Stagnant PCs and what to do.

[Rel]

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).

I'm going to disagree with the two previous posters as to how this is best handled because I don't think you cure major differences in play style "in game" and that's what I think this is. The best course of action in my opinion is to sit down with this guy outside the game and lay it out for him.

Just say, "Look, I get that your character likes to fight. But you're smart enough to know that starting fights with guards like that is going to take us in one direction. That direction is the removal of this character from the party and, possibly, if feelings get hurt in the process, your exclusion from the gaming group. Attacking innocent NPC's just because you're bored or your character is sociopathic is completely disruptive to the sort of game that the rest of us are interested in running. If you're thinking about doing that any further then I would urge you to reconsider. Because I can't allow that to continue. If that is the sort of game that you would really prefer to be playing then it would be far better for you to leave this group peacefully while everybody is still friends and go find another group to game with that is more in line with your desires."

It is one thing for him not to be heavily into character development. But disrupting the entire game that way is a whole 'nother kettle of fish. And a stinky one at that.

 

[MoonZar]

Hello Rel,

I think that your opinion is a proper way to deal with the situation. But i think i would try to resolve the situation by using some npc more stronger then the character. If this doesn't work maybe the talking to the player directly can be handy.

But still, i always try to resolve solution in game with NPC if possible, by talking, beating or try to reason the character.

 

[-Warlord-]

Sounds to me like the player just wants to tag along with the party, slay stuff and get treasure. And if he has fun like that, and it doesn't anyone else's fun, there really is no problem.

Changing his abilities without asking him about this first can have a bad effect. The player probably won't realize his character got smarter, and that he now can play him smarter.
He'll probably play him as the same barbarian, but complain about the forced reduction in stats.
I bet he's pretty proud of his ability to do massive damage, and has his character totally built to do lots of damage. Probably loves to roll the dice and announce one big slash after another. His fun is doing damage.
Now if you are going to take some of that perfectly built damage power, you take away some of his fun. And taking away fun from the game, well that is a problem.

Talk to him about your idea first though. I could be totally wrong and he could totally love it.

 

[Zerovoid]

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.

I would do what other people here have suggested and tell him that killing the guards is simply unacceptable. But you might as well offer him a carrot as well. Tell him that if he behaves, you'll make sure there is at least one good fight in every session. Even if it doesn't fit with the other things happening in the campaign, there's always wandering monsters or something. Then once he's got his fix, maybe he'll be better behaved the rest of the time.

 

[Riggs]

Hello Rel,

I think that your opinion is a proper way to deal with the situation. But i think i would try to resolve the situation by using some npc more stronger then the character. If this doesn't work maybe the talking to the player directly can be handy.

But still, i always try to resolve solution in game with NPC if possible, by talking, beating or try to reason the character.

The problem I see with trying to solve it in-game is that the character will feel angry that you have taken it upon yourself to 'abuse' your DM powers to shame his warrior. With all the stats in your hands to alter, why would he assume it was a fair fight he lost? And whether he felt personally attacked or not, why would that prevent further disruption? Now you have given him a target and fuel for revenge. He'll attack that Captain on sight and any other City Guard now.

My buddies and I STILL* talk about one session where the PCs were to get 'humbled' by a big tough adventure and the cheese flung about that session was thick and gooey. We didn't like that one bit and we were told up front it was stacked against us. This guy the thread is about likely doesn't understand that he's wrecking it for all, so I'd go with what Rel said. Tell him you are finding it hard to hold the game together with his actions and to either sit tight and wait for his 'thing' (combat) or make a new guy or drop out until next game.

* To this day