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Leicontis
2007-11-14, 11:03 PM
I figured, since we've relatively recently had a thread on types of DM's, why not have a corresponding thread for players? Here's a couple to start with...

The Avatarist: All of their characters are essentially them with different abilities and backgrounds. Since there's not really much difference between the player and the character, they certainly don't have much difficulty getting into character. However, you won't often see a great depth of character interaction, as the player isn't as personaly invested as their character.

The Explorer: Many of an Explorer's characters bear some resemblance to the player, but with some significant (but usually easily-described) difference. This is often the result of the player saying "What would I be like if...?" These players' characters often demonstrate highly variable depths in their personality - the closer they get to the player, the richer their interactions often become.

The Mathematician: This type of player often treats tabletop games as they would a computer game - or a math problem. They expect everyone to do whatever is mathematically optimal, and are confused and sometimes irritated when they don't. The alignment system frequently mystifies them, because as far as they're concerned, their character's alignment is whatever they've written on their character sheet. WARNING: The Mathematician is generally also a mass-murderer of catgirls.

brian c
2007-11-14, 11:06 PM
The Mathematician: This type of player often treats tabletop games as they would a computer game - or a math problem. They expect everyone to do whatever is mathematically optimal, and are confused and sometimes irritated when they don't. The alignment system frequently mystifies them, because as far as they're concerned, their character's alignment is whatever they've written on their character sheet. WARNING: The Mathematician is generally also a mass-murderer of catgirls.

Hey, I'm a Mathematics major, and I don't respect the implied correlation between mathematics and "rollplayers". Just call it "The Powergamer" or something

RTGoodman
2007-11-14, 11:35 PM
The Eccentric: No matter the game or campaign, the Eccentric has to come up with the most ridiculous idea around. He'll probably start out as a half-drow rogue/monk with a dragonmark (in Forgotten Realms) who, when not adventuring, runs a merchant guild. And has a Russian accent. For no reason. And then the next week he decides that he has to play an insane wizard with a 3 Wisdom who constantly makes sounds. For the entire three hour session. And none of this has to do with role-playing or mechanics or anything - he (apparently) just physically can't bring himself to play a standard race or class.

Jack Zander
2007-11-14, 11:45 PM
The Destroyer: This player is always defecating in the corner, peeing on the NPCs, mutilating dead bodies, burning random buildings, and trying to ruin your plot. When higher authorities come to stop the player in game, he always cries "Railroading!"

Grynning
2007-11-14, 11:52 PM
The I-Wish-I-Could-Optimizer - Someone who finds a power/class/race/spell combination (usually on the internet) that they think is godly and design their character entirely around it (often executing it poorly), and show up to the game expecting to own everything with their amazing combo. They may pull it off once because the DM wants to spotlight them, then they realize their character is completely unsuited for normal adventuring, and is actually quite underpowered compared to the rest of the group. Then they sit out the rest of the session pouting while everyone else does the fun stuff.

The Anti-Powergamer / Rules-Lawyer (me :smalltongue:) : The player who looks over everyone else's character sheets and points out stuff that doesn't work (You have two deflection bonuses to AC, those don't stack!). He/she has an an annoying tendency to point out how the rules prohibit a really cool attack that someone else is about to try, or to pull up the Errata on a spell that the DM was running under the original rules and complain that the spell is too overpowered without the change. Frequent target of DM fiat. Not necessarily a bad role-player, but when combat starts, they're flipping pages on every turn.

The Fanboy - Someone who always designs their character to resemble a fictional character from another source, often an anime or video game. No matter what the campaign setting, they will insist on having a Japanese-sounding name and spikey hair. A subset of this archetype is the "Always plays a Drow with two scimitars" club.

Guy_Whozevl
2007-11-15, 12:05 AM
Timmy, Johnny,...oh wait, you wanted D&D player types...?

Too Many Suppliments to Count - There are those that don't know anything beyond the Player's Handbook. Then, there are others that search every last issue of Dragon Magazine from Issue 1 for anything that could optimize their character to the fullest. If the DM is lucky, he will only have to contend with 24 different suppliments, 10 of which he has never heard of and 7 of which he cannot pronounce. Goes hand in hand with the optimizer and the min-maxer.

Jack Zander
2007-11-15, 12:14 AM
I dunno, I think Timmy, Johnny and Spike are viable for this thread.

dungeon_munky
2007-11-15, 12:21 AM
"I'm the Best"- This player "is" the best in every situation. He constantly tells everyone about how great and wonderful his character is and will berate all the other characters with such lines as "You try to shoot him, but you are an elf." Is rarely actually any good in any situation, and will sulk when he realises this, retelling stories of a combination that they played this one time (see "The I-Wish-I-Could Optimizer"). As soon as they do something right again, the arrogance will resume, until somebody gets annoyed (be it another player or the DM) and the character ultimately dies.

MCerberus
2007-11-15, 12:30 AM
"Munchkin"

If there's no answer that involves how he can be uber powerful the question wasn't worth asking. All the magic items belong to him so he can be so powerful he feels like a god... so he tries to kill one and complains when he gets his ass handed to him.

RTGoodman
2007-11-15, 12:32 AM
The Anti-Powergamer / Rules-Lawyer (me :smalltongue:) : The player who looks over everyone else's character sheets and points out stuff that doesn't work (You have two deflection bonuses to AC, those don't stack!).

Guilty as charged...:smallredface:

Of course, for some reason, people in our university gaming group have a tendency to cheat (which, in a game like D&D, doesn't make any sense at all to me, but they still seem to do it). So I tend to look at sheets.

And I had another one, but by the time this page loaded, I forgot it...

Jack Zander
2007-11-15, 12:36 AM
The Girlfriend: This player doesn't really enjoy roleplaying, their nerdy (but sexy!) boyfriend dragged them to a session and they've returned ever since as to not upset him. They never learn the rules, their boyfriend levels up and creates their character for them, and on every one of their turns they ask "What should I do?" and "Which one of these do I roll again?" even after playing for two years.

Pironious
2007-11-15, 12:47 AM
The Hypothetical Duelist

This player is constantly telling the others how his character could best them each in a duel, usually by usage of spells as these are most often arcane casters of the wizard variety (at least in my experience). Unfortunately, as your character is good and you actually play him as such, you won't simply stand aside and let the enemy get melee with them, or do worse such as grappling them while an enemy proceeds to full attack them, but the temptation will always be there.

brian c
2007-11-15, 01:10 AM
The Girlfriend: This player doesn't really enjoy roleplaying, their nerdy (but sexy!) boyfriend dragged them to a session and they've returned ever since as to not upset him. They never learn the rules, their boyfriend levels up and creates their character for them, and on every one of their turns they ask "What should I do?" and "Which one of these do I roll again?" even after playing for two years.

I don't understand how this person could even exist. Either she's really dependent, or he's really sexy; I couldn't drag my girlfriend within 100ft of a D&D game if I led a trail of chocolates and flowers to it

Deepblue706
2007-11-15, 01:10 AM
That's me in the corner

Striving to play as the ultimate badass, this player spends no less than half of the gaming session doing "cool stuff" in-character. There's a fair chance that he won't sit in the tavern with the rest of his group, prefering to brood, alone in the corner, with his hood up.

That's me in the spotlight

Striving to be the ultimate hero at every turn, this player cannot accept their characters ever being less-than-heroic. It may not even be rightly considered "heroic", except for in their eyes. If they fail, lose, or come short of a prestigious outcome, they think something is wrong with the game, and complain about how they aren't being allowed to be heroish enough.

Losing my religion

This player will play clerics, and not once, ever mention how their deity is important to them, why they worship them over other gods, and will seldom even acknowledge they are somehow involved with religion, despite having a deity clearly listed on their character sheet, and having the relationship clerics are required to have with their respective gods.

The Distracted

When not particularly engaged in what's happening, or waiting for their combat turn, they find it absolutely necessary to pick up a guitar or other item and proceed to get lost in it. They become reluctant to ever return to the game, until something directly motivates them to do so.

Example:

DM: Bill, stop playing the guitar. We're trying to play D&D.
Bill: C'mon, like I'm a distraction!
DM: Whatever. You're up next, ya know.
Bill: ...
DM: Hey, if you're gonna keep playing, play something good, like Freebird.
Bill: Dude, Freebird sucks.
DM: Oh. Hey, roll this d20.
Bill: Uh...sure. Why?
DM: It's a reflex save.
Bill: For?
DM: My fist.

The Flat-Footed

This player can't think on their toes. They don't know what to do, what to say, or how to say it. If you have a NPC ask them a question, they stare blankly, stutter a bit, maybe even drool.

Example:

Guard: Halt! What is your business in our town?
PC: I...erhm...uh...I'm an elf!
Guard: What? Uh, alright. Very good. And...why are you here?
PC: I'm an adventurer!
Guard: Okay.
PC: ...
Guard: Are you saying that you've been travelling a long time and wish to stay at an inn here, tonight?
PC: Why, yes! Of course!
Guard: Of course.

Jack Zander
2007-11-15, 01:18 AM
I don't understand how this person could even exist. Either she's really dependent, or he's really sexy; I couldn't drag my girlfriend within 100ft of a D&D game if I led a trail of chocolates and flowers to it

My ex girlfriend was like that and yes, why thank you, I am really sexy.

She said she liked it, but apparently didn't like it enough to ever learn the rules, even simple ones like how to attack ("Roll the d20 and add your attack bonus, Liz. That's that number right there on your character sheet. Good job, maybe next week you can do it without guidance.").

shadowdemon_lord
2007-11-15, 01:21 AM
The Tactician Frequently also a min/maxer and/or munchkin this guy can kill you're Illithid with a 3rd level monk and make it look easy. You try to challenge him on the rules behind what he's doing, but they're sound. It's hard to even acuse him of abusing or bending the rules overly much, he just knows all the tricks.

The "This Class/Race/Feat/Skill Dosen't Suck Here's the player that will bring a bard/monk/samurai/whatever to the table and make you reconsider your thoughts that this class is underpowered. May also use seemingly underpowered feats/skills/spells in ways that make them effective. If combined with munchkin and allowed to DM, you may find yourself facing an ecounter similar to Tuckers Kobolds.

Can roleplay any concept convincingly This guy will come to the table with a paladin, a sleezeball mercenary, an eccentric wizard, a pacifist monk, a conman rogue, a gunslinger with a chip on his shoulder, and a shady smugler that just looks out for himself. He'll roleplay every single concept distinctly differently and extremely well. You will weep in awe at his sheer versatility and skill.

The anti tactitican Will build a character (typically a rogue) that is totally unoptimised for combat. When combat starts will totally disregard any concerns for life and limb and just do whatever he/she feels like. Does not generally meta game at all in combat, and instead will act as if the incapacitated person to be rescued will die if not tended to NOW! Despite the fact that the party is about to start a clearly nasty combat. Will proceed to do just that, leaving the party to it's fate. May also be Girlfriend.

The Cumpolsive Munchkin This player can't help but Munchkinize his characters. Literally every concept he comes up with is broken, whether or not he did it on purpose. Tends to overshadow party horribly, even if playing the fighter and is in a party with a druid. For the love of god, don't let him play the druid. May also be Tactician.

VerdugoExplode
2007-11-15, 01:21 AM
The Evil Twin

This person will make a character. He will play him and generally enjoy the time spent role playing. He only becomes apparent when his character dies and is unable to be resurrected. At this point in time a mysterious stranger will join the party. A stranger who is almost the exact duplicate of the old character, except maybe has his name spelled backwards or with a letter changed. This will happen numerous times, depending on how hazardous the campaign is.

TimeWizard
2007-11-15, 01:29 AM
I dunno, I think Timmy, Johnny and Spike are viable for this thread.

My ex girlfriend was like that and yes, why thank you, I am really sexy.

It's like you're some kind of clone version of me, you even have half of my name.

Jack Zander
2007-11-15, 01:37 AM
Lol, my name's not even Jack. That's just a dashing, swashbuckling rogue I created once.

clericwithnogod
2007-11-15, 01:42 AM
The Girlfriend: This player doesn't really enjoy roleplaying, their nerdy (but sexy!) boyfriend dragged them to a session and they've returned ever since as to not upset him. They never learn the rules, their boyfriend levels up and creates their character for them, and on every one of their turns they ask "What should I do?" and "Which one of these do I roll again?" even after playing for two years.

The similar...

Boyfriend/Husband: This player doesn't really enjoy roleplaying, their nerdy (but domineering!) girlfriend/wife dragged them to a session and they've returned ever since as to not upset her. They never learn the rules, their significant other levels up and creates their character for them, and on every one of their turns they can't say anything before their significant other speaks for them. For two years you'll see him in the men's room begging the DM to kill him off. The DM won't do it because he doesn't want to upset and possibly lose the significant other who, despite using her boyfriend/husband (and his PC) like a hireling, is a really great player and well-liked by the rest of the table (and because, truth be told, watching the husband/boyfriend sit, fetch, roll over and stuff is rather entertaining).

Grynning
2007-11-15, 01:59 AM
Deepblue706 = Win.

The Lonely Loner Lone Wolf who's Alone - This player always insists on going off on their own, despite the fact that this frequently leads to character death and absolute boredom for everyone else while the DM has to run them through their solo adventure of "scouting ahead." Refuses to acknowledge the age-old truism that D&D parties should never Scooby.* Also tends to play silent tough guys, see That's Me in The Corner.

*Scooby (Verb): To split up in a way that makes no sense tactically. As in "Me and the girls will go this way, Scooby and Shaggy will check out that way..."

Temp
2007-11-15, 02:01 AM
The Mope
She's a sucker for characters that are "Different," but she's not familiar enough with game mechanics to make it work. She'll play a 19 Dex, 26 Charisma Rogue with 4 Level Adjustment and be happy as can be until the rest of the Party reaches level 3 or 4 and she's still dinking around with her 6 hit points and her 3.5 Sneak Attack damage (which she can't actually get due to survival issues). So as a campaign progresses, she becomes more and more detached from her character and from the game. This happens with every character every time. Often it can progress into The Bitter Nay-Sayer

The Bitter Nay-Sayer
Most of the group comes to be sociable and to have fun. This player doesn't. She comes out of routine and hates every minute of it. She constantly announces her boredom and frustration vocally. If the DM introduces a monster, she'll blurt out its name, its abilities and its weaknesses within seconds (ironic because despite never DMing, she's far less familiar with the Player's Handbook than the MM). Any homebrew creatures will meet whines and complaints. When a DM caters an adventure to try to bring her back into the action, she'll complain that the solution was "unrealistic" and "contrived."

The Nosy Bugger
This player can't be perturbed by such concepts as secrecy or privacy. He'll skim a player's backstory, he'll skim a player's character sheet, he'll skim the DM's stat blocks and he'll announce whatever he sees. There's no point in introducing elements of shadiness or intrigue to a campaign with him; a quick look through the DM's notes will solve the troubles. DMs don't appreciate his behaviour, other players don't appreciate his behaviour. He's may be ahoopy frood outside the game, but when he plays, he stretches tolerance to its very limits.

...But beside those two, Deepblue hit my group pretty accurately. Unfortunately, the DM falls into the "Distracted" category. Including the guitar. But he refuses to play anything that is not the base chord changes to "Wish You Were Here."

TimeWizard
2007-11-15, 02:18 AM
Lol, my name's not even Jack. That's just a dashing, swashbuckling rogue I created once.

Mine neither. Zander, however, is.

Skjaldbakka
2007-11-15, 02:34 AM
The Lurker

This guy comes never misses a session, never complains, and if asked, will say that he enjoys the game, but doesn't seem to be very involved in the game. Occasionally, he will do something creative and out there, and everyone will be utterly amazed at his awesomeness, and then he will go back to barely being there, filling that 4th slot.

I had one of these in my last game. Played a dwarf fighter. His moments of awesome included killing an evil treant by lighting a barrel of high-proof alcohol, and pulling a spare suit of armor out of his bag of holding after his suit was destroyed by a Bebilith.

Jack Zander
2007-11-15, 03:04 AM
The Mother/Wife: Not really a player, but lurks around and chats enough with the players to almost be considered one. As she provides plenty of snacks and drinks, she is a welcomed and desired member of the team (arguably the most important).

Weird, I though Zander was purely a roleplayer's name. It's in my book of random cliche RPG names. Is it your first or last name?

Behold_the_Void
2007-11-15, 03:13 AM
The Girlfriend (Corollary): This player understands the rules. She knows how to play, enjoys the game, and could just as easily be another player. Thing is, she's dating the DM. This could be a completely irrelevant , or could lead to blatant and annoying favoritism depending on the kind of DM you're under.

I've got this in my game. I like to think I'm fair about being even, but we shall have to see.

Tengu
2007-11-15, 03:49 AM
The Evil Twin
<snip>

I think that's a proper punishment for a DM who lets his players die for trivial reasons.

I'm a roleplayer!
This guy confuses good roleplaying with having a crappy build. He will purposely create a character that will be useless in the campaign (usually a non-combatant for a game with lots of battles), and openly look down on those who have better optimized characters than him. Will whine like crazy that the DM caters only to munchkins when his character proves to be useless over and over again. Sometimes becomes That's me in the corner, because he shuns the company of the rest of the party.
If you think this player is bad, consider yourself lucky that you haven't met a DM that has the same beliefs as him.

Skjaldbakka
2007-11-15, 03:51 AM
I think that's a proper punishment for a DM who lets his players die for trivial reasons.

Trivial reasons like a bad die roll? It is somewhat necessary for a bad die roll to be able to kill the character, otherwise it removes alot of the excitement.

Or do you mean trivial reasons like 'rocks fall and you die'?

Xefas
2007-11-15, 04:00 AM
Class Turtle
The first time they played D&D, someone stuck them with a fighter to simplify the process as much as possible, and now they won't play anything else NO MATTER WHAT. You could offer them Greater Deity Divine Rank in your 1st level campaign if they would just please play a rogue or a cleric or anything but a fighter, and they'd cower in the corner, unable to conceive of such a thing.

----

I've had three people like this. The first I had to fight tooth and nail for MONTHS before they agreed to take a single level in a different class (the class features of which they then refused to use). The second, I was able to convince to play a cleric, but 90% of the time he refused to use any of his spells, even if it were thematically appropriate and/or advantageous to the party as a whole. The third...I've given up on. After YEARS, I am unable to convince them to play something besides a fighter.

This is why I now start all new recruits on Dread Necromancer :smallannoyed:

It wouldn't even be much of a problem accept for the fact that they put no effort into making the fighter capable of contributing past the very early levels, or even put any sort of variation or spin on their feat selection. It's almost always "Weapon Focus: Some kind of Sword", "Power Attack" (which they never use), "Cleave", "Improved -something-" (which they never use), "Weapon Specialization: Some kind of Sword", Great Cleave, etc.

No Shock Trooper, or Robilar's Gambit, or Leap Attack...no tripper builds...nothing :smallfrown:

I got the "I just took 2d6 SAN damage" look after showing them Tome of Battle, and explaining that Warblades were fighters, except useful and more fun to play.

Tengu
2007-11-15, 04:02 AM
Trivial reasons like a bad die roll? It is somewhat necessary for a bad die roll to be able to kill the character, otherwise it removes alot of the excitement.

Or do you mean trivial reasons like 'rocks fall and you die'?

I firmly believe that there are only five ways a PC should permanently die:
1. The player leaves the game, and lets the DM do whatever he wants with the character.
2. The PCs have done something really stupid - fart into the king's face, attack the dragon they know they have no chance of winning against, set a city to fire.
3. Plot reasons, making the player content with the story even that the character is dead - holding off an overpowered opponent, giving your allies enough time to run away? Rarely anyone would mind his character dying that way.
4. You're running a horror campaign, or a one-shot.
5. The player is an ass and you want to punish him.

If none of those conditions are met, you're just being mean to the player who spent lots of time making and polishing a character, getting attached to it, and now losing it to an unlucky die roll.

Skjaldbakka
2007-11-15, 04:06 AM
Ah, so you're in the 'fudge the dice to keep the players from dying' camp. Die and permanently die are two different things though. I tend to fudge the dice a bit to keep players from dying at lower levels. The kid gloves come off somewhere between 10th and 15th level, though. Given their access to ress magic at that point, it isn't as big a deal if you die anymore.

Tengu
2007-11-15, 04:22 AM
I don't play DND. I play games where it's relatively easy to return people from 'death' in combat, because there's a big threshold between death and unconsciousness, or stuff that gets you up after a combat is readily available. Resurrection of people who died "for real", on the other hand, is very hard if even possible, because it usually kills the tension. Example of such games are Earthdawn or my homebrew FFRPG.

If I ran DND, I'd probably let the characters die in combat when they have resurrecting magic easily available, though.

Skjaldbakka
2007-11-15, 04:25 AM
Would you be so kind as to provide a link to your hombrew (assuming it is online somewhere)? From what I have heard on the grapevine, 4ed is going to really suck, so it is either find a different system for my medieval fantasy needs, or finish my definitive 3.5 homebrew. Either way, seeing what other people are using is useful. :smallsmile:

Tengu
2007-11-15, 04:41 AM
I don't think will you like it a lot, but it's here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44150). Well, the things that players are supposed to know are there - there never was any GM other than me, so I never bothered to streamline the things only he is supposed to know.

Tormsskull
2007-11-15, 08:01 AM
The "Yes My Character is made to fit into a Roleplaying Campaign" but really isn't player.

This guy confuses good roleplaying with saying a word or two in-between tosses of the dice. He will purposely create a character that will be mechanically powerful (usually a combatant for a game with lots of roleplaying), and openly look down on those who have not optimized their characters for combat. Will whine like crazy that the DM gives the non-optimized characters a chance to shine when his character proves to be mechanically better than them. Sometimes becomes "Munchkin", because he is only interested in obtaining more mechanical power.
If you think this player is bad, consider yourself lucky that you haven't met a DM that has the same beliefs as him.

The "I Loot the Bodies!" player

This guy shouts out "I loot the bodies" immediately after a battle has concluded, thinking that since he said it, it means that his character gets first dibs on all of the enemies' possessions regardless of where his character might be at the time, or where the corpses might be in relation to his character.

The "Yes in Fact I do Speak that Language" player

This player makes sure he has a high intelligence, and even pours additional skill points into the Speak Language skill, so that he can speak a slew of languages.

The Metagamer

This player will constantly evaluate the campaign with an out-of-game eye. If the party faces a creature that is too powerful for them to face, this player will usually suggest that the creature is an illusion as the DM would have never put in a creature that is too far above their party level. Also frequently tries to justify their character knowing OOC information because they the player know it.

Setra
2007-11-15, 08:22 AM
Charismatic Wonder
He's the guy who everyone likes, he's a great roleplayer, excellent at optimization, but he certainly knows how best to make a character to help his party. More likely to make his Cleric heal than destroy everything, so he doesn't outshine the newbies who want to have fun. He knows most of the rules, and can spot most rule breaking/abuse from a mile away.

Very rare.

That guy
He's not really new to the game, nor too experienced, he's just 'That guy'. He knows a good deal of the rules, not a rules lawyer though, he makes mistakes, doesn't really optimize his character, but it fares well, he tries to roleplay and does alright, but doesn't excel at anything yet.

Given time he may become anything from a Charismatic Wonder, to a Munchkin.

PnP Fan
2007-11-15, 08:56 AM
The I Have a Brilliant Plan guy: This guy may be completely proficient player in almost every way, except when it comes time to plan for something. He will then proceed to cook up the most insane scheme, with virtualy no probability for success. If there is the possibility for collateral damage, it will be disregarded, and possibly bad enough to kill the planet, if not just the PC's. Has the special ability to proclaim these ideas in either a very calm serious tone, or a slightly manic tone, that is still quite serious. Then, when everyone else laughs his idea off as some sort of joke, he mopes.

Hyozo
2007-11-15, 09:24 AM
The Scores only apply when dice are being rolled. This type of player is easiest to notice if they dump a mental stat, especially int. Their character will use long words and come up with excelent battle strategies, and they will think it is perfectly acceptable as long as a skill check is not involved. This player, like many others, is worse when the DM agrees.

SoD
2007-11-15, 10:09 AM
...But beside those two, Deepblue hit my group pretty accurately. Unfortunately, the DM falls into the "Distracted" category. Including the guitar. But he refuses to play anything that is not the base chord changes to "Wish You Were Here."

Good lord, are you Tasmanian by any chance??? My DM is like that!

mikeejimbo
2007-11-15, 10:36 AM
The Tagalong Surrogate Little Brother

This player was invited to the group by one of the members, is generally younger than the rest, and he's been returning ever since because they look up to and like the rest of the group. The rest of the group also views him like a little brother (or sister, naturally); occasionally annoying, but always entertaining.

He may play characters that are optimized or not; he may be a good roleplayer or not, but he generally doesn't outshine the rest of the group.

Rodney Dangerfield

Usually plays a Cleric.

Susil
2007-11-15, 11:02 AM
The Dyslexic

Is a good roleplayer, and is not actually dyslexic. However, playing the game is difficult on account of them being completely unable to add the numbers on the dice. Frequently will roll either unreasonably high or unreasonably low on account of this, and begin to irritate the player sat next to them who has to continually check their maths. Most irritating if it is actually the DM.

The "Dyslexic"

As above, but for some reason only makes mistakes that make the result too high.



All above are jokes - no offense to anybody who actually suffers from dyslexia meant. :smallredface:

brian c
2007-11-15, 11:18 AM
The "Yes in Fact I do Speak that Language" player

This player makes sure he has a high intelligence, and even pours additional skill points into the Speak Language skill, so that he can speak a slew of languages.

Reminds me of the new Barbarian character I have for my game. I have an Int bonus so I have bonus languages and then I bought a bunch with skill points; I also made a deal with my DM to get languages at 1.5 pts each because I'm remaining illiterate. Sure I can speak 8 languages, but can't read or write any.

TimeWizard
2007-11-15, 11:29 AM
The Mother/Wife: Not really a player, but lurks around and chats enough with the players to almost be considered one. As she provides plenty of snacks and drinks, she is a welcomed and desired member of the team (arguably the most important).

Weird, I though Zander was purely a roleplayer's name. It's in my book of random cliche RPG names. Is it your first or last name?

It's part of my first name, Alexander, which I used in high school because their were too many Al's and Alex's. So viola, I am Zander- which I choose not to spell with an X... Xander seems too... fantasy-ish.

That mother part was my DM's mom to the T. Everybody loved Mama Sullivan, and Mama Sullivan loved everyone too.

MCerberus
2007-11-15, 11:48 AM
Sanity Not Included

Despite the fact that this person is barred from using Alchemists Fire, Torches, any spell with the [Fire] description, flint and steel, tindertwigs, or any other form of fire... he just set the quest giver's house on fire. This player is a loaded gun waiting to go off in weird if not hilarious ways. If there's a solution that involves being a psychopath, they will use it.

The Pyro

A sub type of the above specializing in fire

B Horror Villain

A type of Sanity Not Included who has an axe and will be damned if he's not going to use it on every civilian. Relevance to the plot means nothing. He's an adventurer and that means he gets to run around exterminating summer camps with his super-human powers. This player plays a Paladin at every occasion possible and complains when he falls.

Tyger
2007-11-15, 11:54 AM
The "Hey, I do so know the rules" Player: This player has played the game longer than any other player at the table. He plays so many games, that he can't even list off all the different systems he's familiar with. Yet despite this, and despite his best efforts, he can't seem to follow basic rules at all.


"I do so know the rules" Player: I rolled a 7. So that's 9 to hit.
Player 2: You're a tenth level ranger! You have a minimum +10 to hit.
"I do so know the rules" Player: Oh yeah, right. *counts on his fingers* So that's a 17 to hi.
Player 3: And your STR bonus....
"I do so know the rules" Player: Oh yeah, so that's a 21 to hit.
DM: You're flanking with Player 2.
"I do so know the rules" Player: Right! So a 27.
DM: 27?
"I do so know the rules" Player: Errr... ummm... I mean 14.
DM: What?
"I do so know the rules" Player: I forgot about the magical enchantment on the sword. Its a +3 sword.
DM: OK... you hit. For gods sake, roll damage.
Frequently just makes up his totals, and as long as its not too high, the rest of the group just lets it happen. No one cares.

The Wrangler:
"Listen, DM, I know that you told us about that house rule a long time ago, but I have been thinking about it (and incidentally it never impacted upon me before) and it seems a bit unbalanced now. I think we should review it again. I mean, I know you're the DM, and you have the final say, but don't you think it would be more balanced if we..."

In the best case, this player is just trying to point out inherent or non-obvious flaws in the system, especially in the DMs house rules. In the worst case however, he's pandering to the DM to gain the most for his character and only for his character.

The Accent: Believes that all characters should have an accent. Never mind that there is no Scotland, no Ireland, no Jamaica, no India and no Germany in your homebrewed world, his characters will always have an accent appropriate to one of those nations. Even more annoying, his accent will change throughout the gaming session. :) Bonus points if he is the DM.

Kesnit
2007-11-15, 12:39 PM
The Accent: Believes that all characters should have an accent. Never mind that there is no Scotland, no Ireland, no Jamaica, no India and no Germany in your homebrewed world, his characters will always have an accent appropriate to one of those nations. Even more annoying, his accent will change throughout the gaming session. :) Bonus points if he is the DM.

Does that include someone playing a Kender (DragonLance) who speaks IC in a high, squeeky voice?

Temp
2007-11-15, 12:48 PM
Good lord, are you Tasmanian by any chance??? My DM is like that!'Fraid not, I'm a Canuck... seems a lot of these apply eerily to most groups, though.

...Or we just don't pay attention to the ones that don't...

Either works.

Deepblue706
2007-11-15, 01:56 PM
The Exaggerator

This type of player greatly exaggerates any low mental stat to absurd levels, due to a misunderstanding of the capabilities of the average person, brought about through misconceptions, and simply being a jaded dork. In the case of INT, they might be completely average (or perhaps at 8 or 9) - but they play their character as if they were completely incapable of phrasing sentences with polysyllabic words, much less logical thought or knowledge of anything. If they have low WIS, they always do dumb things whenever possible, even if only being "below average" in that department. If they have less than 11 CHA, you may almost never hear them speak, because not having a positive modifier means you're horrible.

The Superhero

This type of player hates to be confined to low point-buys and expects rerolls for sets that have low point-buy equivilents. Despite the rulebooks going with the notion that 32+ point buy is for high-powered games, these players will often refuse to seriously consider anything less than 36. If this player ever has a set with even as much as a single below-average stat, expect less investment in the character's development, and less effort from the player, in general.

You want mercy?! I'm CHAOTIC NEUTRAL!

Like That's me in the corner, You want mercy!? I'm CHAOTIC NEUTRAL! is striving to be a badass, plain and simple. Except, they go beyond normal boundaries, and begin to make unsound and even ridiculous decisions, simply because they want to be a rebel. Expect them to give everyone a hard time, refusing to follow the game or do anything productive - you'll be lucky if they don't go so far as to mimic Catcher in the Rye's protagonist.

OneWinged4ngel
2007-11-15, 04:13 PM
The I-Wish-I-Could-Optimizer - Someone who finds a power/class/race/spell combination (usually on the internet) that they think is godly and design their character entirely around it (often executing it poorly), and show up to the game expecting to own everything with their amazing combo. They may pull it off once because the DM wants to spotlight them, then they realize their character is completely unsuited for normal adventuring, and is actually quite underpowered compared to the rest of the group. Then they sit out the rest of the session pouting while everyone else does the fun stuff. Oddly, these are the ones that seem to usually end up giving optimizers a bad name as far as RPing goes. All the genuinely skilled optimizers I've known have also been skilled roleplayers. Of course, that's just my personal experience, but then again since I play online I've played with a *lot* of different groups.

Egill
2007-11-15, 06:35 PM
The Awkward Comedian - Due to unfamiliarity or discomfort with roleplaying or massive personal problems, this player cannot play anything straight. This player usually has a set of jokes that are pumped into any situation (e.g. Naked gnome dancing, halfling hookers, "I set it on fire" or something more sinister - necrophilia, pedophilia, etc "IM ROLEPLAYING RIGHT?!"), and they are usually painfully unfunny. These folks can run the gamut from innocent immaturity to a serious need for psychiatric help.

shadowdemon_lord
2007-11-15, 11:42 PM
Story over mechanics This guy builds his characters for the story aspects of them only. This tends to have the side affect that his characters tend to be on the weaker side. It's not that he couldn't optimise his characters, it's that he'd rather play this PrC with really good fluff that just so happens to have been made underpowered. Even so, having him at the table is fun. His characters concepts are really cool, and despite his choice of subpar mechanics, he manages to contribute anyway.

Suzuro
2007-11-16, 12:17 AM
So many of these apply to me....


-Suzuro

Blasterfire
2007-11-16, 12:23 AM
The "Let's talk it out" Guy This player always tries to find a solution to an encounter other than combat. It doesn't matter that he just killed three people and their bodies are bleeding at his feet, and the room is on fire, and he's an escaped prisoner, he will try to convince the reinforcements that he should be allowed to walk away. Possibly I'm a roleplayer!.

The "What's diplomacy?" Guy This player will always resort to combat as a means to solve any situation. He will fight all the time and will try to find a combat solution to every situation.
Noble: "If you want this magic item, you must pass the trials of wisdom."
"What's diplomacy?" guy: "We could kill you and take it."
Noble: "Wha--- Hrgk." Usually one of the Optimizers or Munchkins.

Lord Tataraus
2007-11-16, 12:50 AM
I love these threads! I like seeing all my players be represented, but one has not been fully represented:

The "Oooh! Shiny!" guy:
This player is decent at role-playing and character build with no real flaws, though he might have a few of the others listed here. However, he gets easily distracted from his character and though he was completely in love with it at the beginning of the game, he will undoubtedly want to completely change his build because he got a new book or found out about a new race/class thats so awesome! He has got to play this new class and doesn't care about the old one, claiming he never really liked it. He will complain and pout if his current character is not killed/retired immediately so he can make the new shiny character.

I had to do it Nobody, I know you'll read this and I just want to say right here in public: You may not change your character! You wanted to be a Malconvoker and your doing a good job, no changes now and I've already talked about the problems with the time travel! You better not do this in the Valdar or Vampire game, especially the Vampire game! Now find my flaws as a player :smalltongue:

Grynning
2007-11-16, 05:11 AM
Charismatic Wonder
He's the guy who everyone likes, he's a great roleplayer, excellent at optimization, but he certainly knows how best to make a character to help his party. More likely to make his Cleric heal than destroy everything, so he doesn't outshine the newbies who want to have fun. He knows most of the rules, and can spot most rule breaking/abuse from a mile away.



I was fortunate enough to play with this guy in my first epic game. He played a paladin who rode a big freakin' dragon and was the best party leader ever, because no one would ever say he was party leader...but he always made sure the decisions everyone else made were the right ones. (just a little shout out, you know who you are bro).

shadow_archmagi
2007-11-16, 05:47 AM
The Writer

Enjoys roleplaying well enough, but mostly wants to see a good storyline, and, if the DM isn't providing one, takes the rest of the players on their own damned adventure. Or helps the DM plan ambushes and plot hooks when needed...

Overlard
2007-11-16, 06:08 AM
The Duelist

To this player, the guy sitting behind the screen is his nemesis. The point of the game is to thwart the DM's evil plans, to out think him at every turn. He's the Moriarty to your Sherlock Holmes, the Agent Smith to your Neo, the chalk to your cheese. This entire construct that other people call D&D is, in fact, an extremely elaborate game of chess between the two of you.

When the models are out, this is taken to the next level. Each move your character makes must be carefully considered, all the possibilities studied, and every variable covered.

In reality, the duelist's biggest enemy isn't the DM, it's the other players. Their strange actions seem designed to foil the duelist, making sure the most innocent of five-foot steps throw your meticulously planned strategy into chaos. Half the time you wonder why they don't accept their place as minor assistants who should let you dictate their actions; the rest of the time you wonder why they bother showing up in the first place, when it's so obviously a two player game...

SoD
2007-11-16, 06:36 AM
The Writer

Enjoys roleplaying well enough, but mostly wants to see a good storyline, and, if the DM isn't providing one, takes the rest of the players on their own damned adventure. Or helps the DM plan ambushes and plot hooks when needed...

Sounds a tad like me...only I don't deliberatley do it, I just talk to the DM outside of game time, usually at school of stuff, but seem to, with my ideas and questions, give him ideas of how to run the campaign. At one point it was so bad that as soon as I said ''I've been thinking-'' he interupted me with ''hang on, I'll just grab a pen and paper.'' And yes, he was serious. Apparantly, at one point, I turned an escapee from a random encounter into a huge reocurring villian who was intertwined with the plot, and was vitally important! Hmm, maybe I'll make that one...

The ''What If'' Guy

The ''What If'' Guy if usually harmless, and just seems to read too much into things. Drop a random encounter in, and he'll try and work it out to find out why it's there. Not as in 'why would there be orcs in the forest, and why are they attacking us?' but 'why would there be orcs in the forest, and why are they attacking us, what if [insert BBEG here] waqs paying them off! Yeah, or maybe it's an entirely new lot who, due to something we did ages ago, have decided to swear a blood oath of vengance against us!'. Not usually bad, or at least not horrible, unless they go entirely over the top and actually beleive it. Occasionally, one of them will rise to the ranks of DM, and nearly every random encounter, be it kobolds, orcs, or a gibbering mouther, are connected in some way to that guy you saw in town the other day.

Mad Mask
2007-11-16, 06:56 AM
The Greedy Rogue
Not always a Rogue, but very often. Like the Loot the Body ! player, the Greedy Rogue will try to get all the ennemies possession, but it's not just limited to that. He will attack non-evil NPC for their shinies, steal from other party members and worse.

SoD
2007-11-16, 07:04 AM
The 'Never Short of Money' Guy

You know the one, there's sometimes someone who, for some reason, their character never has enough equipment, but has a truckload of money. Not because they steal, the Greedy Rogue, but because they just plain don't like spending their money. So, while everyone else walks around with their +3 weapons, they are wandering around with masterwork. Usually, the only way that they get better weapons is if there's some in the loot.

Azerian Kelimon
2007-11-16, 07:10 AM
The Scrymaster

Is going to be some other, but this player also has an uncanny knack for guessing your whole adventure. If you're doing a mystery adventure, he correctly guesses the butler did it. If it's horror, he tries healing the world in some way that was just what was needed. If in Paranoia, he manages to get to White in the first session, etc.


The Batman Wizard

We all know this guy. He isn't fun if munchkinized and paranoid like the ones we discuss, AT ALL.


Oh, and don't screw with Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. Lower the guitar beginning to very low volume, and add flute that mimics it. Instant heartbreaker.

senrath
2007-11-16, 08:24 AM
The Specialist

The Specialist purposefully designs his/her character to excel at one (or a few) specific tasks, while generally being sub par at everything else. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just don't expect them to contribute that much outside of their chosen element. Sometimes can become the Over specialist.

The Over specialist

This is the Specialist in the extreme. Outside of maybe one or two situations, his/her character CANNOT function. However, within his given element, do not try and stop him/her, for you will fail.

Jack of All Trades

The Jack of All Trades is definitely a master of none. (S)he will generally have as many different skills and feats as possible, as well as lugging around items that most people wouldn't even touch. Don't expect this character to beat the encounter on their own, but they'll most likely have at least something to help.

Jack of All

This is the Jack of All Trades in the extreme. While most people would consider this character to be subpar in every way, in a good party, they are not. It doesn't matter what the situation is, they WILL have something to help with it.

DM in Disguise

A DM who really wanted to play a character for a change, when no other people qualified to be a DM are available. They select someone who is willing to do the job, and supposedly leave it up to them. However, unless it is plot related, they probably have control over it.


I am pretty darn close to the Tactitian. And currently, I am a DM in Disguise :P

PnP Fan
2007-11-16, 08:45 AM
The DM Debate Club Member Not unlike the DM in Disguise, the DM Debate Club Member is usually someone who DM's, but for whatever reason is playing in a game run by a reasonably proficient DM. However, the DMDCM doesn't agree with any of the calls made by the current DM and feels the need to constantly debate any off the cuff call made by the aforementioned DM.

I have a table full of these that almost helped me quit the hobby a few months ago.

Rolaran
2007-11-16, 08:59 AM
It is downright alarming how many of these apply to me, my players, or both.

The Truenamer

Sure, a minute ago the evil knight with the diamond-studded sword was named Sir Magonax the Bloodseeker, but this guy just referred to him as "That guy with the Liberace Sword" and thus he shall forevermore be known as Liberace. Your wondrous underground city was called Kierkener, right? Nope, this guy just spoke up, and somewhere in your players' heads the town is now irrevocably labeled "Dwarfy-Mountain Town". He is the Truenamer, and his nicknames just seem to...stick. Bonus points if the DM ends up using his names for convenience's sake.

Lolzords
2007-11-16, 01:38 PM
Ah, so you're in the 'fudge the dice to keep the players from dying' camp. Die and permanently die are two different things though. I tend to fudge the dice a bit to keep players from dying at lower levels. The kid gloves come off somewhere between 10th and 15th level, though. Given their access to ress magic at that point, it isn't as big a deal if you die anymore.

Yeah, I also don't think it's fair if the players die due to a fudge of the dice unless they were being idiots. This happened in a level one campaign I was DMing, a sorcerer, 4hp didn't have time to get out the way of the dwarf and got a greataxe swung at him. 12 + 2 x3. Even if it wasn't a critical, that would have killed him anyway, so I fudged the rolls and knocked him into minus instead.

Anyway...

______ IS THE BEST CLASS!!
This player plays the EXACT same character, no matter what. They usually have the same name, details and weapons. If the character dies they get in a huge strop about how the DM was being unfair to them.

This has happened twice with me, first was a CE elven ranger called pie, using a joke writing "ASSley" instead of "ashley" on the character sheet. Second time, half-orc barbarian, uses the same name, frosty (or some variation, super frosty, super duper frosty) each character is 7'5'' and weighs half a ton, they also each have the jokes: Hair: lots, eyes: 2, skin: yes.

Leicontis
2007-11-19, 11:28 AM
The Blindside: Whether becuase of incredible creativity and ingenuity, or just due to an ignorance of what is specifically covered by the game rules, this player will often come up with highly unexpected strategies. Unlike similar player types, however, these plans are actually effective, and frequently result in the GM saying something like "Huh... I guess that would work..."

As an example, when I had my brother playtest a module I'd built, he walked up to a building that he knew was occupied by goblins, knocked on the front door, then waited until there was a response from inside, then kicked the door down. He ended up missing the goblin guards with the broken door, but it was still a good idea.

-Cor-
2007-11-19, 12:16 PM
The Accountant

This player writes down every single item that was ever given out as loot to the party. Small brass ring from the first room in the first dungeon crawl? Yup, it's on their list. Very handy player to have around, especially when it comes to selling loot.

The Secretary

This player is always doing everything in their power to make game play easier for others. From printing out quick reference rule sheets and initiative cards and handing them out to finding online character builders and magic item trackers. They usually always have extra character sheets, sticky notes, paper and pencils. Another very handy player to have around.

The Scribe

This player writes down everything that ever happened. Ever. Every name, place, hook, or monster the party has fought. What was that librarian's name in Greyhawk who gave us that piece of info about one of the BBEG's underlings nine sessions ago? They know. Once again, someone get this guy some gloves... cause he's handy.

Yami
2007-11-19, 01:18 PM
The Bad Influence Also known as the Wrong Sort, or the Corrupter. Often this player can hide as another type, insidiously melding into the party seamlessly until it has acquired the nessisary clout to attempt it's foul plans. When the die is right, or the players need some quick thinking, the Infleunce will often jump to the forefront; giving suggestions that while seemingly reasonable are often hideous machinations in disguise.

One such example would be convincing the good aligned party cleric to summon small celetial creatures to check for traps. While mechanically sound, the Influence does this, not for the good of the party, but in order to know that some poor badger was wrenched from it's warm celestial burrow, and thrown into a cold dark hallway so that it could get speared by the expected spike trap before returning, shocked and horrified, to it's usual haunt.

This character may often disguise himself in the robes of a lawful or good character such as a paladin, suggestion OOC that the party rouge sneaks into the goblin infested village and poisons the well, in order to gain the XP for ending the problem without endangering their own lives, while in character blissfully ignorant to the underhanded genocide he has started. Left unchecked the Wrong Sort can leave a party in tatters after he convinces them to burn down half the town as a 'distraction', gets the lions share of thier items 'in order to survive leading the insueing local millita away', and without having made any headway towards thier original goal momentairly ditches the party to bask in the glorious ruination of thier ideals, before returning and trying to gifure out how to best his latest triumph.

And yes, that has happened in game. I can only hope such a player was not also an Avatarist, considering it was me. Ah, good times.

Reijura
2007-11-19, 01:20 PM
Can't believe no one has mentioned this one.

The sex machine, baby!

This player (generally male) will consciously or unconsciously flirt/sexually harass every NPC in creation (including some players). Low Charisma? Don't matter. Plot relevance? lol. These players just happen to exude sexuality towards any game and nothing can stop it. However, can become other types when situation becomes serious, read: combats. Though highly extreme players will bring those sexual quirks into battle as well...

GM: ok the goblin is tied and prone, what do you do with him?
Player: I money shot all over him...
GM: O.o...

*In all fairness, at appropriate timing and frequency this can be funny or just plain annoying if done to much :P

Hzurr
2007-11-19, 03:18 PM
It is downright alarming how many of these apply to me, my players, or both.

The Truenamer

Sure, a minute ago the evil knight with the diamond-studded sword was named Sir Magonax the Bloodseeker, but this guy just referred to him as "That guy with the Liberace Sword" and thus he shall forevermore be known as Liberace. Your wondrous underground city was called Kierkener, right? Nope, this guy just spoke up, and somewhere in your players' heads the town is now irrevocably labeled "Dwarfy-Mountain Town". He is the Truenamer, and his nicknames just seem to...stick. Bonus points if the DM ends up using his names for convenience's sake.

*sigh* This has happened to me several times. As a result, I've had gnomish towns with all features named after department store names (Macy's lake, Dillard the mayor, etc.), and an awesome evil necromancer lich wizard named skeletor.

PnP Fan
2007-11-19, 04:21 PM
The Critmaster: Known for his repeatable, observable, inexplicable ability to roll critical hits in combat. Most often heard quote: "Is it immune to crits?" Very useful to have on your side of the screen.

Dorizzit
2007-11-19, 04:38 PM
The Librarian:

He has more books than everyone else in the group combined, and just loves to show it off. He often lugs them around, just to prove that he's read more than you have. Most likely to miss a session due to a hernia or back pain.

May also be a

Rulesmeister

He knows the most about the game. Period. Everyone else asks him for clarification and info, and he always knows the answer (or knows where it can be found). Even the DM will ask him for page numbers, clarification, etc.

I know about these types because I used to be the former and I still am the latter.

Xian
2007-11-19, 05:14 PM
I don't understand how this person could even exist. Either she's really dependent, or he's really sexy; I couldn't drag my girlfriend within 100ft of a D&D game if I led a trail of chocolates and flowers to it
Sounds like my boyfriend. Granted, he hates chocolate and I only play online anyways, but the idea still stands. The very concept of D&D just creeps him out.

The Strong Silent Type
Tries to be brooding and/or mysterious, speaking very little and trying to make what he says earth-shatteringly profound. Rarely succeeds. Almost always a barbarian, fighter or wizard, and typically has more emo than a My Chemical Romance concert.

TRM
2007-11-19, 05:14 PM
I'm mostly That Guy with a smattering of Scribe. I am ridiculously perfectionist and organized (when playing RPGs at least :smallredface:). And I wish that I was a better role-player/optimizer...

My uncle was (I don't know if he still role-plays) a Charismatic Wonder. People like that are awesome.

Quietus
2007-11-19, 05:25 PM
The Sage

Often makes characters whose defining trait is his massive number of ranks in Knowledge skills. Can occasionally be useful, but at other times feels that the sheer force of his know-how should be enough of a contribution to be worthwhile. Constantly wants to make Knowledge checks to perform an action, like repairing a broken boat, because "I know how to do it." Frequently is combined with "Yes in Fact I do Speak that Language", and can be a particular pain when he's also :


"I'll post tomorrow"

This applies strictly to a play-by-post player. This is the guy who will assure you that he'll have his post up within 24 hours, only to let a week pass and not bothering to do so. It doesn't matter if you have regular, daily contact with this player, he simply WILL NOT post until you inform him he has to post NOW, or his character fails a saving throw that will kill him.

Balkash
2007-11-19, 05:38 PM
I don't understand how this person could even exist. Either she's really dependent, or he's really sexy; I couldn't drag my girlfriend within 100ft of a D&D game if I led a trail of chocolates and flowers to it

and some diamond bracelets and some earrings and some clothes and some anything.

I completely agree, I cant get my girlfriend to stop laughing when she remembers that I play D&D, let alone play a game herself.

Xian
2007-11-19, 05:42 PM
I figured, since we've relatively recently had a thread on types of DM's,
Where is this thread, btw? I want to see if I fall into any of the types mentioned.

Reijura
2007-11-19, 05:55 PM
The clutch shot specialist

A decent player who for some odd reason never, and I mean never uses their class features in any form of combat until the situation suddenly becomes dire and they remember their features/spell lists. Otherwise they go around face bashing things and letting the party handle everything else as needed. Expect these players to whoosh in and save the day by blasting the face of the hydra while simultaneously healing the party from the brink of death...:smallconfused:
Causing all other players to go, "I forgot you could do that, why don't you do it more often?"

Unreliable at best but they do make those clutch shots...

Am a bit of The Tactician but with an interesting twist...

The Unlucky Tactician

A generally great player that comes equipped to handle a vast variety of situations, however has one large flaw. The dice gods hate him. All of his masterful and creative plans tend to fail in spectacular ways do to the dreaded 1 roll, party member pulling off a stupid move, or otherwise act's of god's trouncing him.

great when lady luck favors his way, otherwise his character is crying himself to sleep everynight.

Toliudar
2007-11-19, 06:09 PM
Surely, I am not the first to have gamed with:

The Narcoleptic

Maybe they have two young kids. Maybe they just got off a twelve-hour shift, or a two day bender. Regardless, they were determined to make it to the gaming session, and make it they have.

And then...half an hour in, their head bobs forward. Or back, cracking their head on the back of the futon. Which wakes them up enough to make one more attack roll and grab a handful of chips before they drift off again.


Generally, these gamers will end up with Strong Silent Type characters and d20's shoved up their nostrils.

Reijura
2007-11-19, 06:13 PM
Surely, I am not the first to have gamed with:

The Narcoleptic

Maybe they have two young kids. Maybe they just got off a twelve-hour shift, or a two day bender. Regardless, they were determined to make it to the gaming session, and make it they have.

And then...half an hour in, their head bobs forward. Or back, cracking their head on the back of the futon. Which wakes them up enough to make one more attack roll and grab a handful of chips before they drift off again.


Generally, these gamers will end up with Strong Silent Type characters and d20's shoved up their nostrils.

hmm am a have to do this the next time one of my fellow players fall asleep...:smallamused:

BRC
2007-11-19, 06:15 PM
The Macguyver: those poor innocent magic items sitting nicely in the book, arn't they cute! That is until the Macguyver gets his hands on them, he twists them to ends not inteded by anybody. One good jump check and an immovable rod gives him immunity from meele-based foes, he drops a portable hole on your big nasty monster and waits ten minutes.

Prometheus
2007-11-19, 06:54 PM
The Imaginative: Somewhat like the Blindside, except for plot. In trying to solve the mysteries of the plot, they start to make more sense than the DM. From the simple "But why wouldn't they just to this instead" to the more direct "This is inconsistent with how it worked before" they make the DM's beautiful plot look like an idiot's or force him/her to think on their toes.

Reijura
2007-11-19, 06:56 PM
The Macguyver: those poor innocent magic items sitting nicely in the book, arn't they cute! That is until the Macguyver gets his hands on them, he twists them to ends not inteded by anybody. One good jump check and an immovable rod gives him immunity from meele-based foes, he drops a portable hole on your big nasty monster and waits ten minutes.

Drat commie, you beat me to it. >.< I was about to post the same. :(

One of my close friends/players fits this to a tee, He's one of my players for my campaign and am scared of giving him any magic item what so ever since he's done so much more with just a pint of oil and a torch....:smalleek:

Skjaldbakka
2007-11-19, 07:07 PM
The Imaginative: Somewhat like the Blindside, except for plot. In trying to solve the mysteries of the plot, they start to make more sense than the DM. From the simple "But why wouldn't they just to this instead" to the more direct "This is inconsistent with how it worked before" they make the DM's beautiful plot look like an idiot's or force him/her to think on their toes.

As a DM, I love these guys. They are really good at filling in the holes in my plots, and/or cojnjuring the next plot arc out of their own paranoia. I have sometimes scrapped my pre-written 'what is going on' for what the players came up with.

Leicontis
2007-11-19, 07:52 PM
The clutch shot specialist

A decent player who for some odd reason never, and I mean never uses their class features in any form of combat until the situation suddenly becomes dire and they remember their features/spell lists. Otherwise they go around face bashing things and letting the party handle everything else as needed. Expect these players to whoosh in and save the day by blasting the face of the hydra while simultaneously healing the party from the brink of death...:smallconfused:
Causing all other players to go, "I forgot you could do that, why don't you do it more often?"

Unreliable at best but they do make those clutch shots...
I actually do that intentionally with the Kineticist I'm playing. I find blasting to be both boring and overpowered, so I wade into melee buffed up. If a battle starts heading south, I pull out Energy Missile or Concussion Blast, but otherwise generally avoid any blasting.

Temp
2007-11-19, 09:58 PM
The clutch shot specialist

A decent player who for some odd reason never, and I mean never uses their class features in any form of combat until the situation suddenly becomes dire and they remember their features/spell lists. Otherwise they go around face bashing things and letting the party handle everything else as needed. Expect these players to whoosh in and save the day by blasting the face of the hydra while simultaneously healing the party from the brink of death...
Causing all other players to go, "I forgot you could do that, why don't you do it more often?"

Unreliable at best but they do make those clutch shots...I was just playing with a new group yesterday. And every one of them was like this, but without actually taking that shot. The Party was TPKed by goblins. Afterward, I asked the Barbarian's player why he hadn't just Raged.

"Wait," he sais, "What do you mean Rage?" He didn't even realize that Raging was an option for a Barb.

The Wizard? He crossbow-plinked until his untimely demise. He said he wanted to reserve his 2d6 Orb spells "Just in case."

...If you're going to play a blaster, maybe try blasting once in a while.

...Yeah, just had to get that out of my system.

Oh, right: the Rogue didn't flank either.

Reijura
2007-11-19, 10:16 PM
I was just playing with a new group yesterday. And every one of them was like this, but without actually taking that shot. The Party was TPKed by goblins. Afterward, I asked the Barbarian's player why he hadn't just Raged.

"Wait," he sais, "What do you mean Rage?" He didn't even realize that Raging was an option for a Barb.

The Wizard? He crossbow-plinked until his untimely demise. He said he wanted to reserve his 2d6 Orb spells "Just in case."

...If you're going to play a blaster, maybe try blasting once in a while.

...Yeah, just had to get that out of my system.

Oh, right: the Rogue didn't flank either.

So they were the anti-clutch shot specialist? Sounds like 2 new categories.

The Uninformed

Having never bothered to read thoroughly their class, this player will play the game bravely, but unlike the clutch shot specialist doesn't know what their class features are at all, and when someone else points it out, the traditional "I can do that?!" quote appears.

Closely related to The Uninformed and The Clutchshot Specialists is

The Master of Caution

This player, usually one with spell casting ability, will do their upmost to save their abilities for the ever perpetual just in case moment. You'll fight 3-4 encounters and not a spell will be flung. Sure they may get that 1 moment in the spot light where they drop everything they got, (usually the last of the night), but otherwise don't expect much magical aid from these players...you'll never know when they need it...just in case...yea...

Dode
2007-11-20, 10:01 AM
The Specialist

The Specialist purposefully designs his/her character to excel at one (or a few) specific tasks, while generally being sub par at everything else. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just don't expect them to contribute that much outside of their chosen element. Sometimes can become the Over specialist.[/b]
Also known as 'Aquaman'