Skill Focus is OP! Or, more **** my DM says.

[AvatarVecna]

I really don't think any DM that considers Skill Focus to be OP is going to let early entry tricks slide.

Fair enough, then it seems the Super-High PO build will have to wait. Instead, play a Bard 7/Mindbender 1/War Weaver 1/Uncanny Trickster 1/Sublime Chord 2/War Weaver +4/Uncanny Trickster +2/Archmage 2. It's not quite as all-powerful, but it's close enough.

[Max Caysey]

Rant incoming:

So recently I was playing a ranger who, do to the DM's odd house rules and other players dropping out of the game or making really weird builds was forced to try and perform every party roll at once and failed at all of them. We had a near TPK which left half the party dead and my ranger permanently blinded, so I decided to retire the character and make something more useful.

I kept asking the party what they wanted me to play and what role was needed, and the DM kept saying things like "Don't worry about that. Play whatever character you want to play. If the party is missing a role I will just balance the encounters with that in mind. Play for yourself, not them."

So I decided to try and make a character I had always wanted to play. Essentially a she was a chosen one raised in a monastery as a healer and saint, but decided that she wanted to actually perform a more pragmatic role in actively fighting evil, as well as exert her independence, and left the monastery to become a bounty hunter and wandering doctor.

So the character is a multiclass paladin / ranger. I have an 18 wisdom and took skill focus healing to represent my upbringing and day job as a surgeon.

I gave the DM my character sheet, he saw a +13 heal skill at third level, and asked how that was possible. I said, class skill for paladin, max ranks, 18 wisdom, and skill focus. He said hell no, that is way too OP and he doesn't allow that sort of min maxing in the game and that skill focus was banned for being ridiculously OP.

Then I said that it wasn't a power gaming thing, my concept was that I was a prodigy when it came to healing and it was an important part of my concept. He then told me that the rogue (another new character) was also playing a character who had been a surgeon, and he would not allow two characters with a healer concept in the same party as it would be stepping on the rogues toes, and the rogue had already gotten character approval, so I needed to come up with a new background.

Now, keep in mind the quote above about playing "what I wanted to play and not worrying about the rest of the party".

At that point I said "Well, back to the drawing board then." Ripped up my character sheet and threw it in the garbage and pulled out a fresh sheet. The DM then pouted for the entire rest of the evening and took his frustrations out on the rest of the party who continued playing while I made a new character sheet.

At the end of the evening I presented a generic fighter, focused on sword and board style because the rest of the party lacked the power to take a hit. This character was also banned for having a 21 AC at level four, which he said was, once again, ridiculously OP and min maxxed and said that with an AC that high I am practically invincible, and any monster that could challenge me would wipe the floor with the rest of the party and it is just too big a challenge. Keep in mind that this is only 2 AC higher than the next highest in the party btw.


Seriously, I need to figure out a way to leave this group without it biting me in the butt.

Just leave. Never show up again. He is not Only an imbicil, but also a jerk.

[bean illus]

Yeah, pretty much. If you're intent on staying in such a low-power game yet still feel the urge to optimize, spread yourself out a bit. If possible, check the other characters' sheets and make sure none of your numbers exceed their best stats. Your AC should be equal to the highest AC. Your attack bonus should be equal to the highest attack bonus. Your damage should be equal to the highest damage. For any skill another player invests into, make sure yours is not higher.

As a result, you'll suck as much as they do, but you'll be able to be useful in every situation the others are.

This is my vote^^^.

Make it a project. A Martial Rouge/Cleric would look innocent enough. Or Bard.

[Sir Chuckles]

Fair enough, then it seems the Super-High PO build will have to wait. Instead, play a Bard 7/Mindbender 1/War Weaver 1/Uncanny Trickster 1/Sublime Chord 2/War Weaver +4/Uncanny Trickster +2/Archmage 2. It's not quite as all-powerful, but it's close enough.

Too many classes on one character. I believe we've seen this DM get mad at multiclassing.

If you genuinely cannot leave the game without it costing you something genuinely instrumental to your well being, go to a random NPC generator, and just do a randomly generated character. I recommend Mythweavers, editing the feats to avoid a situation like this. Or open up the D&D Iconics and copy/paste, making sure to change the name and fix the feat and skill errors.

[AvatarVecna]

Too many classes on one character. I believe we've seen this DM get mad at multiclassing.

If you genuinely cannot leave the game without it costing you something genuinely instrumental to your well being, go to a random NPC generator, and just do a randomly generated character. I recommend Mythweavers, editing the feats to avoid a situation like this. Or open up the D&D Iconics and copy/paste, making sure to change the name and fix the feat and skill errors.

Even straight Bard/Sublime Chord is, while debatably unoptimized, still a full caster with 9th level spells and some bardic music. Hardly terrible, even if it's not as perfect as I'd like.

But yeah. You either need to build something that isn't going to be auto-killed by DM banhammer or you need to get out. Red Fel's got it right: your DM is so consistently horrid, I can't see how RL gaming can possibly be so valuable as to make such suffering worth the prize. What are you getting out of this game that you can't get elsewhere?

...that is, unless you're actually being held against your will and forced to play D&D with this guy. I'd like to say that I don't think that's the case, but at this point I can't figure out how else your DM would get players to consistently return to their game.

[Max Caysey]

Show him this thread. Or if you cant leave, just go, without playing!

[Threadnaught]

Maybe you could explain to the DM that you don't know how to make a character without power gaming because you don't know/have forgotten how to roleplay, then leave?

I'm seriously suggesting you abuse the Stormwind Fallacy as a serious argument to get you out of the group without causing any hard feelings. Maybe it'll work, the DM doesn't seem to have all too great a grasp on the mechanics, so maybe they'll accept the fallacy as a reasonable argument.

[Ger. Bessa]

That's heavy plate, a shield, and 12 Dex, yes?

Your DM literally told you that pants are overpowered.

I have the perfect character concept : Play Youngster Joey.

Pick a class with either familiar or animal companion.
Choose a rat. (Nicknamed "tata")
Wear shorts. (They are comfy and easy to wear)
Remember everyone that your rat(tata) is in the top percentage of all rats.

Spend the rest of your class features buffing him. Defy anyone who has another familiar/animal companion.


Or leave.

[Crake]

I have the perfect character concept : Play Youngster Joey.

Pick a class with either familiar or animal companion.
Choose a rat. (Nicknamed "tata")
Wear shorts. (They are comfy and easy to wear)
Remember everyone that your rat(tata) is in the top percentage of all rats.

Spend the rest of your class features buffing him. Defy anyone who has another familiar/animal companion.


Or leave.

Commoner with wild cohort, done.

[Keltest]

Serious question, what is it this DM has over you that is preventing you from leaving? I seem to recall you mentioning before that he basically guilts you back in, but you are pretty obviously having a terrible time with this guy.

[Angelmaker]

Show him this thread. Or if you cant leave, just go, without playing!

I second this. I would seriously like to hear your GM's side of this.

I have seen so many threads that began one sided and took a one eighty once the other party was involved.

Either it blows up and youll need witness protection or you will finally find a solution to your gaming problems. Either way, i have read quite a few of your posts and while I cannot remember too many details, i remember feeling sorry for you. So go do something about it and if you live in an european time zone, i will slot you into my eberron campaign on roll 20.

[Bronk]

Can you at least get a list of this DMs house rules so he or she doesn't keep surprising you?

[Talakeal]

Can you at least get a list of this DMs house rules so he or she doesn't keep surprising you?

He doesnt "have the time to write them all down."

I suspect in reality he is just making up bans on the fly because he gets off on telling people no. He does it with rules as well as Rp stuff. Heck, he even loves to tell people they are wrong when when we are telling stories or discussing non gaming events around the table, correcting us about things which he has no idea about.

Very frustrating.

Also bards are banned, and if I tried to play a wizard he would just on the fly nerf or ban every spell I use.

[noob]

Why is bard banned?
Is cleric allowed(with that domain with time stop and PAO you can do a lot of nice things and that is without trying to do a correct priest)

[Grod_The_Giant]

To everyone proposing powerful builds: it doesn't matter what you suggest, it won't fly. The GM will either reject it out of hand ("you used too many classes! Munchkin!") or throw a fit as soon as he sees it do something useful. If we want to be productive, maybe try to come up with aggressively low-op builds that would still be interesting to play?

[Talakeal]

Playing right now. He is chewing me out for filling out my character sheet wrong, as I included my armor check penalty as a misc modifer to my skills. He made me rewrite it becase "penalties are not modifiers."

Need to figure out how to storm out without looking like the bad guy.

[IZ42]

Why can't you just ask the other players about what they think of his behavior? If they all dislike it, have someone confront him about the situation and how nobody likes it, or switch over to a new GM.

EDIT: Your last post tells me he's also anal retentive and needlessly pedantic. Tell him it adds up to the same thing and don't change it.

[frogglesmash]

I realize that a lot of people are saying you should leave the game because no game>a bad game, and while this is probably true most of the time I really want to join your table. I need to satisfy my morbid curiosity and find out what kind of person could be so aggressively bad at DMing. I'm not even joking, if you could figure out some way for me to join your game (even just for a couple sessions) that would be great.

[TheIronGolem]

Need to figure out how to storm out without looking like the bad guy.

No, you don't. Just go. Stop worrying about what you'll look like, because that's his hold on you. He only has this leverage over you because you give it to him. Stop doing that.

[Malimar]

Playing right now. He is chewing me out for filling out my character sheet wrong, as I included my armor check penalty as a misc modifer to my skills. He made me rewrite it becase "penalties are not modifiers."

Not only is he being needlessly pedantic, he's wrong about his needless pedantry.

A modifier is any bonus or penalty applying to a die roll. A positive modifier is a bonus, and a negative modifier is a penalty.

[Blackhawk748]

This.

Look, Tala, you come in here quite frequently, and air perfectly legitimate grievances against this DM. One might argue that you have the patience of a saint (or the masochism of a martyr) for putting up with it as long as you have. If this isn't trolling, it's outright depressing.

You need to move on. You need to get out of there. And every time you start one of these threads, and I feel for you, you follow it up by saying you can't leave. And every time you post another of these threads, it seems harder to justify.

Go, man. Just go. If it's so life-threatening that you are totally incapable of leaving physically, be absent mentally. Take out your phone and sit in the corner. Play a Game Boy. Hell, grab some cards and play Solitaire. Eventually, you will be asked to leave. When that happens, you have your freedom. For the love of everything, take it.

I don't care if there's no other gaming in your area. PbP is a thing. Roll20 is a thing. There are things.

Your DM is terrible, but the longer you keep insisting that you have to stay with him, the more it ceases to be a case of his fault for bad DMing, and the more it becomes your fault for choosing to gratify his bad DMing with your presence.

To further emphasize my point, here's Moss:



And Ferris:



And Doc Holliday:



How many more people need to tell you to leave?

This, all this. Listen to your Friendly Neighborhood Overlord. Also play this as you leave. This person doesnt deserve your time, cut your loses and go man, who cares what he thinks of you.

[Red Fel]

This, all this. Listen to your Friendly Neighborhood Overlord. Also play this as you leave. This person doesnt deserve your time, cut your loses and go man, who cares what he thinks of you.

I'd end it with a bit more class. I'd play this.

If you have to leave - and you, my friend, have got to leave - do it with style.

[KingSmitty]

you could probably get away with min maxing with a monk, he'd never expect it.

seriously though, get out of there. No D&D > Bad D&D

[Enran]

You want to storm out without seeming like a jerk? Just say, "Listen, guys, I've been trying to make this work, but I think the things that I have fun with are different than the things you guys have fun with, and every attempt I've made at finding a middle ground has just stretched things more between us. If everybody is having less fun because of me being here, then it would be selfish of me to stay. I hope you enjoy the rest of your campaign."

[arclance]

But pants are overpowered, and don't let anybody tell you otherwise. This is why they're banned at my table.

I really want to sig this.

Also get out of that game.
I have been to "random ban and nerf" town myself, no game is worth going there.
"Can't or won't give you a house rules document" village is also somewhere you don't want to be.

[Malimar]

I really want to sig this.

Go ahead if you so desire. I'm glad to be of some amusement.

[Bronk]

Well, if you do end up trying to stick out the rest of the session, I hope you actually get to play, unlike last time...

[arclance]

Go ahead if you so desire. I'm glad to be of some amusement.

Thanks, these threads can always use some humor to lighten the mood.

[OldTrees1]

Playing right now. He is chewing me out for filling out my character sheet wrong, as I included my armor check penalty as a misc modifer to my skills. He made me rewrite it becase "penalties are not modifiers."

Need to figure out how to storm out without looking like the bad guy.

Do you have a life outside D&D? If so then I expect you have experienced times when IRL has been more or less demanding of your time. If it became more demanding(or if you merely vaguely* said it did) you might have to drop one of the 2 games you are in(hint hint).

Don't try to figure how to storm out. A face saving storm out takes more time to plan and we all want to safely out of that **** game sooner rather than later.

*The key is to be vague. Don't make a lie that can be found out, make the truthful statement that school/work/family has become a bit more time consuming lately and you need to step down your gaming.

[AvatarVecna]

I'm just going to add my two cents once more: get out, do it with style, and don't look back. I will return later with gifs to support this, in the hopes that it does some good somehow.