So I've been playing D&D for a long time and I've been playing with the same group for a while. I'm usually the DM but one of my friends wanted to run his own campaign. He said play something that you've never played before. I decide to play a Halfling Barbarian/Rogue (or Roguebarian). I'd also like to mention that I am being forced to play either Chaotic Neutral or Lawful Evil as those are the only alignments I haven't played before and my DM outlawed CE and NE.
We're about 8 or 9 sessions in and so far we've done a lot of traveling and I've been working with a secret organization (that isn't so secret anymore) that revolves around stealing from nobles. The party's goals however is to collect artifacts for a university. We've done a ton of traveling to new towns so I've been taking my opportunitys to steal from at least 1 person per city. However, my group was becoming increasingly convinced that I was useless.
Since my organization has become "Evil", In the party's eyes, and they don't know I'm a part of it (yet). I've been trying to help out more. I helped defeat a demon with a cursed dagger, became cursed myself. And gained the ability to summon a powerful demon 1 time use. But i can't control it.
I recently completed an objective without the rest of the party. Upon completion they were pissed that I did it without them and got all the credit. This escalated until one of them. The groups warlock. Initiated PVP. The DM quickly brought in another group of adventurers to break up the fight and take us to jail.
My Roguebarian had an issue with that. Probably because I was a thief and also enraged at the time. So I summoned the demon as a distraction while i make my escape, leaving the group to fend for themselves. They did attack me after all. DM rolled on the random demon table and got a Balor demon.
He immediately said "sessions over" and left. Now everyone is pissed at me. Our DM said our Warlock is going to jail. I escaped but not for long. And the rest of the party is just unsure of what to do. As am I...
I offered to help break our Warlock out of jail and we can continue on like nothing happened but our DM isn't going for it. I don't want to have to start a new character like our Warlock. But my DM insists that I do because this is "all my fault".
It appears that your DM is still cutting his teeth and this whole bit has gone completely sideways so that a "simple" solution is not presenting itself immediately to him.
I would say there may be a way to salvage this whole thing but it requires being able to talk to your DM and that he be open to this dialogue. First and foremost, explain your actions to the DM, make sure that he's fully aware of your reasons and intents. Empathize with him, you've been there yourself, that moment when the players do something that is so outlandish that you almost had to wipe the party, scrub the plot line, or it just derails the entire night. Then explain how you might handle the situation, give him some ideas that you might use to work out the situation so that it doesn't kill the campaign and may present him with more fuel to the fire. Explain that you're not trying to tell him what to do, just some ways that he could use the situation to further the game or add to the game. If he's still a novice DM then it might be just the thing he needs to recover from the shock of the situation.
Also, how much of this is the party aware of, is this causing an issue with the rest of the table, or is it only the DM who really had troubles with what happened in that session?
Calling the session may have been a good idea. When you all resume, he may have had a chance to come to terms with the deviation the story took from his preconceived ideas. It happens to the best of us. Over time, we just get better at handling it on the fly.
The rest of the players are fully aware of my character's "behind the scenes" shenanigans. Their characters however were not. Its primarily out of game that they despise my character. But they finally found an opportunity in game to justify their dislike. Which was me taking credit for completing the latest quest since I boasted about it in game.
But up until now the DM has been friendly if not helpful in progressing my subplot within the Caravan. (The shadow organization I am a part of.)
It seems difficult to pinpoint a specific instance when "things went wrong"
Was it when one of the players (the warlock) decided that it was ok to attack another player character?
Was it before that when your evil character was given the ability to summon a demon (that the DM was planning to random roll at the time of summoning)?
PvP rules are something that I always feel should be established out-of-character, whether any kind of PvP action is even allowed at the table (attacking, stealing, political pvp etc), that way it's not a surprise to anyone if/when it happens.
From what you've said, it sounds like the rest of the player characters are neutral or good, whilst you're playing an evil character?
Establishing a narrative that makes it likely for the player characters to want to work together as a group is as much the responsibility of the players (if not moreso) than the DM. It sounds like playing an evil character and working against the wishes of the rest of the characters is something that the players haven't taken well.
PVP is always allowed in our games although discouraged. My group usually attempts to settle disputes in a nonlethal tournament setting once in a while. But this was different because of the difference in alignments and our new DM didn't want to deviate from a group "norm" yet didn't want us to kill each other either. Hence arresting us all. But he didn't account for my demon ability.
As for going "against the players" I haven't done that. I've just been doing things they don't like. I've actually been quite helpful as of late, but I've been overly cocky about it. Which is also part of my character that their characters don't agree with.
Regardless of what else is going on, if your character is making the game less fun for the rest of the players (and DM) then it's probably time to make a new character. D&D is a cooperative game and it's up to everyone to make sure the rest of the group is enjoying themselves. I've played in games with one evil character and the rest good and unless there is a strong reason the evil character must work with the group (my god says I need these people to help me with important quest, etc.) it usually ends in PVP and hurt feelings.
Bravo! I love a good scrap between party members, it makes for interesting interactions and smarter gameplay if you ask me.
Buut a Balor Demon is a thing or two...
As of right now, the DM has to come up with something clever. Maybe there's a high level Wizard or Demon hunter in the area that just happens to be in the city? Is there a Cleric? Maybe their God might choose to intervene? Or maybe the demon is disoriented after having just been summoned and it gives them time to escape?
What happens in the game, stays in the game. I get it's frustrating to start over with a new character. But what's the point of playing if you can't do the unexpected?
1) In my experience it is often a bad idea to have private story lines for individual characters. Why is that one character special? Why do they get to have some cool extra background that affects the game play even if there isn't that much time devoted to it during the session?
2) Why are these folks adventuring together? Are they friends? Acquaintances? Mercenaries for hire? Clearly your character hates the others in the party. You have an item that will summon a demon so you say "screw them, I am mad" summon the demon and run away. Chaotic Evil behaviour at its best to be honest ... but that isn't your alignment and being enraged isn't really an excuse or otherwise you'd just continue to beat on party members until everyone was dead when you are enraged (you do have control of your actions).
3) The DM is a bit inexperienced so I'd cut him some slack but giving a character a one time use, random, uncontrolled demon summoning item is a great recipe for a TPK. In this case the Balor might choose to roast the entire town starting with the bar. It is a CR19 creature. Depending on what it was doing before it was summoned, the first creature it might destroy would be the one that summoned it just for the creatures temerity in doing so ... so depending on the DM your character might not have long to live. The Balor has truesight, can teleport and you won't be able to run very far in the one combat round after it is summoned ... so, at the DMs discretion, your character and potentially all the rest in the party are dead.
4) The only recovery I can see is that the demon takes you in thrall and makes you a fiend warlock (even if your cha is pathetic) perhaps stealing from some of your existing levels (transforming your life essence into something it finds more pleasing). He might even convert one or more of the other party members unless he is just hungry or angry.
5) The DM could step in with some sort of NPC rescue but personally, I wouldn't, you created the mess by summoning a demon on the rest of the party ... so you get to suffer the consequences of the action. Its possible that the Balor might require the party to perform a quest for him (recover an artifact since they are already doing that anyway) and he will spare their pathetic lives. The Balor might also expose your involvement in this organization to get that out in the open and prevent future distractions as you are now his servant and not that other organization.
I've DMed a game in which two of the characters were ultimately incompatible. This was 1e or 2e and one character was a magic hating barbarian and the other a very mischievous gnone illusionist/thief who loved magic. There was a lot of fun interparty tension as the gnome, hid his magic and his collection of magic items from the barbarian (however, somewhere around 9th or 10th level, the party came across a very powerful magic item that the barbarian just felt they had to destroy and the gnome felt they just had to have. It turned into a large interparty conflict (which we had been expecting for some time). The barbarian tried to kill the gnome and the gnome stole the magic item and fled. The player created a new character but the adventure was a lot of fun. In your case however this interparty conflict is clearly not fun for everyone else and the source seems to be the extra plot lines for your character which are making him not part of the party but out there working for himself. Up to you and the DM how you choose to resolve it in the long run.
Hey, party warlock here. I think it's fair to chime in and say he has downplayed my characters problems here. We both feel bad about how things went for the dm but both got a bit too caught up in out characters flaws. I pressed too hard on my warlocks flaw of believing herself to be a god in development, and she took things too personally. The dm seems to like her most of the time, as well as the roguebarian shenanigans and has been enjoying our dynamic of cooperation despite not getting a long. I think the answer is for the dm to use her patron to reel get personality in to be more cooperative.
We are just about to start our next session which will resolve all of this.. I was also mistaken. It was a Goristro rather than a Balor demon. But its a super buffed Goristro. I think we can take it. 4 weeks has been a long break. Our DM has decided we have to fight it. We don't really get a choice.
As for my character having a "special background," well yeah. Everyone made their own character background and the DM okay'd it. Our group is all affiliated with a University that is searching for relics. My character is in it for the money for the Caravan. The Warlock is in it for power to be the god she thinks she is. We have one character who just likes killing people. Everyone has their own personal reasons. Mine isn't special, just more developed.
Also, I'm not trying to make an "excuse" of being enraged or what not. I'm just trying to play my character based on his class and personality. A barbarian can be stealthy, a rogue can be battle-crazed. It just depends on background, affiliation, alignment and stats. (Int, Wis, etc.)
So I've been playing D&D for a long time and I've been playing with the same group for a while. I'm usually the DM but one of my friends wanted to run his own campaign. He said play something that you've never played before. I decide to play a Halfling Barbarian/Rogue (or Roguebarian). I'd also like to mention that I am being forced to play either Chaotic Neutral or Lawful Evil as those are the only alignments I haven't played before and my DM outlawed CE and NE.
We're about 8 or 9 sessions in and so far we've done a lot of traveling and I've been working with a secret organization (that isn't so secret anymore) that revolves around stealing from nobles. The party's goals however is to collect artifacts for a university. We've done a ton of traveling to new towns so I've been taking my opportunitys to steal from at least 1 person per city. However, my group was becoming increasingly convinced that I was useless.
Since my organization has become "Evil", In the party's eyes, and they don't know I'm a part of it (yet). I've been trying to help out more. I helped defeat a demon with a cursed dagger, became cursed myself. And gained the ability to summon a powerful demon 1 time use. But i can't control it.
I recently completed an objective without the rest of the party. Upon completion they were pissed that I did it without them and got all the credit. This escalated until one of them. The groups warlock. Initiated PVP. The DM quickly brought in another group of adventurers to break up the fight and take us to jail.
My Roguebarian had an issue with that. Probably because I was a thief and also enraged at the time. So I summoned the demon as a distraction while i make my escape, leaving the group to fend for themselves. They did attack me after all. DM rolled on the random demon table and got a Balor demon.
He immediately said "sessions over" and left. Now everyone is pissed at me. Our DM said our Warlock is going to jail. I escaped but not for long. And the rest of the party is just unsure of what to do. As am I...
I offered to help break our Warlock out of jail and we can continue on like nothing happened but our DM isn't going for it. I don't want to have to start a new character like our Warlock. But my DM insists that I do because this is "all my fault".
Help?
It appears that your DM is still cutting his teeth and this whole bit has gone completely sideways so that a "simple" solution is not presenting itself immediately to him.
I would say there may be a way to salvage this whole thing but it requires being able to talk to your DM and that he be open to this dialogue. First and foremost, explain your actions to the DM, make sure that he's fully aware of your reasons and intents. Empathize with him, you've been there yourself, that moment when the players do something that is so outlandish that you almost had to wipe the party, scrub the plot line, or it just derails the entire night. Then explain how you might handle the situation, give him some ideas that you might use to work out the situation so that it doesn't kill the campaign and may present him with more fuel to the fire. Explain that you're not trying to tell him what to do, just some ways that he could use the situation to further the game or add to the game. If he's still a novice DM then it might be just the thing he needs to recover from the shock of the situation.
Also, how much of this is the party aware of, is this causing an issue with the rest of the table, or is it only the DM who really had troubles with what happened in that session?
Calling the session may have been a good idea. When you all resume, he may have had a chance to come to terms with the deviation the story took from his preconceived ideas. It happens to the best of us. Over time, we just get better at handling it on the fly.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
The rest of the players are fully aware of my character's "behind the scenes" shenanigans. Their characters however were not. Its primarily out of game that they despise my character. But they finally found an opportunity in game to justify their dislike. Which was me taking credit for completing the latest quest since I boasted about it in game.
But up until now the DM has been friendly if not helpful in progressing my subplot within the Caravan. (The shadow organization I am a part of.)
It seems difficult to pinpoint a specific instance when "things went wrong"
Was it when one of the players (the warlock) decided that it was ok to attack another player character?
Was it before that when your evil character was given the ability to summon a demon (that the DM was planning to random roll at the time of summoning)?
PvP rules are something that I always feel should be established out-of-character, whether any kind of PvP action is even allowed at the table (attacking, stealing, political pvp etc), that way it's not a surprise to anyone if/when it happens.
From what you've said, it sounds like the rest of the player characters are neutral or good, whilst you're playing an evil character?
Establishing a narrative that makes it likely for the player characters to want to work together as a group is as much the responsibility of the players (if not moreso) than the DM. It sounds like playing an evil character and working against the wishes of the rest of the characters is something that the players haven't taken well.
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PVP is always allowed in our games although discouraged. My group usually attempts to settle disputes in a nonlethal tournament setting once in a while. But this was different because of the difference in alignments and our new DM didn't want to deviate from a group "norm" yet didn't want us to kill each other either. Hence arresting us all. But he didn't account for my demon ability.
As for going "against the players" I haven't done that. I've just been doing things they don't like. I've actually been quite helpful as of late, but I've been overly cocky about it. Which is also part of my character that their characters don't agree with.
Regardless of what else is going on, if your character is making the game less fun for the rest of the players (and DM) then it's probably time to make a new character. D&D is a cooperative game and it's up to everyone to make sure the rest of the group is enjoying themselves. I've played in games with one evil character and the rest good and unless there is a strong reason the evil character must work with the group (my god says I need these people to help me with important quest, etc.) it usually ends in PVP and hurt feelings.
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Bravo! I love a good scrap between party members, it makes for interesting interactions and smarter gameplay if you ask me.
Buut a Balor Demon is a thing or two...
As of right now, the DM has to come up with something clever. Maybe there's a high level Wizard or Demon hunter in the area that just happens to be in the city? Is there a Cleric? Maybe their God might choose to intervene? Or maybe the demon is disoriented after having just been summoned and it gives them time to escape?
What happens in the game, stays in the game. I get it's frustrating to start over with a new character. But what's the point of playing if you can't do the unexpected?
There are several things going "wrong" here :)
1) In my experience it is often a bad idea to have private story lines for individual characters. Why is that one character special? Why do they get to have some cool extra background that affects the game play even if there isn't that much time devoted to it during the session?
2) Why are these folks adventuring together? Are they friends? Acquaintances? Mercenaries for hire? Clearly your character hates the others in the party. You have an item that will summon a demon so you say "screw them, I am mad" summon the demon and run away. Chaotic Evil behaviour at its best to be honest ... but that isn't your alignment and being enraged isn't really an excuse or otherwise you'd just continue to beat on party members until everyone was dead when you are enraged (you do have control of your actions).
3) The DM is a bit inexperienced so I'd cut him some slack but giving a character a one time use, random, uncontrolled demon summoning item is a great recipe for a TPK. In this case the Balor might choose to roast the entire town starting with the bar. It is a CR19 creature. Depending on what it was doing before it was summoned, the first creature it might destroy would be the one that summoned it just for the creatures temerity in doing so ... so depending on the DM your character might not have long to live. The Balor has truesight, can teleport and you won't be able to run very far in the one combat round after it is summoned ... so, at the DMs discretion, your character and potentially all the rest in the party are dead.
4) The only recovery I can see is that the demon takes you in thrall and makes you a fiend warlock (even if your cha is pathetic) perhaps stealing from some of your existing levels (transforming your life essence into something it finds more pleasing). He might even convert one or more of the other party members unless he is just hungry or angry.
5) The DM could step in with some sort of NPC rescue but personally, I wouldn't, you created the mess by summoning a demon on the rest of the party ... so you get to suffer the consequences of the action. Its possible that the Balor might require the party to perform a quest for him (recover an artifact since they are already doing that anyway) and he will spare their pathetic lives. The Balor might also expose your involvement in this organization to get that out in the open and prevent future distractions as you are now his servant and not that other organization.
I've DMed a game in which two of the characters were ultimately incompatible. This was 1e or 2e and one character was a magic hating barbarian and the other a very mischievous gnone illusionist/thief who loved magic. There was a lot of fun interparty tension as the gnome, hid his magic and his collection of magic items from the barbarian (however, somewhere around 9th or 10th level, the party came across a very powerful magic item that the barbarian just felt they had to destroy and the gnome felt they just had to have. It turned into a large interparty conflict (which we had been expecting for some time). The barbarian tried to kill the gnome and the gnome stole the magic item and fled. The player created a new character but the adventure was a lot of fun. In your case however this interparty conflict is clearly not fun for everyone else and the source seems to be the extra plot lines for your character which are making him not part of the party but out there working for himself. Up to you and the DM how you choose to resolve it in the long run.
Hey, party warlock here. I think it's fair to chime in and say he has downplayed my characters problems here. We both feel bad about how things went for the dm but both got a bit too caught up in out characters flaws. I pressed too hard on my warlocks flaw of believing herself to be a god in development, and she took things too personally. The dm seems to like her most of the time, as well as the roguebarian shenanigans and has been enjoying our dynamic of cooperation despite not getting a long. I think the answer is for the dm to use her patron to reel get personality in to be more cooperative.
We are just about to start our next session which will resolve all of this.. I was also mistaken. It was a Goristro rather than a Balor demon. But its a super buffed Goristro. I think we can take it. 4 weeks has been a long break. Our DM has decided we have to fight it. We don't really get a choice.
As for my character having a "special background," well yeah. Everyone made their own character background and the DM okay'd it. Our group is all affiliated with a University that is searching for relics. My character is in it for the money for the Caravan. The Warlock is in it for power to be the god she thinks she is. We have one character who just likes killing people. Everyone has their own personal reasons. Mine isn't special, just more developed.
Also, I'm not trying to make an "excuse" of being enraged or what not. I'm just trying to play my character based on his class and personality. A barbarian can be stealthy, a rogue can be battle-crazed. It just depends on background, affiliation, alignment and stats. (Int, Wis, etc.)