Advice on team contribution

[Zilen]

Hello everyone!

Let me explain the situation I´m in with my character:

I´m playing a Champion Fighter 14/ Barbarian 1, in a party with a Divination Wizard 15, Life Cleric 15, Draconic Sorcerer 15 and a Gloomstalker Ranger 12/ Assasin Rogue 3.
My stats are 20 strenght, 20 dexterity, 20 constitution, 8 inteligence, 12 wisdom and 12 charisma. So yeah i have very good stats for the type of character im playing but here is the thing

The Ranger have a Gigant Belt that gives him a strenght score of 27 so he does the heavy stuff also he is the stheltiest so he does the undercover stuff as well not to mention that he is our best bow user.
Our Wizard have a spell kit with tons of utility, to the point that most scenarios he cast something and its done we mostly dont have to do anything. Also since its a divination wizard he basically decide whenever the ST is a success or fail when he needed.
The Life Cleric, as you can imagine, keep everyone up and summon celestials now so extra combat utility as well.
And our sorcerer, is the face of the party and of course the one that wins combat.


I can use a healer´s kit (without the feat) but for that we have the cleric if it is needed.
For phisical damage (both melee and ranged) we have the ranger, which have better A.R and A.D even if i use magical weapons (which i have and they are legendaries strong)
And as a champion figther/barbarian, i can´t cast spells.
For social interactions the sorcerer and the wizard handle everything.

So my question is, what do I bring to this party?
Is there anything out there for me to bring?
I would love to hear your suggestions!

Thanks!

[Abracadangit]

The Ranger have a Gigant Belt that gives him a strenght score of 27 so he does the heavy stuff also he is the stheltiest so he does the undercover stuff as well not to mention that he is our best bow user.

I feel like I'm missing something here -- if the Ranger is the go-to bow user, is there a particular reason he got the Belt of Giant Strength, instead of you? What with your Barbarian rage which gives you adv. on Str checks, I would have thought you'd be the natural choice for that item.

[Zilen]

I feel like I'm missing something here -- if the Ranger is the go-to bow user, is there a particular reason he got the Belt of Giant Strength, instead of you? What with your Barbarian rage which gives you adv. on Str checks, I would have thought you'd be the natural choice for that item.

He had a very low strengh score and i had 20 strengh in that moment, so this belt solved his problem. I think it went from 8 or 7 to 27. And with that significant boost, well... he kept it.
Besides we couldn't convince him to do otherwise.

[Abracadangit]

He had a very low strengh score and i had 20 strengh in that moment, so this belt solved his problem. I think it went from 8 or 7 to 27. And with that significant boost, well... he kept it.
Besides we couldn't convince him to do otherwise.

So. The team got a magic item intended to buff someone's Strength, and he decided to take it to overfix what he intentionally picked as a dump stat? So he could... feel punchy if necessary, even though his thing is stealth and archery?

And apparently, there's no reasoning with him about this.

This sounds less like a you-don't-fit-in-the-team problem and more like a not-terribly-cooperative-teammate problem. You went all physical stats and 20 Str/Con, you should be the go-to Athletics guy and first choice for feats of endurance or stamina.

I don't know what to say, other than tell the Ranger to not do that. They can get the Cloak of Elvenkind and other Rangery things.

[TyGuy]

So my question is, what do I bring to this party?
Is there anything out there for me to bring?
I would love to hear your suggestions!


Just because you might not be best at something doesn't mean that something isn't worth doing. Regardless of the selfish ranger stepping on your toes, you're just as effective at doing frontline brute stuff as if he wasn't there.

Protect your wizard and cleric. Lock down enemies with grapples and shoves. RP the hell out of your PC. Forget being the ___ guy.

[Mastikator]

The ranger is being mega selfish and is basically stealing your thunder, until he realizes that I don't see that changing. You can probably be a decent tank, and that's about it. You could try telling the other members of the party that you have nothing to do, but you're at their mercy and if they're inherently selfish people you're out of luck.

You could also ask the DM to do something about your situation. Maybe just to roll up a new character.

The obvious answer is that you should have the belt, but the ranger player has to level up for that to happen.

[Zilen]

Thanks for your answers!

I dont think anything will happen with the belt at this point it was 2 years ago, i think so.... yeah

I´ll take your idea and be the meat wall so the other members take care of things, probably Sentinel would be a good idea for that purpose. I´ll think of some options with that in mind.

Again, thanks!

[Leon]

You bring a solid Melee character to the party, you can have multiples of a role and still do well.

If the player in question is unwilling to share or trade items to a better user of the items then there isn't much you can do about it but just because they Do XY and Z doesn't mean your any less able to do the things you can do as well.

[NecessaryWeevil]

You could also ask the DM to do something about your situation.

Not sure what a typical combat looks like but maybe the DM could provide multiple, spread-out attackers to ensure that you contribute. The Ranger can't be everywhere and the Wizard can't lock down everything - especially if they're dispersed.

[Zhorn]

RP the hell out of your PC. Forget being the ___ guy.
This I find to be the best advice for any class in any role in any group composition.
I've found the characters that tend towards being important to the game are usually the ones with personality, goals, and they take actions that drive the plot towards interesting events.

Your goal isn't bringing a niche to the party to slot into a predefined role.
Your goal is to bring a fully realised character with personality and ambitions.
I'm not saying to become a spotlight hog, but in each scene/town/dungeon YOU find yourself something to do, not waiting for something to come up that the others cannot do.

Get to town and declare you are looking at the notice boards, talking to townsfolk, inquiring about competitions of skill/chance.
In dungeons, you are asking questions about the details of the rooms, looking for lore, trying to uncover mysteries.
Make a noticeable effort so the DM can see you are looking to make plot happen, not waiting for plot to happen to you.

Sure other party members might have the stats and skill to be better as some things when they come up, but there's a chance they'll never come up if they are not digging about to find those situations in the first place.
The sorcerer is a good face? Find things that need a face.
The wizard is a good problem solver? Find the problems.
The cleric is good at healing? Find situations that will need the healing.

[Falconcry]

You can be the agent of chaos that drives the plot forward for the DM. “Hey guys I found a lever”. Yoink. “What does this button do?” “Is the orphan armed?” “Does the gelatinous cube seem to have a sense of humour?”

[Zhorn]

You can be the agent of chaos that drives the plot forward for the DM. “Hey guys I found a lever”. Yoink. “What does this button do?” “Is the orphan armed?” “Does the gelatinous cube seem to have a sense of humour?”
Yep, as long as you're not screwing the party over; being the type of player that the others at the table enjoy having around because of the chaos you sow.
Like the earlier point; it's not about your class/stats but how you play that is of value to the table.

[Mastikator]

Not sure what a typical combat looks like but maybe the DM could provide multiple, spread-out attackers to ensure that you contribute. The Ranger can't be everywhere and the Wizard can't lock down everything - especially if they're dispersed.

Or drop a specialized kind of storm giant belt that can only be attuned to by barbarians so OP can have an even bigger strength score than the ranger :smallcool:

[Zhorn]

Or drop a specialized kind of storm giant belt that can only be attuned to by barbarians so OP can have an even bigger strength score than the ranger :smallcool:

Clearly the answer would be to drop a whole lot of stealth and dex boosting items and the barbarian takes those. The ranger's already good at that, so they shouldn't have them, right?

[Zilen]

Hi everyone!

First of all, thank you for the replies. It help me see that i needed to see the game in other perspective.

I spoke with my dm about this, and we came in an agreement. Now i hope to be good enough to put this in practice during our sessions.

Thank you all :D

[da newt]

Just to pile on

- maybe you can be the one PC in the group who is a truly nice guy. That could be your niche. Not competitive at all, just trying to help his friends any way he can.

- you have a great DEX - you can stealth and use a bow just fine too

- maybe you can ask your DM if you can change subclasses to something that feels more impactful or interesting to you. Rune Knight adds lots of buttons. Echo Knight is weird. Maybe Cavalier and your primary combat role is to guard the Sorc and Wiz. Battle Master and Eldritch Knight add layers of options too.

[Zilen]

Hi everyone!

Quick update:

I decided to be the guy that tries to make the plot advance, so i made a mind map of all the things my character knows and then i started to connect random things togheter and now i´m afraid of our current situation in the campaing jajajaja
I showed the mind map to my dm and he was overjoyed. He even gave me inspiration!!
Then he asked me to show it to the rest of the party and (with a little of work and contagiuos hype) now we are all working on it having lots of fun and theorycrafting!

But none of that would have happen if it wasnt for your answers, so thank you all!

Have a good day!