DM / GM Problem

[JuliusCromwell]

I have a couple of issues i like some Advice on.

First I Run a 3 Man Party Home-brew world open sandbox game

I also ran a Game in 3.5 a few years ago and had the same trouble

the trouble is during combat my one player takes for ever to choose what he is going to do. and i mean like 7 mins or more and a lot of the time He try's to formulate a complex plan during battle.

My other problem is the same player. who during the first battle vs some harpy he never wrote down his saves. (this got under my skin) and i almost said your saves are zero then.

see trouble is i been in several games with him and he always pulls some crap like that , were he dose not write stuff down or for feats and class feature he only looks at the summary and thinks that's the whole thing.

I'm not sure how to deal with a player like this.

I've only been playing for about 5 1/2 years and only Gm'd twice as of now.

I also find it unfair to my other players

[Dave Justus]

First, before a game session starts make sure his character sheet is up to date and ready to play. Ideally this is done well before you are ready to start gaming, but if not, then you need to delay starting to game until every player is ready. I would recommend that you have a copy of their sheet (all players) as well. Going over each characters class abilities and feats with them so you and the player can both be sure you understand how they work (and understand it the same way is also a good idea).

The time may be related to the other issue. If they don't have a good sheet with all their numbers figured out, of course it is going to be slower. Knowing what they can do alone might solve the problem. More experience in playing might also solve it.

If after a session or two with a good sheet they are still very slow at taking their turns, you could do something like a timer, if the timer runs out, they just miss their turn or something like that. I haven't ever found this necessary, and think it could be disruptive and adversarial, but others recommend it and it might work for you.

[KingGramJohnson]

I think all GMs have had someone like this at their table at some point.

Honestly, the best thing to do is to pull him aside privately and discuss this with him. Tell him how you feel about his play style. Let him know that it's not fair to the other players when he doesn't write down something as basic as his saves, or takes too long to make up his mind during battle. Ask him if he's invested in the game and if he really wants to play, because if he does, he'll have to start putting in some effort. That's not too much for a GM to ask of his players.

In game, during battle, try letting who's next in the initiative tick know that they're on deck, and they can be thinking about what they will do before their turn starts. That helps a lot sometimes with slower players. If he's still taking too long, start putting a time limit on it. Tell him he has 1 or 2 minutes to decide what he wants to do otherwise his turn is skipped.

If this person continues to give you problems, or doesn't want to discuss things, consider cutting him from the table for a while. Find someone who will be invested in the game and will consider everyone else at the table.

[Matthew Downie]

Some options:

(1) Put up with it.
(2) Get rid of him and look for a new player.
(3) Switch to a simpler game system.
(4) Spend time with him, help him make a character sheet that he can understand, containing all the information he needs in a clear format.
(5) If he's being slow in battle, say, "You Delay", and move on to whoever is next in the initiative order.

[JuliusCromwell]

Thank you all for the advice i may ask for coppies of every one sheet to check math. not saying i players cheat But player in question is not good at math sadly and maybe a point or two off either way.

Plus i need to go over the combat actions with them a little better.
My one player is the group main GM and he's been Gming for at least 8 year D20/3.5/Even Some D100 Games and i convinced him to try pathfinder last year. but the one player is also very lazy but sadly he's a dear friend i had since my childhood as is the whole group i Rp with

But is really hard when i try to covey a epic picture and tell every one to make a Ref save and he's like "whats my save"