In my dungeons and dragons game, i have one player. And at the start of our session, he trys to mug a guy with a large sack of coins. However, the guy with a sack of coins was a wizard, and easily killed him. To prevent him from looseing, i was forced to have someone give him a free healing potion. This reapeted several times. Does anyone have advice on how to deal with this? If you do, please share.
Is it normal for a wizard to kill a thief instead of handing him over to the guards? You might want to reconsider how fast NPCs decides to kill people.
If it does get to a point where the NPCs want to kill him, and he still continues doing stuff like that... Kill him. Some players simply need a few character deaths before they understand that their actions, in fact, have consequences.
If he is off alone instead of outright killing him, have his character be captured instead. Perhaps held by the town guard after being reported on and turned in. Or in an interesting scenario have the sorcerer take them to their tower for experimentation. In another circumstance when he tried stealing the sack of coins, what if the sorcerer knew heat metal and caused the sack to damage him either as a whole, or coin by coin forcing him to drop it and loosing the ability to use his hands through severe burning until they were healed and had to go back to the group/find aid? Maybe he could steal a cursed item, or actually start off a quest line from stealing from the wrong individual?
This also sounds like the player isn't invested in his character. Have him write a real backstory. Nothing less than three pages of coherent backstory with names of other people he has interacted with growing up. If death doesn't seem to be a threat, there are other things you can do to him. Have the wizard cast "hold" on him, and sell him to slavers (or the city guard, who sentences him to a rock pit... but a corrupt guard sells him into slavery before he is taken away). Take away all his gear, put him on a ship and give him a few chances to try to escape to sea before he arrives in a distant port and is put in a gladiator arena.
Even nice guys don't suffer stupid thieves...
Make him feel like he earns his freedom over many many bouts. If he survives that, he probably won't be stealing again. If so, maybe he's a glutton for punishment and ends up in the underdark this time. There are worse things than death...
Have to say, if the player is facing no real consequence for failing their muggings, then they aren't really insane for doing what they are doing at all.
Next time, have a reasonable consequence ready and use it. You've conditioned the player to believe death is not going to happen, so if you change your mind on that, give them a heads up first. Otherwise, knock them out or capture them, hand them over to the guard, make them pay a significant fine and or spend some time in jail, missing out on whatever the rest of the party is up to for a period of time (part of a session).
If they keep it up they could gain a bad reputation, or gain the unwanted interest of a gang of criminals, or they pick the wrong target and end up dead, maimed, or made a slave. Could end up being a lot of fun!
This is all good advice, but you have a problem I think is unaddressed. Your player has different expectations in the game. It could be lack of immersion in fantasy rpgs/books/movies. The first thing that sprung to my mind when reading your post was Skyrim. That is a “sandbox” game if there ever was one. What I would suggest is sitting down with your player and hashing out what you each imagine and want in a d&d game.
Make him be the DM, and do the same. See what he thinks.
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"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing) You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
Make him be the DM, and do the same. See what he thinks.
This might not be the best idea. Looking at the OPs prior posts it implies that this is a pair of siblings. I might be projecting here, but the OP seems to be the older sibling, and advice of turn about is fair play is bad advice regardless. Communication is the key I think. In this case, it could just be that the player is used to just acting with no thought for consequences. Skyrim again comes to mind because I see my own son playing the game and pretty much stealing anything not bolted down hoping for the skill up. Maybe, just maybe the player has similar expectations. Again, I suggest they have a hash it out session to lay out what each of them expects out of the game.
Any NPC thief that tries to rob a PC wizard probably wouldn't survive after the second failed attempt. PC thieves wouldn't suffer a different fate. Just kill him off. Some folks on learn the hard way.
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In my dungeons and dragons game, i have one player. And at the start of our session, he trys to mug a guy with a large sack of coins. However, the guy with a sack of coins was a wizard, and easily killed him. To prevent him from looseing, i was forced to have someone give him a free healing potion. This reapeted several times. Does anyone have advice on how to deal with this? If you do, please share.
Is it normal for a wizard to kill a thief instead of handing him over to the guards? You might want to reconsider how fast NPCs decides to kill people.
If it does get to a point where the NPCs want to kill him, and he still continues doing stuff like that... Kill him. Some players simply need a few character deaths before they understand that their actions, in fact, have consequences.
If he is off alone instead of outright killing him, have his character be captured instead. Perhaps held by the town guard after being reported on and turned in. Or in an interesting scenario have the sorcerer take them to their tower for experimentation. In another circumstance when he tried stealing the sack of coins, what if the sorcerer knew heat metal and caused the sack to damage him either as a whole, or coin by coin forcing him to drop it and loosing the ability to use his hands through severe burning until they were healed and had to go back to the group/find aid? Maybe he could steal a cursed item, or actually start off a quest line from stealing from the wrong individual?
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This also sounds like the player isn't invested in his character. Have him write a real backstory. Nothing less than three pages of coherent backstory with names of other people he has interacted with growing up. If death doesn't seem to be a threat, there are other things you can do to him. Have the wizard cast "hold" on him, and sell him to slavers (or the city guard, who sentences him to a rock pit... but a corrupt guard sells him into slavery before he is taken away). Take away all his gear, put him on a ship and give him a few chances to try to escape to sea before he arrives in a distant port and is put in a gladiator arena.
Even nice guys don't suffer stupid thieves...
Make him feel like he earns his freedom over many many bouts. If he survives that, he probably won't be stealing again. If so, maybe he's a glutton for punishment and ends up in the underdark this time. There are worse things than death...
Have to say, if the player is facing no real consequence for failing their muggings, then they aren't really insane for doing what they are doing at all.
Next time, have a reasonable consequence ready and use it. You've conditioned the player to believe death is not going to happen, so if you change your mind on that, give them a heads up first. Otherwise, knock them out or capture them, hand them over to the guard, make them pay a significant fine and or spend some time in jail, missing out on whatever the rest of the party is up to for a period of time (part of a session).
If they keep it up they could gain a bad reputation, or gain the unwanted interest of a gang of criminals, or they pick the wrong target and end up dead, maimed, or made a slave. Could end up being a lot of fun!
Just locking him in jail wouldnt work, as i only have one player. However, i like your suggestion of having a consequence.
This is all good advice, but you have a problem I think is unaddressed. Your player has different expectations in the game. It could be lack of immersion in fantasy rpgs/books/movies. The first thing that sprung to my mind when reading your post was Skyrim. That is a “sandbox” game if there ever was one. What I would suggest is sitting down with your player and hashing out what you each imagine and want in a d&d game.
Make him be the DM, and do the same. See what he thinks.
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing)
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
Any NPC thief that tries to rob a PC wizard probably wouldn't survive after the second failed attempt. PC thieves wouldn't suffer a different fate. Just kill him off. Some folks on learn the hard way.