D&D 5E Warlock in party with Quasit breaking story

[Bradley Hindman]

Now, there is the practical issue of time. If you're spending half the session with the warlock player doing a one man show basically investigating the entire adventure, then sure, that's no fun for anyone. D&D isn't a spectator sport. But, the solution here isn't necessarily to nerf the warlock, but, rather to adapt and overcome.

You know that the Warlock player is going to do this, so, prepare for it. Write up a handout beforehand for what the quasit learns. Ok, here's a map of where the quasit went (show an edited map of your adventure, leaving off stuff that the quasit couldn't have learned - traps, secret doors, etc. Heck, use that map as your handout. Freehand the map - it doesn't have to be perfectly accurate, it's not like the quasit is pacing off rooms. Label the map with what the quasit saw inside - this is a guard room with 4 orcs, this is common room, this is a garbage room, etc. Did the quasit overhear stuff? Well, does the caster speak that language? It's not like languages are that common - lots of critters speak stuff that the caster doesn't, in all likelihood. So, maybe the warlock learns half a dozen things - PLOT HOOKS FTW!

This is great advice. I had a long post prepared, but Hussar said it better. So, I will just post my main point.

While I do not know the players that are described in the original post, it sounds to me that the primary problem is the hogging of screen time by the warlock (leading to boredom in the other players). The DM should ask himself, why the warlock player does this. Does he/she really send out the quasit to gain information or does the warlock player do it to be the center of attention. The response to both motivations (most of the time) should be a quick "The quasit is successful" followed by a succinct description of what the quasit learned. Just narrate the result and move on.

 

[Ratskinner]

I gotta admit, I strongly disagree with the advice that boils down to "nerf this ability". Whether it be things like "kill it frequently" or whatever. IMO, you will get much better results by compromising what you think is fun with what the...

I think this post has good general advice, but the OP was specifically addressing ''suspense". I wasn't under the impression that the generation of plot hooks was an issue. I think the question is more like: what plot beats Can help me create suspense?

Also:
4) Have group of bad guys become aware of the quasit and start leaving false evidence or trails around. Quasits can't see though illusions automatically.

5) Turnabout is fair play. Same group of bad guys has same deal. Somehow, they're always one step ahead of the party.

Sent from my LG-TP450 using EN World mobile app

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

You haven't really comprehended anything I've been saying since you first started posting, you can continue to obfuscate all you want as this will probably be my final reply to you. I am not interested in your opinion anymore. Variant human and human do not have the same ability scores so that is a false equivalency. Returning to the main point, the stat block speaks for itself.

"Variant: Familiar: The quasit can serve another creature as a familiar, forming a Telepathic Bond with its willing master. While the two are bonded, the master can sense what the quasit senses as long as they are within 1 mile of each other. While the quasit is within 10 feet of its master, the master shares the quasit's Magic Resistance trait. At any time and for any reason, the quasit can end its service as a familiar, ending the Telepathic Bond."

Why would WOTC include this if it was to just be ignored? That is really confusing.

This is from the subclass

"You learn the Find Familiar spell and can cast it as a ritual. The spell doesn’t count against your number of Spells known.
When you cast the spell, you can choose one of the normal forms for your familiar or one of the following Special forms: imp, Pseudodragon, Quasit, or Sprite.
Additionally, when you take the Attack action, you can forgo one of your own attacks to allow your familiar to make one Attack of its own with its reaction."


So......maybe you don't agree with me, but I certainly am not making things up. Good day to you.

The "familiar variant" rules you're quoting are an entirely different thing than the pact of the chain feature and find familiar spell. He's not a variant familiar, he's a variant quasit with the ability to act as a familiar The familiar variant can bond with anyone it chooses, regardless of if they have the find familiar spell. You broker the deal and get the creature as long as it it agrees. It is Bob the quasit, who is probably behind on his child support payments in the Abyss, and untrustworthy. on the upside, you do get magic resistance. If Bob the quasit is killed, he's gone.

The Pact of the Chain find familiar doesnt bind an actual quasit. It summons a celestial, fey or fiendish spirit that takes a form you choose. You can change its form (for example, from quasit to pseudodragon to imp to bat) by recasting the spell, which you can't do with a quasit who has the Familiar variant monster trait. If your familiar acquired this way dies, you can throw 10 gold in a pot and get it back (in a new form even).

 

[akr71]

Friend, this isn't a problem. This is a great opportunity. I just wish my players would actively seek out information like this instead of blindly blundering from encounter to encounter.

This is very true! I sometimes struggle with how I'm going to get information into my players' hands. They are still fairly new players and expect me to walk them through the situation sometimes. They do have a PotC Warlock too and I'm very happy when I hear "I send my pseudo dragon to scout" or "my pseudo dragon hides under the wagon to try and hear what those two are saying."

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Definitely. Sports is a competition where the goal is winning (thus the match comes first).
D&D is a game where the goal is having fun (thus the party's enjoyment comes first).

We probably need a new thread to discuss the topic, but I really don't understand this attitude I see a lot on role-playing forums that sounds to me like "the good of the one outweighs the good of the group". I'd be interested in hearing what it is I'm misinterpreting, or if that is in fact exactly what people actually are claiming, because it doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[Caliban]

We probably need a new thread to discuss the topic, but I really don't understand this attitude I see a lot on role-playing forums that sounds to me like "the good of the one outweighs the good of the group". I'd be interested in hearing what it is I'm misinterpreting, or if that is in fact exactly what people actually are claiming, because it doesn't make any sense to me.

If you want to open that can of worms, then yes, you should start a new thread. I'll just say your personal bias is obvious from the way you phrased the issue and leave it at that.

 

[Hussar]

I think this post has good general advice, but the OP was specifically addressing ''suspense". I wasn't under the impression that the generation of plot hooks was an issue. I think the question is more like: what plot beats Can help me create suspense?

Also:
4) Have group of bad guys become aware of the quasit and start leaving false evidence or trails around. Quasits can't see though illusions automatically.

5) Turnabout is fair play. Same group of bad guys has same deal. Somehow, they're always one step ahead of the party.

Sent from my LG-TP450 using EN World mobile app

Well, again, I'd take a slightly different approach. The goal here is to keep suspense in the game, while still allowing the player to do his schtick. Well, why not do a bit of adjusting at the adventure design point. I mean, something as simple as a rug over a trapdoor works. It's not like the quasit will find it. So, the party goes in, does there thing, and then discovers a trapdoor leading into the unknown. Bam, suspense.

I guess my point is, suspense doesn't work if there's nothing to be suspenseful about. Random choices because you have no information aren't suspenseful. What's behind this door very quickly loses suspense after the fifteenth door. Like you say, you need beats. So, the party goes in, armed with the information, but, maybe some of the information changes - after all, NPC's do move about. They come to the guard room and no one is there (because the guards nipped out back for a smoke). SUSPENSE.

Suspense is caused by having the unfamiliar or unknown interjected into the known. If the players never know anything, there really isn't any suspense beyond the cheap jump scares that you see in far too many horror movies. For real suspense, give them all sorts of information, and then, when they get there, something is different. Now, you have suspense.

 

[Ratskinner]

Suspense is caused by having the unfamiliar or unknown interjected into the known. If the players never know anything, there really isn't any suspense beyond the cheap jump scares that you see in far too many horror movies. For real suspense, give them all sorts of information, and then, when they get there, something is different. Now, you have suspense.

I'm not sure that's a working definition of "suspense" for me. Not that I don't want that kind of thing to occur. However, I think there's a (very) wide gap between "My Quasit scouts everything before we move." and "the players never know anything". If they are endpoints of some kind of continuum. I gotta figure suspense lies more at the unknown (but before you get to the point of paralyzing them from lack of info).

 

[Eltab]

I'm a lazy bum who did not read the intervening thread. But I did read the description of the Invisible condition - which does NOT work as described in OP.

So: read over the parts of the rules that the Warlock is using. Sit down with him away-from-game and let him know that you re-read the rules and found that you have been doing it wrong. Explain what 'doing it right' is going to look like, and how it is different from what you have been doing. Give him a chance to adjust, don't nerf him in front of friends.

 

[nswanson27]

I'm not sure that's a working definition of "suspense" for me. Not that I don't want that kind of thing to occur. However, I think there's a (very) wide gap between "My Quasit scouts everything before we move." and "the players never know anything". If they are endpoints of some kind of continuum. I gotta figure suspense lies more at the unknown (but before you get to the point of paralyzing them from lack of info).

I'll second your last point. The number one way I have consistently seen progress come to a frustrating, pedantic crawl is when players can't get enough info about what's going on or what to expect. Unexpected surprises should be the sprinkles on the ice cream in the challenge factor. It doesn't work well as the main course meal.