What happens when the DM takes being a soldier
seriously? Let me describe the situation:
I am one of 5 players in a D&D 5e homebrew
campaign, playing a variant human fighter.
I know, I know. Ew, gross, disgusting, boring.
Well I'll play Sparkles the Eladrin Sorcerer
next time and make sure that all my cantrips
erupt in a shower of arcane glitter.
I've always been a fan of the gritty aesthetic
of medieval soldiers and I wanted to hone
in on that with my character. Hence came Victoria
Ashthorne, VHuman Samurai Fighter. I had an
idea of what I wanted and during session 0
the DM seemed to love my idea. He asked "So
are you a former soldier, or are you still
affiliated with the army?" Not knowing it
would be my own downfall, I say she's still
affiliated.
I wanted her to be somewhat highly ranked,
but the DM was opposed to it. After some talking,
he agreed to say I was a low ranking officer
since we were starting at level 3. I was more
than fine with this.
I roleplayed it as Victoria served in the
war that ended a few years before the campaign
began. She wasn't content to standing around
in some fort during times of peace when she
could be out in the world doing acts of good,
so she applied for leave and was granted the
freedom to go out and adventure, but the DM
said "You may be called back sometime if the
army needs you." I didn't think much of it
beyond imagining it maybe being a small part
of the campaign later on. I was excited to
play my character.
Multiple sessions later, the party is all
level 5, and Victoria gets a letter. It's
from the commander of her army, and he's calling
her back to duty. No explanation.
"DM, is there a possible reason? Do I know
of a war brewing anywhere or conflict happening
that might need me to return?"
"Nope. The letter doesn't say why. But it's
giving you a direct order from your superior."
We didn't have any other plothooks at the
time so the party went with Victoria to the
fort so that I could report in. My plan was
to enlist the party under my command so that
we could continue to operate together. After
discussing this with the commander, he said
no and that he just needed me. This kinda
confused me, and I asked the DM what this
meant.
"He just feels it's better to have all his
soldiers accounted for and on base. He doesn't
like that you're off wandering the world."
So I try to make my case to the commander,
saying we've been serving the country by doing
acts of good and keeping the peace in ways
the army can't. But that just makes him furious.
He wants to have me arrested for vigilante
justice. No chance for diplomacy, and he attacks
me when I show hesitation and we roll initiative.
Many rounds of combat later, the party is
all unconscious thanks to this high level
NPC and his guards. We wake up and the party
is set free but Victoria gets executed. Just
like that. That was it. This is when I started
getting really mad at the DM.
Me: "You're just gonna take out my character
because I didn't wanna stop adventuring? What
was your plan?"
DM: "Me? I didn't have a plan, your commander
had a plan. He didn't like having a soldier
wandering around without orders. It's nothing
personal, you should have just complied."
Me: "Well how was I supposed to keep playing
if he wouldn't let me keep adventuring with
the party?"
DM: "Oh, you'd have to make a new character.
That'd be the story over for her. Fighters
are kinda boring, they don't get to do much
at later levels anyway. Play a paladin or
a barbarian."
The rest of the players tried to call him
out on this, but the DM took it personally
and told us that the session was over, and
kicked us out. That was the last time I ever
heard from him. Apparently he tried to get
the others to keep coming but only a few went
back and it didn't keep going for very long.
I can't blame them after what he did to my
character.
It's very sad when a DM is unhappy with your
character. This is a fantasy setting and for
a DM to say that a certain class is too boring
to be played with is insulting. While a DM
might be able to control the world in their
own way, a player should have complete freedom
in choosing who they want to be especially
if it's within reason. It's in especially
poor taste to try to solve the problem in-game
instead of just talking things out and confusing
everyone/wasting everyone's time. What do
you all think about this situation?
