So I'm joining a new game with some friends next week, their current party consisting of a sorcerer, a monk and a paladin. My character will be a bugbear barbarian with +3 strength and dex, and the criminal background. I've got higher strength than the paladin, plus almost as high stealth as the monk but with bugbears sneak attack damage. I can lockpick, I can tank, I can track somewhat well...plus I'm the only one who created a backstory, including bonds and flaws, so the DM has already made me a cousin of the upcoming bbeg's bugbear sidekick, so story and rp could easily have some focus on me too.
Naturally my guy is not the brightest nor the most charismatic, so the rest will probably have advantage in rp and intellegence, but I'm scared that I'll become one of those players who take the spotlight from at least the other frontline fighters...did I mention another player will also join as a fighter and is completely new to D&D...I'm particularly scared my guy's strength and tendency to dive into the action could make her feel left out of combat, same with the paladin. Even if I take a step back in rp after my short evil cousin plot arc is over, combat is easily the biggest part of D&D, and hogging it would be insensitive. Plus I'm basically the party rogue with my stealth, surprise damage and the only character with lockpicking.
The DM said that I'll be fine, but I'm nervous that it could possibly cause some annoyance amongst my friends, I really don't want that.
Anyway, thank you all! Any comments or suggestions would be most welcome! Have a nice day! 😃
TLDR: How does a character both powerful in combat and skilled in exploration not hog the spotlight from the other players?
My biggest recommendation would be: communicate with your group.
Let them know that you are worried about this and what you want most is for everyone to have fun. Ask them to let you know during or after the session if they feel they are getting sidelined. Perhaps they will do, and you can talk about ways to work around that. Perhaps they won't, and you'll find the spotlight moves around fine or that people are enjoying watching you get up to crazy things and then joining in afterwards.
How does a character both powerful in combat and skilled in exploration not hog the spotlight from the other players?
You could always not make a character who is both the most powerful in combat and skilled in exploration.
I mean... did the DM force you to make up a bugbear? To play a barbarian? To do both at the same time? Did you random roll stats and just get lucky? Or did you put the stats where you wanted via stat array or point buy?
Unless you had a bunch of restrictions like class, race, or random stats imposed upon you, then it seems to me you made up this character. If you don't want him to be better at everything than everyone else in the party, you are perfectly free to not make him that powerful... aren't you?
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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.
The DM can help a lot. I've seen many campaigns where the spotlight was solely where the DM put it regardless of abilities and backstory.
You've voiced your concerns to the DM. For now, my advice is to trust that the DM will put the spotlight where it must go for the most fun for the group. As long as you don't try to overshadow another player who has the game's or story's focus as directed by the DM, you should be fine.
I also find that metagaming affects the game more when skills/abilities are mismatched. Avoid it if you can, but that's also the responsibility of the group and not just you.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Hi all,
So I'm joining a new game with some friends next week, their current party consisting of a sorcerer, a monk and a paladin. My character will be a bugbear barbarian with +3 strength and dex, and the criminal background. I've got higher strength than the paladin, plus almost as high stealth as the monk but with bugbears sneak attack damage. I can lockpick, I can tank, I can track somewhat well...plus I'm the only one who created a backstory, including bonds and flaws, so the DM has already made me a cousin of the upcoming bbeg's bugbear sidekick, so story and rp could easily have some focus on me too.
Naturally my guy is not the brightest nor the most charismatic, so the rest will probably have advantage in rp and intellegence, but I'm scared that I'll become one of those players who take the spotlight from at least the other frontline fighters...did I mention another player will also join as a fighter and is completely new to D&D...I'm particularly scared my guy's strength and tendency to dive into the action could make her feel left out of combat, same with the paladin. Even if I take a step back in rp after my short evil cousin plot arc is over, combat is easily the biggest part of D&D, and hogging it would be insensitive. Plus I'm basically the party rogue with my stealth, surprise damage and the only character with lockpicking.
The DM said that I'll be fine, but I'm nervous that it could possibly cause some annoyance amongst my friends, I really don't want that.
Anyway, thank you all! Any comments or suggestions would be most welcome! Have a nice day! 😃
TLDR: How does a character both powerful in combat and skilled in exploration not hog the spotlight from the other players?
My biggest recommendation would be: communicate with your group.
Let them know that you are worried about this and what you want most is for everyone to have fun. Ask them to let you know during or after the session if they feel they are getting sidelined. Perhaps they will do, and you can talk about ways to work around that. Perhaps they won't, and you'll find the spotlight moves around fine or that people are enjoying watching you get up to crazy things and then joining in afterwards.
How about just don't grab it.
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"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
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You could always not make a character who is both the most powerful in combat and skilled in exploration.
I mean... did the DM force you to make up a bugbear? To play a barbarian? To do both at the same time? Did you random roll stats and just get lucky? Or did you put the stats where you wanted via stat array or point buy?
Unless you had a bunch of restrictions like class, race, or random stats imposed upon you, then it seems to me you made up this character. If you don't want him to be better at everything than everyone else in the party, you are perfectly free to not make him that powerful... aren't you?
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.
The DM can help a lot. I've seen many campaigns where the spotlight was solely where the DM put it regardless of abilities and backstory.
You've voiced your concerns to the DM. For now, my advice is to trust that the DM will put the spotlight where it must go for the most fun for the group. As long as you don't try to overshadow another player who has the game's or story's focus as directed by the DM, you should be fine.
I also find that metagaming affects the game more when skills/abilities are mismatched. Avoid it if you can, but that's also the responsibility of the group and not just you.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
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Thanks for your answers guys, I agree. As long as there is a conscious effort not to unintentionally overshadow the others, I should be fine I guess.