Trouble with another PC; what to do?

[Samb]

I'm having trouble with this fellow party member.  I have known him for over ten years and I know he kind of lives vicariously through his character but his half-orc barbarian has almost killed a few members of our party (in fact I think he did kill our old monk before I joined).  Its not entirely his fault, he has a great axe that takes control of him everytime he lands a critical.  This puts him in a frenzy much like FB, his STR skyrockets to the high 30's.  More than once he kills the enemies only to hack at his own teammates.  The DM rolls will checks behind the screen each round and I think he has been cutting us some slack since lucky 20's are way too common.

This would not be a problem if it wasn't for this barbarian's attitude.  He does a lot of damage to the enemy, and that is something to be proud of but when you start hitting your own people then the least you can do is say you are sorry.  Instead he brags about all the damage he did on us, his own teammates, and how it is proof that he is the best damage dealer in the team.  What makes it even worse is that he refuses to get gear that would improve his will saves.  Everything is STR, I'm guessing he is willing to kill his own team faster or happy to let the DM decide if his teammates live or die by his axe.  I even said we should do a side quest to find out more about the axe so we could minimize the side effects.  Yes, I offered to make him the lead actor of the next story arc, and you know what he said?  "I like that it is shrouded in mystery, are you worried I'm going to pwn you?" 

Its easy to look good against people who aren't fighting back right?  Well no more.

I play a rogue5/psiwarrior2/elocater6, and my PC has made a secret vow to himself: to kill this barbarian the next time he raises his axe against his own people.

He is a rogue2/barbarian11, that just relies on his full attacks, rage and frenzy to deal damage.  Nothing fancy like uber-charging, hell he doesn't even have pounce.  His artifact level greataxe doesn't let him use any other weapon, so my PC would have an easy time with ranged attacks, spring attack, psionic lion chraging or even using my capricious step (next level in elocater) to prevent him from full attacking while still retaining mine. 

I feel this guy needs to knocked down a notch, and I plan to do it.  Thing is I'm sure the DM will make him succeed his will check right as i'm pwning him, and take away my reason to kill him.  I'm not sure if I should stop at that point or continue attacking him and claim that my PC has no in game knowledge of him succeeding his check.

[InnaBinder]

Get a Cognizance Crystal of Psionic Grease.  Make sure your UPD is high enough to auto-succeed with it (should be no problem).  Next time he Frenzies, use it and he'll be helpless if it's really a mimic of FB's Frenzy.  Carve him down as low as you like with your lion's charges et al.

[AfterCrescent]

Or, you know, don't be a dick. Don't kill him in game, that doesn't solve anything.  Have you tried talking to him out of game?

[InnaBinder]

Or, you know, don't be a dick. Don't kill him in game, that doesn't solve anything.  Have you tried talking to him out of game?

Where's the fun in that?   

[Samb]

Get a Cognizance Crystal of Psionic Grease.  Make sure your UPD is high enough to auto-succeed with it (should be no problem).  Next time he Frenzies, use it and he'll be helpless if it's really a mimic of FB's Frenzy.  Carve him down as low as you like with your lion's charges et al.

UMD and UPD (thanks to transparency) are max'd. Greater invisibility still seems the way to go. I have so many ways to kill him it's not even funny and I am hardly min/maxed. Safest way is grease and full attack with ranged sneak attack while using wall walker. He has no ranks in balance so it should be all sneak attacks. Even if he gets out of the grease I am completly safe from him while I am shitting at him from the ceiling.

I did try talking to him but his actions speak for themselves. We beg him to boost his WIS so he is not in frenzy as much but he goes and gets a displacement cloak and bracers of might.  I wanted to go on a quest to find out more about his weapon and he wanted be goth about it.  The fact that he brags about killing the last monk is almost killing our swordsage speaks volumes about how much he values our safety.

[Sinfire Titan]

As InnaBinder said, Grease is the best thing to deal with Frenzy and Barbarians. He can't use the Balance skill while in a Rage, which means he auto-fails every time he attempts to move across the Grease (he isn't even allowed to make the check). This neutralizes him as a threat, at least until he gets a Fly speed.


His poor Will saves can actually be used to your advantage. Major Images, Invisibility, Calm Emotions, Glitterdust, and a number of spells that target Will can screw him over without killing him, or even hurting him if you really know where to look. Reflex is a good choice too, but a slightly worse one (his Rogue levels put his Ref save as higher than his Will save, but just barely).

AfterCrescent is right, don't kill him. Teach him humility, show him that he has a weakness that is too easy to exploit. If he doesn't learn after the third time, then you have a reason to ask his player to roll up a new character (and retire the old one). Killing PCs is not something an adventurer should do unless there literally is no other choice (such as the party caster being hit with Dominate Person and no one else is able to cast Dispel Magic or Protection from Evil or something. Yes, I do realize the odds of that actually happening are next to nonexistent).

[Samb]

I just remembered, scorn earth means I won't be affected by grease at all. Lulz

I guess I don't HAVE to kill him, but I am not sure he will change his point of veiw just because I destroy him. He might just view me as an asshole, which I am fine with but it might just let the DM know that a weapon like that (frenzy) should not be in the hands of this player who has no regard for the lives of his teammates.

[Solo]

Dominate Person.

[Ebiris]

Targetted Dispel Magic on his oh so awesome fantabulous axe of party-raping.

Shatter.

Killing a PC is all well and good, but nothing hurts so bad as a good hit in the loot.

[archangel.arcanis]

honestly the best thing would be to organize the party and have the other PC's kick him out of the group. Character lives, you don't have to deal with his crap, and you don't look like an ass. If he decides to come back after the group for it then just kill him with no issues on you.

The player is on a bit of a power trip and being an ass from your description. so don't get into an arms race, not like you wouldn't win with support from here. just try and be reasonable but as they say "don't argue with an idiot because on lookers might not be able to tell the difference."

[Solo]

If his will save is as low as you say, you should Dominate him and make him your own personal buttmonkey. Oh, and order him to fail his save against your "buffing spell" you cast on him on a daily basis while Dominated.

Either that or cast Fear on him and watch him wet his pants like a octogenarian.

[BowenSilverclaw]

So why did the DM give him that Axe in the first place?

[Soda]

I wonder why he wants to kill other characters so bad.

There's really no excuse for it in-character, if you start killing teammates, nobody will want to be on your team.

If the other players are with you, just tell him in game "there's enough danger from the hordes of monsters without an idiot with an axe after us too. we don't need you, we'll find another level appropriate companion in the time it takes to roll a new one up."

[Samb]

The DM gave him the axe because it adds a bit unpredictbility to the table. It would not be an issue if he bothered to make up for such a dangerous side effect. The fact is he likes to hurt us and veiws it as "I am better than you" type power trip.

We can't kick him since he is an old friend it's just that is a bit too involved in his sub-par character.  I figured I'd kill him just to knock him down a few notches, make him pay for his own raise and buy him something to boost his will save.  I mean at least get iron will!

I can't dominate him snce I don't have that power or I would have forced him to give up his axe.

[archangel.arcanis]

in case i wasn't clear i suggested kick the character not the player. Make him roll up a new character after your party throws his barbarian's ass out.

[Samb]

in case i wasn't clear i suggested kick the character not the player. Make him roll up a new character after your party throws his barbarian's ass out.

would a gloious death by grease and sneak attacks be fittng enough?  Honestly am not sure if the other PCs are with me. He has killed a PC monk and a hired skill monkey NPC and yet everyone at the table seems to be fine with us being at the DM's mercy with his will saves. I'm not satisfied with that since every round he stays frenied and raged he could drop our glass cannons (namly me and the swordsage)

[archangel.arcanis]

well if they are fine with it then yea it is time to act unilaterally. the only other option than cutting him down to size is to have your character leave and make a new one that could scoff at his piddly damage, ie a crusader with tons of self healing and delayed damage capabilities probably a RKV.

[Soda]

Yeah, roll up a barbarian with an even bigger dick, I mean axe.

If he isn't leap attack pouncing, you'll be able to out-damage him no problem.

[archangel.arcanis]

remember to do it Carlin style, as you thwak him with an attack "my god has a bigger dick than your god!"

ps. the crusader suggestion wasn't to out damage him but to show that there will be people who can just soak up all the damage he can deal and smile at him, without missing any teath.

[BowenSilverclaw]

Depending on how optimized he is, even a Crusader could have trouble with that though. Just be careful if you go that route