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Shitty game of #dnd5e last night. My Warlock took a calculated risk and cast Arms of Hadar to take out 6 spiders + finish off a giant spider. But I did hit two party members with 5 damage after save.
The Hexblade/bard retaliated against me with 23 fire damage of Hellish Rebuke.
The Hexblade/bard retaliated against me with 23 fire damage of Hellish Rebuke.
So that's 23 fire damage against my 24hp Warlock. I had to waste my 1/day Genie Lord ability to absorb 9 fire damage, and then blow 2 of 3 HD in a short rest. Other players were like "Woah, this is turning into PvP".
I was fuming inside but I let it go. I felt so betrayed.
I was fuming inside but I let it go. I felt so betrayed.
What really sucked is this happened at the 1 hour mark in a 5 hour game. I'm normally very talkative and engaged in my games, especially with my charismatic Dhampir Warlock, but my mood was spoiled after that. I just didn't feel like engaging. I was silently raging inside. 
The hypocrisy is that this hexblade/bard had just used Arms of Hadar himself against more spiders, and also hit a teammate, claiming he didn't know it also hit friendlies.
I knew what I was doing. I called it out, apologized in advance, but felt it was a worthy calculated risk.
I knew what I was doing. I called it out, apologized in advance, but felt it was a worthy calculated risk.
It didn't help that this was coming from another player (who often DMs on our server) whom I like and respect a lot. I felt so betrayed. And the rest of the party was so quick to call for "let's forget this and move on", completely dismissing how it made me feel.
After a character died in the boss fight, they polled players to see if we'd sacrifice 50% of our reward for a Raise Dead spell. I spoke up. I explained that as a player, yes I would. But as a character, my Warlock felt betrayed by this group who did nothing when he was attacked.
Part of me was even hoping that hexblade/bard would go down during the boss fight so I could finish him off. I had an opportunity when he was weakened & out of spell slots, but I didn't. I let it go. After sharing my feelings at the end, that same guy attacks my Warlock, again.
Since it was late, the DM said "let's discuss and resolve this tomorrow, ok?" 5 mins later the attacker posts in chat "I take back my last action, my character wouldn't murder someone."
The DM then pinged me privately to see if I was OK. He was caught off guard as well.
The DM then pinged me privately to see if I was OK. He was caught off guard as well.
That offending player also pinged me to apologize afterwarfs. I told him how shocked I was and how betrayed I felt, that it completely ruined the remaining 4 hours of the game for me.
Now I'm not sure how to handle it. I should just let it go but it's not easy.
Now I'm not sure how to handle it. I should just let it go but it's not easy.
Playing D&D is such a bedrock of my escapism in the middle of this pandemic. These actions by a fellow online player I like and respect just left me completely aghast. I get very limited playtime between work and family, and ruining a session I was looking forward to just sucks.
Anyways, most people will find it silly to feel the way I did over a game of D&D, and I doubt anyone will read this far, but I had to get it off my chest, if only to verbalize my emotions and help me figure out how to address this next. Have a nice day everyone. Cheers.
