gsmitty44
Commoner
Killing off my characters' favorite NPC.
Posts: 24 
Favorite D&D Class: Ranger
Favorite D&D Race: Elf
Gender: Male
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Post by gsmitty44 on Dec 2, 2017 18:54:16 GMT
One of my regular players is very high maintenance. He's definitely a slayer, so he's much more focused on battle than everything else. That's not a bad thing, but while everyone else enjoys battle, they're all invested in the story, too. He often derails the other players by starting fights in very delicate situations regarding the plot, or threatening to when he's bored.
In this particular campaign I am actually playing alongside him in a party of four, and a friend of ours is DMing. After two sessions he threatened to leave because the story was "too much investigation," even though we had at least three combat encounters per session. Now our DM wants to bring another friend into our campaign, but this player is AGAIN threatening to leave because he refuses to play in a group that big. Our DM and every other member of our party is totally cool bringing in new people: it's just this guy.
I guess my perspective is that 1) It's not my (or this player's) campaign, so it's not my place to tell the DM what to do, and 2) While it's the DM's job to make sure that everyone is enjoying him/herself, it is still his campaign since he spends the hours planning sessions and writing story. Thus, he gets to make decisions like that.
Are we totally wrong in thinking that a group of 5 is not that big? What is the best course of action? Please advise!
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Post by clark on Dec 2, 2017 19:45:14 GMT
Every campaign I've ever been in has had 5-6 players. I've run a handful of oneshots with 2-4 players and one with 7 (not recommended), but the vast majority of my experience has been with 5-6. For a long running campaign, I think my opinion is that an ideal party size is 5. That's my own personal experience.
But that's kind of a small, subjective point of opinion. I think the real concern is that one player is repeatedly holding the rest of the group hostage to force the game to highlight their character. Sounds like a hostile situation. Maybe I'm picturing something more intense than it was. Am I right in assuming he doesn't like investigation because it doesn't highlight his character? Is his fear that one more player will dilute the spotlight he gets even further? I dunno. Sounds kind of toxic to me.
Hope things get better!
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Post by dmcaleb on Dec 16, 2017 17:27:42 GMT
It is the DMs problem so I wouldn’t worry as a player.
That being said, Players can voice their concern if they feel that ‘screen time’ isnt being distributed well or if there is inter-player conflict.
However, it is the DMs decision who gets to play at the table, since it is his job to create the most fun experience for the group.
I find that the ideal table size is determined by the type of game you want to play. If you want either heavy combat or heavily weave backstories into the plot, I would stay around 4.
If you want to focus less on the individual PCs and just focus on the overarching story with a few smaller combats you can move up to around 6.
That is just my experience though and every DM and table is different.
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Post by Lexurium on Dec 20, 2017 9:10:44 GMT
To the question asked; no, a 5-adventurer party isn't that big. Even in the DM's guide, normal party sizes are 3-5 people (when considering encounters), so in as RAW a way as possible, five people aren't that many.
In my personal experience I've played with parties ranging from two to five players and enjoyed my experiences in different ways. What is important isn't the number of players, but rather the dynamic at the table. Here, I think, we are getting at the heart of the actual problem.
It sounds to me as if you are having trouble communicating with each other concerning this player/situation. We can speculate all day about what this player's problem is, what he/she might be thinking/feeling/wanting, but what needs to be done is to have a conversation with this person about their behaviour, if it is indeed seen as a problem. People are not always as perceptive or responsive as you'd think they'd ought to be, and so the first step is always to openly talk about these things.
Either you will have a constructive conversation where you both get to a mutual undestanding which either changes behaviour or grows acceptance, or you will have a horrible fallout where none of you listens to the other (other outcomes are possible as well, of course, but still). In the first case, great! Everybody wins and your friendship grows stronger. In the second, cut your lossess.
This is absolutely the hardest thing to do when it comes to friends and friendships, but let's talk about what this actually means. This does not mean drop that person as a friend and stop all contact. This simply means maybe you are not compatible in this specific hobby. You obviously still like each other and, I hope, enjoy each others company, so stick to doing the things together that you actually enjoy as a group.
We all love DnD. That is the simple truth. But we love DnD for all that it is and all that it can be, and that is different from person to person, from group to group, and that is OK. What is important to remember is, if you are having fun, keep at it, if you are not, stop doing it. DnD is a hobby, a game, not a job.
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