Party member problems...

[Jackinthegreen]

He's not being a friend if he's screwing with your characters.  The longer you wait to do anything about it the worse he's going to get.

[zook1shoe]

I've had a few games like this.

OOC, I think the best idea is to convince the DM to ban pvp.

in game, you could buy the barbarian one of those necklaces. But don't tell either what it really does. When he attempts to control the barbarian, mention what it does and hopefully the barb tears him to shreds.

I like the idea of supporting all the barbarian's ideas, since its a way to temporarily bypass the mind control

[RobbyPants]

Robbypants:
Talking to him has worked briefly in the past, however, after a week or two he slips back into his comfortable role of being an absolute dick and its as if nothing has changed.

Again... sadly, no one else in the group has had the balls to deal with him except me... the rest of them are content to cry and moan about him, but when the time comes to do something about it, I'm the lone jerk who has a problem. We have stopped playing soley because of him on (if I remember correctly) 5 separate occasions (which are the only times we have stopped playing..) He's even been kicked out of two other groups for the same crap he pulls in our group (pulling b.s. moves on the players and coming up with ridiculous house rules and systems that are already covered under core rulesets.. etc..) You would think he got the hint... but it was never his fault...

I'm stopping, because it's turning into a rant of why I cant stand playing with this guy, but at the same time, this is my only option to play D&D with my friends... I just have to put up with one bad players crap to do it... sorry for the vent..

I see two take home messages from this:

1) Keep talking to him to get it through his head that it is a problem. If talking to him has worked briefly in the past, keep talking to him so it hopefully sticks. Once he's been confronted, smaller reminders might keep him from causing so many problems.

2) Deal with your friends ahead of time. If they'll passive-aggressively bitch behind his back, then pipe up when it comes time to deal with him, call them out on it. Tell them ahead of time that something needs to be done and that you expect them to back you on it. Maybe you'll be the one to say something, but get them all to agree ahead of time that they'll support you in it, and that they won't back peddle to save face if he gets defensive.


That being said, you might have some luck if the group establishes some house rules. If you can eliminate a certain amount of PvP situations (which can be very good for games), you can make it so it's against the group's rules to cast mind-controlling magic on other PCs. If you set it up right, it might not even be obvious that you're singling him out for this.

I had to do this when I had a player who cheated frequently. He'd always roll out of sight and call out suspiciously high rolls. I created a rule where everyone had to roll out in plain view. Of course, he was the one player who complained and tried to contrive situations where he could roll elsewhere.

[daekken]

Gee, thanks for the great advice Imperator...
I'm trying to have a constructive conversation and get some advice on how to deal w/ a dick party member and other party members who won't do anything about it, that I'm the only one who will, and you tell me to grow balls? Have you even read any of the previous posts?
When I'm interested in sarcastic remarks from trolls such as yourself I'll give you a call. Until then, please keep comments like this to yourself and either participate in the conversation in a constructive manner, or just stay quiet. Thanks.

[Dwarfi]

Im a noob DM, but how about you giving the group some amulets(rings or whatever) that have the specific effect of making the wearer imune against psionic mind influences and control.
Not imune to mind affecting in general (so that the DM can still send confusion spells and that stuff) but against the psion.

Let him be whatever he wants, but if he doesnt change and cant be kicked out, make the others imune somehow.
If he is the only one having a fun time then its not a good game. And its the task of the DM to make it a good time for everyone.

Of course it would be best if he changes by himself. "Evil" or anti social characters that go for the ego path destroy a group and the game in the long run.
Groups like this usually tend to end with some very nasty backstabbing or somebody not waking up after his rest.
In my group we dont play evil characters, they have some bad character issues at worst, but thats it. hurting another PC or forcing him to do something is simply not allowed.

[daekken]

Only problem there dwarfi, is that I'm not DM... If I were DM, this would have been solved quickly and I'd not be posting here 

Like I've said before... he's the only "problem-child" of the group... I'm going to speak to the others again about this this Friday, and we'll see where it goes from there. Thanks again everyone for the advice

[veekie]

Well, as a player, mind control stuff takes time to cast, and as a party you guys are pretty much in reach of each other. Wear gauntlets and take a bitchslap AoO every time he casts a spell unasked outside of a combat situation?

Of course the OOC solution is what's needed for a true resolution, other processes(other than the DM stating PvP-off) are only stopgaps or  escalation.

[NunoM]

I agree with veekie...

If OOC doesn't work, there are a number of IC options.
Your mentioned there's a weak willed barbarian that keeps getting controlled and he's fine with it? That's a very controlled barbarian if you ask me!

Also, PvP works both ways. If the barbarian doesn't find in his heart to kick the psion's butt on his own because of this, put your own character in the front line and ask the psion: "What are you doing? What did you do to him?". An influenced party member acts differently, even if slightly, and a wise character (such as your own) should be able to pick that up. See how he reacts IC, and how the other PCs react to it as well. At the very least, they should become suspicious of his "amazing personality" in the future, and start setting the character apart. The DM might even start granting save circumstance bonuses because of this... (He's the DM, he's allowed to do this!)

Bottom line: confront him directly IC, if no-one else will. The gloves are off... or in, if you're planning on using the gauntlet...

[Yirrare]

[...]
1) Keep talking to him to get it through his head that it is a problem. If talking to him has worked briefly in the past, keep talking to him so it hopefully sticks. Once he's been confronted, smaller reminders might keep him from causing so many problems.
[...]

I think this is a good idea. Also, after any session on which he was on his "good behaviour", compliment him on it and explain what you enjoyed and why.
Constructive criticism and positive feedback is my advice.

I wish you the best of luck solving your problem. Hang in there.

Best Regards
Yirrare

[dna1]

Oh, forgot also... his excuse for doing all of this is that he doesnt know he's a psion... he just thinks hes "really charismatic"...

So I did read pretty much the entire thread, and would have to agree with most of the advice.

Here's my two cents.

I've been in this group situation before. Honestly reading your posts triggered a ton of old gaming memorys. I know this player. Over the course of my gaming years I've had to deal with 3 different people like this. This is just an assumption, but I'm willing to guess he will fudge his rolls a bit also.
Anyways thats besides the point. This dude likes to play dirty, and you will have to play dirty as well. Since talking to him isn't helping, and he will remain in the group pretty much no matter what. I'm guessing the best fix would be to have him play something that can't do this anymore.
This is one of those rare occasions, when you will have to sink to his level. Here is a couple suggestions on how to deal with it.

If he can use retarded in-character rationalization then don't be afraid to give him a taste of his own medicine.

I'm guessing you don't really have to protect him in combat.. Try making some dumb decisions and drag monsters over by him? You could fall asleep on your watch, maybe you guys will get ambushed and he will die.. lol
Buy some poison and rub it all over his sleeping bag..     Does the dust of disturbance work for a psion? Do they need undisturbed sleep to regain powerpoints? I don't play psions so idk.. 
Take a level of barb or frenzied beserker and rage on him? Get leadership and have your co-hort do stuff to annoy the player, when he finally uses a power on your co-hort. Either have your co-hort seek revenge, or your PC slap him around a bit for using a power on your follower?
As I quoted above, he likes to pretend he is Role Playing his character right? He says, "no no.. my guy just thinks he is charismatic."
Well just be equally as absurd.
If he ever trys mind control on you, and your character realizes, just kill him and say " oh in my backstory my character was abused by evil casters. and every time he gets something cast on him, that he thinks isn't friendly, he kills the caster because it triggers a phobia" or some bull crap similar to that. 
Hire someone to kill him?


I realize how childish all that stuff is lol.. but sometimes when rationalizing wont work you have to resort to drastic measures.
Good luck dude.

[bhu]

Have the DM have him solo confront one of these: http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=994.msg6378#msg6378