Group Trouble - What Should I Do?

[onemorelurker]

Here's my situation, in brief:

The group in which I play recently got a new member, a drow wizard. Because we have quite a lot of wealth for a 7th-level party, the DM told New Guy that he could make his character with unlimited wealth. She also didn't make him show her his character sheet, though I believe he gave her a list of the items he bought.

In short, New Guy's character is by far the most powerful person in the party, to the point where I strongly suspect he could kill the rest of us if he wanted to, and am about 80% he will try to do so at some point. Last session--the first session he played with us--he ended up dominating the whole party, which included either misinterpreting or intentionally lying about part of an item's effect (and it turned out that he had purposefully omitted this item from the list he gave the DM; she says she wouldn't've allowed it if she'd known). After that session, I talked to the DM about how only getting to do things on another person's say-so was not my idea of fun. The other players felt similarly, so the DM un-mind-controlled us via deus ex machina, which New Guy was very sporting about.

This session, we went to the Demonweb Pits in a heavily-modified version of the 3.5 Expedition to the Demonweb Pits. Because New Guy's character is from a high-ranking drow family, he ended up leading us around--the DM showed him a map of the module since "he would know," and the rest of us have been told that if we touch anything we're not supposed to, Lolth (or at least high-level NPCs) will eat us. Essentially, it was Everyone Does What New Guy Says v2.0, except that instead of mind control, we have the threat of getting curbstomped.

This is still not my idea of fun. What can I do? I'm not I'm not sure talking to the DM again would help, because last time she only dealt with the immediate problem rather than the underlying one (and I'm not sure it's fair to ask New Guy to stop having his fun in exchange for me having fun again). On the other hand, I've been playing with this party for a while, and I don't want to let them down by quitting.

The other thing is that we probably only have one session left--we're a college group that doesn't meet every week, and I'm graduating at the end of this semester. Should I just tough it out for one more session, even though I'm not having fun? The party sort of needs my character to be there (she's our only serious damage-dealer), but they don't necessarily need me, since she's not super-complicated.

[The Glyphstone]

(and I'm not sure it's fair to ask New Guy to stop having his fun in exchange for me having fun again).

Yes, yes it is. His fun is explicitly causing you and the entire rest of the group to not have fun. Him < entire group.

[Averis Vol]

this seems like a terrible flaw on the part of the DM....unlimited starting wealth? bull crap. i think the best solution would be to bring up EVERY problem about the new guy so she can take care of all of them. and regardless of what way it goes, if they need you and your their friend, what can one more session really hurt anyhow?

[Particle_Man]

The very last session? Contact your friends. If they are not having fun have them over to your place for a board game session instead. :smallsmile:

[Dairuga]

Great, so now; the entire group is under new-guy's control. That is not fun at all, and since the things you can do is very limited, that will not prove to be any fun at all. This is posing a few problems, quite a few, in fact, and it is your sworn duty to make this as fun as you can.

So you only have one session left or so? Well then, splendid.

First of all, You did not specify any of your character's classes. Are any of you casters? No? Then I hope one of you have UMD or any suchlike ability to use spells. Since you know, spells can do everything.

Now. You are a seventh level party. That means 4th level spells. 4th level spells means polymorph. If you do not have access to polymorph, see if you can find an area to aquire this, it is vital.

As polymorph states "This spell functions like Alter self, except you turn a willing creature into another form of living creature".

And as Alter self states: "You can freely designate the new form’s minor physical qualities (such as hair color, hair texture, and skin color) within the normal ranges for a creature of that kind. The new form’s significant physical qualities (such as height, weight, and gender) are also under your control"

So then, that was that. You now have all the features (Hair colour, hair texture, skin colour, nose, big googly eyes, etc) of your new-guy wizard. Wonderful. Let's go batcrank bonkers, shall we?

So, you touch anything wrong, and you will be eaten by Lolth. What say Mr. Not-so-new-guy starts stabbing guards? Make sure there are witnesses to watch the act. Watch him shank an innocent drow. Urinate in the streets. Hell, urinate on the guards! Soil everything the new-guy might love. (Actually taking dumps in the street is not recommended, however. It renders you flat-footed).

Now, Invisibility time. Then, dispel the polymorph. You appear next to your group, fine and dandy, you have no idea what is going on. You were lost in the caves or such, due to a lack of map.

Watch as the elf-guy is properly eaten by lolth for desecration / dishonourable acts against his family name, or aptly turned into a drider as Loth tends to do, pre-pathfinder, to people that upset her, and throw him out of the city / throw him to the monsters.

In either case, stage a capture plan, as the family will no longer have anything they want to do with their newly excommunicated drow, and catch your newfound drider. You now have a captured Drider. Proceed to train him into becoming a new mount, if any of you have handle animal checks, or turn him into an animal companion if you have a druid on your party (This might or might not be met with oposition. Silly rules about magical beasts).

Now ride your new Drider-mount into the sunset as you take you and your party to the nearest non-drow inn and celebrate your last game with a pint of ale and the best whores gold can buy you. And make sure to park your drider under a tree or so, so it does not get taken as a random monster and slain.

[Gwendol]

Unlimited wealth? That's just silly, and it needs to be pointed out.

[Killer Angel]

:smallsigh:
Apparently, I would need a new hard disk only to keep the recordings of horror DM stories...

[onemorelurker]

Thanks for the advice, everybody.

I'm pretty sure that what I need to do, before I try anything at the table, is talk to the rest of the party and see how they feel. They weren't happy about being mind-controlled, but for all I know they may be fine with how things are right now. If the rest of the party feels the way I do, would it be wise to do something like Dairuga suggests (and to answer your question, Dairuga, we have another wizard who should have access to polymorph)? I generally prefer dealing with problems out-of-game...

[Dairuga]

and to answer your question, Dairuga, we have another wizard who should have access to polymorph)



Hehehehehehehe.

Now, come on. Does this face of mine spell "Wise" to you?
Oh, no. Not at all. The situation would not be wise at all. That is, if your DM has constructed a plot for everyone to enjoy. This would essentially be grabbing the plot by its neck, and say No.

But, would it be fun? Weelll.... That depends on how you pull it off. It could be -Glorious.- This is one of the last sessions you are going to have? You don't want to be bogged down in politics and letting the new guy have all the glory and all the fun? Well, ask your team. Ask what they think. And most importantly... Ask if they would mind if someone went buck-wild and had fun~.

If one person in your party is reveling in their power and the ability to do as they please because they can, then I'd vote, so should you be able to, too.