ok I join a new DnD group recently and the group mentality is very different from my previous one.
My previous group we used to create our character together to make a team working together, where one player strenght is the other player weakness giving a chance to every party member to be a integrant part of the group and each have there moment of glory where without them the party would have failed. We learned the game and teh math behind the game in order to make our character into the heroic figure, paragons. The same way that Raistlin, the most powerfull wizard to ever walk on Krynn and even became powerfull enought to challenge the Gods and win needed Caramon who himself become the protector of the weak and innocentand even protector of his village.
Now I play at a store, where new player play with pregen (where the archer fighter use a greatsword for melee option) or create paladin who refuse to fight and only do dodge action and hope the enemy attack someone else to use the sentinel reaction to attack. In store the group change everyweek since we got new player coming in to try the game, and casual player coming once per 3 weeks etc... We got loot ****, who beleive all the magical item should be theirs and player who have no interest in loot so they gladly give it to the loot **** etc...
So when I joined the group I quickly realize that I had to make a character able to fill up many role. I particularly appreciate my Dragon sorcerer with the criminal background (to be able to stealth and unlock door/disarm trap when needed) Dragon resilience+staff of defense+shield spell turn me into a decent tank, Scorching Ray give me a very good DPR single target, and fireball cover the AoE needs.
Now my roomate (who introduced me in the group) is telling me I'm not working as a team and I am not giving a chance to other to have there moment and I don't understand what he means. We cannot create a team working together sinc ethe team changing all the time. yes my Character can do a little bit of everything, but a rogue with stealth/theive tool expertise will alway be better then my sorcerer for rogue stuff. a defender fighter will always be better then my tanking abilities, my DPR is decent but nothing compare to a Vengeance Paladin, but compare to a paladin who attack only with his reaction and do dodge all the time, yes I'll do better DPR then him. The rogue who have a higher Charisma then Dex and took expertise deception/investigation, then yes I'll be better stealth then him. So what am I suppose to do? create a bard with high Strenght, intellect and wisdom and 8 Dex, Con and Charisma?
Then when we speak about teamwork, we recently did the first defience of Phlan where we are suppose to buy a red dragon egg from a vendor and tag the vendor and let him escape. In case this is a trap I tell my team mate I'll stay outside and ready action to defend them is things go wrong. My DM ask me to go walk around so I don't know what happening in the barn since I'm not there and when he call me back the merchant bodyguard opened the door and saw me. I take a quick look at my team and one of them yell to the bodyguard to not go outside. I have no clue if my team got the egg or if they manage to put the pin on the merchant. So not knowing better I warn the bodyguard to not come closer and shoot firebolt and warn them to back off and I'll let them pass once my team give me the green light. Then the bodyguards start attacking me, so I tell them to back off or I'll be forced to kill them and stab one with my dagger. Now my team is telling me to stop attaacking them, but they don't do anything to get me out of the fight. One of them tried to cast sleep on me (I'm an half elf so I'm immune)making sure to not have any of the bodyguard in the area, then they healed the ennemy instead of making them back off so we can all walk away safetly. And everytime I attack I tell them, that I'm simply defending myself and if they back off I'll back off and let them pass.
Is there something I'm missing? where I suppose to let the ennemy kill me to be a team player? should I ignore my team and let the ennemy run away when they told me to not let them out of there not knowing if they tagged them or got the dragon egg? should I have let my self get killed? being a AL game I don't really want to die specially when my team should have been able to save me but where too incompetente to do so. The bard could have put the bodyguard to sleep giving me the opportunity to back off safetly. Even if I disengage and move back, the ennemy could catch up to me and attack and out of the door frame all bodyguard would had a good shot on me instead of having cover from the door frame against 2 of the 3 bodyguards.
In my experience in organized play, a lot of people in the group consistently make boneheaded moves, and/or have zero sense of strategy, via not putting enough thought into the game itself and take more of a "shi*s-and-giggles" approach to the game. Some people are just impossible to coordinate with. And I'm certainly not going to be the "mop" that cleans up every bonehead's mess. So what I do is that I find the most reasonable person in the group, sometimes there is 2, and I primarily just help, coordinate, and synergize with them, and every once in a while cover for the bonehead players' mistakes. So my advice would be, to help, sacrifice, and synergize with the reasonable players, and screw the rest. Let them learn the hard way. Perhaps after his or her characters dies he or she will put more thought into things the next time around (like if making a new character) instead of just taking a "shi*s-and-giggles" approach. Help those that help you. If the group is overridden with boenheads, by all means, gear to save yourself.
And this is why I do not play D&D or online games with pubbies. The average pub player for anything is a mentally retarded gerbil for the most part. You really notice it in team based online games where people who know what they are doing can easily win 90-100% of games vs pub type teams. Its also why I do not play D&D online.
Sounds more like clashing styles/expectations to me. That also includes the DM in this who did nothing but one-track-mind attack (though you DID stab him...people don't take that too kindly).
Though perhaps your character could've been more clear by shouting to his teammates (since apparently they were in ear shot). If everything was fine, then, well, everything was fine. If not, your character acted right(ish), and the DM was bad at conveying things.
Overall, though, every person can't play with everyone. This is not a bad thing, nor is anyone playing "wrong" (well, not usually). They're just playing "different than you're used to" 
That can be the tricky thing, going from one set of play and then immersing yourself with a new crew (potentially one that has been playing together for quite some time!)
It's one of the reason why social contracts may seem silly, but can be very necessary!
The reality is that not everyone is the right fit for every group. People have different ideas of fun, different expectations for play, and different opinions on what to do. Sometimes, the best thing to do is just thank everyone for their time, and walk away. If this group situation doesn't mesh with your playstyle, walk away before either side gets bitter.
I've been doing a lot of AL too. Only AL infact as I moved several years ago and haven't found a new home game.
Anyway my experience with it has been pretty good. We have a mix of new players and old hands and we've managed to work together really well.
I don't mind the new players. They're still learning and they'll make some mistakes. We do have one old hand that insists on rolling on every skill check and who will 'help' the new players by talking over them, telling them what to do, and telling the DM the results of the new player's die rolls. Aside from this though he's a nice enough guy.
My advice OP is that it's fine to play a jack of all trades, especially in AL as things can be disorganized. But be sure to share the spotlight, especially with more specialized builds. Also try to communicate and work with the group.
In my mind it's more important that everyone has a good time and that the social aspect of the game is enjoyed rather than the game being 'won'.
Dear op, it is obvious that those fools conspired with th DM to get your character killed!!! Your PC is in great danger, and there is only one way you can save him...
Become one of them. Start adopting a naive approach to the game, both in terms of combat actions, as well as in roleplaying your character. Fit in with this crowd of jealous amateurs, act like them, ask their help in every situation even if you can solve it yourself, don't answer to the riddle even if you know the answer, avoid finishing blows, praise their characters for everything they achieve (don't overdo it here), praise the players for their imaginable thinking and roleplaying (roleplaying yourself on top of your character, how awesome is that!!!), avoid being the first to interact socially with the important NPC's, and never make a decision again before asking what everyone else thinks of. And then support someone else's idea, and not your own, admiting how inferior your idea was. All that, while biding your time, patiently, for the grand finale you are preparing for them.
When it's time, you'll know it. Then you just have to wait for the right occasion. Ideally, after a difficult battle, when everyone is low in hit points. You know which spell to use. You know they deserve it. If you want the most outrageous way to do it, gather them around you with the excuse that you want to announce someting important. You hold for some moments, pausing, adopting expressions that provoke their genuine curiosity of what it is that you want to announce, and after that 5 seconds of built-up tension, you nod twice, and say with a condescending voice and a smile : fireball...
You fireball yourself, and use the empower metamagic option (heck, even the quickened one), to ensure that everyone of them is dead as a dodo!!! Of course you can activate your resistance first (if you are anything else other than a fire sorcerer shame on you!!!), or you could even do that without you being inside the blast, but if your character lives, then they will say that you did it out of spite, and they will get over it by discussing of your low motives. But if your character dies, and you have them believe that you killed their characters for fun, along with yours, and act really cool about it, well.... that's going to be cruel (if these guys whine about how you outshine them, I can only imagine their reactions at their character's death, especially when killed by another party member).
I wish you good luck....
Go and make Bill Cavalier proud...
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MykeSchultz wrote:
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