Forced pvp with a club bully's hexblade please help :(

[Marty123]

I stood up to a bully in my club yesterday and now our characters have to fight next game. I don't know alot about the rules (this is my first ever dnd character) so im kinda scared. I play a 1LifeCleric/3EchoKnight Fighter/ 14BattleSmith Artificer and he plays some lvl 20 hexblade guy with 3 levels in fighter and somehow paralyzes people on a hit.

Can I win this battle? I'm allowed one legendary item from the DM that isn't sentient or banned. I can also bring any magic items or spell scrolls cause I'm an artificer and he says I can acquire them because I come from ebberon.

Can I win? For the clubs sake? Or is he going to kill my character

[Marty123]

I stood up to a bully in my club yesterday and now our characters have to fight next game. I don't know alot about the rules (this is my first ever dnd character) so im kinda scared. I play a 1LifeCleric/3EchoKnight Fighter/ 14BattleSmith Artificer and he plays some lvl 20 hexblade guy with 3 levels in fighter and somehow paralyzes people on a hit.

Can I win this battle? I'm allowed one legendary item from the DM that isn't sentient or banned. I can also bring any magic items or spell scrolls cause I'm an artificer and he says I can acquire them because I come from ebberon.

Am I doomed next game? Or can I stop him from power gaming For the clubs sake?
Thanks for reading! :)

[Asmotherion]

I stood up to a bully in my club yesterday and now our characters have to fight next game. I don't know alot about the rules (this is my first ever dnd character) so im kinda scared. I play a 1LifeCleric/3EchoKnight Fighter/ 14BattleSmith Artificer and he plays some lvl 20 hexblade guy with 3 levels in fighter and somehow paralyzes people on a hit.

Can I win this battle? I'm allowed one legendary item from the DM that isn't sentient or banned. I can also bring any magic items or spell scrolls cause I'm an artificer and he says I can acquire them because I come from ebberon.

Can I win? For the clubs sake? Or is he going to kill my character

This isn't Anime. Don't settle diferences through D&D.

Talk it through, probably with your DM pressent. If he's really a bully (and it's not an exageration), maybe kick him out of the club or party?

Not sure if the whole thing was part of the RP, 'cause honestly your post is kinda weird, but in case it wasn't, please follow my advice.

[One Step Two]

Just to clarify, is this an out of character issue that is trying to be solved in-character with a pvp match? Because they should not be solved this way.

[ImNotTrevor]

I stood up to a bully in my club yesterday and now our characters have to fight next game. I don't know alot about the rules (this is my first ever dnd character) so im kinda scared. I play a 1LifeCleric/3EchoKnight Fighter/ 14BattleSmith Artificer and he plays some lvl 20 hexblade guy with 3 levels in fighter and somehow paralyzes people on a hit.

Can I win this battle? I'm allowed one legendary item from the DM that isn't sentient or banned. I can also bring any magic items or spell scrolls cause I'm an artificer and he says I can acquire them because I come from ebberon.

Am I doomed next game? Or can I stop him from power gaming For the clubs sake?
Thanks for reading! :)

Are you forced to have this in character fight BECAUSE you called him out for being a bully?

If so, tell the club to go suck some fat nards because that's SUPER STUPID.

If someone is being an A-hole out of game, no amount of in-game anything will fix the problem. Chucking dice won't make him less of an A-hole nor prove his innocence nor prove anyone's honor, it's entirely unrelated to the situation.

It would be like if he'd taken your sandwich at lunch and so now you have to do a relay race. If that doesn't make any sense as a response to the problem, congratulations.

But before I go full-ham on calling this practice pants-on-head-stupid, what exactly lead up to this? I have 0 interest in the stupid and unrelated PVP thing that I'd have laughed at with great mirth the moment someone offered it as a valid anything.

[Composer99]

Okay, so...


If this is entirely in-character, the hexblade character is the bully, and you and the other player and the DM are having a grand old time with this scenario, then great. I'm not sure how to help you, but at least it would be worth the effort. This doesn't seem to be the case, though.

If this is out-of-character, and you have called out a player bully, and the DM is settling this with an in-character duel - that's absurd.

Also, is the player inconsiderate of other player characters? Is the behaviour being called out fine if it were at a different table but you feel it's a misfit for the club? Or are we talking an actual bully expressing "dark tetrad" behaviours?

If it's just a misfit between what you think is the appropriate "table culture" and what this other player does, the DM is being a clueless jerk by resolving and out-of-game conflict with an in-game duel. DM should be trying to get folks to sit down and talk like adults and come to an agreement about the "table culture".

If it's actual bullying (like school bully bullying, toxic workplace bully bullying, that sort of thing), the DM is waaaaaaaayyy out of line and is enabling a toxic environment. Also, in that case I would suggest you don't bother with "next game", unless "next game" is at a whole other table.

[kyoryu]

Yeah I'm gonna say this is toxic as anything even if it's in character.

Making a player engage in a PvP fight with an experienced player in their second session? That's not cool in any way. Like...it sounds like there's bullying going on no matter what. There's ways that this could have been resolved, and this PvP session will almost certainly end up with OP losing.

And, as others said, if the bullying behavior was real life, then this is beyond toxic.

I don't see anything good coming of it.

The only way that this might be okay is if:

1) it's totally in character
2) everybody is on board with it and thinks it's fun
3) OP gets a coach to either help them or just flat out play the combat for them

[Frogreaver]

I stood up to a bully in my club yesterday and now our characters have to fight next game. I don't know alot about the rules (this is my first ever dnd character) so im kinda scared. I play a 1LifeCleric/3EchoKnight Fighter/ 14BattleSmith Artificer and he plays some lvl 20 hexblade guy with 3 levels in fighter and somehow paralyzes people on a hit.

Can I win this battle? I'm allowed one legendary item from the DM that isn't sentient or banned. I can also bring any magic items or spell scrolls cause I'm an artificer and he says I can acquire them because I come from ebberon.

Am I doomed next game? Or can I stop him from power gaming For the clubs sake?
Thanks for reading! :)

Spell = Heat Metal
Item = Winged Boots (no idea if this is banned)

I'm sure there's probably better setups but casting heat metal on his armor in a level 4 slot is a solid 180 damage to him over a minute. Use the Winged boots to stay away from him and and dodge/shield spell the rest of everything. (Your echo knight abilities could come in handy here as well. Also depending on DM ruling the sanctuary spell on yourself from the cleric list might be really good as well.)

Unless he's maxed con there's a good chance that kills him. If not it leaves as weak enough that he may surrender as a level 3 heat metal on weapon or shield, etc would have a good chance of finishing him off.

By the way, the whole situation that led up to this seems pretty messed up. But I think you have a chance!

[Elysiume]

I'll second Asmotherion's question as to whether this is an in-character thing that both parties agreed to or if it's forced out-of-character arbitration, as your post made it seem like the latter. If that's the case, bring a scroll of Wish and wish for a DM that doesn't let a bully exact revenge by killing your character with the DM's blessing.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Spell = Heat Metal
Item = Winged Boots (no idea if this is banned)

I'm sure there's probably better setups but casting heat metal on his armor in a level 4 slot is a solid 180 damage to him over a minute. Use the Winged boots to stay away from him and and dodge/shield spell the rest of everything. (Your echo knight abilities could come in handy here as well. Also depending on DM ruling the sanctuary spell on yourself from the cleric list might be really good as well.)

Unless he's maxed con there's a good chance that kills him. If not it leaves as weak enough that he may surrender as a level 3 heat metal on weapon or shield, etc would have a good chance of finishing him off.

By the way, the whole situation that led up to this seems pretty messed up. But I think you have a chance!

Be said he is paralysing on hit.
A ring of free action may be better.


I don't really know how the echo knight work as I ban non official content but if you can cast with your echo then start by running away and use heat metal with your echo from a safe distance.

[Dork_Forge]

Be said he is paralysing on hit.
A ring of free action may be better.


I don't really know how the echo knight work as I ban non official content but if you can cast with your echo then start by running away and use heat metal with your echo from a safe distance.

But Echo Knight is official content? Explorer's Guide to Wildemount is an offical WotC product (unlike Mercer's previous setting book).


OP: You can win, but honestly I wouldn't humour this. If the player is really a bully then resolve it out of play, life is too short to put up with bullies.

[Mastikator]

If you fight him in PVP then you just validate his bullying, if you win all you achieve is that you get to bully him. If you want to stop the bullying then talk to the DM and the other players and convince them that this forced PVP is dumb and toxic, then with peer pressure the power of friendship you can force the bully to stand down. He'll either accept it over time or leave. I'd say the chances of actually convincing him he's wrong with words are close to zero and more importantly: not worth the effort.

If you can't talk them down then the club is not worth saving.

[opaopajr]

:smallcool: I am so proud of the mature responses here. And yes, they are exactly correct.

If this is an OOC problem (as far as we know) and for it to be resolved IC -- with GM blessing -- is the childish and irresponsible way to handle it. Just agreeing to its terms is to fail, on all sides from each and every party. And the onus of responsibility for this failure rests on the instigating bully and the enabling GM.

Stop feeling imprisoned that you have to put up with failures. :smallsmile: Keep the contacts of the cool people you've met and maybe you can all start a new club without the childish drama and immature resolutions. Doesn't that sound liberating? :smallwink:

[zinycor]

If this person is being a bully outside of character, then sadly you will have to leave the group, as he is
being allowed to do that by the GM.

If this is more of a duel, and there is no outside of character problem, I would probably use heat metal ams then make sure the opponent doesn't see you anymore.

[cutlery]

PC duels are pretty silly in general, as the initiative roll as well as starting distance determines much. You'd need multiple duels with different sets of starting conditions (say, 3-4 different start conditions, and ten duels each, splitting the initiative difference in proportion to their initiative bonuses). More iterations is better but grows tedious.

PC duels are even more silly when framed as a way to settle a real-world dispute. Don't do it.

Just each roll a 1d20 and the highest number wins; and will be about as satisfying.

[Nhorianscum]

(Since other folks here have made the sensible and mature argument I get to make the silly DnD argument)

He has action surge and 9th level invocations so you're just flat out dead here.

Like, super a lot dead. Don't fight em.

[Kurt Kurageous]

If you are not having fun (and it seems you are not), your DM is a jerk for letting this happen. Get another group. asap. A courageous person like yourself (regardless of age) would be welcome at my table, a 54y/o DM.

If you can't or won't avoid it, renegotiate the duel to happen in a location where neither one can easily leave (island in middle of nowhere) with very limited life sustaining essentials lie air, clean water, and reliable food (say a cloud 5000ft in the air), perhaps with damaging environmental effects (bottom of a volcano).

Win initiative. Its a 50/50 proposition. Win, you live, they die. Lose they win, you die.

How do you win? The one item you make, in addition to whatever else boosts your initiative roll, is the nonlegendary Rod of Security. DMG197

"While holding this rod, you can use an action to activate it. The rod then instantly transports you and up to 199 other willing creatures you can see to a paradise that exists in an extraplanar space. You choose the form that the paradise takes. It could be a tranquil garden, lovely glade, cheery tavern, immense palace, tropical island, fantastic carnival, or whatever else you can imagine. Regardless of its nature, the paradise contains enough water and food to sustain its visitors. Everything else that can be interacted with inside the extraplanar space can exist only there. For example, a flower picked from a garden in the paradise disappears if it is taken outside the extraplanar space.
For each hour spent in the paradise, a visitor regains hit points as if it had spent 1 Hit Die. Also, creatures don't age while in the paradise, although time passes normally. Visitors can remain in the paradise for up to 200 days divided by the number of creatures present (round down).
When the time runs out or you use an action to end it, all visitors reappear in the location they occupied when you activated the rod, or an unoccupied space nearest that location. The rod can't be used again until ten days have passed."

You are out of reach for 200 days. If the environment can't be left, they will starve to death at the very least. And if they somehow survive (unlikely), you come back in fully rested.

Forget fighting. Sometimes it's best to to let others (the environment) do your killing. And you certainly have earned a vacation from there DnJerks.

[Hael]

I mean mechanically, on paper this fight looks rough. He can cast shadow of moil on himself and immune himself from most of your spells. He also has 9th lvl spells to work with, which is a big problem. You don’t really have a lot of initiative advantage either, and the usual movement shenanigans (stealth, flight, swimming, teleporting, speed) aren’t really in your favor.

He has very high ranged damage attacks with EB, melee ranged paralysis and he cuts your damage by 50% with armor of hexes, he also can burn a spell slot for aoa, which can really add the damage up over time. In an extended melee battle, you will lose, and he will outcast you in a straight spell war.

You need to cheese the fight somehow. Something like throw a bag of holding into another bag of holding and port him to another dimension.

[bid]

Start with "Aight, I put on my robe and wizard hat."
And end with "I steal yo soul and cast Lightning Lvl. 1,000,000 Your body explodes into a fine bloody mist."

http://bash.org/?104383

[NecessaryWeevil]

Agree with all the above.
That being said...
Weapon of Warning to win initiative, Ring of Free Action just in case,
Cast Gaseous Form, give him the finger, and flee through a wall?

[Friv]

If you are not having fun (and it seems you are not), your DM is a jerk for letting this happen. Get another group. asap. A courageous person like yourself (regardless of age) would be welcome at my table, a 54y/o DM.

If you can't or won't avoid it, renegotiate the duel to happen in a location where neither one can easily leave (island in middle of nowhere) with very limited life sustaining essentials lie air, clean water, and reliable food (say a cloud 5000ft in the air), perhaps with damaging environmental effects (bottom of a volcano).

Win initiative. Its a 50/50 proposition. Win, you live, they die. Lose they win, you die.

How do you win? The one item you make, in addition to whatever else boosts your initiative roll, is the nonlegendary Rod of Security. DMG197

I'd do that even if the fight doesn't take place in a deadly location. Use Inspiration to gain Advantage on the Initiative check and encourage winning. Take the Alert feat if you're allowed to change your build right now. Win Initiative, give him the finger, go to paradise plane, announce "I win D&D" and walk out of the club and never return.

[Kurt Kurageous]

I'd do that even if the fight doesn't take place in a deadly location. Use Inspiration to gain Advantage on the Initiative check and encourage winning. Take the Alert feat if you're allowed to change your build right now. Win Initiative, give him the finger, go to paradise plane, announce "I win D&D" and walk out of the club and never return.

Man, I like how you think and how this sounds. The kid comes to the playground and taps into hundreds of thousands of DM hours, walks out and deals it like Rocky!

[Kurt Kurageous]

Agree with all the above.
That being said...
Weapon of Warning to win initiative, Ring of Free Action just in case,
Cast Gaseous Form, give him the finger, and flee through a wall?

Yeah, that's the way. Along with the Alert feat and a Weapon of Warning and perhaps Inspiration (if anyone still uses it), the kid can't (likely) lose initiative with +5, advantage, and a reroll if needed. "Don't get cocky, kid!" - Han Solo

And we STILL haven't picked out his one legendary item.

I just like the "starves to death waiting for your return from the jovial tavern of paradise. Hell, its your paradise, why not get trained, go on adventures, level up, and come back even stronger?

I hope your foe dies a slow painful death...and that's the harshest thing I've ever said in this forum.

[Asmotherion]

Start with "Aight, I put on my robe and wizard hat."
And end with "I steal yo soul and cast Lightning Lvl. 1,000,000 Your body explodes into a fine bloody mist."

http://bash.org/?104383

As long as it doesn't end with "I send your soul to the shadow realm shadowfell" :P

[animewatcha]

Assuming bully is OOC and this ain't fun.

Interestingly most of warlock spells require verbal component. And a scroll of wish usually is legendary. Can wish that that the other person gets transported to a silent ( and maybe no air ) plane that has and can never have in the future any way out or in. I don't know if it mimics any spell aside from plane shift on a different scale. Wish doesn't say that it allows a saving throw. Also nearly all of warlock spells ( different spells different ranges ) are maxed at 90 range so stay beyond it. Do make it a point that DM accomodating positively him in any way is an acknowledgement by the 'bully' that he is a failure at life and can't do things on his own. Someone will always be better than him. Level 20 hexblade with level 3 fighter is a level 23 character and a not legal character to begin with. Hit with any legalese and/or then just leave. Sometimes a bully actually needs their own medicine shoved down their throat. Else they do it to another person ( enabling ). By all means leave the group, but if you can, sometimes you gotta leave the group leaving an impression on them. One of those, 'moderation'. Do just enough to get your point across, but not enough to go over the edge.

On a sidenote, carry a tazer just in case.

[NecessaryWeevil]

Level 20 hexblade with level 3 fighter is a level 23 character and a not legal character to begin with.

I assumed they meant Hexblade 17 / Fighter 3, but if not, yeah, wow.

[Spore]

As long as it doesn't end with "I send your soul to the shadow realm shadowfell" :P

My grandpas build has no pathetic spells, Kaiba!

[Asmotherion]

My grandpas build has no pathetic spells, Kaiba!

I'll just summon 3 Lv8 Dragons, with no tributes whatsoever, and leave it at that XD.

[Chugger]

Who is "forcing" you??? Just say no. Don't explain it - just say no, it's not going to happen. Is the DM making you do this? If so that's not good - take a break from the game. Find a new group.