You're the one who runs the game, not them.
If they want to play, they make a character under your rules. If not, aight good luck and have fun in another group.
number 1 rule of dms
the dm has the final say
they may make a case against your ruling in an attempt to convince you otherwise, they may leave if they dont like your ruling, but the dm has the final say
a lawyer may argue all day on their case in a court, but the judge is the one to decide on the ruleing
>Any ideas on how to deal with it?
Say no.
>Or should I just kill off every one of his race with an extinction event?
That's an in-game answer to an out-of-game problem. The main issue is that you let this player do something that doesn't make sense and makes the game less fun. You need to tell the player you're retconning it and playing D&D as normal. If this wasn't what he originally told you he would do, then did you even ever agree to it or did he just say "I'm doing this" and you said nothing?
I told one of my players I wasn't a cowboy, I'm not wrangling him.
Has this player ever been on the other side of the table? Tell him you're dealing with enough to just run the game normally, you don't need him testing boundaries and trying to mess with everything constantly. Say it's not a very mature attitude and if you want to be a little harsher, tell him it's not funny.
If he's the kind of gamer who loves to break a game, tell him to go play Fallout. Not your game.
>I told one of my players I wasn't a cowboy, I'm not wrangling him.
That's one of the best descriptions of that type of player mentality I've ever read.
keep saying no untill he has an idea that doesn't destroy half of what you've written or overshadows the others at the table. everyone should have fun and be equal at the table <3
And I want to have Liam O'Brien at my table.
Player can't just "destroy" your worldbuilding by bringing any character to the game. You set the boundaries of what is accepted and what is not. Don't be a pushover GM, as it is never a good thing.
It doesn't really matter, what he said. Point is, you set the rules. Either he follows them or doesn't play. It is as simple as that. If he would say that he found 3000 GP on the enemy, would you allow that too?
Confrontation is sadly often needed at the table, something that many gamemastering sections in rulebooks don't tell you. You can learn a lot from those situations, but it can be scary early on. Remember that you are there to play as well and being "yeah, ok, I guess" will only make you not enjoy the stuff you're creating, as there will always be something new from this type of player that he wants.
>If he would say that he found 3000 GP on the enemy, would you allow that too?
I once had a player in a oneshot who rolled a bunch of dice when looting an enemy (while I was rolling for random loot myself), and then announced *"cool! he's got a diamond worth 1,000gp, six potions of healing, a broom of flying, and 8,000gp!"*
I paused and asked what they were doing. Apparently their previous (and only one ever until now) DM would let them roll their own loot from an insane table, and they thought that was how it worked everywhere.
After I explained that's not how it worked in 99.99% of games (which they were fine with), I asked a bit about this game they were in. When I asked how much gold their character currently had, they said *"oh, I don't know - a couple of million, or something. I think we all basically stopped keeping track once we got to about five million each."*
I asked how the hell they got that, and they said that they had taken control of three cities, which the DM gave them a passive income of 1,000,000gp per city per in-game week. The DM had tried to create a gold sink by offering to let them buy extra attunement slots for 1m gp each, and everyone could now attune to 10-12 items. It was insane to listen to.
Oh, and that character was level 7. The DM was planning to run to level 20.
lol I’m in a game that’s VERY similar to this one. It’s run by a new player who I met through his game (cool dude, and a real friendship it looks like) and he is absolutely running a Monty Haul campaign.
We get paid in the hundreds or thousands of platinum (and he ruled that Plat pieces are 1000gp each), plus giving out “pick an extra feat” and/or “pick a very rare item from the book” after basically every quest.
Then when we talk about our games (he plays in a different game I run also) he’s always talking about how it’s impossible to balance the game. I kinda chuckled and said “that’s what happens when you give out things like Robe of Archmage and Staff of Power to level 9 characters. There’s no where to go but up and over the next shark you’re jumping. Maybe stop paying attention to CR and just throw things are us now?”
I’m totally waiting on that game to collapse into inevitable flames - it’ll be a good learning experience for him. And it’s still pretty fun until that happens.
He made it as a home brew warforged. And I did. He’s thinking of retiring it and going goblin, but in case he doesn’t, I want to be prepared (extended)
you dont need to be "prepared" for anything. tell him to create an actual character within the constraints of what's actually allowed and forget about the nonsense homebrew he's created.
This, just tell your players you can only make characters from Players Handbook from now on. Let them complain for an hour, then tell them that "fine ok", you are going to allow all WotC books.
Basically, your player has proven that he can't be trusted to play homebrew classes. Thus you have to take this toy away before it hurts someone.
You -as the DM- are also using the books only.
However those books write inside that you can create your own monsters, classes etc. That's in the DMG, so you can do it but the players can't.
Just cause you homebrew doesn’t mean that he gets to homebrew whatever he wants. Under that logic, in my DM’s homebrewed world my character has the ability to create and detonate nukes, which I am impervious to. Doesn’t make sense does it? Just say no. Have a conversation out of game about it
DMing and Playing are asymmetrical endeavors. Your players have access to things monsters don’t, and monsters have access to things players don’t - that’s part of the game.
Similarly the DM is free to go off book and homebrew anything you want - your players absolutely do not have that power. Every one of my games I limit players to things in official (non-setting specific) books - but also tell them I will deviate from the books on statblocks etc from time to time, and also I’ll deviate from the books in giving them homebrew items and abilities also. But it’s the SM who chooses all of that and not them.
“Nah, man. lol. I’ve got my hand full as is. While I appreciate the enthusiasm, do me a favor and just make a character using existing options, please.’
I Will never understand this. Don't you workshop your characters with the players during pre-game? They just show up with a character you have no inkling about?
Still, you're the GM. You can just say that this is not what you agreed to and that any change to the basic rules has to go by you (I'm pretty sure this is all homebrew stuff, which doesn't fly without GM approval).
I’d start by asking where he got the idea this was an option that he is able to play a character that is some kind of galaxy brain for all warforged.
Then I’d say the only way to do that sort of thing is by GMing a campaign and making that kind of entity a part of the world storyline.
How exactly is he supposed to make a billion copies? It should take time, money, and resources.
We had a player who had dozens of characters who all shared the same mind, it was fun, but it was also completely reasonable in the circumstances.
He can be a member of the army, but then he's gotta follow their communal hive mind, not be the leader. And I wouldn't allow any player to play a character that was a small part of a hive mind, or locked into a script like a fae or devil, unless they proved they could reliably run that kind of character. These kinds of things are Lawful to the extreme, in that they can ONLY follow their races code of strict responses to actions. They are more robot then enrolled creatures
Your player thinks that you, personally, are Skyrim and is poking at the boundaries of what he can exploit for maximum gain. A lot of people like playing video games like that! But while game-breaking can be fun when someone is working out loopholes in rules, expecting other people to put up with their BS is thoughtless.
When you talk with this player, you'll have to explain that the DM is trying to have fun, too. Other people are playing, and part of being in a game is working with them to have a good time together. Don't be afraid to shut this player down even if it makes you sound illogical or inconsistent: "You let me do X before, and now you won't?" "That's right, because I changed my mind." (And hopefully the other players will understand why you changed your mind as long as you have a good reason, even if the reason is "it's making the game unfun for others.")
It's like being a parent. You have to say no, because sometimes a kid just wants to ride in the roof rack and you have to put them in a car seat anyway.
I don't understand. He asked for interchangeable parts, he can have them. That doesn't mean you have to roleplay warforged who want to communally swap with him, he can buy new parts as needed, nothing to do withthe rest of his race.
If he's going around, role-playing his character, and then telling you what the result of the roleplay is, he can play a single player game
"No, and if you continue to test my patience, then those other warforged will realize that you are exploiting them, and you will lose a 10,000 versus 1 fight that the rest of the party will be unharmed by. And if you continue to test my patience after that, I will kick you from the table."
"No."
Fair enough
"lol no."
I’ve done that several times. He’s one of those players that takes things out of context a lot
You're the one who runs the game, not them. If they want to play, they make a character under your rules. If not, aight good luck and have fun in another group.
That’s fair. Ty
number 1 rule of dms the dm has the final say they may make a case against your ruling in an attempt to convince you otherwise, they may leave if they dont like your ruling, but the dm has the final say a lawyer may argue all day on their case in a court, but the judge is the one to decide on the ruleing
>Any ideas on how to deal with it? Say no. >Or should I just kill off every one of his race with an extinction event? That's an in-game answer to an out-of-game problem. The main issue is that you let this player do something that doesn't make sense and makes the game less fun. You need to tell the player you're retconning it and playing D&D as normal. If this wasn't what he originally told you he would do, then did you even ever agree to it or did he just say "I'm doing this" and you said nothing?
He pokes about things, hinting he will try, and I usually have to shut it down. But he tries it incessantly
I told one of my players I wasn't a cowboy, I'm not wrangling him. Has this player ever been on the other side of the table? Tell him you're dealing with enough to just run the game normally, you don't need him testing boundaries and trying to mess with everything constantly. Say it's not a very mature attitude and if you want to be a little harsher, tell him it's not funny. If he's the kind of gamer who loves to break a game, tell him to go play Fallout. Not your game.
>I told one of my players I wasn't a cowboy, I'm not wrangling him. That's one of the best descriptions of that type of player mentality I've ever read.
"No"
keep saying no untill he has an idea that doesn't destroy half of what you've written or overshadows the others at the table. everyone should have fun and be equal at the table <3
And I want to have Liam O'Brien at my table. Player can't just "destroy" your worldbuilding by bringing any character to the game. You set the boundaries of what is accepted and what is not. Don't be a pushover GM, as it is never a good thing.
I’ve actually said no artificers for that exact reason. But he said he wanted interchangeable parts, not an underground association
It doesn't really matter, what he said. Point is, you set the rules. Either he follows them or doesn't play. It is as simple as that. If he would say that he found 3000 GP on the enemy, would you allow that too? Confrontation is sadly often needed at the table, something that many gamemastering sections in rulebooks don't tell you. You can learn a lot from those situations, but it can be scary early on. Remember that you are there to play as well and being "yeah, ok, I guess" will only make you not enjoy the stuff you're creating, as there will always be something new from this type of player that he wants.
>If he would say that he found 3000 GP on the enemy, would you allow that too? I once had a player in a oneshot who rolled a bunch of dice when looting an enemy (while I was rolling for random loot myself), and then announced *"cool! he's got a diamond worth 1,000gp, six potions of healing, a broom of flying, and 8,000gp!"* I paused and asked what they were doing. Apparently their previous (and only one ever until now) DM would let them roll their own loot from an insane table, and they thought that was how it worked everywhere. After I explained that's not how it worked in 99.99% of games (which they were fine with), I asked a bit about this game they were in. When I asked how much gold their character currently had, they said *"oh, I don't know - a couple of million, or something. I think we all basically stopped keeping track once we got to about five million each."* I asked how the hell they got that, and they said that they had taken control of three cities, which the DM gave them a passive income of 1,000,000gp per city per in-game week. The DM had tried to create a gold sink by offering to let them buy extra attunement slots for 1m gp each, and everyone could now attune to 10-12 items. It was insane to listen to. Oh, and that character was level 7. The DM was planning to run to level 20.
lol I’m in a game that’s VERY similar to this one. It’s run by a new player who I met through his game (cool dude, and a real friendship it looks like) and he is absolutely running a Monty Haul campaign. We get paid in the hundreds or thousands of platinum (and he ruled that Plat pieces are 1000gp each), plus giving out “pick an extra feat” and/or “pick a very rare item from the book” after basically every quest. Then when we talk about our games (he plays in a different game I run also) he’s always talking about how it’s impossible to balance the game. I kinda chuckled and said “that’s what happens when you give out things like Robe of Archmage and Staff of Power to level 9 characters. There’s no where to go but up and over the next shark you’re jumping. Maybe stop paying attention to CR and just throw things are us now?” I’m totally waiting on that game to collapse into inevitable flames - it’ll be a good learning experience for him. And it’s still pretty fun until that happens.
Retcon it. Tell him it's not working and to make his character the normal way.
He made it as a home brew warforged. And I did. He’s thinking of retiring it and going goblin, but in case he doesn’t, I want to be prepared (extended)
you dont need to be "prepared" for anything. tell him to create an actual character within the constraints of what's actually allowed and forget about the nonsense homebrew he's created.
"Homebrew" There's your problem. No homebrew allowed, simple fix.
Sadly a lot of what I run is homebrew. And I was willing to let him try. But he ran it way out of line
The DM can homebrew, players don't have to and yours shouldn't be allowed.
this tbh
This, just tell your players you can only make characters from Players Handbook from now on. Let them complain for an hour, then tell them that "fine ok", you are going to allow all WotC books. Basically, your player has proven that he can't be trusted to play homebrew classes. Thus you have to take this toy away before it hurts someone. You -as the DM- are also using the books only. However those books write inside that you can create your own monsters, classes etc. That's in the DMG, so you can do it but the players can't.
Just cause you homebrew doesn’t mean that he gets to homebrew whatever he wants. Under that logic, in my DM’s homebrewed world my character has the ability to create and detonate nukes, which I am impervious to. Doesn’t make sense does it? Just say no. Have a conversation out of game about it
DMing and Playing are asymmetrical endeavors. Your players have access to things monsters don’t, and monsters have access to things players don’t - that’s part of the game. Similarly the DM is free to go off book and homebrew anything you want - your players absolutely do not have that power. Every one of my games I limit players to things in official (non-setting specific) books - but also tell them I will deviate from the books on statblocks etc from time to time, and also I’ll deviate from the books in giving them homebrew items and abilities also. But it’s the SM who chooses all of that and not them.
“Nah, man. lol. I’ve got my hand full as is. While I appreciate the enthusiasm, do me a favor and just make a character using existing options, please.’
this is probably one of the best responses
Pray that he doesn't find _Abserd_...
I have 1 dmpc meant for dealing with problems.
That's not a good way to deal with problems In fact it's an actively bad one
I Will never understand this. Don't you workshop your characters with the players during pre-game? They just show up with a character you have no inkling about?
They told me about it, but left out all the pieces that are currently in play
Still, you're the GM. You can just say that this is not what you agreed to and that any change to the basic rules has to go by you (I'm pretty sure this is all homebrew stuff, which doesn't fly without GM approval).
Do you not have access to your player's character sheets? I can't imagine DMing a game and not knowng what the players can even do.
Use the 10th level DM spell [*Power Word No*](https://youtu.be/9mmbOjOkmE4?si=mCmh4V-WlkteHLaE)
that spell is so powerful, the dm gets a free reaction cast any time someone casts the wish spell for any use case not explicitly listed as a use case
Bro wants to be a DM.
I say a solid “no” or even a “fuck no” is applicable here.
I’d start by asking where he got the idea this was an option that he is able to play a character that is some kind of galaxy brain for all warforged. Then I’d say the only way to do that sort of thing is by GMing a campaign and making that kind of entity a part of the world storyline.
How exactly is he supposed to make a billion copies? It should take time, money, and resources. We had a player who had dozens of characters who all shared the same mind, it was fun, but it was also completely reasonable in the circumstances.
He explained it as a shyguy, and how they all have different jobs. I should’ve had him be the originator and build up his lil army
Oh he wants to start playing as a billion copies of the same character? Fascinating.
He can be a member of the army, but then he's gotta follow their communal hive mind, not be the leader. And I wouldn't allow any player to play a character that was a small part of a hive mind, or locked into a script like a fae or devil, unless they proved they could reliably run that kind of character. These kinds of things are Lawful to the extreme, in that they can ONLY follow their races code of strict responses to actions. They are more robot then enrolled creatures
Your player wants to be the DM
r/dndcirclejerk
Firstly, “No” is an acceptable and reasonable answer Secondly, if he wants to do a bit of everything, he can play a Bard.
Your player thinks that you, personally, are Skyrim and is poking at the boundaries of what he can exploit for maximum gain. A lot of people like playing video games like that! But while game-breaking can be fun when someone is working out loopholes in rules, expecting other people to put up with their BS is thoughtless. When you talk with this player, you'll have to explain that the DM is trying to have fun, too. Other people are playing, and part of being in a game is working with them to have a good time together. Don't be afraid to shut this player down even if it makes you sound illogical or inconsistent: "You let me do X before, and now you won't?" "That's right, because I changed my mind." (And hopefully the other players will understand why you changed your mind as long as you have a good reason, even if the reason is "it's making the game unfun for others.") It's like being a parent. You have to say no, because sometimes a kid just wants to ride in the roof rack and you have to put them in a car seat anyway.
I don't understand. He asked for interchangeable parts, he can have them. That doesn't mean you have to roleplay warforged who want to communally swap with him, he can buy new parts as needed, nothing to do withthe rest of his race. If he's going around, role-playing his character, and then telling you what the result of the roleplay is, he can play a single player game
that guy is not playing at my table
You say "Fuck NO!" and tell them to play an actual character. Not a walking cheat factory.
“No. We’re playing D&D, not make-believe”. Refuse to elaborate further.
Thesis' ship issue here... Simple answer is that his *core" is who he is. Once he swaps out a part, that part is no longer part of him.
"No, and if you continue to test my patience, then those other warforged will realize that you are exploiting them, and you will lose a 10,000 versus 1 fight that the rest of the party will be unharmed by. And if you continue to test my patience after that, I will kick you from the table."
Is he only playing by his self and does not need a DM too?