[RPG] How to deal with a member of the party who attacks me whenever I cast a spell

dnd-5egroup-dynamicssocial-contract

I'm new to D&D and so are the friends I play it with.

My character is a Chaotic Evil Pact of the Tome Warlock. One of my party members is a Lawful Neutral Warrior, and in his backstory he dislikes mages because of what happened to him/his family. In total, there are four players

Whenever I use a spell in combat and he can use his mage slayer feat, he always does. (This situation stemmed from me hitting him when I critically failed). An example of this was today when I was fighting two fairly powerful monsters and taking a beating. I killed one, took an attack from the other, used my Hellish Rebuke spell to attack the monsters and then he attacked me, knocking me out for the rest of the long fight.

We haven't come across any mages that were evil or that we should have fought, so he has only been able to use his feat on me. His reason for KOing me in the fight I mentioned earlier was because I critically failed in a different fight and killed an unconscious monster that could have given our party important information.

This is largely an in character problem, although I did get a little annoyed when he knocked my character out. The other players thought we were a bit stupid to be fighting, but we sometimes mess around in character, putting each other in danger, so that was about it.

Best Answer

The first thing you need to do is figure out whether this problem needs to be resolved in-character or out-of-character. Is the warrior's player doing this because the player enjoys this kind of PvP activity? Or is he doing it because he thinks it's what his character would do?

If it's the latter, then you should take a look at My Guy Syndrome, then use the answers there to help you discuss the issue with the player. If it's the former, then you need to sit down with the player, away from the game, and ask him why he's so invested in attacking you. Explain that this isn't fun for you, and that you want to work with him to find a way to support his character's backstory without having to spend all your time unconscious and not participating in the game.

For example, in my current game, my character and another character don't get along (though the player and I are good friends). My character frequently "attacks" the other character, but those events are strictly roleplay - no dice are rolled and there's no in-game effect, just a fun interaction. Another possibility would be to have a third character get involved, someone the warrior respects. This third character could say to the warrior, "I know you hate mages, but we need the warlock to accomplish our goal. If you keep knocking them out in combat, you're putting the rest of us at risk." Roleplay solutions like these help the player feel like their backstory and RP choices are being respected, without negatively affecting other players' characters.

A few key points to keep in mind when having that discussion: RPGs are supposed to be fun for everyone involved, and the whole group is responsible for maintaining that fun. If this player's actions are preventing you from having fun, that's not fair to you (and potentially the other players, as one frustrated and upset player can often bring down the whole group's mood, however unintentionally).

Depending on the player's reaction to this discussion, you may need to get your DM involved. Talk to your DM privately (not with the warrior's player present, to avoid anyone getting ganged up on), and explain the situation and why it's frustrating to you. Ask the DM if they can do anything to mitigate the issue - perhaps to enforce these attacks as roleplay-only, or to help give a story reason for the warrior to stop attacking you.

TL;DR: Make sure My Guy Syndrome isn't the issue, then work with the player to find alternate ways to RP their character that don't negatively affect you.