I am the character in question
I hang back for a few reasons.
1. our party typically does not like to use strategy/formations to control flanks
2. i'm a squishy melee i do not want enemies getting flank/rear on me. 1-2 good hits and i'm not looking so hot.
3. I hang back to take on enemies the GM sends after the casters / to try and flank the party
4. as a mobility melee its just prudent to go after the heavy plate wearing melees do as you can protect their flanks, free them up to deal damage.
5. what the GM has also failed to mention is that in our game it is a free action at any time to change facing. so the enemies are free to change their facing to my character if i go behind them at any point in time.
So if i move behind them in the deliberate phase after they've gone, they can still as a free action face my character that has just moved behind them denying me flanking/rear bonus. This does however make them put their back to the rest of my party.
-i am completely fine with #5 as i have told the GM on multiple occasions. I'm not moving behind the enemy to steal the kill. I am moving behind the enemy to make you choose. Do you want to fight my character full on? or do you want to fight the level 11/12 fighter dwarf with the magical mace with 3 magical different elemental crits where the fighter is in essence getting 3-4 crits with 1 swing. 24E krush + 3 1 less severity elemental crits?
In either case that enemy is in for a world of pain which frees me up or the fighter to continue down the line of freeing up others / free to protect the squishy characters. this creates a domino effect and helps the party as a whole operate at a higher lethality instead of being mired in melee getting beat on for extended rounds of combat (more chances for them and myself to be severely injured or killed)
My going in the deliberate phase is dependent upon the other players in the group, i base my actions/movement/phase of action on them to try and be a force multiplier.
-We played with the GMs modified rules going by his words "more to core" but with half of the mobility of the core rules being page 6ed (removed at GM discression) the outcome was the same.
The board is a chess game where i get to move 1 piece and the GM gets to move all of his and the npcs have telepathy. Of course I'm going to move where i am not expected/can be of the most use.
Ardem, that hydra, i snuck down a side corridor that led to its flank and then rushed it. You don't allow many situations to be "stealthy/sneaky" So i use mobility, positioning, and timing to maximize not only my own survival/lethality but also members of the party. (Force multiplier)
So here is where we are today..
I have a Rogue/Assassin/TWC/Poison user
ive been able to use poison 1-2 times in over a year
Ive had ambush neutered (i do not get to modify +/-, in his defense i do have the Precision talent which is modified by enemy facing as well as their parry against me acting as -s to my roll)
Ive had mobility neutered multiple ways
Getting poison from a dead, obviously fanged poisonous animal even if my character doesn't know exactly what the poison is etc, he still knows its poison and worth collecting to have identified later is basically treated like i'm breaking some rule or rules lawyering
I've suggested rolling a different character, discussing the character, being flat out told no. 4 weeks later another party member is allowed to basically roll the major mechanical aspects of the character.
etc
and now, the reason i'm angry? You're lying to me, you're lying to the party, and you're lying to the RM community.
If you don't like the character that much you should of just manned up, said so, and i would of said alright man np i'll re-roll something else.
Instead you re-write the rules because you feel like i'm cheating but then admit that i'm not, that i'm just playing the rules. since you've changed the rules multiple times and it hasn't changed the outcome. So maybe its not the rules or the characters that are the issue. perhaps i'm just out playing you at chess? there is no shame in that. you as a person learn from every combat just as i do. you are moving more tactically as each combat takes place. just as i move more tactically more cautious in response to your actions. some are tactical actions, some are gm actions of throwing surprises in, outnumbered, making all enemies wear plate because you know my character's weakness is vs plate, you give them magical darkness (which i can't counter), you give them teleportation to instantly flank. i mean come on dude, you have the deck stacked in your favor as much as you want as often as you want. why you hating that i'm trying to keep the party alive? next session should i just say "character tells party good bye, do not save him, he doesnt want to live anymore, commits suicide" you think that will fix the problem? no. because i'll roll some other character and play it in a way that you just personally don't like dealing with and call it me "breaking/bending the rules" there is no breaking. there is no bending. I'm doing EXACTLY no more, no less than the book states or that you've house ruled.
so lets do us both a favor and call it for what it is. you feel like youre losing and you dont like it. in combat you feel im the one that causes you to lose (i would say its the whole party but im not as selfish as you try to make me sound)
So i will thank you for giving me the opportunity to join your game for the past year and respectfully remove myself from your game. ill hop on to tell the guys bye and good luck.