One of my players is a murder hobo, like full on killed the shopkeeper to steal his goods kind of murder hobo. The players, even the neutral good paladin, seem to easily forget the players actions (these are fairly new players) but they do dislike him. I had the idea to sick a beefy revenant on him. Any thoughts?
Town finds out who killed the shopkeeper (speak with dead is great for this) and the group are now wanted to face punishment for their crimes. The more heinous/senseless the crime, the faster word spreads from town to town. One day, in the not so distant future, the tavern/inn the party is taking rest & refreshment in is going to be surrounded by local militia (town security in larger towns, police in a city, etc) and they are going to be arrested. If the party fights their way out of it, the stakes get higher. The more death, the sooner a KOS order goes out.
Could also have the shopkeeper have powerful relatives who hunt the party down. Murder hobos are just another monster to be taken care of.
Most societies still have "rule of law," though it may take time to get the wheels of justice rolling. If the party is too powerful for a local group to take on, could also RP the "innocent" (they failed to stop their teammate) party members being individually talked to and have the rest of the party subdue the offending one and turn him over for justice to save their own hides.
Consequences are fun. If the town knows about it then the info of the entire party being involved can spread all around the lands. Have people less likely to want to interact with them. Have them shunned. But also have a path to redeem themselves by doing crazy boring stuff.
I won't allow players to kill innocent NPCs and our cleric would never allow the party to do it as well. It's just silly to do unless the npc was wanted or attacked first.
Have the party later on come across a woman and her children on the street. Homeless. Woman can tell a take off how some people came to the village and killed her husband and stealing their goods putting them out of house and home. Tug on some heartstrings.
Depends on if you want to keep playing with him. If you do, there's two options, dealing with it in-game or outside. Outside I would contact him about his alignment, if it's not evil it's very unlikely he murders a shopkeeper just for goods. Unless he has very convincing arguments to do so anyway, I would request him to stick to his alignment and stop disturbing the game for others. If you want to deal with this in-game, I would just blow up the NPC's to be retired assasins that kick his ass on the next attempt, or in walks the local militia as he is committing his acts, is arrested and brought to justice. Heck, if he keeps to it, I even wouldn't mind killing of this character for the sake of really letting things go as they should play out when someone goes on a murdering spree. Or sell him to some slave traders to serve forever under a drow priestess in the underdark as her personal toy :)
If the other players dislike him, start your next session discussing how to deal with this. Let the player know that if he doesn't stay more true to his character he will be booted from the group.
... I would just blow up the NPC's to be retired assasins that kick his ass on the next attempt...
I commonly put retired adventurers in place as bar keeps, merchants, etc. Only once has this issue come up, in an inn, and the rest of the retired party were in rooms upstairs. They all got lair actions. The party quickly realized they were wading into deadly territory and managed to RP their way out of danger... and even got some good intel in the process.
First an out of character talk about Role-Play Terrorism, which is what being a Murder Hobo is really about. I am going to assume you did a Session Zero during which expectations for play were laid out and agreed on. You might have missed the part about "Don't be a Wang-rod!", but do not worry, you can just bring this up now. Explain to all the players that the campaign does have a system of checks and balances or consequences if you will. Ask the players to remember that even though this is a game, it is meant to be played for the enjoyment of all people at the table...not just the Wang-rod.
Then, privately inform the offending player that yes the discussion was indeed directed at them for behavior that occurred. Don't walk on eggshells, they need to man up! Ask them if they understood the point of your conversation and if they are willing to move forward under those conditions. Be aware of potential pushback! A lot of Wang-rods think that they are actually doing a good job playing the game (*childish whine voice on* "I'm just playing my Character! *childish whine voice off*) Do not argue with them, it only gets them excited. Like Dirty Pigs... Just restate the concept of consequences.
If the behavior repeats, 80% plus chances of it happening again, kill the PC (or capture whatever) and refocus on the remaining PCs. At the end if the session, wish the former player a good day and inform them that even though you might like them personally, their playstyle is not acceptable to you.
In-character, the way to deal with it is with appropriate consequences. That PC is now wanted for murder. The other PCs are accomplices. The town guard will come after them, and if they get into a fight instead of going peacefully, that's going to escalate to them being on the fictional country's top-10 most-wanted, with a bounty on their heads, and so a target for various high-level law-enforcement characters (or an alternate party of good-aligned NPCs, come to take down the evil threat to the land (the PCs)).
Out-of-character, the appropriate way to deal with it is to have a talk with the player about why it's not appropriate. He's playing the character of a narcissistic sociopath, and relying on the out-of-character inability of the party to kick him out, when in-character they obviously would.
I do not recommend mixing-and-matching and picking an "in-character" punishment that makes no sense in the world, like sending a revenant after him. Why would a revenant come after a murderer? It's obviously a DM power play, and it seems silly. If you want the PC to just die, you're the DM! "Rocks fall, joe dies".
One of my players is a murder hobo, like full on killed the shopkeeper to steal his goods kind of murder hobo. The players, even the neutral good paladin, seem to easily forget the players actions (these are fairly new players) but they do dislike him. I had the idea to sick a beefy revenant on him. Any thoughts?
Actions have consequences.
Town finds out who killed the shopkeeper (speak with dead is great for this) and the group are now wanted to face punishment for their crimes. The more heinous/senseless the crime, the faster word spreads from town to town. One day, in the not so distant future, the tavern/inn the party is taking rest & refreshment in is going to be surrounded by local militia (town security in larger towns, police in a city, etc) and they are going to be arrested. If the party fights their way out of it, the stakes get higher. The more death, the sooner a KOS order goes out.
Could also have the shopkeeper have powerful relatives who hunt the party down. Murder hobos are just another monster to be taken care of.
Most societies still have "rule of law," though it may take time to get the wheels of justice rolling. If the party is too powerful for a local group to take on, could also RP the "innocent" (they failed to stop their teammate) party members being individually talked to and have the rest of the party subdue the offending one and turn him over for justice to save their own hides.
Consequences are fun. If the town knows about it then the info of the entire party being involved can spread all around the lands. Have people less likely to want to interact with them. Have them shunned. But also have a path to redeem themselves by doing crazy boring stuff.
I won't allow players to kill innocent NPCs and our cleric would never allow the party to do it as well. It's just silly to do unless the npc was wanted or attacked first.
Have the party later on come across a woman and her children on the street. Homeless. Woman can tell a take off how some people came to the village and killed her husband and stealing their goods putting them out of house and home. Tug on some heartstrings.
Depends on if you want to keep playing with him. If you do, there's two options, dealing with it in-game or outside. Outside I would contact him about his alignment, if it's not evil it's very unlikely he murders a shopkeeper just for goods. Unless he has very convincing arguments to do so anyway, I would request him to stick to his alignment and stop disturbing the game for others. If you want to deal with this in-game, I would just blow up the NPC's to be retired assasins that kick his ass on the next attempt, or in walks the local militia as he is committing his acts, is arrested and brought to justice. Heck, if he keeps to it, I even wouldn't mind killing of this character for the sake of really letting things go as they should play out when someone goes on a murdering spree. Or sell him to some slave traders to serve forever under a drow priestess in the underdark as her personal toy :)
If the other players dislike him, start your next session discussing how to deal with this. Let the player know that if he doesn't stay more true to his character he will be booted from the group.
I commonly put retired adventurers in place as bar keeps, merchants, etc. Only once has this issue come up, in an inn, and the rest of the retired party were in rooms upstairs. They all got lair actions. The party quickly realized they were wading into deadly territory and managed to RP their way out of danger... and even got some good intel in the process.
A stacked "Deck of Many Things".
Attack: [roll]3d20dl2+6[/roll] Damage: [roll](if([roll:-1:critical], =0, 1d8, 2{1d8}.expand()))+4[/roll] Sneakattack: [roll](if([roll:-2:critical], =0, 2d6, 2{2d6}.expand()))[/roll]First an out of character talk about Role-Play Terrorism, which is what being a Murder Hobo is really about. I am going to assume you did a Session Zero during which expectations for play were laid out and agreed on. You might have missed the part about "Don't be a Wang-rod!", but do not worry, you can just bring this up now. Explain to all the players that the campaign does have a system of checks and balances or consequences if you will. Ask the players to remember that even though this is a game, it is meant to be played for the enjoyment of all people at the table...not just the Wang-rod.
Then, privately inform the offending player that yes the discussion was indeed directed at them for behavior that occurred. Don't walk on eggshells, they need to man up! Ask them if they understood the point of your conversation and if they are willing to move forward under those conditions. Be aware of potential pushback! A lot of Wang-rods think that they are actually doing a good job playing the game (*childish whine voice on* "I'm just playing my Character! *childish whine voice off*) Do not argue with them, it only gets them excited. Like Dirty Pigs... Just restate the concept of consequences.
If the behavior repeats, 80% plus chances of it happening again, kill the PC (or capture whatever) and refocus on the remaining PCs. At the end if the session, wish the former player a good day and inform them that even though you might like them personally, their playstyle is not acceptable to you.
-Hawk (Strapped to the DMs chair since 1988!)
In-character, the way to deal with it is with appropriate consequences. That PC is now wanted for murder. The other PCs are accomplices. The town guard will come after them, and if they get into a fight instead of going peacefully, that's going to escalate to them being on the fictional country's top-10 most-wanted, with a bounty on their heads, and so a target for various high-level law-enforcement characters (or an alternate party of good-aligned NPCs, come to take down the evil threat to the land (the PCs)).
Out-of-character, the appropriate way to deal with it is to have a talk with the player about why it's not appropriate. He's playing the character of a narcissistic sociopath, and relying on the out-of-character inability of the party to kick him out, when in-character they obviously would.
I do not recommend mixing-and-matching and picking an "in-character" punishment that makes no sense in the world, like sending a revenant after him. Why would a revenant come after a murderer? It's obviously a DM power play, and it seems silly. If you want the PC to just die, you're the DM! "Rocks fall, joe dies".
Talk to the player, tell him that kind of behavior is not appropriate for your game, he needs to stop or he needs to leave.