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Pathfinder Shenanigans: Problem Players
12 years ago
General
This isn't really based on a particular session of my Pathfinder game, but rather more of a clarification. See, while I have been saying that my group is filled with idiots, it's really only two players that are problematic. The rest are actually fairly good, but are so overshadowed by the two that they aren't given much opportunity to let their brilliance show. So here's sort of a rundown of the players:
Ackint, Fetchling Symbiotic Summoner
This person is surprisingly good. Unlike other summoners, she fuses with his eidolon when he summons it, making her a very imposing warrior when she's fused, which is most of the time. She also has a very good selection of buffing spells and stealth capabilities, making her a very good all-rounder. Her player is also extremely knowledgeable about the rules, so any time someone isn't sure about something, he's always quick to provide the answer. He does take some risks, and he is the monk that went for the Chest of Doom, but for the most part he knows what he's doing. I enjoy playing with him.
Nash, Hobgoblin Alchemist
Here's one of the problem players. He just joined the game two or three sessions ago, so we're still getting used to him. For an alchemist, the guy is a melee nightmare. When he drinks his mutagen, he gains a number of combat buffs and additional natural attacks, and he can use ALL of them each round. This means that every round he gets about 5 or so attacks, all of which are near their full bonus. He is a little squishy if the enemies really focus on him, but as you'll see below, we have a lot of crowd control that prevents that from happening. His player though...his player wants the spotlight. Always. During our prison scene, he refused to talk about anything that didn't involve his character getting access to the mutagen to keep being that melee monster. He's also the greedy one. So we have an egotistical player, an egotistical and greedy character, and bad times for everyone else. Also, given how he uses the word "fag" fairly often, it's clear that he's really not that tolerant of homosexuals.
Marik, Pyromaniac Tiefling Wizard
This guy is our nuker. He specializes in fire spells, and can even conjure a rolling ball of fire to crash into enemies whenever he doesn't want to use up a full spell. He also has a ray of fire attack that's nothing to sneeze at. He's rather quiet otherwise, and honestly doesn't communicate much unless he's about to burn something. Same goes for his player. The guy really doesn't get involved much, even when there's an opportunity to speak, so there's not much to say about him.
Soltrani, Ifrit Battledancer
She could be awesome, but she ultimately does nothing. A battledancer is a specific kind of bard that provides impressive self-buffs, but virtually no team buffs like a regular bard would. Hence, she would be fairly impressive in battle, if not for the fact that we already have 3 characters that focus on melee combat. So she's kind of a fifth wheel for them. She also doesn't do much anything outside of combat like other bards would, so....yeah, she's just kind of extra baggage right now. I really hate to say that because she could be a great melee striker, but is just totally overshadowed by the others. As for her player, he's also fairly quiet. He knows the rules really well, and when he does get a chance to speak his mind, he's pretty good.
Alvada, Dwarf Soulknife
Alvada is also a rather new addition to the party, though here that's just because her player already ran through two others (the greedy alchemist (noticing a trend among alchemists?) and the evil druid). She's a fairly good melee fighter and also quite tanky. Not much to say besides that though. Her player loves to be heard. So much so that he flipped out when his microphone started to bug out. He does still speak his mind fairly often, but it's not often that he gives us new ideas to work with. Overall he's a decent guy, just needs to think more critically.
Sinclair, Human Fighter
This guy is the duelist. He loves fighting things and stirring up trouble. He's a very hard hitter, but still quite squishy when things get bad. That's pretty much all he does. He throws his weight around, likes to be a dick, and never take anything seriously. Same goes with his player. It's impossible to have a serious discussion with this guy because he derails conversations every other minute. He also never shuts up, easily talking more than twice as much as anyone else, sometimes even over the DM. He was the ogre that inspired me to do the "Drawing a Line" story, and I don't think I'll ever get along with him. In fact, tomorrow I'll be talking with him to try and tell him that he needs to STFU so that others can actually be heard take part in the game.
Wren, Tiefling Witch (Me)
I don't leave a big impact in most of our fights, but I still make a noticeable difference. My specialty is control spells, and then a limitless supply of hexes that are slow to start, but very crippling to the enemies once they're on a roll. I'm not much help in a big fight against numerous foes, but against a handful of enemies, I can be devastating. My most potent ability is the Slumber hex, which forces the victim to make a will save or fall asleep for several rounds. Sleeping enemies are helpless, so they can be coup de graced by myself or other party members right afterward. It only works on one guy at a time, but if they fail their save, they're essentially dead. For enemies that are immune to sleep, I hit them with Misfortune, which forces them to roll all D20 rolls twice and take the worse result. As I get more powerful, it'll only get better and better.
So that's the rundown of the players. Sorry it's not exactly as funny this time, but I did want to explain that it's really not the entire group that's bad, just a few guys that are making life difficult for the rest of us.
That said, if anyone has any advice for me as to how I should confront the two big problem players or what I should do differently, please tell me below!
Ackint, Fetchling Symbiotic Summoner
This person is surprisingly good. Unlike other summoners, she fuses with his eidolon when he summons it, making her a very imposing warrior when she's fused, which is most of the time. She also has a very good selection of buffing spells and stealth capabilities, making her a very good all-rounder. Her player is also extremely knowledgeable about the rules, so any time someone isn't sure about something, he's always quick to provide the answer. He does take some risks, and he is the monk that went for the Chest of Doom, but for the most part he knows what he's doing. I enjoy playing with him.
Nash, Hobgoblin Alchemist
Here's one of the problem players. He just joined the game two or three sessions ago, so we're still getting used to him. For an alchemist, the guy is a melee nightmare. When he drinks his mutagen, he gains a number of combat buffs and additional natural attacks, and he can use ALL of them each round. This means that every round he gets about 5 or so attacks, all of which are near their full bonus. He is a little squishy if the enemies really focus on him, but as you'll see below, we have a lot of crowd control that prevents that from happening. His player though...his player wants the spotlight. Always. During our prison scene, he refused to talk about anything that didn't involve his character getting access to the mutagen to keep being that melee monster. He's also the greedy one. So we have an egotistical player, an egotistical and greedy character, and bad times for everyone else. Also, given how he uses the word "fag" fairly often, it's clear that he's really not that tolerant of homosexuals.
Marik, Pyromaniac Tiefling Wizard
This guy is our nuker. He specializes in fire spells, and can even conjure a rolling ball of fire to crash into enemies whenever he doesn't want to use up a full spell. He also has a ray of fire attack that's nothing to sneeze at. He's rather quiet otherwise, and honestly doesn't communicate much unless he's about to burn something. Same goes for his player. The guy really doesn't get involved much, even when there's an opportunity to speak, so there's not much to say about him.
Soltrani, Ifrit Battledancer
She could be awesome, but she ultimately does nothing. A battledancer is a specific kind of bard that provides impressive self-buffs, but virtually no team buffs like a regular bard would. Hence, she would be fairly impressive in battle, if not for the fact that we already have 3 characters that focus on melee combat. So she's kind of a fifth wheel for them. She also doesn't do much anything outside of combat like other bards would, so....yeah, she's just kind of extra baggage right now. I really hate to say that because she could be a great melee striker, but is just totally overshadowed by the others. As for her player, he's also fairly quiet. He knows the rules really well, and when he does get a chance to speak his mind, he's pretty good.
Alvada, Dwarf Soulknife
Alvada is also a rather new addition to the party, though here that's just because her player already ran through two others (the greedy alchemist (noticing a trend among alchemists?) and the evil druid). She's a fairly good melee fighter and also quite tanky. Not much to say besides that though. Her player loves to be heard. So much so that he flipped out when his microphone started to bug out. He does still speak his mind fairly often, but it's not often that he gives us new ideas to work with. Overall he's a decent guy, just needs to think more critically.
Sinclair, Human Fighter
This guy is the duelist. He loves fighting things and stirring up trouble. He's a very hard hitter, but still quite squishy when things get bad. That's pretty much all he does. He throws his weight around, likes to be a dick, and never take anything seriously. Same goes with his player. It's impossible to have a serious discussion with this guy because he derails conversations every other minute. He also never shuts up, easily talking more than twice as much as anyone else, sometimes even over the DM. He was the ogre that inspired me to do the "Drawing a Line" story, and I don't think I'll ever get along with him. In fact, tomorrow I'll be talking with him to try and tell him that he needs to STFU so that others can actually be heard take part in the game.
Wren, Tiefling Witch (Me)
I don't leave a big impact in most of our fights, but I still make a noticeable difference. My specialty is control spells, and then a limitless supply of hexes that are slow to start, but very crippling to the enemies once they're on a roll. I'm not much help in a big fight against numerous foes, but against a handful of enemies, I can be devastating. My most potent ability is the Slumber hex, which forces the victim to make a will save or fall asleep for several rounds. Sleeping enemies are helpless, so they can be coup de graced by myself or other party members right afterward. It only works on one guy at a time, but if they fail their save, they're essentially dead. For enemies that are immune to sleep, I hit them with Misfortune, which forces them to roll all D20 rolls twice and take the worse result. As I get more powerful, it'll only get better and better.
So that's the rundown of the players. Sorry it's not exactly as funny this time, but I did want to explain that it's really not the entire group that's bad, just a few guys that are making life difficult for the rest of us.
That said, if anyone has any advice for me as to how I should confront the two big problem players or what I should do differently, please tell me below!
