[RPG] What to do when I’m forced to make battle decisions by other players

combatdnd-5eplayer-communicationsocialtactics

I've been playing a campaign in which there have been a few instances in battles where I feel like I'm being forced to make some non-optimal moves in battle by the rest of the PC group. For example me being coerced into "tanking" in a narrow hallway, when I would've rather drawn the group of enemies to us, ultimately saving us from a lot of damage.

The thing is, these moves I'm forced into aren't usually "obviously dumb", and would usually require some explaining why I would rather do it in another way (and the reason for my own tactics are based more on my personal experiences playing a lot of TRPG games.)

I usually tend to acquiesce because trying to explain my thoughts feels like it's wasting time, and against several people it already feels discouraging to defend your stance (never mind my tanking usually happens in Wild Shape since I play a druid character, so I can't even speak in-game anyway). We're also talking about tactics for the fight-wholesale, I'm not usually micromanaged on individual actions.

But I would be lying if it didn't frustrate me be made to do less than ideal things, especially since the campaign we're playing is generally seen as difficult.

How to deal with this? Should I just "go with the flow" of the rest of the party even when I don't feel like it's the best choice to speed the game along, or at least try to dig my heels a bit? If talking to the DM is the right choice, what should I say?

Edit

I'm trying to clarify the question based on comments. I saw several good suggestions already, like a post-battle discussion or discussion through RP (maybe even mixing the two), since I feel the biggest problem is how bringing up multiple strategies mid-battle annoys the rest of the players because it stops the battle from progressing. Here's a few more notes:

  • "Force" is too strong a term here, I'm talking more about getting peer-pressured into decisions agreed upon by the rest of the party. My problem is also more of an interpersonal one. Think of comments like "Just go along with it."
  • I have tried to bring up my own points and plans to the rest of the party when such a situation arises, but if a "plan A" is already agreed upon, the other players aren't usually ready to hear a full explanation about a "plan B" because what I assume is frustration in what seems as "waffling/being contrarian". That or there's a problem with the way I'm wording my disagreement.
  • The situation I describe goes something like this: The player group comes up with "plan A", but for a reason X & Y you feel "plan B" would be better. You try to bring up a different solution, but since the other party's already ready to go you're seen as slow on the uptake for disagreeing, without having had the chance to explain "plan B" yet.
  • This question is not particular to this one campaign/class and I used the druid-tank as an example. However, this might have something to do with this particular gaming group.
  • Importantly this is not the norm and most of our battles go along well, and people are allowed to make their own decisions and mistakes. But the situation I'm describing has happened a few times, and I'd like to find a way to deal with just in case so it doesn't become a problem later.

Best Answer

It sounds like you have a basically functional game and group with some tweaks that need doing, so no need for anything drastic yet.

I am often the dwarven battle cleric so I get myself into the same kinds of situations a lot. I know this frustration well. And here is the key, so does your high-WIS Druid. They know better in character too.

So here is the idea and it has worked well for me when playing in groups where I am not close friends with the other players: in-character post battle analysis. I emphasize the post battle part. Let combat play out how it will next time but afterwards when you are safe ask you if that could have gone better. Take that time to suggest how a decent plan b might have made things better. Make your case for being more than a wild shaped tank of HP for them to exploit.

Doing this after the battle means that no one is in danger. You aren’t suggesting to someone else that they need to get injured right now because you don’t want to. The stakes are lower and the goals are accomplished so you get to take a “ how to do better” approach and develop those characters some more.

If you want to deal with this out of character again do it after the battle with a “hey guys I’d like to be able to throw more spells in combat for my fun, so I don’t want to be wildshaped all the time.”

Again it sounds like you have a long standing group and game so you have some good will with everyone to work on making this game more fun for you. And maybe it will make it more fun for them as well.