The druid is not fighting!!! LONG!

[DragonLancer]

Well excuse me for being a ROLEPLAYER and not a hack and slasher.

How is the player in question being selfish? The character is not a combat character by the sounds of it. Shocking that someone out there would play a character thats whole point in life is not to be a combat monkey.

Is my group the only one out there that roleplays? Where they create characters not a bunch of computer game style numbers and mods.

I'm sorry that one character died, but if he was that close to being killed then the party should have retreated rather than keep going. The party cannot blame that on the druid's player.

 

[Numion]

Well excuse me for being a ROLEPLAYER and not a hack and slasher.

How is the player in question being selfish? The character is not a combat character by the sounds of it. Shocking that someone out there would play a character thats whole point in life is not to be a combat monkey.

Well, since the druids player is no doubt ROLEPLAYING, then I think the rest of the group should ROLEPLAY too and boot the character. Besides, if the druid was properly ROLEPLAYED, do you think he really would be adventuring? I mean, since he isn't a "combat monkey" like you put it, why on earth would he choose to be an adventurer who are notorious for their ability to pick a fight?

It just seems that those who call themselves ROLEPLAYERS (in all caps) are quite adept at making ROLEPLAYING excuses for this and that behaviour, but not for their reason for staying in the group

Just like people wouldn't stand having cowards in their combat unit in war, neither would adventurers have dead weight in their group - if it wasn't for the mysterious "glue" that tends to keep all these groups of social misfits together.

 

[DragonLancer]

Do you not think however that its unfair for the druid's player that be forced make a new character just because the rest of the group doesn't like what (or how) he currently plays?

I apologise for putting "roleplaying" in caps, but it seems that everyone is ignoring the fact that roleplaying is what the game is about. I've got a couple characters in my group that don't get along that well IC (or OOC for that matter) but it makes the game more interesting with their IC interactions and gives fresh plot twists...etc.

 

[Aaron L]

If the other characters believe that the druids inaction has caused party casualties, then for them to do nothing about the situation and write it off as a "character quirk" would be very bad roleplaying.

 

[Umbran]

As was made clear when the original poster elaborated, the issue wasn't "going into melee", it was "moving 20' when at full hit points and risking some damage to heal someone about to die".

A nicely incomplete characterization of the event. It ignores that fact that the druid does not know how many hit points his friend has left, or how many the drow could dish out. Or, if he did know and he used that knowledge, you'd lambast him for metagaming rather than cowardice.

So, all he knows is a general "this guy could use some healing" He has to guess at the level of desperation. So, he makes a choice, and casts a protective spell first. Seems a sane enough tactic to me. Poor timing, but sane.

Meanwhile, this psychic warrior cannot withstand the next round's set of attacks, yet he remains in combat. And, as was stated, this was not an isolated event. The warrior knew the druid would not want to get close to melee. Yet he reamins. Sounds like a pretty stupid tactic to me. General rule of thumb - when you cannot take the next encounter, you stop and rest. When you can't take the next hit, you get out of melee.

There's two sides to every story - in some sense, they're both being less than wise. But the druid is the only one getting blamed? Again, lack of compromise.

 

[mmu1]

I'm sorry that one character died, but if he was that close to being killed then the party should have retreated rather than keep going. The party cannot blame that on the druid's player.

Here are the facts, as they were listed so far:

1. The Druid is the only healer in the party
2. The Druid is not a pacifist - he uses combat spells, and we have been told he has a powerful melee weapon.
3. The Psychic Warrior is getting torn up so that the Druid can cast spells safely.
4. The Druid is at full HP.
5. The Druid is 20' away from the Psychic Warrior.
6. The Psychic Warrior asks for help and healing.
7. The unhurt Druid wastes a round casting Barkskin on himself.
8. After buffing mimself, the Druid makes no move to help his dying companion.

Now, if this was ROLEPLAYING, then he's certainly not roleplaying any kind of character anyone I know would want to have anything to do with - but according to the DM, it's not even a roleplaying issue, the player in question is just too afraid to get his character hurt because he wants to hit Epic level.

 

[DragonLancer]

Here are the facts, as they were listed so far:

1. The Druid is the only healer in the party
2. The Druid is not a pacifist - he uses combat spells, and we have been told he has a powerful melee weapon.
3. The Psychic Warrior is getting torn up so that the Druid can cast spells safely.
4. The Druid is at full HP.
5. The Druid is 20' away from the Psychic Warrior.
6. The Psychic Warrior asks for help and healing.
7. The unhurt Druid wastes a round casting Barkskin on himself.
8. After buffing mimself, the Druid makes no move to help his dying companion.

Fine. I don't see a problem there with the players choices. He made a choice and thats up to him.
As I said above, and someone else has said, if the Psychic Warrior was that badly hurt why were they/he/she staying in combat? Why not retreat get healed and go back into the fight.

Now, if this was ROLEPLAYING, then he's certainly not roleplaying any kind of character anyone I know would want to have anything to do with - but according to the DM, it's not even a roleplaying issue, the player in question is just too afraid to get his character hurt because he wants to hit Epic level.

Don't we all want our characters to reach higher levels? In this case, how do you know that he wasn't afraid of being hit and taken down. He was probably (not knowing the details of the fight) going to get at least 1 AoO from an opponent, and was placing himself in a dangerous area.

Look, I can see what your saying but it does seem like everyone is still picking on this guy for his choices.

 

[mmu1]

There's two sides to every story - in some sense, they're both being less than wise. But the druid is the only one getting blamed? Again, lack of compromise.

Don't make me laugh... A character got killed, and it's his fault because he chose to put himself in harm's way?

If he lived, would he and the Devoted Defender be the only ones getting XP for the encounter? It's an adventuring party, not a corporation where everyone has a stake in the loot and a job description - what, some characters don't have "putting themselves at risk" listed as one of their responsibilities in the contract?

 

[mmu1]

Fine. I don't see a problem there with the players choices. He made a choice and thats up to him.
As I said above, and someone else has said, if the Psychic Warrior was that badly hurt why were they/he/she staying in combat? Why not retreat get healed and go back into the fight.

(...)

Look, I can see what your saying but it does seem like everyone is still picking on this guy for his choices.

When you let someone go into the thick of combat so you won't have to, and you happen to be the healer of the group, you have a certain obligation to make sure they make it out alive. I'm picking on the guy because he chose to shirk responsibility and look out for himself.

It's like talking to a wall... It's ok for some character to place themselves in danger but not others? What happens when eveyrone chooses not to put himself in danger? If you want to make that choice, do it before you become an adventurer, not when someone's fighting Drow.

 

[Gothmog]

Originally posted by Umbran:

A nicely incomplete characterization of the event. It ignores that fact that the druid does not know how many hit points his friend has left, or how many the drow could dish out. Or, if he did know and he used that knowledge, you'd lambast him for metagaming rather than cowardice.

So, all he knows is a general "this guy could use some healing" He has to guess at the level of desperation. So, he makes a choice, and casts a protective spell first. Seems a sane enough tactic to me. Poor timing, but sane.

Meanwhile, this psychic warrior cannot withstand the next round's set of attacks, yet he remains in combat. And, as was stated, this was not an isolated event. The warrior knew the druid would not want to get close to melee. Yet he reamins. Sounds like a pretty stupid tactic to me. General rule of thumb - when you cannot take the next encounter, you stop and rest. When you can't take the next hit, you get out of melee.

Agreed Umbran. Some unwise decisions on the part of both parties. However, I see the psychic warrior as more at fault since he knew he could have withdrawn, but decided to fight instead. The druid's player only knew the psychic warrior was injured, but not how badly from the description given. Since druids have crappy AC and would likely be cut to ribbons in melee, is was only reasonable to buff his AC before going to the front. Its a sensible precaution, but probably one that should have been taken at the beginning of the battle. The psychic warrior probably should have used a potion of healing if he had one, rather than rely on another member of the group to run up and heal him.

I personally have no problem with this player playing his druid the way he is, primarily because it is HIS character, and trying to force him to do something he doesn't want to is wrong. None of us know this guy- maybe he also has legitimate reasons to roleplay the druid this way. If the druid is the only source of healing in the group, you'd think they would try to protect him more, since he is so valuable- and undoubtedly pulling his weight outside of combat healing everyone up. But these players give him grief because he won't mix it up? Do you want a healer or a dead druid- make up your mind.

While I might characterize the druid's actions as cowardly or foolish under some circumstances, they are not wrong and he should not be punished by the DM. Wrong is getting mad at his character and slaughtering him for role-playing and not meta-thinking. Some intra-party tension can be a good thing, but killing or stealing from other party members isn't acceptable and is an EVIL action- and this should be punished by the DM. My advice is the let the players sort it out on their own, and not interfere. I know if I were in this group, I'd trust the druid more than I would those party members who would kill him for a miscalculation.