Alright, so basically, right now I am an intermediate player, I have mostly just played barbarians and fighters for the last few campaigns I have been in, and recently I was able to scrap together a dnd game with around 6 people (It's usually changing a lot). I was really happy to start this, and things were going great up until the players reached level 7, one of the players (who just so happened to be the host) found out about a little spell called Aura of the Guardian. Now, I cannot progress any further into the campaign due to the fact that the host (who I can't kick out) keeps on repeating "I take the damage" whenever a npc gets almost murdered, and now the host keeps on saying that I am terrible at dnd and that I don't know what I'm doing, I'm genuinely thinking about ending my campaign because of this absolutely horrible player, if anybody knows how to deal with this player, please respond as soon as possible.
There’s a few things to unpack here. First and foremost is that no player should ever tell another that they are terrible at dnd or they don’t know what they’re doing. Even if it’s true, it’s unkind and utterly non-constructive. Players should help others to learn not belittle them. Because they are so rude, this player does appear to be a problem however there are a couple of things that give me pause. Why an NPC must die in order to progress the plot is the main thing. There are tons and tons of ways to move a story along without murdering someone within 10’ of the paladin. The general expectation is that the characters prevent such things where possible—the paladin is just doing their job. Why are people even attempting murder within 10’ of a the paladin? Of course that is complicating the situation. If you absolutely must have someone die, do it off screen, where the paladin can’t save them.
That said, is the player using the ability correctly? Are the NPC’s the paladin is saving actually within the aura? Aura of the Guardian is not a spell at all but a 10’ aura. It also takes a reaction to use. Is it being used properly? Because these are built in limitations so that a redemption paladin can’t go around preventing every death that might occur. Always ensure you understand the mechanics your players are using as well as all the other things you need to know about your NPC’s. (DM’ing is hard!) If the paladin is being played properly, you can speak directly to the player to explain that you are having a difficult time. Some things are inherently advantageous to other similar options in the game so perhaps they could tone it down for your sake or maybe even roll a new character. A good player should be happy to oblige IMHO. Talking to people is the solution to most problems at an RPG table.
Ultimately, you’ll have to decide whether this is the group for you based on how things play out after that. As you already acknowledge, it’s unfortunate your difficult player is the host but take heart, DM’s are rare birds—you are pretty much guaranteed to find another game quite easily; it’s possible the other players may even follow you to a new venue. Either way, put your foot down about the nasty comments. When the player sees an error or questions your decisions, they can be polite and kind about it or they can zip it. Or, if you’re not enamoured of forever DM’ing, they can DM since they seem to think they can do better.
I have a really annoying player who playes a loaf of bread as a ranger/fighter. They decided "_______ our allies!" and proceeded to start killing off every major NPC that they could find. The first time this happened the NPC was a little mean and everyone wanted to at least give him a firm talking to. Bread was like "Nope!" and cast fireball, their favorite spell. Then they came upon a wizard who possesed important knowledge that would help the party. Bread decided he hated wizards and cast fireball. I pulled him aside and asked if he could not kill the major NPCs because it was ruining the plot of the whole campaign. (The first NPC that he killed was the main villian but they didn't know it. The reason he was killed buy a fourth level fireball was because he was a shadow villan. He relied on others to fight for him.) He agreed and we played another few sessions before the party met up with their group patron. The patron was a 17th level wizard who wanted the party to figure out who was sabotageing some earth-shaking research. Bread knew he couldn't win and knocked the wizard out. Then he proceeded to take away all material components the wizard had on him, bind the wizard in chains, and then spammed fireball until the wizard was nothing more than ash. Our group unanimously asked him to leave the table.
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- Igglywiv the Wizard
I played every class, now playing every sub-class.
You would not believe how much ADHD helps with creating campaigns!
Dude played a bard that he minmaxed. He tried to get laid with everything. He was a rules lawyer. He got pissed badly when I told him that he didn’t succeed on his death saving throws, so his bard died. He called me a string of swear words, said everyone here was an idiot, threw a temper tantrum and tried (unsuccessfully) to flip over the table. We never saw him again.
There’s a few things to unpack here. First and foremost is that no player should ever tell another that they are terrible at dnd or they don’t know what they’re doing. Even if it’s true, it’s unkind and utterly non-constructive. Players should help others to learn not belittle them. Because they are so rude, this player does appear to be a problem however there are a couple of things that give me pause. Why an NPC must die in order to progress the plot is the main thing. There are tons and tons of ways to move a story along without murdering someone within 10’ of the paladin. The general expectation is that the characters prevent such things where possible—the paladin is just doing their job. Why are people even attempting murder within 10’ of a the paladin? Of course that is complicating the situation. If you absolutely must have someone die, do it off screen, where the paladin can’t save them.
That said, is the player using the ability correctly? Are the NPC’s the paladin is saving actually within the aura? Aura of the Guardian is not a spell at all but a 10’ aura. It also takes a reaction to use. Is it being used properly? Because these are built in limitations so that a redemption paladin can’t go around preventing every death that might occur. Always ensure you understand the mechanics your players are using as well as all the other things you need to know about your NPC’s. (DM’ing is hard!) If the paladin is being played properly, you can speak directly to the player to explain that you are having a difficult time. Some things are inherently advantageous to other similar options in the game so perhaps they could tone it down for your sake or maybe even roll a new character. A good player should be happy to oblige IMHO. Talking to people is the solution to most problems at an RPG table.
Ultimately, you’ll have to decide whether this is the group for you based on how things play out after that. As you already acknowledge, it’s unfortunate your difficult player is the host but take heart, DM’s are rare birds—you are pretty much guaranteed to find another game quite easily; it’s possible the other players may even follow you to a new venue. Either way, put your foot down about the nasty comments. When the player sees an error or questions your decisions, they can be polite and kind about it or they can zip it. Or, if you’re not enamoured of forever DM’ing, they can DM since they seem to think they can do better.
I have a really annoying player who playes a loaf of bread as a ranger/fighter. They decided "_______ our allies!" and proceeded to start killing off every major NPC that they could find. The first time this happened the NPC was a little mean and everyone wanted to at least give him a firm talking to. Bread was like "Nope!" and cast fireball, their favorite spell. Then they came upon a wizard who possesed important knowledge that would help the party. Bread decided he hated wizards and cast fireball. I pulled him aside and asked if he could not kill the major NPCs because it was ruining the plot of the whole campaign. (The first NPC that he killed was the main villian but they didn't know it. The reason he was killed buy a fourth level fireball was because he was a shadow villan. He relied on others to fight for him.) He agreed and we played another few sessions before the party met up with their group patron. The patron was a 17th level wizard who wanted the party to figure out who was sabotageing some earth-shaking research. Bread knew he couldn't win and knocked the wizard out. Then he proceeded to take away all material components the wizard had on him, bind the wizard in chains, and then spammed fireball until the wizard was nothing more than ash. Our group unanimously asked him to leave the table.
- Igglywiv the Wizard
I played every class, now playing every sub-class.
You would not believe how much ADHD helps with creating campaigns!
Dude played a bard that he minmaxed. He tried to get laid with everything. He was a rules lawyer. He got pissed badly when I told him that he didn’t succeed on his death saving throws, so his bard died. He called me a string of swear words, said everyone here was an idiot, threw a temper tantrum and tried (unsuccessfully) to flip over the table. We never saw him again.
Ouch!
- Igglywiv the Wizard
I played every class, now playing every sub-class.
You would not believe how much ADHD helps with creating campaigns!