Gaming grievances

>>55105902
I don't normally care that much about character optimization. But this one guy in my group played an entire campaign to a successful conclusion, shooting himself in the foot all the while. He rolled up a shapeshifter, a kind of lycanthrope with conscious control over animal shifting, but it's easier/safer to do at night and lunar phases affect the ability. It's really, really powerful when used right. To balance it, it comes iwth some fairly major costs, most especially a colossal XP penalty, such that your shapeshifter will lag far behind other characters in skills and weapon abilities, and taking magic is almost unthinkable.

He used his shapeshifting ability once. And that was an initiation into his tribe's rite of adulthood where he had to. Throughout the main body of the campaign, he never once used the core fucking ability for his entire fucking race. I have no idea why. I suggested he use it once or twice, and he would just smile and shrug and say that maybe he'll use it later.

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>>55105902
>DM makes great plot arcs that are super exciting, have to do with our character goals, and feel satisfying to complete.
>For the life him he cannot make memorable NPCs in these plot arcs, once the plot arc is over, they're gone... and even if we try to engage with them later, our DM seems not to know how to bring them back into the plot and always says they're somewhere else doing something else.

I just wana see a friendly face I didn't just meet at the start of the plot arc. I just wana fight a villain whom we didn't see for the first time a session or two ago.

>>55105902
Why are you guys even playing D&D? Play videogames or board games instead.

>We're starting a new campaign!
Okay, what kind of character should I build?
>Whatever you want!
Okay, are there any recommended abilities I should have?
>Whatever you want!
I got that. Is there anything you want the party to be able to do?
>Don't worry about filling party roles! Build your own character!
Okay... Is this going to be a combat-heavy campaign?
>If you want it to be!
Would I benefit from speaking different languages?
>If it comes up!
Would building a socialite be a bad idea?
>Build whatever you want!
Okay... What races are common?
>What do you want to be?
That's not what I-
>Let me get the Monster Manual!

Goddamn it, I just want to build a character that fits in the setting. Our group plays Rifts sometimes. It's even fucking worse then.

>>55106343
Personally I want to role play, so d&d is exactly what I'm looking for. As for the rest, they like playing but just can't seem to shake vidya mentality. I'm trying to lead by example and push them into being more active, we'll see how that goes...

>DM complains my character is OP because he has 22 AC and mount has 25
>together we still do less damage than the rest of the party on average
>solely targets me in combat, always ignores the mount no matter what
>his DMPC has 21 AC and consistently one shots everything
>accuses me of minmaxing
>i'm fucking new to the game, couldn't minmax if I wanted to
>meanwhile he's got +14 to hit and a d10+11 to damage at level 5
>his min damage is higher than my max AND he has a much better chance to hit

>>55109336
how do you get +14 to hit at level 5