]

Is it appropriate for me to force the PC to change by giving him the cure? This will lower his strength permanently but increase his Intelligence by the same amount, making him much smarter but less able in combat. It will create a lot for the PC and the player to deal with and it has the potential to drastically alter the character. I'm concerned though that the player might think this is unfair and other players might follow suit. Is it OK for the DM to force situations onto players that dramatically alter their characters, without giving any say in the matter to the PC?

Hello,

I think this innapropriate to force a change to a character if the PC don't want it. He would think this unfair and would probably very anoyed by that since all his character is build for fighting.

If he don't disturb the other players or your campaign i think you should simply do nothing about this. After all your goal is that your players have fun and if he have fun to beat up everything this fine. Everyone seek something in DnD, if he just want to kill why not.

However you could make some part of your quest who require some intelligence time to time, like politics enigma, puzzle, riddle maze.

All your game can't be oriented in hack n slash and this will make the player thing about it.

But i think this a very bad idea to change his stats even if u have logical explanation in game like a cure, this still look as YOU change the stats.

Also don't forget that according to the race statistic adjustement, 2 point of Str worth more then 2 point of intelligence. So if u remove 2 point of Str you should at least give him 3 point of intelligence according to me or even 4 because loosing strenght for a fighting class is very very bad for the character.

 

[Rel]

This guy sounds like a friend of mine who was a "casual gamer". The reason he was part of the game was because he was our friend and enjoyed spending time with us. He never put as much thought or work into his characters as others did and for years this bugged the hell out of me and the other primary GM in the group. The other GM and I often had long conversations about how to try and get him more involved in playing the game, put him more in the spotlight and encourage more character development.

I finally confronted our friend directly about it one time and he got MAD. He explained that he was having a fine time and that if we would stop trying to push our own views about what was best in gaming on him, he'd be having a great time. He did not want to be in the spotlight much, he did not want the plot arcs to revolve around him and he did not want to have to develop a complex and ever-changing personality for his PC's. He just wanted to show up, hang out with us and play the game.

After that was understood, his enjoyment of the game went way up and our frustration level with his engagement in it went way down.

 

[BlackMoria]

Rel's story speaks volumes about the inherent danger of trying to imposing change.

I have meet real life people who have 'grown' over the years. I also have met real life people who are the same as the day I met them over 20 years ago. Is the people who have 'grown' better or superior to those who don't change? Hardly.

So, don't make a issue of it. If he is happy playing the character he plays, let him.

 

[STARP_President]

I'm hearing that I probably shouldn't do it.
There's one other factor, though. The character is becoming a nuisance.
He attacks everything. His first thought is to fight, and his second is to fight as well. If there's nothing to fight he starts fights. Last adventure he wandered around the town beating up guards (for which I gave him a warning - he does that again he goes CE instead of CN). The player complains if there's nothing to fight as well, and I don't always have fighting adventures. The other players enjoy more role-playing and intrigue, and unless there's a lot of stuff to beat up he just gets snippy and roams around causing trouble. I figured by forcing a bit of change on him I'd reign him into line a bit - make him see that there is more to the campaign than hack and slash and he can be part of it.

 

[MoonZar]

I'm hearing that I probably shouldn't do it.
There's one other factor, though. The character is becoming a nuisance.
He attacks everything. His first thought is to fight, and his second is to fight as well. If there's nothing to fight he starts fights. Last adventure he wandered around the town beating up guards (for which I gave him a warning - he does that again he goes CE instead of CN). The player complains if there's nothing to fight as well, and I don't always have fighting adventures. The other players enjoy more role-playing and intrigue, and unless there's a lot of stuff to beat up he just gets snippy and roams around causing trouble. I figured by forcing a bit of change on him I'd reign him into line a bit - make him see that there is more to the campaign than hack and slash and he can be part of it.

Hello,

Well i have a very classic solution to it.

The trick with fighter beast is that one time or another they will find someone too much strong for them.

So you should make him cross a captain of the guard or a defender of justice who was passing by. The chance that this happen is increase because he fight everywhere so he could not complain that much and also one time or another he'll make himself a bad reputation and some strong people will track him down for justice or revange.

Then he'll lost and don't kill him put him in jail and make him face justice, and ohhhhhhhh this so unfortunate, the guard lost his weapon and armor, and he have to pay a high amount of money to get out or worst he have to help the autority with some kind of service to be free of his santence and if he don't he'll be executed.

So what do u think about this ? If he still don't understand that he could die doing this, then u'll have no choice to do it again in a while until he understand or die.

 

[Romnipotent]

Maybe he's trying to get 10000 kills to appease the spirits of his fathers tribe... let the dull slaughtertron just keep to his business... Maybe he's just a firm grounding, while everyone else gets on, he's just glad to be of use.


OF course, let him assault and kill town guards! Dont get in his way... as he dissolves to evil, say he can no longer play his character as it has become a savaging menace on the land, since obviously the party will oppose him, and even fight him if neccessary. It becomes an NPC, and he gets something new?