The druid is not fighting!!! LONG!

[Umbran]

If one guy is getting on everyone else's nerves, he's the one that needs to make the change. This is a prime example of the attitude I was talking about - everyone else needs to "lighten up" and put up with the problem player.

mmu1 has a very good point here.

This is not a democracy, in which the majority rules. The majority does not get to dictate how the minority will behave. This is a game of cooperative storytelling. That means that there's supposed to be a compromise so that everyone gets to have fun.

Everyone is approaching this as if it's cowardice on the part of the druid. Have you considered that this might be a figment of the presentation and our limited persepctive of what's actually happening in the game? For example, what if from the druid's point of view, the party is particularly bloodthirsty, and is getting into unnecessary fights? Is the druid supposed to risk his hide to help satisfy other people's bloodlust?

The compromise? Simple - the druid should be willing to mix it up a little bit more and the rest of the party must learn to back off from some situations, so that he isn't likely to have to do it often.

 

[Merlion]

I agree...I dont think we have quite enough to go on here. We know that the druid is staying away from melee...and that seems fine to me Druids arent really very good for that unless a specfic druid is built for it. they've got decent BAB and hit points but their AC stinks. What I want to know is, is this guy just casting a couple spells then standing their and doing nothing? If so, is this because they player just doesnt want his PC to get hurt or is it RP related? Cause I kind of got the impression that he might be playing up the fact that (as it says in the PH) many druids dont really give a flying fig about things that dont directly affect wild nature.
If he is avoiding melee but still contributing well to *combat* via his spells, or if he is somewhat disdaining combat for character concept reasons, then I say no problem. Druids arent meant to be frontline fighters, and if his concept is a semi pacfistic druid or one that doesnt take a hand accept in certain situations he should be allowed to do that. Now if its a really serious problem for the other players they will need to discuss it...but if their all old hands and old friends it shouldnt be hard.
if he's primarily standing around doing nothing in combat for no good reason, theirs a problem.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

First of all, I just want to say that there have been a lot of good suggestions so far. My own suggestion borrows from some of them:

I'd say let the PCs handle it IC. As some have pointed out, not every adventuring party is a SEAL team. So if one PC is annoying the others, that's life.

However, it's also life that, as another poster said, people that don't march to the same drummer often get booted out of the band. The rest of the party should have the option of "firing" the druid, if his behavior goes beyond what they're willing to tolerate.

Bottom line: If PCs ever part ways, whichever group has the most PCs remains, and the players of the "departing" PCs have to roll up new characters to join the group.

 

[Endur]

Fighting does not equal RolePlaying

If you have a PC that doesn't want to fight, well, what's the problem?

Can you do role-playing adventures that don't involve fighting? Or does every game you play turn into a hack and slash combat?

I see nothing wrong in playing a character that doesn't want to fight. Especially if that character is a neutral spellcaster.

Now, on the other hand, it might make for an interesting party dynamic when it comes time to split the treasure.

If the party tries to split treasure based on who contributed, it'll be a disaster (the arguments will never cease ... i.e. PC1 fired the final arrow that killed the Dragon, but PC1 never would have hit without PC2's buff spells and PC1 would have been dead if PC3 wasn't delaying the dragon and so on and so on).

Part of the problem is the generic advancement system for D+D involves exp and gold. If you get away from that generic advancement system and focus more on story awards, you get a much more interesting story and role playing.

I'll help you against monster X, but not Y or Z.

Why would I kill this monster? Its not bothering me. etc.

Personally, my opinion is that the players who are whining are the ones who should be penalized, not the Druid's player. Its their obligation to persuade the Druid if they want to see changed behavior. And if they are unable to persuade the Druid, then things must be the way they are meant to be.

Tom
(A player who almost always plays Paladins and who has adventured with many neutral Druid type spellcasters in the past)

 

[Tsyr]

Ask yourself this... Which of the following would be more likely to be said to the druid in you game:

"Hey, Doodad, get over here and wack these guys with us... It's easy!"

or

"Hey, Doodad, get your scrawny rear over here and help us! These guys are smacking us around!"

If the Druid can see the fighter-types getting smacked around by what they are fighting, I wouldn't have any problem at all with him not joining in... Actualy, I wouldn't under any circumstances (his choice), but really not under those.

 

[Impeesa]

Interesting... last time I played a druid, he vastly overshadowed the frenzied berserker and persistant buff cleric on the frontlines. Could have something to do with the fact that it was an epic game, and being able to wildshape into a primal fire elemental with two 1800 hp legendary bear companions throws a lot of the balance equation way out of line... but still.

--Impeesa--

 

[arbados]

There have been many great ideas and I have already spoken to the elven rogue player about some of the suggestions. It seems that he feels that the group should work it out in character and try to offer some battle suggestions such as wildshaping if necessary to help out the front lines.

Obviously, it's hard to explain all the dynamics of the group and to give a clear mental picture of the ins and outs of the game and each player.

However, I will say that I feel as DM that the main reason that the druid fails to engage in melee combat is simply for fear of his character getting killed. He is very excited about attaining 12th level and this is the highest level character he has ever had. He looks forward to achieving epic level and knows that to engage in close combat could certainly mean no epic druid in the future.

In speaking with one of the players it seems that this has really come to the forefront due to one final action by the druid about 2 game sessions ago, which possibly caused the death of the Psychic Warrior.

In short, what happened was the following:

The group was fighting a powerful group of drow deep within the underdark realms. Each member was doing their share in the battle, but at one point the Psychic Warrior called for help saying that he was in very poor shape and needed some assistance (healing). The Psychic Warrior was holding forces at bay along with the Devoted Defender from moving towards the wizard, druid and rogue. On the druids turn he decided to cast barkskin upon himself before moving into aid the Psychic Warrior. The druid was at full hp's and was the only one with the ability to heal so the other members of the party could not offer the same aid.

Well the next flurry of attacks by the drow killed the Psychic Warrior and that was the end! The group eventually won the battle, but with the loss of the Psychic Warrior. I will add that the druid after casting his spell did not move anywhere near the Psychic Warrior and remained at his spot which was 20 or so feet away.

The druid does this repeatedly and this is a part of their frustration.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Well, your group is a melee group. This happens sometimes where a lot of people can inflict damage in melee either through spells or melee might.

The druid is not an up front caster. They have some of the worst armor classes and weapon selections.

One of the few things the druid could do right away is a long spear with the 10' reach. Helps immensely and keeps the druid out of combat. At first I thought perhaps that's what the title of this thread was indicating.

Next, get some scrolls and other items to help booster the party's fighters. There's no reason the druid needs to be in combat if he can augment the fighters with bullstrength, the monk's with mage armor, etc... Being an up front fighter is not for everyone. Being an effective fighter even, isn't for everyone.

There are other options. If you think that the druid should be more combat oriented, show him how it's done with NPC druids who can pass some of their theories on why it's sometimes necessary to fight, and perhaps even die in the common everday causes. Then again, this is an elf. What some see as being a coward is quite intelligent. Why should he risk life and limb for the sake of being in melee? He's going to live hundreds of years. Hundreds.

Perhaps the most dramatic method if have the druid dual class into a ranger. A quick way to boost combat effectiveness.

 

[hong]

The druid basically does not like to comfront his opponents in close combat. He stays in the back utilizes his spells, sometimes quite well, and then when he is done with casting because his offensive spells are depleted will stay away from battle putting up defensive spells and somewhat keeping away from the battle at hand.

Problem: The other members are getting a bit perturbed by the druids actions because at times his nonaction has caused casualties within the group (at least that is what the other players feel).

The druid in many ways, although he will never openly admit it, is somewhat cowardly unless the mission at hand deals with something which he very strongly feels he needs to personally address. Even then he will rely heavily on the rest of the members to put themselves in harms way and always keep as far as possible from danger.

This is one of those occasions where DM's judgement is required. It's fine to have a bit of intra-party tension to keep things interesting. However, if it gets to the point where people are starting to feel aggravated towards each other OOC, then it's going too far.

If you feel it's got to this point, then you should step in. However, that doesn't automatically mean telling the druid's player to be more up-front in combat. You should have a chat with him, preferably in private, and mention that his character's behaviour is causing problems for the others. You should _also_ talk to the other players, and say that it's the druid's player's right to do what he thinks is most appropriate for his character. If the druid is already using up spells buffing the rest of the party, then that's a valid contribution to the fight, even if he isn't smacking heads himself.

Both sides should try to cut each other a little slack, essentially.

 

[Aaron L]

I'll tell you what: If I regularly traveled around with a group of people who got into a lot of life threatening situations, and one of the members of said group didn't do anything to contribute to our survival, I would certainly be a bit upset at that individual.

The characters being upset about the druid not fighting is very much in-character role playing. Too often have I seen characters who would NOT remain in the same party shoe horned together bacause of players making allowances for "role playing." A big, mean fighter who doesn't regularly beat the snot out of a halfling who constantly steals his stuff is probably not roleplaying his character very well.