Discussing Player Types - The Instigator

Welcome to the Corner! It's here that we will discuss the different player types, in particular, the Instigator! Understanding your players will only make you a better DM, and that's what this is all about!

Well well, here is a player type that makes things happen! If you have a good one at your table, things are never dull! If you have a "bad" one at your table, the struggle is real my friend! Now, before we dive in, let me explain "bad". It doesn't mean they are a bad player, nor does it mean they are a bad person! It just means that the party gets thrown into a lot of danger, A LOT OF DANGER, often and sometimes without rhyme or reason.

I've had a lot of Instigators at my table, often in bigger groups, and in multiples! I can safely say, at the end of the session, and the days following, most of what we talk about is what the Instigator caused to happen. That's not a bad thing! But when you have two or three Instigators at a table of seven, things get very hard to keep together.

It also depends on the type of group you want to run as a DM. For example, if you just want to have friends over and just let stuff happen, awesome! Instigators can make sure that's what goes down! These players challenge authority, buck every plan made, and pull the wildest stunt, simply because they can. That's what makes them exciting! You can rely on an Instigator to open that door your Gnome Wizard just worked so hard to bar closed, just because there are more baddies behind it!

It's this behavior that often makes more critical players not thrilled to have an Instigator in the group. So, as a DM, you have to be careful, because if you have player(s) that make elaborate plans, you can count on the Instigator to "spice" it up. A perfect example was when our Bard made a clever ruse to fool a local dealer of harmful potions into being her supplier to take out certain political figures that would raise her family up socially. The rolls were there, information was being shared, and a near confession was almost at hand. It was going great, when our Artificer (I mention classes because our Instigator was the Artificer, which is a class that requires high Intelligence, so by character standards, this shouldn't have happened) blurts out "Oh, we're actually here because your stuff is killing people, so... We're lying..."

Plan, destroyed. Granted, if it was in the character's nature to always be painfully honest, I could have rolled with it a lot more readily. But the character had high Intelligence and above average Wisdom and Charisma, and had no backstory or play history of not being able to hold up a ruse (the player DID have a history of being an Instigator though, so out of game it makes sense haha). They were just being an Instigator, that's what they do. Our Bard was not happy, and everything went down from there.

Now, I'm not saying what happened was bad, it all worked out and everyone was able to recover (after some bodyguards were killed...). The moral of the story is this: as a DM, be careful on what opportunities you present to your group when an Instigator is at the table. They don't play through character logic, they play what makes things exciting. And that's not bad! You know you can always count on that player to rock the boat!

Normally we go into a bit on how to keep your players engaged, but with Instigators, they do that completely on their own. If it causes things to happen, that's what they will focus on. It's you job as the DM to try to recover from it! These guys will push the envelope of both players and patience if you're not careful.

Things to be wary of - Instigators make things happen, which can be great way to liven up those long role play moments. It's your job to make sure you have a Plan A, B, and C to insure nothing out of control takes place.

Plan A can be exactly what you're planning already, if there is some fighting, your Instigator may be okay with going through the plan if you have action in there.

Plan B is sort of Plan A, but sprinkle in some added chaos and somethings that can go wrong for your players, keeps things exciting.

Plan C is the escape route! That door was opened, that lever pulled, and more bad guys show up mid fight, and it's do or die time! And the thing to do? Run! (This is sometimes hard to convey to players, that it's okay to run and try to escape. This is where the beauty of ally NPCs come into play!)

Closing Thoughts - Instigators are exactly what you'd think they are, Instigators! They are not okay with things going slow or something diplomatic taking place over the thrill of battle. As far as class is concerned, your looking mainly at your Barbarians, Rogues, Fighters, and Paladins. Now, they can be anything, of course, it's D&D! But you're looking at your melee guys mostly. Why? Because nothing quite gets things moving like a big 'ol hammer to the face!