Looking for advice on potential party conflict

[Fuzzy Logic]

Hi guys, looking for some advice on how to handle a tricky player/character interaction.

I'm currently playing through Curse of Strahd with some colleagues from my work. Mostly it's fine except for one colleague who I tend to find quite tiring as a person. Every game we've had, ( we had a home brew campaign going before Strahd) he will insult and belittle either me or my character, so I'm slightly raw there already.

I'm playing a cleric of the grave, who worships a god of death-as-balance. Undead are the greatest sacrilege, and anyone who interferes with a spirits journey to it's afterlife is just as bad. ( I thought it was a good pick for vampire baddies)

He is playing a succubus (homebrewed by the DM at his request) warlock disguised as a human. I know this because he told me Out of character ( not sure why) and I've been avoiding meta so my cleric was none the wiser.

However evidence has been stacking up. Our ranger told me she suspected that we were travelling with a fiend because she always sensed one when using primeval awareness. A ghost called his character "dark one" and another mentioned her having horns. She also was shielded from an energy blast by "glowing red demonic wings". Oh and constantly mocks my character for his religious beliefs and practices.

So I went to the player and said I think this is enough evidence for my cleric to confront you. I don't want to do PvP but I think we could play out a cool rp scene. He said no I needed to roll higher religion checks (???) And he was thinking of confessing anyway.

So I asked the DM did I have reasonable proof, and he thinks that I did, and that it's on the succubus' player for telling me that he was a fiend in the first place.

So I'm torn. I could have a very cool scene where I trap this player in a magic circle and confront him... But I'm worries that he might react poorly or that I might let the OOC annoyances colour the confrontation.

Any advice would be very welcome and feel free to ask more questions if you have any

[Jerrykhor]

I'm not sure why your DM thinks that allowing a PC to play as a succudbus is a good idea. Inter-party stuff is meta-gamed 99% of the time, and this would be no different.

What I mean is, you know that killing your party member is straight up PVP and thus, never a good idea. But on the other hand, that is what your character and all your friends characters would do. A succubus is not just a random hot woman, its a fiend that 99% of adventurers would have no second thoughts about sticking their weapon into.

Even if your character could look past the fiendish part, he still lied to your party. You can't trust people like that.

Put it simply, if this character was an NPC, would you have hesitated on kicking his demonic butt? If the answer is no, apologize to him OOC, and then proceed to dish out some divine justice.

[Kane0]

Whatever you choose to do, heading into work the next day and facing them will always take importance over a game.

[Boci]

One important thing to clarify is, what is a fiend in the GMs take on D&D planology. Fiends have often been very close to utterly unredeemable but there are some exception, anime being rather fond of good demons, your DM might be using one of those take. Different edition of D&D, but a Pathfinder adventure module had a redeemed succubus running a tavern. Killing her for being a fiend would have been evil.

I don't think "They lied" is going to be as good a justification as others thing, because I can see the conversation going:

"You're a fiend! You lied to us"

"Yes, and you're confronting me, aggressivly. Can you see why I lied? What have I actually done that's bad?"

And then if you still decide to kill them you will be the jerks.

This is OOC, especially with the mocking of your religion. Talk to the DM and the player about how this is meant to be handled, that you feel this is an awkward set up and are wondering what the DM intended when allowing this character.

[Pelle]

Initiate PvP, but with the intent of losing? Then, depending on how that shakes up, maybe make a new, 'evil' character yourself...

[Fuzzy Logic]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I was never really considering PvP. The idea would be to confront the character and try to get her to spill the beans. Even if the cosmology has her as iredeemable, barovia is such an unfriendly place that I figured we could be unlikely allies type thing. It doesn't sound like you guys think it will be an instant train wreck so I'm going to go ahead with it.

[Unoriginal]

There is no reason for PvP. The succubus is just as trapped in the demiplane as you are, and unless she's been murdering innocents while you weren't looking (or similar), she's contributed to the group.

Just let it go for now, if it's going to be revealed it's going to be soon.

[Keravath]

Some things to consider ...

1) As someone else mentioned, you have to work with these folks the next day. The work situation is far more important that the game one so unfortunately it might affect your actions.

2) It was probably not a good idea for the DM to allow a player to have a hidden Succubus character. If you look at several other posts on the forum, a lot of in game and group problems are caused by hidden back story or character elements that end up affecting the other players and the campaign. These usually sound very cool on paper but tend to work out very badly unless the entire table is aware of and agree with the direction taken. The characters may not know but the players should if the DM wants to avoid potential issues (unless it is a one shot for fun where pretty much anything goes).

3) From an in character perspective .. of course the Succubus would lie about what they are since you would kill them anyway. Did this character enter the demi-plane with the rest of you? How did the party form? Do you have any history with this character. The Succubus could be just as desperate to escape as anyone else and so joins an adventuring group to get out ... they still bring their capabilities and contributions to the table. However, the DM will need to adjust the Succubus character powers since otherwise they are far more powerful than they rest of the party since they have the Succubus capabilities and class levels. Which would not be fair or enjoyable for the rest of the party. For example, a succubus is resistance to cold, fire, lightning, poison and damage from non-magical weapons ... all the time. This is way too powerful for a PC ... so the DM could rule that some of the succubus' abilities are affected by the negative energies of the demi-plane of dread which is one of the reasons that they want to escape.

Personally, I would leave the shapechanger, telepathy and charm one target abilities and remove the rest ... skills would be what the character has on the character sheet or the succubus (or maybe a combination) but NOT both.

Their alignment is neutral evil (though as a PC they could have any alignment) and that could be used as an element as to whether they will likely follow an agreement to aid the party.

However, the DM has to realize that they can't just be a Succubus + class levels since it is way too powerful and that is not fair to the other players who are invested in the game ... and then the DM has to help the Succubus player and the rest of the party come to an arrangement that could allow the game to proceed ... the options are really ... 1) if you can come to an agreement with the succubus that you reasonably trust then they can remain in the party and things proceed pretty normally or 2) the succubus can't be trusted and you either throw them out of the party and tell them to find their own way out of Barovia or 3) You have to kill the succubus because they will be a constant threat to the party and anyone else in barovia (this issue is reduced if the succubus lacks most of its powers).

[MThurston]

I had a friend play a necromancer every chance he had. He would find a dead horse and ride it around.

I have no idea why the DM would allow it.

I killed every horse that he animated. Telling him that we don't want to scare the town folk.

2 hours matter he would have another dead horse and I'd kill it.

Some people are in a game for their own enjoyment. Theybdont care if the others have fun.

If this coworker treats you like he treats your characters, then it might be time to get some payback.

If it's your sup or boss, have a job setup before you do it.