NPC killed in Crypt of the Everflame

[hershaddow]

Sorry for the long post. It is a bit hard to explain.

Crypt of the Everflame plot spoiler:

I am running Crypt of the Everflame for my group who are all new to role playing. The first session went fine. For the second session, one of my players was gone and I ended up with 3 more player (long story). Two of them were new and the third brought a character from another campaign he played in. I looked over his character and thought it was a little overpowered (we use a 15 pt build), but he didn't remember how he made it. I thought it would be fine for a session. I did not read his back story as no one else really has one. Well, as it turns out he is a fanatic cleric for Pharasma. I will call him Jay. After the encounter with Roldare, Jay decides that it would be merciful to "send him to Pharasma." The other cleric in the group "Harry" managed to talk him out of it and they moved on to the encounter with the shadow. Once they figured out how dangerous the shadow could be, most of the party ran away while two stayed to fight (including Harry). Jay and the other new PCs went back and killed Roldare (I think the others were bored as they had not really fought anything yet). Harry raised Roldare from the dead with a potion of resurrection (he had it from a previous adventure: I think he miswrote restoration but I allowed it anyway). A big fight ensued between the clerics that ended when the wizard knocked Jay out and dragged him back into the trap room that requires 3 people to open. Jay promised to kill the raised Roldare again. The other 2 new people left the game soon after. After killing Asar, when Kassen came to talk to them, he decided that he was sent there to send Kassen back to Pharasma and I ended up rebuking his boon, as I think it is poor manners to talk to someone who is going to help you in that manner. I also gave my wizard a scroll of teleportation. He used this to teleport Roldare back to Kassen. The rest of the party is traveling back to Kassen, including Jay. That is where our session ended. I don't think that the townsfolk will take kindly to him trying to kill Roldare again, and maybe want him declared a murderer or run him out of town. As a new GM, I am unsure of how to add this storyline while continuing to play through the rest of the Price of Immortality series. To make it worse, I checked his stats and he build his character with 25 pt buy. I don't want to ask him to change it back down to 15 pt buy like the other characters if all the townsfolk are all going to gang up on him. I am uncertain that he will run from town if things get hostile, and don't want to have him nerf his character only to kill him.

I hope that all makes sense. Any suggestions on how to proceed would be appreciated.

[Rynjin]

Seems like "Jay" is a problem child, and also a cheater.

Is there any specific reason why you need to keep him around? Because from the way you said it he's already run off two new members, essentially.

[MechE_]

Yeah, it sounds like you have a problem child on your hands for sure. First option - get rid of him. And this usually is really the best option... One disruptive player can easily cause you to lose 3 good players and it sounds like this one is mostly on his way there...

Second option, have him remake his character using the appropriate point buy and rules and also require that his character be less of an extremist. I get that some people think the only way to make their characters interesting is to go to extremes with certain concepts, but I also think some people use "role playing" a crutch for being disruptive. Intentionally making characters that are going to cause problems by their very nature. I usually let players know right away that characters of such nature will not be allowed to continue adventuring with the group if they become disruptive. If this upsets the player, then they probably aren't mature enough to understand why their character is not welcome and we're back to the first option.

tl;dr - Don't let one rotten apple spoil everyone else's fun - including yours.

[Azaelas Fayth]

Dot.

[Bruunwald]

#1 You are a good GM for being so patient and fair.

#2 Good advice here so far. Don't tolerate somebody who is chasing off the other players.

[Azaelas Fayth]

Have him remake his character. If he doesn't then give him the old Doc Martens.

[hershaddow]

Thanks for the advise everyone. To be fair, I am uncertain if the details of the pt buy were passed when he was invited to play, I didn't know he was coming until about an hour before. I will ask him to redo his character and see if we can work something out.

Just out of curiosity, what ways do you use in game to circumvent these types of things? Something other than double check everything on each character sheet. I don't really know the game well enough for a short glance to tell me these things, it would take me close to an hour to check each sheet. As we are just beginning, we do not have a solid group yet, and who is playing has been in a state of flux. Many of the players are also switching from the pregenerated ones to PC that they build. That would mean a lot of extra time on my part. Thanks again.

[theStormWeaver]

Honestly, for me, it comes with familiarity.

After a while, you can look at the numbers and just tell when something is off. It sounds like you already can do this, so that's good.

I've only ever had this problem once, and it sort of solved itself before I had to (he went through a divorce and had to move to another city, not really how I wanted it to be taken care of).

I suggest talking to 'Jay' and explaining that role-playing is all well and good, but you do have to remember it is a game that other people are playing and trying to enjoy. If Jay continues to be a problem you must ensure there are appropriate in game consequences. The people of Kassen's Hold are CG, and will not stand for it. He will be run out of town most likely. There are a couple of NPCs in town that are more than capable of taking a 2nd level cleric down.

Tangentially related, I noticed that there is a serious experience gap between the modules in this series (MotLG expects 3rd level PCs, but CotEF only gets them to 2nd (and barely) and the gap is even worse between MotLG and CoGD), so you'll have to figure something out there. Just a warning.

[The Diplomat]

hershaddow wrote:

Thanks for the advise everyone. To be fair, I am uncertain if the details of the pt buy were passed when he was invited to play, I didn't know he was coming until about an hour before. I will ask him to redo his character and see if we can work something out.

Just out of curiosity, what ways do you use in game to circumvent these types of things? Something other than double check everything on each character sheet. I don't really know the game well enough for a short glance to tell me these things, it would take me close to an hour to check each sheet. As we are just beginning, we do not have a solid group yet, and who is playing has been in a state of flux. Many of the players are also switching from the pregenerated ones to PC that they build. That would mean a lot of extra time on my part. Thanks again.

I believe in finding in-game solutions to problems whenever possible. Here is what I would do:

When Roldare teleported back to town, the Mayor managed to get a story out of him. When the party gets back, they will find that the mayor, Captain Wisslo and Golfond Kir are waiting to arrest Jay for murder and attempted murder, as well as to welcome back and congratulate the others. Perhaps have Sir Dramott hanging around in the background being "casual" in case things get out of hand. If Jay resists arrest, that should be enough indication that he doesn't belong in the group, as well as an easy in-game way to get rid of him.

Otherwise ... the mayor gives the party a secondary mission for the next module. They are to escort Prisoner Jay to Tamran and hand him over to the Church of Pharasma where he will be tried for the sacrilegous act of "playing Pharasma" - i.e. for assuming that he has a power over life and death that belongs exclusivly to the goddess. If he is willing to confess and make atonement, the Church rules that his punishment is to undergo a religious ritiual and results in a permenant 10pt ability score drain. If he refuses to confess, then he will be "sent to Pharasma" by his religious superiors.