Help I have a Fate point hoarder?

[JediDresden]

I need help/ suggestions for a wizard character who does everything he can not to spend Fate Points.  We have all tried to convince him that they are currency and met to be spent, but he will not spend them.  the group is great at making asspects available for others to tag for free and he will always use these, but he will not spend points to use his aspects.  How can I get him to see the light as far as Fate Points go?

[sinker]

You could ask him what he's saving for.

Otherwise the only reason not to save fate points is one's own benefit. If he wants to save them it shouldn't really be adversely effecting everyone else, so there's no real reason to dissuade him.

[EdgeOfDreams]

Big question is, what is he saving for? What does he consider a bad enough situation to be worth spending points to get himself out of?

I've dealt with a player sort of like this, in a D&D game.  She refused to use abilities that were 1 use per day or 1 use per fight about 75% of the time.  She kept insisting she was saving them for when things got bad enough.  Eventually, the group realized she just wasn't paying that much attention to combat and was a bit paranoid, so we just left her alone.

[TheMouse]

Tell him that he's supposed to spend them, then proceed with the game as normal. If he catches on, great. If not, oh well; the only thing he's hurting is himself. The people who are blowing through tons of fate points are going to have a good time regardless of whether someone at the table isn't.

[toturi]

Some people are just pack rats or like to have a ton of FPs in reserve as insurance. Once they hit their comfort zone, they are more likely to spend those FPs. The key is allowing them to get to that comfort zone. A guy I know who is also playing a wizard is comfortable with having 6-7 FPs at any time although he only has a net Refresh of 1. His reasoning is that he is only likely to invoke 3 of his Aspects at any one go, so he has 1 full power hadouken ready to go and 1 more for backup, the 7th FP is used to buy off a Compel.

There seems to be a fundamental difference in thinking - some guys look at money and the thing that comes to mind is "Spend!", other people look at money and they think "Save!" One is not necessarily better than the other.

@TheMouse: Must someone blow through a ton of FPs to have a good time? Is DFRPG written such that it is so?

[knnn]

Maybe he's trying to save up enough points to kill GOD...   

 

[TheMouse]

@TheMouse: Must someone blow through a ton of FPs to have a good time? Is DFRPG written such that it is so?

It's not absolutely necessary, but I find that players have the best time when there is a constant two-way flow of fate points. There is a tendency to suffer a bit at the beginning so that you have the mojo to spend on the real problems, but my players seem to best enjoy scenes where they both spend and earn fate points. Those scenes are the most dynamic, highlighting both the good and the bad about the PCs.

If a player insists on hording fate points, there isn't that flow. Instead, their character will tend to suffer a bit without having those moments of excellence. One would assume that the fate points would tend to go mostly during "boss fight" type situations. So if the hoarder spends nothing until the boss fight, their character will be sort of bland, then explode during one scene.

It's not terrible that way. It's just that you'll tend to be sort of meh for the bulk of the game if you insist on spending no fate points.

[Sanctaphrax]

Maybe he just isn't spending FP because he hasn't felt the need.

A few nasty compels that he might really want to refuse could help with that. As could throwing very damaging attacks at him.

By the way, how many FP does he have right now?

[JediDresden]

He has 4-5 right now, which is not bad, but he slows the game down trying to figure out how to do it with out spending them - or he solicite help from others to place aspect on the target that he can tag for free.  Everyone else is catching on to using them so I reward them with more compels,but I have not gone out of my way to compel him a lot because he would end up with 10-15 and not spend them.  He has done the same thing with actiion point or Force points from any other game we have played.  He just will not spend them.

[sinker]

He has 4-5 right now, which is not bad, but he slows the game down trying to figure out how to do it with out spending them - or he solicite help from others to place aspect on the target that he can tag for free. 

If he's slowing things down/making others do his dirty work (and it's irritating or bad for the table) then just stop pandering to him. It's up to the person who makes the aspect as to whether they pass the tag on or not. If they stop giving him their tags then he won't have that option and the next time he stops the game to ask "How do I make this roll?" you tell him "You spend a fate point or you don't."

[toturi]

If he's slowing things down/making others do his dirty work (and it's irritating or bad for the table) then just stop pandering to him.

Only if the other players feel that it is irritating or bad. Is it a complaint that is shared by others? It is not as if the tag makes the roll automatically successful, he could still make the roll on his own.

He has done the same thing with actiion point or Force points from any other game we have played.  He just will not spend them.

With respect to Force points, did he have any way of reloading those Force points? When we played Star Wars, we all hoarded our Force points until we were in spitting distance of levelling up. Or are you talking about the old Force points/new Destiny points? Those we all were miserly with them too. They weren't renewable resources.

Fate points are semi-renewable resources. They refresh each session. But if you want to start with more than your net Refresh, then hoarding is one way to go.

[Masurao]

Or you could send in a soul-sucking monster, who mechanically eats Fate points >:0D Or am I too evil a GM now?

[noclue]

Awesome.  I think you're wrong not to compel him.  If he loves fate points so much, he'll probably take your compels. Hit him often and hard. If he buys them off, problem solved. If he accepts, you get to complicate his life and maybe he'll get enough that he finally starts to spend em. If not, they're basically a non-issue

If you don't compel him, he will think they are a scarce resource and hoard them more.

Also, in your next conflict, hit him so hard that you take him out if he doesn't spend his FP. He's got the resources. He can handle it.

[Belial666]

Fate-point or Force-point hoarding isn't really a bad thing.

For example, my Sith (and Jedi) characters tend to have both Force Flow and Fringe Savant (get a free FP on a 1 or on a 20) and they tend to roll Use the Force at least 3-4 times per round so they can hoard up on Force Points mid-fight they can then use on various Talents.


Similarly, my Dresden Files characters tend to save Fate Points for big spells as a matter of principle. Nothing scares the opposition more than kicking their leutenants beyond the Outer Gates with a big banishment spell and even if it means less success and more complications during the more mundane scenes, that's how DF stories usually go; Harry is kicked around all book long but in the end he kicks @$$ of things way beyond what should be possible for him.

[Haru]

If talking to him and explaining the way fate points work doesn't help, I'd say compel him. Escalate those compels. Make it hurt.

The thing is, in the DFRPG, the only real difference between PC and NPC is fate points. If he is not using his, he might as well be an NPC, and as such he is driven by his nature, not by his choice. See if you can get him to behave according to the nature of the character, when the player actually wants to do something very different, so if he wants to do it, he will at least have to buy out of the compel. This might break the ice for future uses.