RPGMemes

That doesn't seem like the same thing at all. Can you elaborate?

There's a place for a dysfunctional party dynamic, particularly early on in a game. Savvy DMs can factor party dysfunction into the difficulty of an encounter and allow the story to progress even as individual party members tussle with one another.

I think one thing that players and DMs both forget to include is paths for failure in a given adventure or chronicle. Sometimes its good to write out a "Bad Ending" to a game and allow players to experience it. This doesn't have to be the end of the group, the end of the campaign, or even the end of the story. Particularly early on "everyone fucks up and gets thrown in jail together" can be its own kind of team-building exercise. And for faster and more heavy handed games, a "bad ending" can open up the possibility for players to roll up a new party to pick up the banner that the old party dropped.

What really matters is that the game itself is structured so everyone has an opportunity to enjoy themselves. And that can include a kleptomaniac and a short-tempered brute, so long as the players can agree that's the kind of game they're ready to play.

But it's definitely harder to do than a game in which everyone's a team player.

Hah, I should have. I do remember letting him search first once and being petty about it. "Oh, you got a 12? A whole twelve? Woowwwww. I'm going to take 10 and get a, let's see- twenty-two. Would be a 27 if only I had some sort of magical equipment boost"

(For those of you who don't remember, "take 10" was a 3e rule where you can opt to treat the roll as if you'd rolled a 10, so long as you're not in immediate danger. https://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/usingSkills.htm )

edit: fixed typo that reversed meaning

Which bit of the spear, though? Cause a spear is just a staff with a pointy bit on the top, so if you've got the pointy bit, then it's just a spear. If not, you've got a staff.

Good point. Still not worth a fight.

~~If bg3 is any indication~~ there's nothing wrong with an owlbear druid ~~in a party that doesn't otherwise have a tank~~

FTFY 🥰

A part from including psychosis and neurosis into my characters, I would, as a rule, just avoid conflict with other players. If the druid seemed even halfway interested I'd just decide my fighter was an elitist about using greatswords only and avoid elmo.

I'd sniff out the DM's plan. The DM is the true opponent and I'd be ever vigilant. And/or dead. A lot of dead. Mostly dead.