The druid is not fighting!!! LONG!

[Felon]

Arbados, you have a serious problem. This man is a danger to you and your unit. You don't want to go reaching for some dice one day only to find your hand in a puddle of goo that used to be the elven ranger's face.

My group has a tried-and-true method of handling slackers. It's known as a "CODE ORANGE":

Have a big sleepover one night and make sure your chicken pal there gets the top bunk. Then once he's fast asleep, jam a rolled-up sock into his mouth and have the rest of your friends pull the sheets down real tight so that he can't move. You then commence to beating the living hell out of him with a pillowcase full of oranges. Whisper to him "You like fighting orcs, don't ya fatboy? DON'T YA??"

Beat him mercilessly until he either nods his head with total enthusiasm or you have a pillowcase full of pulp. If he stops breathing, just pull the sock out of his mouth and toss the oranges into the trash, then jump into bed and remain there until the next morning. If performed correctly, the oranges will not leave bruises, and if the investigators asked about all the rinds, you can tell them you were just making homemade juice. They can't prove nuthin'!

 

[Pbartender]

Perhaps a different complement of spells could keep him actively involved for longer. Or maybe he could take up some kind of ranged weapon - in most climactic battles, there is sufficient room to manouvre in such a way that allows ranged weapons to contribute to a battle while minimizing the risk of friendly fire.

And don't forget magical items that essentially add spells to your repertoire... Scrolls, potions, wands, etc...

A handful of reasonably priced, modestly low level wands and scrolls would keep that druid in fighting trim for a long time.

Otherwise, set 'em up for some enemy reinforcements to arrive in the rear.

 

[Argent Silvermage]

As a player of a high level druid. I have to say the staying out of Melee is a wise choice if there are other combatants. Just last night I decided to try attacking some skeletons and due to the low armorclass that my Druid has he was almost killed. (these were some seriously bad skeletons.) Melee should be up to the player. but ask the player if he needs help with using the wildshape ability. It can be confusing and originaly I found it daunting to say the least.
If you have a copy of his character sheet, maybe you should take the time to write up some "combat forms" for him to assume if this is the case. At 12th level he can assume the form of a Dire animal, give him some 'wild' armor and you have a tank on your hands.

 

[dren]

Teach the group they either work together or they all suffer for it. Virtually every time someone in my campaign deviates from the group's plans, someone usually dies. It's not deliberate on my point, but, I design the adventures for a certain power level, if someone isn't pulling their weight, the entire group becomes vunerable.

The fact that he's not getting actively involved in combat is not horrible, but if he deviates from a plan, that is something the other PCs shouldn't have to put up with. Unless you have an npc involved, there's nothing you can do (or should do) about it.

If you do have an npc involved, have him make deliberate comments to the druid before combat like, "What are YOU going to do during battle?" Or if anything happens to another PC, "It was the druid's fault for his laziness/incompetence..."

 

[mmu1]

The players should start riding him (in character) over being such a coward. If that doesn't work, you probably should have a talk with him about it - he's got no business playing a Druid that refuses to take the risks along with everyone else.

And there's nothing stopping you from making him get involved in melee - if you feel it's a problem, make sure he doesn't get a choice. No one said enemies can't have reinforcements come in from the back, or aren't smart enough to start playing "Get the spellcaster!"

 

[Wormwood]

In *our* group, this guy would be getting a blanket party. No DM intervention necessary.

 

[Zhure]

Darn him for roleplaying his character!

If he wants to play an indirect combatant, that's the character's business. Let the PC's deal with any in-character problems in character. Seems simple enough.

Druids aren't necessarily combatants just because they have a good BAB if the character isn't designed that way or played that way. Same for basically anyone, except the 1:1 BAB characters (Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Barbarian). In those cases you'd have to go out of your way to suck in combat and would be kind of silly to avoid it. I can certainly see playing a Fighter who was a disdainful of physicality, but capable of dishing it out when he wanted to.

Greg

 

[mmu1]

Darn him for roleplaying his character!

If he wants to play an indirect combatant, that's the character's business. Let the PC's deal with any in-character problems in character. Seems simple enough.

BS... He shouldn't get to role-play a character that's a complete coward and lets other characters get hurt so he doesn't have to take risks, any more than he should play a character that kills the party in their sleep and escapes with the loot.
It's a group activity, and one of the rules of the game is that you don't get to be a selfish ass and screw it up for everyone else because of your method acting fetish.

People who play characters like this never expect everyone else to role-play their characters doing the reasonable thing - which is usually to call them a rotten coward, tell them to go to hell, and go off to look for a new companion they can actually trust - or, depending on the type of characters in the party, leave the useless PC bleeding to death in some dungeon as payment for getting their friend killed because they were too cowardly to help.

But that kind of thing generates too much bad blood, hurts feelings, and disrupts the game, so reasonable people don't do it, and if the DM doesn't do something about it, they just end up putting up with the jerk. Role-playing isn't acting.

 

[El Diablo Grande]

suggestion

My suggestion would be to talk to this player outside the game. Ask him why he doesn't participate in melee encounters. If he says that he's just roleplaying his character, leave it at that. The group can deal with it in an in-character manner. If he voices other concerns, such as afraid he's ineffective, armor class too low, etc then offer up a few suggestions that have been posted here.

 

[Zhure]

BS... He shouldn't get to role-play a character that's a complete coward and lets other characters get hurt so he doesn't have to take risks, any more than he should play a character that kills the party in their sleep and escapes with the loot.
It's a group activity, and one of the rules of the game is that you don't get to be a selfish ass and screw it up for everyone else because of your method acting fetish.

I agree with you solidly up to a point. There's a vast difference between playing a cowardly character and playing a throat-slitting group murderer. If the druid in question was to suddenly become a coward and change his modus operandi then it's a problem because he's not acting in consistent character and his inactivity will get someone killed.

Yes, it's a group activity, but that doesn't mean every party should be a well-oiled combat SEAL machine. Sure, that's fun, but so is the occasional screwball.

I strongly dislike players who hog the limelight, who act on out-of-character knowledge, or kill the other PC's in their sleep, because that detracts from the group fun. Playing a noncombative character is another kind of character, just not as popular. If the PC is being disruptive in character, it should be dealt with in character, not over the table.

Greg