How to deal with a player's self-interested player character

Question

I am dealing with a new player who occasionally refuses to fight. He is playing a hermetic druid who is only concerned about threats to the forest. If an enemy is not harming the forest, he may refuse to fight. When his turn rolled around in said fights he said "I do nothing, this isn't my fight."

I don't want to force him to fight by making every enemy into a bio terrorist or by having every enemy target him specifically, but I also don't want the party to turn on him for not engaging in fights. They have been polite about such things so far, but I doubt it will last when a character dies due to his refusal to fight.

What do you think I should do about this player?

Answer 1

Have a Session 0

Seriously, have a session 0 and discuss what kind of game you're wanting to run versus what kind of game they're wanting to play. There's a clear stylistic mismatch between you and your player, and that should be talked out OoC, not with in-game incentives. No amount of in-game incentives are going to make me want to play Halo when I was expecting League of Legends, and similarly, no amount of in-game incentives is going to stop your player from playing Creative Minecraft when you're offering them D&D.

Be ready to compromise

Sometimes, its important to give a few inches here or there. However....

Be prepared to make demands

Some choices are deal-breakers. The Druid you described would be a deal-breaker in my game, but not someone else's. Where your player's goals conflict entirely with the fundamental premise you're using for your game, it is ok to demand that either they conform, or leave. And that's ok. Sometimes, perfectly wonderful players are not good fits for some games. It happens. Make the compromises you can, and then where you can't, make clear demands, with no judgement attached. If they pass, tell them you'll consider them for future games that are more fitting with their desired gaming style.

Answer 2

As someone that is starting a first druid I recognized this before I even made it and came up with a simple backstory for myself. It sounds like this player is new and probably needs a hand in doing this.

For example the simple backstory I sent the DM word for word was:

I'm going to roll a druid. Thinking a simple backstory of the forest he lived in started rotting away. After trying all of the usual means to restore the forest the archdruids suspect an evil force is at work. They sent a few of the young and able men to investigate which is what I'm now doing.

I recognized that as a Druid I care about the environment but still need a story that allows me to fight with others and go on quests. I had to answer, "Why did my character leave home in the first place?"

That's the question it sounds like you need to work with this new player to answer. I think the "My Guy" syndrome will be fixed on its own when this gets answered. They may still have their own quirks but much less. Like I gave myself personal rules about how long I'll stay in cities and about what to do should a wild animal attack, etc.

It may also help to explain that while in D&D druids are often viewed as nature they are born out of Celtic Druids who were much more like regular old Clerics.

According to Julius Caesar, who is the principal source of information about the Druids, there were two groups of men in Gaul that were held in honour, the Druids and the noblemen (equites). Caesar related that the Druids took charge of public and private sacrifices, and many young men went to them for instruction. They judged all public and private quarrels and decreed penalties. If anyone disobeyed their decree, he was barred from sacrifice, which was considered the gravest of punishments. One Druid was made the chief; upon his death, another was appointed. If, however, several were equal in merit, the Druids voted, although they sometimes resorted to armed violence. Once a year the Druids assembled at a sacred place in the territory of the Carnutes, which was believed to be the centre of all Gaul, and all legal disputes were there submitted to the judgment of the Druids.

Answer 3

Get everyone on board with the same page tool

As godskook answered, a session 0 is very very important to established what you, the DM, and what the players expect from a session.

The best advice I can give for this situation is the Same Page Tool. You need to fill this out and present it to the players so they're all on the same page. Personally I feel that you do have a "my guy" issue going on (and I don't understand why people make characters in a team based game that intentionally don't work with them), but the Same Page Tool should straighten out a lot of issues.

Answer 4

Don't make him fight.

This might sound crazy, but since this is a roleplaying game it might be possible to extrapolate from his refusal to fight. A few points:

1. Alternatives to combat. In order to optimize player agency, when the player run into potential enemies, instead of saying "roll initiative," say "what do you do?" The druid might have some clever ideas that are nonviolent.
2. Help, but don't fight. The druid could use the aid action, manipulate the environment, and grapple enemies, all without causing harm.
3. Druid magic actually really helps here. Druids get spells like Guidance, Charm Person, Healing Word, and Entangle very early, and they can keep the player playing without fighting.
4. Warn them, then put the pressure on. Advise the player to make tactical choices when possible, even if it means fighting. Eventually your player will be in a situation where he must fight or die. When that happens, let him choose.

Answer 5

This character likely doesn't fit in your game

As others have already said, you need to have a "Session 0" using the Same Page Tool -- in this session people do not play or roll their characters, but instead discuss what do they expect from the game, what do they want to play, what is OK for them and what is not OK.

Playing without a good understanding what do you want to play is like inviting everyone to "play cards", while some of you mean "play Black Jack" and some mean "play poker".

If your Druid player wants to be such a peaceful guy, probably it will turn out that this peaceful guy doesn't fit in the group, and he will have to roll a new character. Probably you will find a way to play together. Probably other characters will catch up and reroll themselves instead, also becoming Druids and joining your "problem player" on his journey. Probably you will understand that you just don't want to play together because you expect too different things.

Just understand (and tell it to your players) that any outcome is OK. No one should play a game that is not enjoyed. If you can make a game enjoyable for everyone, so let it be. If you can't, so let it be too.

Just discuss things. Just talk to each other. It really helps.

Good luck.

P.S. Ah, it is also possible that when you suggest your players to discuss "a problem with that Druid char", they will respond with "What problem?" -- perhaps they are just totally OK with his behaviour. Or not OK, but ready to handle it in-character. Again, everything is possible.

Answer 6

First: Try talking to the player.

You mentioned that he is a new player. If he has never played before, he may not fully understand what is expected of him. You might convince him that his character actually values his companions enough to fight alongside them, even if the forest is not endangered.

Second if the first doesn't solve the issue: As jeanquilt mentioned, use the same page tool.

If the player does understand the requirements of working in a party, his refusal to fight might indicate some deeper issue within the campaign/ the player's perceptions.

Answer 7

I think the other responses are off base: you should alter your storyline a bit, to tie in the destruction of everything he holds dear. Don't make that clear all at once. Only reveal it to him a bit at a time, so that he discovers that his inaction caused the destruction of all species of plant of X.

Then finally, kill him off in an unwinnable battle.

You can attribute this story as an example of how heroes Don't behave, how it takes something special to be a hero, and how not everyone is a hero.

The most memorable campaigns are ones built around player actions, not just following a storyline. I'm surprised at the answers on here actually, not that they aren't level-headed or reasonable answers: but it is against the spirit of D&D. The only thing unacceptable is sideline stories where people wander off by themselves maybe.