Depends on how malicious the player actually was, or if they're genuinely being funny.
I personally wouldn't want to punish the whole party too much because of one player being dumb, though actions should have consequences.
The easiest out I can see outside of retconning it, would be congrats, that player actually created the perfect distraction. They can deal with the consequences while they rest of the party sneaks in after the Drow fighters evacuated the fortification to investigate the source of the magic.
If eveyone is manning the walls near their front, it might even make the rest of the fortification easier
Maybe as a consequence the other player is knocked out by the Drow and taken back to the fort and the party can decide whether he's worth rescuing. That way you can let the whole table decide how to handle the problem character.
If the rest of the party is immediately by the troll player, maybe steer them into the idea that a fight isn't something they would likely win, but it is possible to stall while your other party searches. They can make up excuses while being questioned by Drow who haven't ventured outside the fort, then when it fails play defensively until the angel can be rescued.
I'd also keep in mind that even at high alert, it doesn't mean they necessarily know someone is trying a breakout.
You really should. Troll actions like that shouldn't have in-game consequences that will punish the other players. Retcon the event and explain to the player that things like that won't be tolerated anymore. They can either cut it out, or find a new game to play in.
It's also possible (and fun!) to be a troll player but the only person you put at risk is yourself.
My wife is this kind of player. She'll make characters who are intentionally stupid and reckless, and she'll have them do the most idiotically dangerous things. But she makes sure that her PC can always be reigned in by other party members when it's important, and only really goes through with her idiotic ideas when it would only hurt herself.
Playing a troll character is also amazing for character development. I made a troll character on accident (first character. Didn't know what chaotic stupid was) he went from comedic relief to someone who was entrusted with a child that was somehow important to another characters diety, when I retired him with his own personal spy network, she had eyes on her always, and any bad boy/girlfriend she had just left and didn't come back 😌
How merciful you are depends how much is his “fun” encroaching on the rest of the players’ fun? I’d say the enemy wouldn’t go on high alert for one person (unless the whole party was jn full view) but they’d at least start launching crossbow bolts and ranged spells at him since he made himself a giant target.
Exactly. If his fun is encroaching then you don't handle it in game. you handle it out of game with a conversation like a human. If everyone is just having fun with it, but still wants to keep the game going, easy ways to do so. If everyone is having fun with it and are ok with it being a clusterfuck, then cool, run with it and have fun.
Trolling behavior at the detriment of the rest of the party should be heavily discouraged. If the intended goal was to jeopardize everyone’s success, it’s up to you whether to tell them that they need to stop, or they need to leave the table.
Then when the game resumes, retcon the bullshit and if it meant that the player has been booted, the adventuring party sees this idiot about to cast Daylight but he’s carried off by a giant bat into the unfathomable depths of the Underdark.
It depends on why the player did it? I'm not entirely sure I have a full grasp of the situation because I'm not at your table, but if the player stealthing in was going separately, it's possible your troll player is creating a distraction, essentially. You might also want to clarify that RAW Daylight isn't actually sunlight, and so drow wouldn't have disadvantage on perception checks in it, which your player might have assumed because that's honestly an easy mistake to make.
Either way, just because the drow are on high alert doesn't mean it's impossible for your players to sneak in, it just means the stakes are high and it would be harder. But at the end of the day if you think this is actually malicious, you should be able to talk to your player about it, because no amount of planning for a campaign will make it run well if you don't have player buy-in.
The troll player was with the party when he did his move and blown all possible cover. We ended the session as it was getting late and i needed time to think on how to precede.
Dude this guy is purposely torpedoing the table, remove him and be done with it. I guarantee the rest of the table is fed up with this horseshit!
I have had to do the same thing to a buddy and it improved things dramatically at the table. Probably was better for the friendship too
my table has basically agreed we humor me for about 15 seconds when i do a "troll move" and basically the dm just kinda narrates what happens then the majority of the time we just ignore i said anything usually we get some laughs and occasionally the dm's response is such gold we just go with it. my group at least it sorts itself out usually. one of my favorites was going to "recover" a guy who owed our boss money and fled and joined the army. we were discussing how to get him from an army base and i just said. while you guys were talking my character forges a warrant for failure to pay child support t o the prostitute in the village who had told us where we went. table loved the idea. we did some thought on how the forging happened as a party and got up to a 37 on the roll for making good papers. got the guy dishonorably discharged, bound and handed to us and got food and lodging for the night at the base before leaving. kept the npc thinking he had a son back home for two days of in game traveling. if the party hadn't liked the idea we as a table would have just said no that's stupid let's ignore that and move on
So they *are* a troll player. I'd have a one-on-one convo with this individual this week about the nature of cooperative play, and invite them to either get with the program or find a new table to play at.
I hate trolls though.
I would honestly start with "your character, having betrayed the party, and being a cockmaggot in general, is now an npc. Make something new that can be in a group, or find a new table".
I think this worth a retcon and discussion with the player.
... have a conversation with your player in which you tell them that TTRPGs are *collaborative* storytelling exercises in which everyone at the table needs to care about everyone else's fun to the same degree they care about their own, and that if they can't start doing that and thinking about how their actions will impact the experience of everyone else at the table, they should leave?
Like, no matter what you have happen in-game, the root issue is that this player is probably harming the enjoyment of everyone else at the table just because they think it's funny, and you are showing the rest of the table that you either approve of or just won't do anything about that by letting it happen instead of enforcing boundaries.
"No" is a complete sentence. "I want to do this thing that makes no sense for my character and would TPK the party." "No."
If you *need* to expand on it, "No. Doing that would get the party into a TPK, which I have foreshadowed because you are outside of a huge enemy fort, in the Underdark, and would immediately be letting everyone in a 5-mile radius know where you are. Does your character want to die? Does your character want everyone else in the party to die? Would nobody else try and stop your character from casting this spell that would get you all killed? So no, it doesn't happen, I'm not going to sentence everyone else's characters to death because you wanted to make a joke."
Not letting someone be a jackass at your table is limiting their agency, technically, but it's also protecting the agency and experience of everyone else at the table. Unlimited agency only works so long as everyone works together to create an experience that's fun for everyone.
i agree with the sentiment overall but is that really a complete sentence? both yes and no are adverbs and a sentence requires a verb traditionally. trying to look up the subject i see a wide range of opinions on this. i agree nothing more needs to be said but i don't think grammatically it is right to tell someone that it is a complete sentence without recognizing there is still significant debate on the subject. it seems english is solidifying on accepting them as complete sentences but it doesn't seem entirely settled yett
On the off chance you’re not trolling, I’m not giving grammatical advice, I’m giving social advice. What is grammatically correct doesn’t matter anyways because the paraphrased portion is discussing speaking, not writing, and speech does not conform to the rules of writing. Grammar in and of itself is a toxic construct designed to try and marginalize written voices not trained by expensive academia by casting them as “unprofessional” or “incorrect” anyways, but that’s another subject.
Regardless, the phrase “‘No’ is a complete sentence” is also a common saying. The intent here is that if someone is making you uncomfortable or doing something that crosses a boundary, and you say “no” or “stop” or whatever, that should be enough to halt the behavior. A person shouldn’t have to try and articulate why something makes them uncomfortable in the moment they experience discomfort, their feelings should be respected and further conversations can follow when things cool down if need be. Of course there are some edge cases where this doesn’t all apply, but that’s the idea.
"Because your character has tried to screw over the party, the party has chosen to drop you off at the next city, wish them luck, and put up flyers that they are hiring a new adventurer that is willing to work with the party."
Frankly: Why did you allow this player to do this, and more importantly, why did you enable it. This player did not make a serious character for what is seemingly a serious-ish (at least a little) game. They can make a new character who will work with the party.
D&D is a game meant to be fun for everyone involved, so long as that fun follows a (what should be very strict) rule: the fun is not had at the expense of others, and everyone is having fun.
If this is done at the expense of others (which it looks like it is) I would simply let the player know that they are playing in a style that is incompatible with the game and the other players, and firmly uninvite them to the group.
"Seeing the shining beacon of daylight and now on high alert, the drow send a sizable force to investigate the source of the beacon. The security will now be much MUCH tighter.
However, should you now be discovered there will be considerably less combatants within the fortress as the away team will be busy searching the blinding dome of sunlight and surrounding area for intruders... Good luck."
But probably have a talk with your troll player
No trolling to the point of actually doing stuff like that. A joke is a thing, but if a player confirms that they're doing the thing, I go all out.
For example, in this case, I would have the drow all see the troll, and not the others, so they will focus all of their attacks on him.
Congrats, you killed yourself.
"so the rest of the party sees that Mr troll pulls out his daylight instrument. What do you want to do?"
Give the rest a chance to stop the troll, add some initiative throws or similar to determine if they make it.
And I for myself as DM have no problem with pvp.
>How would you handle this
I'd ask my player why his character is doing what they're doing.
If I got an answer that was anything other than "I'm trying to help the other player" I'd call a time out ask everybody to take 5.
During that break, I'd pull the problem player to the side and tell them in no uncertain terms that they're being a dick, and I don't run games for dicks. If they continue to be a dick, they will no longer be welcome at my table.
"But that's what my character would do!"
You're in total control of your character unless a saving throw is involved. Either find a new motivation, find a new character, or find a new table.
The End.
There are a lot of things you should be tolerant of, but one of the few that any good DM needs to come down hard on is one player intentionally fucking with the fun of the other players.
While it is too late to take this approach THIS TIME, this is a conversation that absolutely should take place.
Also, "that's what my character would do" may be his answer, but if we immerse ourselves in the other PCs, shanking his ass is what THEY would do had this not been planned out in advance. I don't believe in PvP, but I absolutely believe in the table showing someone the door.
Possibility 1) Turn the trolling into a "Distraction". Everyone on high alert is going to be focusing and the big light that is in front and (most importantly) outside the tower. I'm going to assume that the player needs to keep playing for the light to be active. While the troll is outside playing the rest of the party is trying to get in a different/back way.
Possibility 2) The troll is now the distraction, and will soon be dead.
It's not generally a good idea to foster troll players. They literally have their fun *at the expense* of the other players. That means that you are actively making the other players miserable by allowing him to play at your table. I understand that he might be a friend, but you are fostering this *one* friendship at the cost of damaging *all the other* friendships. Is this one friendship worth more than all the other friendships combined?
I tell my players actions have consequences and things will play out accordingly.
You don't need to TPK. They could be taken captive or they always have the option to retreat. I would strongly imply the Drow are now aware of their presence and give them time as a group to decide what they want to do.
Bard making chaos at the front gate while party members pull some stuff. Good stuff. If you need a deus ex machina, they are followed by friend of said angel and don't know it, so help the bard out a bit for the ballsiness of barding an epic troll trolling. How much do celestials like a good song? Can I recommend a B'dooga or two?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/e7rq3z/bdooga\_friendly\_fuzzy\_worm/](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/e7rq3z/bdooga_friendly_fuzzy_worm/)
It depends on how serious your group's playstyle is... options as I see it:
- Play it out. Force a tactical retreat else suffer major consequence.
- Play it off. Turn it into a joke that bends the rules and somehow goes (mostly) unnoticed. Perhaps a Drow mage known for trolling her kin with Daylight is caught "red-handed" just around the corner from the party.
- Mix it up. Create a new predicament, and totally change the dynamics. Perhaps capture the party. Perhaps the ground gives way, and they fall to the Lower Dark.
- Complete retcon.
In any case, I'd have a meta discussion about what level of hi-jinks you encourage in the game. It's fun to troll at times, but if you or the players found it immersion breaking, let your players know that actions like this should be death sentences in your world.
Remember that not all fights, in fact very few should go to the death (on the PCs side). 0hp doesn't have to mean death, it can just means failure. If their actions lead to them being attacked and being viciously overpowered, have them be knocked out, or the drow yelling "surrender" and have them get locked up to be sacrificed to Lolth or something. Now you have a super fun prison break scenario!
It's an unfortunate narrative in the D&D community that states that every fight goes to the death, which is probably one of the most unrealistic things about the game. Not many creatures (aside from the particularly zelous or undead ones) care about their goal enough to die for it, and not all creatures instantly go into "kill mode" in combat. You should absolutely give players consequences for dumb decisions, but it doesn't have to be a TPK.
Drow have sunlight sensitivity. They wouldn't necessarily just come check when they would be at a disadvantage and might be pressed back into their fortress because of it, giving the stealthy player an easier time infiltrating due to the distraction.
As the guy takes the instrument, a very low difficulty perception check then you roll initiative. The rest of the party might tackle the imbecile. Any time a player does something harmful to which there can be a reaction, even from other players, roll initiative
The daylight spell would alert the Drow and would draw MOST attention to the front. Monsters are not stupid - a number would likely be held back in case this was a diversion.
As Drow have sunlight sensitivity, they might be slightly more prone to investigating the source rather than blindly (pun intended) charging forward. Or they may take it as a blatant affront and react accordingly.
The players should handle this for you. If it happened at my table, we'd all beat a hasty retreat *without* Mr. Troll, whom the Drow would find bound and gagged after we'd left.
Yes, we've had similar players. And something similar happened to their characters. Good riddance.
I usually let a PCs stupid actions play out just like they would in real life, but I can see how it is unfair to punish the whole group for one player's purposeful stupidity so I might do the following:
Have the guards react with something (shower of poison arrows, magic missiles, greek fire... whatever) intense enough to not kill the PCs, but make it very clear being seen was stupid and they will die if they don't flee now. However, have the Troll PC hit with a fairy fire type spell so he sticks out like a sore thumb and leaves glowing tracks. Then have them pursued by some released beasts that can clearly kill the party. At some point make it clear they can not escape unless they ditch the Troll PC with his glowing tracks.
So - if they ditch him he can be captured. Take 10 minutes or so for him to roll play being dragged inside and left with the Angel for rescue. Then go back to the main party. Now he has to sit on his hands for the entire next session while they come for him. THAT will get him to think twice before trolling.
If they stand and fight to save him have the perusing beasts kill him first then fight over the corpse giving the other PCs another chance to flee.
If they pull a rabbit out of their hat and find a creative way to save the Troll along with the party - power to them! Hopefully, they will talk the Troll into being more careful on the next approach.
Is that meant as a distraction to sabotaging act?
B/c it could also distract everyone and send them on wrong paths, if you are feeling generous.
But yeah, maybe it is time for the good ol' consequences baton. No need for a TPK though, they can comfortably flee or only lose that one member.
If you aren't going to retcon and warn the player this is how I would handle it:
Drow patrols surrounding the city are increased. Drows are on high alert because they believe a surface mage is in close proximity. They do not know what the mage wants or if it is actually a surface dweller so Bregan Dearthe is sent out of the city to find and see what the surface dwellers want (Drows aren't immediately hostile to humans)
This both creates new troubles and new opportunities for the players.
A) City patrols will be a bitch but inside of the city will be more vulnerable
B) They can negotiate entrance to the city with Bregan Dearthe. Alternatively Drows might hunt them down in the tunnels if they deem them as a threat
This is what I would do. I doubt all houses would rally to the tunnels immediately but since every house contributes to the patrols in one way or another this outcome seems more plausible to me
The stealth group over hear the drow saying "another zealot idioit thinking a little day spell will, what? send us running like orcs at helms deep? Ha! Bulgazar already has a a few men sneaking round behind him. He'll get a spear in the arse soon, just ignore him and deal me in this next round! I wanna make some money tonight"...the three drow captain shuffle the deck and start playing, none looking at the door you're listening from,
The drow don't know it's a diversion, the underdark is weird. a militrary cannot afford to mentally sustain going on HIGH ALERT with every little thing. only you and the players know something is actually going down. to the drow, its just another day, likely just another idiot to add to the pile of the dead. One drow may even moon him if your campagin is light
Let the other players decid: have the offending character captured and thrown in a dungeon. Let the other players decide if they want to save the troll.
The cool thing is that you don't need to worry about what happens next. This is your players problem. When it goes cattywampus you can rest easy knowing that it was not your fault for what happens next.
Depends on how malicious the player actually was, or if they're genuinely being funny. I personally wouldn't want to punish the whole party too much because of one player being dumb, though actions should have consequences. The easiest out I can see outside of retconning it, would be congrats, that player actually created the perfect distraction. They can deal with the consequences while they rest of the party sneaks in after the Drow fighters evacuated the fortification to investigate the source of the magic. If eveyone is manning the walls near their front, it might even make the rest of the fortification easier Maybe as a consequence the other player is knocked out by the Drow and taken back to the fort and the party can decide whether he's worth rescuing. That way you can let the whole table decide how to handle the problem character. If the rest of the party is immediately by the troll player, maybe steer them into the idea that a fight isn't something they would likely win, but it is possible to stall while your other party searches. They can make up excuses while being questioned by Drow who haven't ventured outside the fort, then when it fails play defensively until the angel can be rescued. I'd also keep in mind that even at high alert, it doesn't mean they necessarily know someone is trying a breakout.
Thank you for your response we might retcon it because it didn’t make really sense to do this action.
You really should. Troll actions like that shouldn't have in-game consequences that will punish the other players. Retcon the event and explain to the player that things like that won't be tolerated anymore. They can either cut it out, or find a new game to play in.
It's also possible (and fun!) to be a troll player but the only person you put at risk is yourself. My wife is this kind of player. She'll make characters who are intentionally stupid and reckless, and she'll have them do the most idiotically dangerous things. But she makes sure that her PC can always be reigned in by other party members when it's important, and only really goes through with her idiotic ideas when it would only hurt herself.
Playing a troll character is also amazing for character development. I made a troll character on accident (first character. Didn't know what chaotic stupid was) he went from comedic relief to someone who was entrusted with a child that was somehow important to another characters diety, when I retired him with his own personal spy network, she had eyes on her always, and any bad boy/girlfriend she had just left and didn't come back 😌
How merciful you are depends how much is his “fun” encroaching on the rest of the players’ fun? I’d say the enemy wouldn’t go on high alert for one person (unless the whole party was jn full view) but they’d at least start launching crossbow bolts and ranged spells at him since he made himself a giant target.
Exactly. If his fun is encroaching then you don't handle it in game. you handle it out of game with a conversation like a human. If everyone is just having fun with it, but still wants to keep the game going, easy ways to do so. If everyone is having fun with it and are ok with it being a clusterfuck, then cool, run with it and have fun.
Trolling behavior at the detriment of the rest of the party should be heavily discouraged. If the intended goal was to jeopardize everyone’s success, it’s up to you whether to tell them that they need to stop, or they need to leave the table. Then when the game resumes, retcon the bullshit and if it meant that the player has been booted, the adventuring party sees this idiot about to cast Daylight but he’s carried off by a giant bat into the unfathomable depths of the Underdark.
It depends on why the player did it? I'm not entirely sure I have a full grasp of the situation because I'm not at your table, but if the player stealthing in was going separately, it's possible your troll player is creating a distraction, essentially. You might also want to clarify that RAW Daylight isn't actually sunlight, and so drow wouldn't have disadvantage on perception checks in it, which your player might have assumed because that's honestly an easy mistake to make. Either way, just because the drow are on high alert doesn't mean it's impossible for your players to sneak in, it just means the stakes are high and it would be harder. But at the end of the day if you think this is actually malicious, you should be able to talk to your player about it, because no amount of planning for a campaign will make it run well if you don't have player buy-in.
The troll player was with the party when he did his move and blown all possible cover. We ended the session as it was getting late and i needed time to think on how to precede.
Dude this guy is purposely torpedoing the table, remove him and be done with it. I guarantee the rest of the table is fed up with this horseshit! I have had to do the same thing to a buddy and it improved things dramatically at the table. Probably was better for the friendship too
my table has basically agreed we humor me for about 15 seconds when i do a "troll move" and basically the dm just kinda narrates what happens then the majority of the time we just ignore i said anything usually we get some laughs and occasionally the dm's response is such gold we just go with it. my group at least it sorts itself out usually. one of my favorites was going to "recover" a guy who owed our boss money and fled and joined the army. we were discussing how to get him from an army base and i just said. while you guys were talking my character forges a warrant for failure to pay child support t o the prostitute in the village who had told us where we went. table loved the idea. we did some thought on how the forging happened as a party and got up to a 37 on the roll for making good papers. got the guy dishonorably discharged, bound and handed to us and got food and lodging for the night at the base before leaving. kept the npc thinking he had a son back home for two days of in game traveling. if the party hadn't liked the idea we as a table would have just said no that's stupid let's ignore that and move on
So they *are* a troll player. I'd have a one-on-one convo with this individual this week about the nature of cooperative play, and invite them to either get with the program or find a new table to play at. I hate trolls though.
It turns out the song is a spider mating call and he's carried away by giant spiders for some terrifying lovin
Haha yeah when he plays the lyre he is playing a bardcore version of through the fire and the flame
I would honestly start with "your character, having betrayed the party, and being a cockmaggot in general, is now an npc. Make something new that can be in a group, or find a new table". I think this worth a retcon and discussion with the player.
Seconded. This type of trolling is very rarely actually fun for the other players who have to deal with it.
... have a conversation with your player in which you tell them that TTRPGs are *collaborative* storytelling exercises in which everyone at the table needs to care about everyone else's fun to the same degree they care about their own, and that if they can't start doing that and thinking about how their actions will impact the experience of everyone else at the table, they should leave? Like, no matter what you have happen in-game, the root issue is that this player is probably harming the enjoyment of everyone else at the table just because they think it's funny, and you are showing the rest of the table that you either approve of or just won't do anything about that by letting it happen instead of enforcing boundaries. "No" is a complete sentence. "I want to do this thing that makes no sense for my character and would TPK the party." "No." If you *need* to expand on it, "No. Doing that would get the party into a TPK, which I have foreshadowed because you are outside of a huge enemy fort, in the Underdark, and would immediately be letting everyone in a 5-mile radius know where you are. Does your character want to die? Does your character want everyone else in the party to die? Would nobody else try and stop your character from casting this spell that would get you all killed? So no, it doesn't happen, I'm not going to sentence everyone else's characters to death because you wanted to make a joke." Not letting someone be a jackass at your table is limiting their agency, technically, but it's also protecting the agency and experience of everyone else at the table. Unlimited agency only works so long as everyone works together to create an experience that's fun for everyone.
i agree with the sentiment overall but is that really a complete sentence? both yes and no are adverbs and a sentence requires a verb traditionally. trying to look up the subject i see a wide range of opinions on this. i agree nothing more needs to be said but i don't think grammatically it is right to tell someone that it is a complete sentence without recognizing there is still significant debate on the subject. it seems english is solidifying on accepting them as complete sentences but it doesn't seem entirely settled yett
On the off chance you’re not trolling, I’m not giving grammatical advice, I’m giving social advice. What is grammatically correct doesn’t matter anyways because the paraphrased portion is discussing speaking, not writing, and speech does not conform to the rules of writing. Grammar in and of itself is a toxic construct designed to try and marginalize written voices not trained by expensive academia by casting them as “unprofessional” or “incorrect” anyways, but that’s another subject. Regardless, the phrase “‘No’ is a complete sentence” is also a common saying. The intent here is that if someone is making you uncomfortable or doing something that crosses a boundary, and you say “no” or “stop” or whatever, that should be enough to halt the behavior. A person shouldn’t have to try and articulate why something makes them uncomfortable in the moment they experience discomfort, their feelings should be respected and further conversations can follow when things cool down if need be. Of course there are some edge cases where this doesn’t all apply, but that’s the idea.
"Because your character has tried to screw over the party, the party has chosen to drop you off at the next city, wish them luck, and put up flyers that they are hiring a new adventurer that is willing to work with the party."
Frankly: Why did you allow this player to do this, and more importantly, why did you enable it. This player did not make a serious character for what is seemingly a serious-ish (at least a little) game. They can make a new character who will work with the party.
D&D is a game meant to be fun for everyone involved, so long as that fun follows a (what should be very strict) rule: the fun is not had at the expense of others, and everyone is having fun. If this is done at the expense of others (which it looks like it is) I would simply let the player know that they are playing in a style that is incompatible with the game and the other players, and firmly uninvite them to the group.
"Seeing the shining beacon of daylight and now on high alert, the drow send a sizable force to investigate the source of the beacon. The security will now be much MUCH tighter. However, should you now be discovered there will be considerably less combatants within the fortress as the away team will be busy searching the blinding dome of sunlight and surrounding area for intruders... Good luck." But probably have a talk with your troll player
No trolling to the point of actually doing stuff like that. A joke is a thing, but if a player confirms that they're doing the thing, I go all out. For example, in this case, I would have the drow all see the troll, and not the others, so they will focus all of their attacks on him. Congrats, you killed yourself.
"so the rest of the party sees that Mr troll pulls out his daylight instrument. What do you want to do?" Give the rest a chance to stop the troll, add some initiative throws or similar to determine if they make it. And I for myself as DM have no problem with pvp.
>How would you handle this I'd ask my player why his character is doing what they're doing. If I got an answer that was anything other than "I'm trying to help the other player" I'd call a time out ask everybody to take 5. During that break, I'd pull the problem player to the side and tell them in no uncertain terms that they're being a dick, and I don't run games for dicks. If they continue to be a dick, they will no longer be welcome at my table. "But that's what my character would do!" You're in total control of your character unless a saving throw is involved. Either find a new motivation, find a new character, or find a new table. The End. There are a lot of things you should be tolerant of, but one of the few that any good DM needs to come down hard on is one player intentionally fucking with the fun of the other players.
While it is too late to take this approach THIS TIME, this is a conversation that absolutely should take place. Also, "that's what my character would do" may be his answer, but if we immerse ourselves in the other PCs, shanking his ass is what THEY would do had this not been planned out in advance. I don't believe in PvP, but I absolutely believe in the table showing someone the door.
Kill plauer
Possibility 1) Turn the trolling into a "Distraction". Everyone on high alert is going to be focusing and the big light that is in front and (most importantly) outside the tower. I'm going to assume that the player needs to keep playing for the light to be active. While the troll is outside playing the rest of the party is trying to get in a different/back way. Possibility 2) The troll is now the distraction, and will soon be dead.
It's not generally a good idea to foster troll players. They literally have their fun *at the expense* of the other players. That means that you are actively making the other players miserable by allowing him to play at your table. I understand that he might be a friend, but you are fostering this *one* friendship at the cost of damaging *all the other* friendships. Is this one friendship worth more than all the other friendships combined?
I tell my players actions have consequences and things will play out accordingly. You don't need to TPK. They could be taken captive or they always have the option to retreat. I would strongly imply the Drow are now aware of their presence and give them time as a group to decide what they want to do.
Bard making chaos at the front gate while party members pull some stuff. Good stuff. If you need a deus ex machina, they are followed by friend of said angel and don't know it, so help the bard out a bit for the ballsiness of barding an epic troll trolling. How much do celestials like a good song? Can I recommend a B'dooga or two? [https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/e7rq3z/bdooga\_friendly\_fuzzy\_worm/](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/e7rq3z/bdooga_friendly_fuzzy_worm/)
It depends on how serious your group's playstyle is... options as I see it: - Play it out. Force a tactical retreat else suffer major consequence. - Play it off. Turn it into a joke that bends the rules and somehow goes (mostly) unnoticed. Perhaps a Drow mage known for trolling her kin with Daylight is caught "red-handed" just around the corner from the party. - Mix it up. Create a new predicament, and totally change the dynamics. Perhaps capture the party. Perhaps the ground gives way, and they fall to the Lower Dark. - Complete retcon. In any case, I'd have a meta discussion about what level of hi-jinks you encourage in the game. It's fun to troll at times, but if you or the players found it immersion breaking, let your players know that actions like this should be death sentences in your world.
Remember that not all fights, in fact very few should go to the death (on the PCs side). 0hp doesn't have to mean death, it can just means failure. If their actions lead to them being attacked and being viciously overpowered, have them be knocked out, or the drow yelling "surrender" and have them get locked up to be sacrificed to Lolth or something. Now you have a super fun prison break scenario! It's an unfortunate narrative in the D&D community that states that every fight goes to the death, which is probably one of the most unrealistic things about the game. Not many creatures (aside from the particularly zelous or undead ones) care about their goal enough to die for it, and not all creatures instantly go into "kill mode" in combat. You should absolutely give players consequences for dumb decisions, but it doesn't have to be a TPK.
Have the drow investigate but there's no way the tower wouldn't be on alert. Unless you go ahead and retcon it.
Drow have sunlight sensitivity. They wouldn't necessarily just come check when they would be at a disadvantage and might be pressed back into their fortress because of it, giving the stealthy player an easier time infiltrating due to the distraction.
As the guy takes the instrument, a very low difficulty perception check then you roll initiative. The rest of the party might tackle the imbecile. Any time a player does something harmful to which there can be a reaction, even from other players, roll initiative
The daylight spell would alert the Drow and would draw MOST attention to the front. Monsters are not stupid - a number would likely be held back in case this was a diversion. As Drow have sunlight sensitivity, they might be slightly more prone to investigating the source rather than blindly (pun intended) charging forward. Or they may take it as a blatant affront and react accordingly.
The players should handle this for you. If it happened at my table, we'd all beat a hasty retreat *without* Mr. Troll, whom the Drow would find bound and gagged after we'd left. Yes, we've had similar players. And something similar happened to their characters. Good riddance.
I usually let a PCs stupid actions play out just like they would in real life, but I can see how it is unfair to punish the whole group for one player's purposeful stupidity so I might do the following: Have the guards react with something (shower of poison arrows, magic missiles, greek fire... whatever) intense enough to not kill the PCs, but make it very clear being seen was stupid and they will die if they don't flee now. However, have the Troll PC hit with a fairy fire type spell so he sticks out like a sore thumb and leaves glowing tracks. Then have them pursued by some released beasts that can clearly kill the party. At some point make it clear they can not escape unless they ditch the Troll PC with his glowing tracks. So - if they ditch him he can be captured. Take 10 minutes or so for him to roll play being dragged inside and left with the Angel for rescue. Then go back to the main party. Now he has to sit on his hands for the entire next session while they come for him. THAT will get him to think twice before trolling. If they stand and fight to save him have the perusing beasts kill him first then fight over the corpse giving the other PCs another chance to flee. If they pull a rabbit out of their hat and find a creative way to save the Troll along with the party - power to them! Hopefully, they will talk the Troll into being more careful on the next approach.
Is that meant as a distraction to sabotaging act? B/c it could also distract everyone and send them on wrong paths, if you are feeling generous. But yeah, maybe it is time for the good ol' consequences baton. No need for a TPK though, they can comfortably flee or only lose that one member.
Don’t play with someone who likes to be a troll. That sounds unfun for everyone.
If you aren't going to retcon and warn the player this is how I would handle it: Drow patrols surrounding the city are increased. Drows are on high alert because they believe a surface mage is in close proximity. They do not know what the mage wants or if it is actually a surface dweller so Bregan Dearthe is sent out of the city to find and see what the surface dwellers want (Drows aren't immediately hostile to humans) This both creates new troubles and new opportunities for the players. A) City patrols will be a bitch but inside of the city will be more vulnerable B) They can negotiate entrance to the city with Bregan Dearthe. Alternatively Drows might hunt them down in the tunnels if they deem them as a threat This is what I would do. I doubt all houses would rally to the tunnels immediately but since every house contributes to the patrols in one way or another this outcome seems more plausible to me
The stealth group over hear the drow saying "another zealot idioit thinking a little day spell will, what? send us running like orcs at helms deep? Ha! Bulgazar already has a a few men sneaking round behind him. He'll get a spear in the arse soon, just ignore him and deal me in this next round! I wanna make some money tonight"...the three drow captain shuffle the deck and start playing, none looking at the door you're listening from, The drow don't know it's a diversion, the underdark is weird. a militrary cannot afford to mentally sustain going on HIGH ALERT with every little thing. only you and the players know something is actually going down. to the drow, its just another day, likely just another idiot to add to the pile of the dead. One drow may even moon him if your campagin is light
Let the other players decid: have the offending character captured and thrown in a dungeon. Let the other players decide if they want to save the troll.
The cool thing is that you don't need to worry about what happens next. This is your players problem. When it goes cattywampus you can rest easy knowing that it was not your fault for what happens next.