Not having fun with character

[GreyBlack]

So I've gone on record with my DM that I'm not having fun with my character. Like, at all. To the point that I've asked my DM to either kill my character or let me play something else. Problem is, the DM has said no. I suspect that it has something to do with my playing the team cleric (I was asked by the DM to play a cleric while everyone else rolled randomly for their class).

I mean, I feel like it would be a bit of a [REDACTED] move for me to just charge into battle completely naked and only use the dash action in an attempt to off my character, so other than leaving the game entirely, I'm wondering what my options are? Should I continue playing this character I hate? Should I just try and get him killed in an effort to get a reroll? Should I walk away from the table?

For reference: the DM is running an AL game, and the character I had come up with belongs more in a homebrew game than in AL.

[Unoriginal]

So I've gone on record with my DM that I'm not having fun with my character. Like, at all. To the point that I've asked my DM to either kill my character or let me play something else. Problem is, the DM has said no. I suspect that it has something to do with my playing the team cleric (I was asked by the DM to play a cleric while everyone else rolled randomly for their class).

I mean, I feel like it would be a bit of a [REDACTED] move for me to just charge into battle completely naked and only use the dash action in an attempt to off my character, so other than leaving the game entirely, I'm wondering what my options are? Should I continue playing this character I hate? Should I just try and get him killed in an effort to get a reroll? Should I walk away from the table?


My advice: tell your DM that if you can't change your character, you'll leave.

No game is better than a bad game. NEVER play a character you don't have fun with. And if your DM wants to force you to play something you don't like, well, they're probably a bad DM in other ways, so leaving might be for the best.

However I would give them one last chance to let you change your PC, just in case they didn't get how much it was an issue for you.



For reference: the DM is running an AL game, and the character I had come up with belongs more in a homebrew game than in AL.

I'm a bit puzzled by that, however. What do you mean?

[JDanton]

Yeah, don't try and be underhanded and kill your character, it'll just be frustrating and unfun for everyone. If your DM is refusing to let you switch character when you are clearly not enjoying the game because of it then he is the one at fault, make it clear to him that you do not want to play the character anymore as it is ruining your fun and if he keeps refusing then you might just need to walk away from the table, just try to remain calm and properly talk it out first.

Just so I have a better idea of what's going on, are you not enjoying the character/RP elements of your character or are you just not enjoying playing an cleric? If its the former then he should have no problem letting you reroll a new character provided you're fine with keeping with the support/healing role, but if its the latter you should make it clear that it isn't the role that you want to play and that having a cleric is not necessary. Seriously a lot of DMs think that clerics are essential and the only healers in the game, this outright isn't true; paladins, rangers, divine soul sorcerer's, celestial warlocks, druids and bards can all be effective healers or off healers and clerics can and often should be far more that just heal bots. Just be clear calm and stand your ground and if things don't go the way you want, walk away, its not worth the trouble if its not gonna be fun for you.

[JakOfAllTirades]

Randomly rolling for character classes is a terrible idea, your DM is a tool for telling you to play a cleric, and my advice is to explain this to him in person about five seconds before you leave the table to find a better game.

[Sigreid]

First, I didn't think this was how AL worked, buy whatever. For a less extreme solution is there some multi class you could do that would let you enjoy the character?

[ThatOneGuy1224]

Why don't you like playing the character? You control his personality, not the DM. Have fun with it. I remember I was forced to play a saintly wizard once, the DM had a whole backstory for him and everything. I made him lose faith after a party member died, became an alcoholic, and slowly became evil. That was fun AT to play, and the DM was only slightly annoyed because of the RP it took to get there. My advice is to have fun with it.

[MaxWilson]

So I've gone on record with my DM that I'm not having fun with my character. Like, at all. To the point that I've asked my DM to either kill my character or let me play something else. Problem is, the DM has said no.

...Should I walk away from the table?

Yes, walk away. Life is too short to waste time on games that aren't enjoyable.

[Lombra]

Your character can walk away from the party, you'll have to reroll a character this way.

[tieren]

Out of curiosity, what kind of character do you want to play?

If you want to be a rogue have your cleric wear leather armor and try sneaking up behind things to stab them. You won't be real good at it (unless you are trickery) but it could be fun to be the bungling rogue.

Do you want to be a paladin? Chat with your deity and sell your soul to a celestial and become a hexblade with eldritch smite.

Do you want to be a ranger? Pick up a bow and try shooting things and then ducking behind cover.

Do you want to be a fighter? Just get in there and fight, clerics are relatively good at that anyway, many get heavy armor.

Do you want to be a wizard? Take magic initiate and ritual caster, spend all your money buying any spell scroll you can find, wear robes and wave a staff around.

Just play your character as whatever it is you want to be. The DM may see there is no point in making you stay with a cleric. There is no requirement for you to bless and heal, just do whatever it is you want.

[Monavic]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT9HgcufRQk Thought you may like this, pretty much the same case as you.

[GreyBlack]

I'm a bit puzzled by that, however. What do you mean?

In my experience, AL is a bit too railroaded and the character I had come up with is more interested in stuff which is not covered in the AL rules; I had originally designed him to do more social stuff, but it's become clear that these adventures are less interested in that pillar of play and I would probably be happier embracing my inner murderhobo. That said... to do so, a Cleric isn't exactly an ideal character archetype to play a murderhobo so I often find myself not being able to participate in the murderhoboing.


First, I didn't think this was how AL worked, buy whatever. For a less extreme solution is there some multi class you could do that would let you enjoy the character?

It's not; the DM is working with mostly newer players and wanted them to maybe see about stepping outside the box with their new characters. I'm a veteran from 2e/3e so I was asked to play more support. Which, as above, is often not what these adventures ask for.

[CTurbo]

Can you tell us details about your character? Race, domain, stats, background, feats, etc...


Is your DM willing to let you tweak the character in any way? Like changing domains for example...

[Navigator]

If you are playing AL and still in the 1-4 level (Tier 1) bracket, you have complete freedom to rebuild your character or bring a new level 1 character without DM approval. If you're in the 5-10 level (Tier 2) bracket, you can no longer take advantage of the rebuild rules.

Since you're saying these characters are mostly new, I assume you're still in Tier 1. I'd just show up with a rebuilt character (read the rules for this). If you get any trouble from the DM, I'd talk to the organizer and explain they are not following AL guidelines and should not be advertising as such, or find another table because this doesn't sound great. As an aside, this sounds suspiciously like one of those "AL-lite" places where they say it's AL to bring in players but don't actually use the guidelines, so if you care about the legality of your character I suggest taking a look at the AL Player's Guide at DMsGuild.

[GreyBlack]

If you are playing AL and still in the 1-4 level (Tier 1) bracket, you have complete freedom to rebuild your character or bring a new level 1 character without DM approval. If you're in the 5-10 level (Tier 2) bracket, you can no longer take advantage of the rebuild rules.

Since you're saying these characters are mostly new, I assume you're still in Tier 1. I'd just show up with a rebuilt character (read the rules for this). If you get any trouble from the DM, I'd talk to the organizer and explain they are not following AL guidelines and should not be advertising as such, or find another table because this doesn't sound great. As an aside, this sounds suspiciously like one of those "AL-lite" places where they say it's AL to bring in players but don't actually use the guidelines, so if you care about the legality of your character I suggest taking a look at the AL Player's Guide at DMsGuild.

Currently level 6, so the rebuild is out. When we started, the players were new. That said, you're right in that it's AL lite; it's basically a home game that's running the AL modules; however we're also not allowed to use anything but PHB at the moment. Which, I'll add, is annoying to all of the players (really? I can't use Undying or Celestial warlock pact?) but that's more a side annoyance than anything else.

As to what I want to play.... I have a couple ideas in mind. I'm thinking I running a Rogue 2/Barbarian 3/Monk 15 to make just a speedster style character, but there's also a Sorcerer build and a Barbarian/Rogue grappler that I'm interested in.

[haplot]

Out of curiosity, what kind of character do you want to play?

If you want to be a rogue have your cleric wear leather armor and try sneaking up behind things to stab them. You won't be real good at it (unless you are trickery) but it could be fun to be the bungling rogue.

Do you want to be a paladin? Chat with your deity and sell your soul to a celestial and become a hexblade with eldritch smite.

Do you want to be a ranger? Pick up a bow and try shooting things and then ducking behind cover.

Do you want to be a fighter? Just get in there and fight, clerics are relatively good at that anyway, many get heavy armor.

Do you want to be a wizard? Take magic initiate and ritual caster, spend all your money buying any spell scroll you can find, wear robes and wave a staff around.

Just play your character as whatever it is you want to be. The DM may see there is no point in making you stay with a cleric. There is no requirement for you to bless and heal, just do whatever it is you want.

+1.

I think this is a good plan.

[GreyBlack]

Out of curiosity, what kind of character do you want to play?

If you want to be a rogue have your cleric wear leather armor and try sneaking up behind things to stab them. You won't be real good at it (unless you are trickery) but it could be fun to be the bungling rogue.

Do you want to be a paladin? Chat with your deity and sell your soul to a celestial and become a hexblade with eldritch smite.

Do you want to be a ranger? Pick up a bow and try shooting things and then ducking behind cover.

Do you want to be a fighter? Just get in there and fight, clerics are relatively good at that anyway, many get heavy armor.

Do you want to be a wizard? Take magic initiate and ritual caster, spend all your money buying any spell scroll you can find, wear robes and wave a staff around.

Just play your character as whatever it is you want to be. The DM may see there is no point in making you stay with a cleric. There is no requirement for you to bless and heal, just do whatever it is you want.


+1.

I think this is a good plan.

I'll respond to this directly, mostly because I've seen it twice.

If I were lower level and/or afforded a rebuild, I would totally do this; take only 1 level of Cleric and then pump the rest into whatever else I want to do.

I'm not being afforded that rebuild, though. Selling my soul to Satan and just going full into Warlock has been an option I've played with, especially because this character is LE (I tried to make things more interesting for myself but without any real success; alignment is immaterial from what I've seen in these modules). At this point, I may be suffering from sunk cost fallacy ("Well, I've already sunk 6 levels into Cleric, there's no reason to start multiclassing now because I'm too deep in.") It also feels like there are no good break points for me to multiclass out from Cleric, although level 4 spells do seem really weak, so missing out on them wouldn't be a big loss.

So yes. Excellent idea, but we're too far in at this point to course correct easily.

[CTurbo]

I'll ask again for specifics and if your DM is willing let you change ANYTHING about your character



If he is not willing to let you change anything at all, I'd simply stop playing. Period.

[Sjappo]

I've had this discussion with DM's in the past as well. I get bored of PC's rather quickly and want to change quite often.

Anyway, if you're not having fun you need to do something. If talking to your DM 1 on 1 doesn't work try talking to the group at the start of next game. Explain you're not having fun and if you're not having fun it's not worth you're time. Explain that it is not them nor the DM (I presume) but some mistake you made when making your character. Tell them you want to make a character that better suits the play style of this group. Ask for input if you want.

If they're your friends they would want you to have fun. Maybe together you can convince the DM to let you change your character.

Your DM may or may not resent this approach. You can judge this better than I.

Good luck in any case.

[opaopajr]

Stop playing AL? :smalltongue:

Honestly it's better to just walk and/or retire this PC from AL and play it on another happier, more fun table.

If you *must* play on this AL table, then completely divest from caring about the game beyond helping new players figure the game out. (And honestly, disinterest shows, so you'd be better off walking away here as well. :smallsmile: )

Not everyone has the temperament to teach, let alone in such a rigid play format. :smallcool: Never make a pastime, a hobby, feel like work. It's your free time, enjoy it!