So my PC's are in a dungeon that somewher in its depths, is a Black Dragon. It's been laying eggs. PC's come across said egg, complete with cultists worshipping, and performing a ritual to make it hatch.
One such 'cultist' is my PC's new character, a Hexblade Warlock in disguise. PC's blunder into the room, and set off a battle between them, the cultists, and a Flameskull that is guarding the egg.
Hexblade grabs the egg in the heat of battle, makes all the checks and yeets out of the room. Gets tripped over by our Ranger, and our Bard grabs the egg and flings it across the cave, smashing it on the floor. BOOM, Black Dragon Wymling (very angry) and this little boy acids sprays everyone in range. Hexblade convinces the Wyrmling that she's a friend, again making some bulls*#t good checks.
Ranger pulls out Dust of Dissapearance and uses it on himself and the Bard. Bard retreats to another chamber to heal himself. The Ranger had been bitten by a vampire a few hours ago and is running out of time to get that sorted before he becomes one himself.
He has decided (in secret) to get the hell out as fast as he can (via a secret entrance they discovered) and seek out a Palladin we met a few sessions ago to cure him.
I hate running dual campaigns, and the other PCs are annoyed at him, he often panics in battle, and this is not the first time he has run off to do some crap on his own...
Any thoughts how to resolve this? I need to know how to deal with the Wyrmling too...(?)
It's how to get the Ranger to re-join the party. They hate how he runs off in a panic. Often it gets to his turn and he's not prepared and will just opt to do nothing, rather than make a decision.
Sounds like a player issue rather than a ranger problem. Have a sit down out of game and discuss with the player. Find out what his motivation for playing is, if he is enjoying the game, discuss his character and it's abilities, make sure the player understands what his character can do. You haven't mentioned if the player is new to the game, his age or anything, all of which might impact his behaviour. Reading your post, I am thinking a young, new player with limited knowledge and experience rather than a problem player.
Yeah, it's splitting the party that pisses me off.
I'm going to have him meet a paladin as soon as he exits the dungeon, who counsels him to get back to his friends.
In Game: I would have the paladin shame the ranger into going back to the party, have him be unable to believe the level of cowardice he showed by running away. It could fit in quite nicely with the paladin thing anyway, but maybe the NPC makes it a condition of healing the vampirism that your ranger must go back and help his comrades.
Out Of Game: It sounds like the player themselves are not 100% confident in how to play in combat. Make them a cheatsheet with what weapons / actions they have available, and give them a heads up to start thinking about their turn when you're dealing with the player before them. When you do get to their turn, you could drop little hints as to what options might work out best for them to take "The goblins are out of range for a melee attack, but certainly in range of your bow or your spells...". If this doesn't work, add in a very ostentatious wink to them when you're saying it!
If they do keep running away, I'd be tempted to just say "f*** it", and improvise a trap or something that shuts him in the combat with the rest of the party until it's all over!
I think you need to have an out of game talk with the ranger player.
It's OK for a player to be unsure what he or she wants to do in a battle and take a few minutes. Sometimes one of my players will get to their turn and not be sure what they want to do or how a power work and start apologizing and I usually just say "Take your time." There is no rush. We're not on the clock. If the ranger knows there is no pressure to come up with something quickly maybe there will be less disorganization.
But if the reaction is to run or do nothing -- in general, that's not acceptable at the table. So you should have a conversation about things. One help is to have a "default" thing your character does, when not sure what to do. For example, fire an arrow at the closest enemy, if not sure what else to do. Maybe help him come up with something like that.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Running dual campaigns is really tough and I can understand where you are coming from. I recently had to railroad a bit (I hate railroading my players), so that my players would even get together. I’d suggest what everyone above suggests honestly.
Is the Ranger played by someone new to game or your group? The hesitancy and risk aversion suggest that unless the player is opting to play a "sandbag" persona and is hesitating or fleeing intentionally. If that's the case, in game coaching by the DM or a player "battle buddy" might be in order. Some would cry out "meta gaming" but there's a need to get this player performing at the rest of the party's level for the benefit of the player and the game. Like BioWizard said, "take your time" is a good prompt, but either you or the "battle buddy" can review the tactical environment, and the options the character has for action and facilitate good decision making. It's like playing chess with someone who only knows the instructions and doing that "are you sure about that move?" intervention. Sure that sort of intervention is technically not allowed in chess, but you're trying to make a better player who you'll enjoy playing with.
Another angle, between the unresolved vampire bite and the dragon nest ... there's a lot going on in your game. Experience players could arguably handle the business, but I think a dynamic with a vampire's curse being "your problem, PC" outside of the regular trajectory of the game may put a little bit of a heavy demand on a player depending experience level. Does the rest of the party know of the bite? Seems odd to continuing venturing forth along the main adventure plot with that liability literally sleeping among them.
BioWizard's "default" action is sound advice/coaching too. I have a party member who has hesitancy or "freezes" up in combat too, since the characters a cleric the default/coaching has been to take up a rearguard or backstop position and prepare healing/support magic (in game it sounds like this DM: "PC Name?" PC: "uhhhh..." DM (after a ten count): "So PC name, we'll just be seeing you post up by the door with weapon in hand and healing spells ready per the usual drill?" PC: yeah!). After a round or two they "find a hole" so to speak to get into and help.
sounds like the ranger might need to run into a dangerous situation. you may need to throw an encounter at him. running off on his own, and leaving the party should have some consequences.
A traditional option for people who go off on their own is that they run into an encounter that would be decently challenging for the entire party, and thus learn "going off on your own is dangerous".
I agree with the previous posters who suggest a 2 pronged approach.
1. Help this player in combat via cheat sheets/hints/battle buddies. Give him a default combat action, like shooting an arrow if he can't think of anything else to do. Help him understand that this is a cooperative game, and that thegroup will help him tackle the impending vampirism. He seems panicked that if he doesn't get it fixed all by himself, he's toast. Perhaps that is the case with this group as it stands. If the rest of the group doesn't care about the fate of their teammate, time to talk to them out of game too.
2. Set boundaries: Whenever I start feeling annoyed, I check to see what boundaries I need to set with people. In this case (and I could be mistaken), it sounds like you feel your time and attention are being divided in a way you don't like. You can simply tell your player, "You can go off on your own, but out of respect for the other players' time, I won't run a separate adventure for you. Your character will just be "off somewhere" wandering around. If there's something your character feels they need to do, they can talk with the group."
Then encourage everyone to work as a team. Presumably, everyone has their own "vampire bite" (or something) at some point, and will need help resolving it.
A traditional option for people who go off on their own is that they run into an encounter that would be decently challenging for the entire party, and thus learn "going off on your own is dangerous".
That is one approach, although I think the DM should at least warn the player it's dangerous, and not just blindside them with a big attack. Especially if it's a new player.
I don't want my players to wonder if I (the DM) am secretly annoyed with them for something they unwittingly did "wrong," and thus will smite them. If there's a problem, we can resolve it out of the game.
It feels like you've got plenty of suggestions to deal with the ranger, so I have nothing to add there.
Regarding the wyrmling (assuming you'd rather not let you players have a pet dragon), I think it would be good to play with the fact that the Wyrmling was "hatched" by getting smashed across a stone floor. Say there were (obviously) complications with the hatching, maybe it was underdeveloped or simply damaged by the abrupt birth. You can say the wyrmling is quickly dying due to these complications, and eventually... the wyrmling isn't a problem anymore.
Of course, it might be pretty underwhelming if the wyrmling up and dies, so give the players the opportunity to seek out treatment, turn it into a side quest to keep their little dragon buddy alive. If at that point you're still determined to let the wyrmling die, take a reoccurring villain or introduce a new one to get in the way somehow (doesn't have to be an intentional attempt to kill the wyrmling). This prevents them from getting the resources they need in time, so the wyrmling dies. Suddenly, you have a good way to instill a strong sense of disdain towards a bad guy without him needing to destroy a town or directly kill an essential NPC or anything like that.
Regarding the wyrmling (assuming you'd rather not let you players have a pet dragon), I think it would be good to play with the fact that the Wyrmling was "hatched" by getting smashed across a stone floor.
The other option is... it's still a dragon. Being friendly to the PCs does not mean it can't also be a greedy, destructive bully with the attention span and self-control of a five year old.
Regarding the wyrmling (assuming you'd rather not let you players have a pet dragon), I think it would be good to play with the fact that the Wyrmling was "hatched" by getting smashed across a stone floor.
The other option is... it's still a dragon. Being friendly to the PCs does not mean it can't also be a greedy, destructive bully with the attention span and self-control of a five year old.
Or five hour old....
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
So has your player been presented with a path to cure his vampirism apart from the paladin? I can understand why they consider it a priority if you have given them a time limit and they don’t want to be a vampire. Having players split the party can be frustrating but if the players are given logical reasons to do it it’s hard to blame them.
I am also a little confused? Was the party already split? You said one of was pretending to be a cultist but the other players didn’t know and ended up getting in her way? Unless I have misinterpreted that it sounds like you are happy to split for one player but not this one.
I agree with others that you need to talk to the player but I think you are letting your frustrations with the players lack of confidence in battle interweave with this particular situation. You presented a player with a “bad thing has happened and you have x amount of time to do something about” so they prioritised it above the adventure. I get you don’t want to split the party but it sounds like you gave the player few other choices.
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So my PC's are in a dungeon that somewher in its depths, is a Black Dragon. It's been laying eggs. PC's come across said egg, complete with cultists worshipping, and performing a ritual to make it hatch.
One such 'cultist' is my PC's new character, a Hexblade Warlock in disguise. PC's blunder into the room, and set off a battle between them, the cultists, and a Flameskull that is guarding the egg.
Hexblade grabs the egg in the heat of battle, makes all the checks and yeets out of the room. Gets tripped over by our Ranger, and our Bard grabs the egg and flings it across the cave, smashing it on the floor. BOOM, Black Dragon Wymling (very angry) and this little boy acids sprays everyone in range. Hexblade convinces the Wyrmling that she's a friend, again making some bulls*#t good checks.
Ranger pulls out Dust of Dissapearance and uses it on himself and the Bard. Bard retreats to another chamber to heal himself. The Ranger had been bitten by a vampire a few hours ago and is running out of time to get that sorted before he becomes one himself.
He has decided (in secret) to get the hell out as fast as he can (via a secret entrance they discovered) and seek out a Palladin we met a few sessions ago to cure him.
I hate running dual campaigns, and the other PCs are annoyed at him, he often panics in battle, and this is not the first time he has run off to do some crap on his own...
Any thoughts how to resolve this? I need to know how to deal with the Wyrmling too...(?)
This sounds complicated. What exactly is your question?
The Wyrmling will probably keep treating you as a friend unless you attack her.
Is the annoying part the splitting the party? Don't let them split the party.
Yeah, it's splitting the party that pisses me off.
I'm going to have him meet a paladin as soon as he exits the dungeon, who counsels him to get back to his friends.
It's how to get the Ranger to re-join the party. They hate how he runs off in a panic. Often it gets to his turn and he's not prepared and will just opt to do nothing, rather than make a decision.
Sounds like a player issue rather than a ranger problem. Have a sit down out of game and discuss with the player. Find out what his motivation for playing is, if he is enjoying the game, discuss his character and it's abilities, make sure the player understands what his character can do. You haven't mentioned if the player is new to the game, his age or anything, all of which might impact his behaviour. Reading your post, I am thinking a young, new player with limited knowledge and experience rather than a problem player.
In Game: I would have the paladin shame the ranger into going back to the party, have him be unable to believe the level of cowardice he showed by running away. It could fit in quite nicely with the paladin thing anyway, but maybe the NPC makes it a condition of healing the vampirism that your ranger must go back and help his comrades.
Out Of Game: It sounds like the player themselves are not 100% confident in how to play in combat. Make them a cheatsheet with what weapons / actions they have available, and give them a heads up to start thinking about their turn when you're dealing with the player before them. When you do get to their turn, you could drop little hints as to what options might work out best for them to take "The goblins are out of range for a melee attack, but certainly in range of your bow or your spells...". If this doesn't work, add in a very ostentatious wink to them when you're saying it!
If they do keep running away, I'd be tempted to just say "f*** it", and improvise a trap or something that shuts him in the combat with the rest of the party until it's all over!
I think you need to have an out of game talk with the ranger player.
It's OK for a player to be unsure what he or she wants to do in a battle and take a few minutes. Sometimes one of my players will get to their turn and not be sure what they want to do or how a power work and start apologizing and I usually just say "Take your time." There is no rush. We're not on the clock. If the ranger knows there is no pressure to come up with something quickly maybe there will be less disorganization.
But if the reaction is to run or do nothing -- in general, that's not acceptable at the table. So you should have a conversation about things. One help is to have a "default" thing your character does, when not sure what to do. For example, fire an arrow at the closest enemy, if not sure what else to do. Maybe help him come up with something like that.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Running dual campaigns is really tough and I can understand where you are coming from. I recently had to railroad a bit (I hate railroading my players), so that my players would even get together. I’d suggest what everyone above suggests honestly.
Is the Ranger played by someone new to game or your group? The hesitancy and risk aversion suggest that unless the player is opting to play a "sandbag" persona and is hesitating or fleeing intentionally. If that's the case, in game coaching by the DM or a player "battle buddy" might be in order. Some would cry out "meta gaming" but there's a need to get this player performing at the rest of the party's level for the benefit of the player and the game. Like BioWizard said, "take your time" is a good prompt, but either you or the "battle buddy" can review the tactical environment, and the options the character has for action and facilitate good decision making. It's like playing chess with someone who only knows the instructions and doing that "are you sure about that move?" intervention. Sure that sort of intervention is technically not allowed in chess, but you're trying to make a better player who you'll enjoy playing with.
Another angle, between the unresolved vampire bite and the dragon nest ... there's a lot going on in your game. Experience players could arguably handle the business, but I think a dynamic with a vampire's curse being "your problem, PC" outside of the regular trajectory of the game may put a little bit of a heavy demand on a player depending experience level. Does the rest of the party know of the bite? Seems odd to continuing venturing forth along the main adventure plot with that liability literally sleeping among them.
BioWizard's "default" action is sound advice/coaching too. I have a party member who has hesitancy or "freezes" up in combat too, since the characters a cleric the default/coaching has been to take up a rearguard or backstop position and prepare healing/support magic (in game it sounds like this DM: "PC Name?" PC: "uhhhh..." DM (after a ten count): "So PC name, we'll just be seeing you post up by the door with weapon in hand and healing spells ready per the usual drill?" PC: yeah!). After a round or two they "find a hole" so to speak to get into and help.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
sounds like the ranger might need to run into a dangerous situation. you may need to throw an encounter at him. running off on his own, and leaving the party should have some consequences.
A traditional option for people who go off on their own is that they run into an encounter that would be decently challenging for the entire party, and thus learn "going off on your own is dangerous".
I agree with the previous posters who suggest a 2 pronged approach.
1. Help this player in combat via cheat sheets/hints/battle buddies. Give him a default combat action, like shooting an arrow if he can't think of anything else to do. Help him understand that this is a cooperative game, and that the group will help him tackle the impending vampirism. He seems panicked that if he doesn't get it fixed all by himself, he's toast. Perhaps that is the case with this group as it stands. If the rest of the group doesn't care about the fate of their teammate, time to talk to them out of game too.
2. Set boundaries: Whenever I start feeling annoyed, I check to see what boundaries I need to set with people. In this case (and I could be mistaken), it sounds like you feel your time and attention are being divided in a way you don't like. You can simply tell your player, "You can go off on your own, but out of respect for the other players' time, I won't run a separate adventure for you. Your character will just be "off somewhere" wandering around. If there's something your character feels they need to do, they can talk with the group."
Then encourage everyone to work as a team. Presumably, everyone has their own "vampire bite" (or something) at some point, and will need help resolving it.
That is one approach, although I think the DM should at least warn the player it's dangerous, and not just blindside them with a big attack. Especially if it's a new player.
I don't want my players to wonder if I (the DM) am secretly annoyed with them for something they unwittingly did "wrong," and thus will smite them. If there's a problem, we can resolve it out of the game.
It feels like you've got plenty of suggestions to deal with the ranger, so I have nothing to add there.
Regarding the wyrmling (assuming you'd rather not let you players have a pet dragon), I think it would be good to play with the fact that the Wyrmling was "hatched" by getting smashed across a stone floor. Say there were (obviously) complications with the hatching, maybe it was underdeveloped or simply damaged by the abrupt birth. You can say the wyrmling is quickly dying due to these complications, and eventually... the wyrmling isn't a problem anymore.
Of course, it might be pretty underwhelming if the wyrmling up and dies, so give the players the opportunity to seek out treatment, turn it into a side quest to keep their little dragon buddy alive. If at that point you're still determined to let the wyrmling die, take a reoccurring villain or introduce a new one to get in the way somehow (doesn't have to be an intentional attempt to kill the wyrmling). This prevents them from getting the resources they need in time, so the wyrmling dies. Suddenly, you have a good way to instill a strong sense of disdain towards a bad guy without him needing to destroy a town or directly kill an essential NPC or anything like that.
The other option is... it's still a dragon. Being friendly to the PCs does not mean it can't also be a greedy, destructive bully with the attention span and self-control of a five year old.
Or five hour old....
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
So has your player been presented with a path to cure his vampirism apart from the paladin? I can understand why they consider it a priority if you have given them a time limit and they don’t want to be a vampire. Having players split the party can be frustrating but if the players are given logical reasons to do it it’s hard to blame them.
I am also a little confused? Was the party already split? You said one of was pretending to be a cultist but the other players didn’t know and ended up getting in her way? Unless I have misinterpreted that it sounds like you are happy to split for one player but not this one.
I agree with others that you need to talk to the player but I think you are letting your frustrations with the players lack of confidence in battle interweave with this particular situation. You presented a player with a “bad thing has happened and you have x amount of time to do something about” so they prioritised it above the adventure. I get you don’t want to split the party but it sounds like you gave the player few other choices.