help with a violent party member

Silencher · Post by **Silencher** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:08 pm

Hey guys,

I have a troublesome guy in my team who is something like a half rogue/half fighter, don’t know the levels. He has wings through some kind of demonic feat and is also considered a native outsider. I know his wisdom/con are average and so his will saves and probably his fort are weak. Can you give me some good spells/magic items for dealing with him? The reason I call him troublesome is he has a tendency to literally fight the party for loot. The rest of the party lets it go, but I don’t intend to let him attack my character again and get away with it. My char is a level 9 wizard, int: 20 and access to 5th level spells, he also has a ring of arcane might/ring of protect +2.

FYI: His char is CG, my char is CN. My char is also the party item maker, so suffice to say he isn't getting **** made for him. He always attacks non-lethally, which apparently makes it "OK" for him to do.

What happened is we found a ring and a bow, I used identify to determine what the items were. The bow went immediately to the ranger and like three different PCs grabbed for the ring, I said no, wait a second and the douche immediately tried to grapple my guy to wrestle it away from him. He failed, surprisingly, and then went on to attack my guy. As soon as the first blow landed my guy said that it was enough, handed him the ring(ring of dex+3 by the way) and told him he could have it and not to expect any items to be made for him.

He tends to always be very selfish about loot, when I called him out on it after the above-mentioned incident, he gave the ring to a different person basically to smooth things over.

I honestly have no idea why the party thinks this is okay, except that I am newer to the group than him, as is my character.

I’d rather not KILL him, but something to make him stop being a *EDITED* would be nice.

Siberys · Post by **Siberys** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:27 pm

First off, Silencher, you've been here long enough to know how things work around here. Please don't use profanities or inflammatory remarks.

Secondly, when dealing with someone like that, killing his character won't do much good. Fighting his character won't do anything either. Kick HIM out of the game. If someone is behaving so selfishly and unfairly for a game like this, they don't deserve to play the game.

Silencher · Post by **Silencher** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:49 pm

sorry, this really irked me but I'll watch my mouth.

Unfortunately if it came down to it, it would be me who got kicked I think. The player in question is my cousin and if you've read my threads here you know that I've bumped heads with him in the past. Unfortuantely the DM and he are best friends and I'm the newest one to the group, so him leaving is not an option. I need to deal with this IG if I can. I think if I just give him a good reason to not mess with my guy then he'll back off.

Uller · Post by **Uller** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:34 pm

Hi Silencher,

My thoughts on your situation is basically that you have a player that seems to have his ego fed maybe by his mate the DM.

If I were you I would have a chat with the DM (away from his mate) and just discuss whether or not he is happy with this continuing. If he is then unfortunately you might have to find another group. If the DM is happy with his mate spoiling the game all the time then see how much fun they will have when they have no one else willing to take part.

Within the game have a look if he has good Will saving throws or not....most fighter type classes don't...then proceed to either cast Hold Person on him or cast Charm person on him or even (heaven forbid *yeah right*) polymorph him into a small furry animal....just remember if he comes out of any of these "harmless" spells and attacks you then you waive the "not fair" flag and point out that he was not attacked when he grappled items off of your character each time....

Just remember as a wizard you should always hold the Intelligence high ground. Don't let a rogue/fighter bully take the upper hand within the party.

Eric V · Post by **Eric V** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 9:54 pm

maybe as the item creater u could create a item for his wings and secretly it clips them. or maybe a ring that when he puts it on his finger falls of. that should teach him a lesson the mob way.

Siberys · Post by **Siberys** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:53 pm

Eric V wrote:maybe as the item creater u could create a item for his wings and secretly it clips them. or maybe a ring that when he puts it on his finger falls of. that should teach him a lesson the mob way.

How would that solve anything? If killing his character won't do any good, then hurting it probably won't do any good either. It would make the player more likely to attack the other players, whether in game, or in real life. I've had a couple people get so mad they actually started throwing punches (We had to call the cops on one due to how violent he became).

With these types of players, it needs to be handled delicately, or at least the problem needs to be got rid of.

@Silencher. Does everybody agree that he's being selfish, or are their a couple people who are a bit in disbelief or just don't care due to being "best friends" as you describe? If so, try getting all the players to tally up all there items and their values. See how much gold everybody has. If you and a couple other players have near the same while Mr. Selfish has MUCH more, this then becomes indisputable evidence to the DM that he is playing rather unfairly. A DM should be impartial, special favors to one character while others are left out usually end up on bad terms.

Soontir Fel · Post by **Soontir Fel** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:11 pm

You write something about him being a native outsider, well then you can cast dismissal or banishment on him. Let him play with his goodies on his home plane!

Siberys · Post by **Siberys** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:57 am

Soontir Fel wrote:You write something about him being a native outsider, well then you can cast dismissal or banishment on him. Let him play with his goodies on his home plane!

That's....cheating. What point would that make?

Silencher · Post by **Silencher** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 2:16 am

How is it cheating? He really is outsider native now. I doubt the DM would allow banishment/dismissal to work since technically he was born on the normal plane, material plane or whatever though.

Siberys · Post by **Siberys** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 2:30 am

Silencher wrote:How is it cheating? He really is outsider native now. I doubt the DM would allow banishment/dismissal to work since technically he was born on the normal plane, material plane or whatever though.

Whoops, misinterpreted what Soontir Fel said. I missed the part about him becoming an outsider, so I thought Soontir Fel was saying "Steal his character sheet, write down that he's a native outsider, and then cast a banishment spell on him."

Sorry about that Soontir Fel.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:28 am

Silencher wrote:How is it cheating? He really is outsider native now. I doubt the DM would allow banishment/dismissal to work since technically he was born on the normal plane, material plane or whatever though.

That's all too true. He's an outsider, but one of this plane, so banishment on this plane won't work.
You could buy a scroll of Geas/Quest and cast it on him in his sleep.
Like suggested above, anything with a Will save is fun.
Another neat thing: the xxx- Jar spell. Necromancy, don't remember the specific name. Basicly, you take over his body.

BTW, a demonic feat for a Chaotic GOOD character?

Silencher · Post by **Silencher** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 8:09 am

yeah that seemed fishy to me too. Its a demonic heritage feat from what I understand, is there a rule against a Good character having that? He's got a few from what I understand.

Uller · Post by **Uller** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 5:26 pm

Actually, Silencher you could almost make this work towards your advantage....since this half demonic rogue/fighter character has the majority of the items let him initiate most of all the encounters and take the majority of the "hits" for the team....if he doesn't and just decides to play dumb then just don't help him in battle in any way. My advice is just remember you are the spellcaster and the person who can stand back from the battle. In a lot of cases spellcasters don't need magical items to become powerful so I would start to focus more on your ability to cast spells towards the group rather than making items.

Play the "selfish" wizard card if you have to. After all you are more than likely the most intelligent character in the group. So if you decide not to do something well thats just it. Negotiation within the group can never go astray...

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 7:13 am

They're from Fiendish Codex I, IIRC. I don't have it, but ask if you can page through it. That should allow you to review the feat.

RedneckJedi · Post by **RedneckJedi** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:30 am

Simple. You and the rest of the group does not invite him to play anymore. He is obviously a poor player and does not deserve to be invited back. vote him out of the group.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:31 am

The OP can't do that, read his comment on the social web in the group.

Pellinore · Post by **Pellinore** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:14 pm

I have dealt with players like that before. I would either rally the players to change it and if I couldn't do that... leave the party. No point in playing if there is no fun! Of course, you can be a devious (smart) wizard and arrange an..."accident" here and there. It is always a shame when a wizard mistakenly identifies a cursed item...

jester of fate · Post by **jester of fate** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 5:12 am

maybe you can use the smart wizard thing and cast wall of force on him near a cliff opps.... srry.....

Oskatat · Post by **Oskatat** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 4:29 pm

if he's being selfish, rally the other players to be so too. As long as the cleric (or other healer) is not under a compulsion by his faith to heal everyone who asks for it, he can keep healing from those who don't deserve it. If that works, he just lost the support of 2 powerfull spellcasters

the "i dont help you in combat" card works even better if the cleric agrees to side with you

a very symbolic (and lawfull) way of showing your displeasure would be to say "if we dont get anything, you wont either" and destroy some loot. Harsh, and goes against D&D instincts, but it gets the message through i'd guess

next time he does attack you, just tell him something like this: "lay hands on me again and I'll blast your sorry hide to bits". he knows you can do it, your allignment perfectly allows that and he cant kill you without betraying his allignment... if he does and the DM allows it, find a new group

lastly, if he is allowed to use his superior combat skills to take items from you, you are allowed to use your superior magical skills on him. hold person/monster has been mentioned, as well as charm. balefull polymorph might be a bit extreme, but you can polymorph yourself into a giant and start a grapple. grab the loot and cast greater invisibility on yourself. "suggestion" him to hand over some items. dominate spell would work too... or trap him in a resilient sphere, or hide there yourself. and these are only the friendly options. bestow curse is very nasty.

pAnda_bOi · Post by **pAnda_bOi** » Mon May 19, 2008 5:02 pm

Yo friend.... I've dealt with my fair share of people like this in many different games, I've also been a treasure stealer... heh... good times... but, what everyone is forgetting to mention is that you are in a roleplaying world.... he's bound to fall asleep at some point... and if anything i heard you say that he's a fighter rogue.... maybe in your next couple of levels you can invest some spells learned into Geas, or Greater Geas.... Of course this would requirer 10min of casting, but I'm sure you could find time for this... you could setup a Geas that requires him to never steal or attack other party memebers, and every time he goes against it, he would start feelin the pain... Or better yet, everytime your in a fight, just cast your fireballs and cone of colds on the enemies regaurdless if he's in the way or not....

And like others have said, if he attacks you, just send him to another plain because in the end, baleful polymorph isn't going to amount to much, since he's a fighter... hold works, but only for so long.... but being a fighter that is stuck in a different plain.... this normally amounts to being in a lot of trouble.... as a wizard in the mid lvls, unless he has anti magic field, then there are many ways to deal with him.... there are spells especially made for making enemies stupid.... i mean, he won't be able to do much if you make him have 1 int 1 wis.... well whatever's, heh... if you really wanted you could ask your dm if you can retire your character, and make your next character a half dragon fighter, or a grappler monk, or even a dwarf cleric with high con, and lots of selfish buffs for yourself... duke it out, subdual style every time theres treasure, and let the beefiest win lol.... Rock on~!