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Help with a player that likes the idea of being a caster, but not the mechanics

Help with a player that likes the idea of being a caster, but not the mechanics - Lemmy.World

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11298431 [https://lemmy.world/post/11298431] > I’ve been a DM for about 3 years, and have predominantly run one-shots and short campaigns in DnD5e and PF2e. I have a player who persistently builds primary caster based characters, but then won’t do anything in combat but “I stab it with my dagger.” They rarely use cantrips, and basically won’t cast a leveled spell unless I suggest it immediately before their turn. They seem to enjoy playing despite the fact that they’re far too squishy to be a front-line melee character and don’t utilize most of their class features. I’ve talked with them explicitly about how their play style seems to be discordant with the kind of play they want to do, and that maybe next time they should try a paladin/champion or a fighter/rougue subclass with some minor casting. They agreed at the time that sounded like a good idea, but low and behold showed up to the next one-shot with a primary caster, and over 3 hours of play and 3 combats never cast a single spell, including a cantrip. > > I enjoy playing with this persons as a whole. They are engaged in the fiction, and are particularly engaged during exploration activities. They tell me they also find combat quite fun, and they are requesting I run a mega dungeon in the near future. > > As a general rule, I like to let people play how they have the most fun, but issues have arisen with this play style. Namely, all of my TPKs have been associated with this player charging a squishy character directly up to a significantly stronger villain and continuing to stab it with a dagger until they went down, significantly hindering the party in the action economy and resulting in a TPK. I feel I have to intentionally weaken all of my encounters to keep the party feasible in the face of such mechanically poor combat choices. > > What else can I do to help drive this individual towards melee builds, and/or help encourage them to change their play style to better suite the caster classes they choose?

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mozz Jan 28, 2024

I feel I have to intentionally weaken all of my encounters to keep the party feasible in the face of such mechanically poor combat choices.

I wouldn't necessarily say this is a bad thing... if you have to balance all the encounters as if you had 3 players instead of 4 because one of your PCs is functionally useless in combat, and if this player is okay with their character dying from bad choices once in a while, what's the harm?

It kind of sounds like they just enjoy the role playing aspects and aren't into the mechanics of the game. Which, if that's affecting everyone else's enjoyment in a way you can't fix, then the only real solution is to remove them from the group (or at least indicate to them privately that you might need to if they don't modify what they're doing). But, if it seems like everyone's having fun, I wouldn't necessarily try to force them to care about aspects of the game that they clearly don't care about.

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godzillabacter Jan 28, 2024

I mean it makes the game less fun for me. I enjoy running monsters and tactical combat. I like using cool and powerful monsters (as appropriate for party level). I like using some semblance of strategy and making my monsters behave in a way that is realistic for their stat block. It makes running the game less enjoyable to be faced with the choice of 1. nerf the monsters significantly to remove all real danger to the party and be easily defeated 2. choose suboptimal behaviors to minimize damage to PCs or 3. Risk a TPK on an encounter that shouldn’t normally produce a TPK

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mozz Jan 28, 2024

Hmm… honestly, if it impacts your fun in running the game, then that’s different, yeah. You’re a player too. It’s supposed to be a fun activity and rewarding for everyone. It’s definitely possible that the better answer is for them to find a game that’s a better fit.

They may simply not realize that what they’re doing is impacting other people’s enjoyment of the game. I would talk to them directly in private about it in those terms. If it feels like that’s the issue you’re discussing, it may be more productive than if the conversation is “we don’t like you doing what you enjoy, please play the way we want you to instead” or else “we don’t like you please leave.”

DM Lair has a good video about the issue. Again, I’m not saying that kicking them out is definitely the answer, just offering some feedback based on limited information, for you to be able to make whatever decision you decide.

Removing a Player from Your D&D Group: 8 Warning Signs and How to Do It

YouTube

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eerongal Jan 28, 2024

I feel like there’s probably something else going on here that you’d need to get to the root of before you can solve the issue. I think we’d need to know the why of them never using a spell as a primary caster. Have you had a discussion with them about why they do it this way? Do they just dislike vancian casting? Are they trying to conserve spells? Something else?

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southsamurai Jan 29, 2024

You may not be aware of this, but there is a power word spell that would be perfect for this.

NO!

Works very well.

They show up with a character that makes the rest of the table not have as much fun, you cast power word refusal.

If need be, exercise DM fiat and hand them a character sheet with everything except the fluff already filled in.

Maybe sit down and guide them through rolling up an appropriate class.

There’s really no other long term solution. Short term, you can just let them die a lot, and hope they figure it out. But that fucks the rest of the table. You just gotta teach them how to make the kind of character they actually play.