Was I that guy?

Okay guys I know this isn't my personal blog but I really want to know if I'm That guy so hear me out.

>5E
>pick bird guy, not because they fly but because I wanted to make a character that lives a very short life. for backstory reasons
>bard 3 fighter 2
>giants attack a town
>assume they're hill giants
>fly towards them shout to get people’s attention to possibly get help.
>dm tells me there too much noise and everyone is panicking too much to hear
>use Prestidigitation to shoot off fireworks while flying and shout "follow me for glory"
>able bodied men are inspired to fight back against the giants
>DM visibly mad
>arrive at the fight its fucking fire giants.
>I'm level 5
>I have 24 hp
>were clearly not meant to beat these guys
>drag out the fight by using bane and cutting words any time I can
>not much point, they get plus 11 on attack plus multi attack and do 6d6
>we get it it's a final fantasy fight that were meant to lose
>none of us are giving up only difference is that I can prolong the fight a lot longer than my allies.
>not even sure if were mean to run or if we get knocked out then captured
>not running because 2 of our guys have been knocked out
>don't wanna get knocked out just in case were meant to run.
>I keep my range and fly away when there about to close in on me
>DM is staring daggers at me

am I that guy for trying to stay alive?
am I wrong to say that allowing myself to get knocked out is meta gaming?

>pick bird guy, not because they fly but because I wanted to make a character that lives a very short life. for backstory reasons
>doesn't even consider the possibility of picking another short lived race or hashing something out with the GM
>proceeds to abuse ability to fly

You ARE a lying piece of shit.

>playing bard.
>race of half angels that get wings and plus 2 charisma.
>live for hundreds of years
>picks bird who gets wings and claws and thats it
>birds live for 30 years. my back story is that I was found as an egg by an 18 year old girl and raised by her and her parents.
>birds mature at 3 years old
>so I leave home when my mothers only 21
>when I die of old age my mother and maybe even my grand parents will still be alive
>my characters motivation is to use magic to prolong his life

>be bird
>fly
FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT. FUCKING BROKEN. FUCK YOU.
>druid turns into bear and cleans house
Fairs fair. so what if not all classes are balanced.

There is literally no problem with that. Rallying the townsfolk with the fireworks is pretty cool actually, though I am not sure if prestidigitation can do that RAW.

gat eem.

Your DM should have planned around flight instead of just sending giants

DM was That DM who thinks he's a movie director.

The sad part is you could have ALL run away at the first sight of Fire Giants, if the rest of the party wasn't so bloody-minded and wanted to fight anyway. If the DM didn't plan for that then that's a huge mistake.

You didn't do anything wrong. There's no reason why the DM can't do his railroad with most of the party in giant prison and you on the outside. In fact it could make for some fun escape shenanigans.

I'm pretty sure one of the official modules starts that way, but it's at least decent enough to provide a "what if the party somehow wins" scenario.

>race of half angels that get wings and plus 2 charisma.
Yeah, 1 minute of flight once a day is just as powerful as constant flight.

Is this some sort of shitty attempt to try and redeem yourself in your own mind by having strangers on the internet tell you that you're not a total dick head. Because you are.

Maybe the dm wanted to have to impossible giant fight to advance the plot. Is that railroading? Not really but we'll give you the benefit of the doubt and call it so. I'm sure if you pulled off some plucky and clever strategy to beat the giants he wouldn't have given a shit and rolled with it. But instead, while your other party members sat on their phones because they were down in a fight that was being drawn out by a dick head kiting a couple giants by abusing bullshit early game flying powers, he gets mad at you. Should he have gotten mad at you? No. Are you an asshole who made the game more boring for everyone else at the table? Yes.

Getting real damn defensive when someone pokes a hole in your story.

Can't even be fucked to post the b8 pic.

>>able bodied men are inspired to fight back against the giants
>>DM visibly mad
This was a telling sign, your DM isn't able to communicate or control anything. If he is railroading so hard, a player being creative and getting off the rails and him allowing that, is not something it should be possible to be mad about. If he shut you down saying no one cares, that would just be railroading, but this is honestly even worse.

Then you have the issue that fly speed fucks a lot of scenarios, puzzles and traps, which obviously he is not fine with it doing, but he's unable to control his game and just ban the race so you end up with this.

Cheesing flight is flying up 300 feet and using Eldritch Blast from where no one can harm you. It's a vertical and better backline as long as they can't fly/do high range attacks. Using it for traps and such is why flight is such a questionable racial feat, but at the same time it's flight - it's clearly not a pure combat ability and no one that allows it would want it to be.


Basically, he's not even just a railroader, he's a terrible one, and for the race being allowed you did nothing special or abusive with it.

I know I'm (you)ing, but I'm sure that I'm enjoying getting mad as much as OP is enjoying the attention

Tell more of the story
Also how did the other players feel about this?

point taken.
air genasi get 10 minutes but it's only 20ft compared to the bird nigga's 50ft.
I've seen some pretty try hard people before. I was thinking of ditching the character but instead is decided to focus the character on melee and to give him non combat spells such as mending and Prestidigitation for cantrips and my only combat spells being bane and earth tremor.

call it damage control but I could have done a lot worse. could have picked warlock + spell sniper.

>Is this some sort of shitty attempt to try and redeem yourself in your own mind by having strangers on the internet tell you that you're not a total dick head

well yes. who do you think you are frued? it's pretty obvious this is what I'm doing.

if more people say yes i'm a dick then no, then I'll change my play style. I want to feel justified and if people tell me what I done was wrong then I'll stop it.

I'm a DM usually and rarely play myself I want to get a better understanding of player ethics.

>druid turns into bear and cleans house
picturing bear in maid outfit with vacuum

other players were laughing up a storm but thats because we were all a little tipsy and I was making jokes.

kept doing pointless shit like dive bombing and swooping up quickly to do a soft landing. had to do an acrobatics check but it worked out. started a running joke for the game by saying "ever heard of bat man, well I...." followed it up with "ever heard of 300, well i grab my stone spear and..."

we weren't very invested because we knew we were either going to die or get captured without much choice in the matter which is fine but the DM seemed to really want to continue the story rather than finish the session mid fight. it was my fight that there were so many NPC's in the fight and it was my fault for manuving the the giants.

my team mates weren't mad at me as what I was doing was keeping them alive
for a few more seconds really

Nah, you're not That Guy if the others were still having a fun time

If the DM knew ahead of time that you were playing a dude who could fly indefinitely and was okay with it then it's his fault for not seeing this happen. Especially if you asked him before you started if you had a dude who could fly with no penalties.

If you just rolled bird man though without anyone else knowing I'd say it's kind of a dick move on your part but not completely "that guy."

Well if you all knew it was going to be railroading, that's a bit more questionable. Though the GM is still unable to actually railroad you and not allow stuff that will take you off the rails when he doesn't have plans for how to get you back on.
When the other players were doing good then it doesn't matter though, then it's just about whether you want to play the kind of game the GM is running and if he wants to GM this kind of play.

I didn't ask before hand.
honestly before we even started the campaign I was pretty woried about being that guy. all the time I spend on Veeky Forums is what caused that.

it's not homebrew btw it's in the EE players companion. DM allowed goliaths and they come from the same source so I green light myself.

he didn't seem bothered by it until this session which isn't our first.

honestly it's a good GM I had a lot of fun. just concerned about pissing him off TOO much and getting univited.

push comes to shove I'll go back to being DM. you have an unfair advantage as a player when you know what every race can do, what 50% of the mosters do and what every class can do when most players tend to lightly skim the rules rather than autisticly trying to remember it all though multipul reads.

>Flying Bird
>Throw rocks at it
>Bird dead now

Giants literally have the perfect counter to flying.

>I didn't ask before hand.
>I green light myself

not so hard to dodge when you cast bane on the big guy. things look sour I also have cutting words.

>honestly it's a good GM

Not if he's railroading like this. You might have enjoyed yourself anyway, but it's poor GMing.

>Multiple Fire Giants
>With multiple rocks to throw
>implying one won't hit you eventually with +11
>4d10 +7 dmg + 20d6 falling damage from being 200ft up

One would be literally all it took to flatten your bird.

You're that guy, and your DM is shit.

>80ft up
>disadvantage on throw
>minus 5 on average if I use cutting words
>15 AC
>only 2 fire giants
>if they hit me I have feather fall
only problem is where to to find a feather for the M component.

>honestly it's a good GM I had a lot of fun.
No, he's cancerous garbage if he's upset clever play bested his immature railroad.

>you have an unfair advantage as a player when you know what every race can do, what 50% of the mosters do and what every class can do
If the DM is trash, maybe. How many tables have you even been at? This thread is depressing.

Rolled 4, 5, 3, 3, 6, 3, 1, 3, 4, 1, 5, 6, 6, 5, 3, 2, 6, 5, 2, 2 = 75 (20d6)

Sure I'd let you Cutting Word, then when you're falling 200ft as the +11 still hits you if I roll anything over a 4 with four dice I'd remind you that feather fall is another reaction which you've already used.

Bird Pancake, roll new character, Human only.

>forcing human only
user, I

second game I've played though I've GM'd more than a few times.

>Being this mad
>Humans only
Calm down there little fella, you might wet yourself in the excitement

>I'd remind you that feather fall is another reaction which you've already used.

well shit you've got a point.
lucky I wasn't hit huh not too late to fucking die though the battle still rages

don't giants bring their own bolder to combat rather then yanking them out of the ground? I mean why else would a fire giant have a fire bolder?

>DM was okay with it
>Until the tracks didn't fit the train
The player shouldn't have greenlit himself but clearly the issue is the DM

Well I'm sure I'd fucking hate to sit at your table considering you think you did anything wrong. Forcing players into your shitty self-indulgent narrative is not a DM's job. You're refereeing the system and designing encounters, dungeons, etc. that do the best job to engage players with the system.

Picking some retarded unbalanced snowflake class is one thing, but if the DM didn't stop you, then he shouldn't be upset because you used its powers as given. Players are not supposed to be fucking sitting there trying to interpret his story intentions and prostate themselves to accept it. They are trying to survive and play well. There are enemies attacking you. They are too tough to kill. You use all your powers to survive. If the DM was so intent on railroading you into his carefully planned little plot encounter, then he should've fucking planned accordingly and be proud, not upset, when you shirked his cancer with good play.

>let the DM know you don't want to abuse flight
>DM concocts a scenario where you either have to abuse flight or die

As with many many other cases, shit GMing is to blame.

>don't giants bring their own bolder to combat rather then yanking them out of the ground? I mean why else would a fire giant have a fire bolder

It's assumed Giants have unlimited boulders, they throw whatever is around them, rocks, wagons, horses, people.

1 thing that adds context to this though it's not too importent is that the first game I ever played my elder brother was the GM, I picked a half-orc fighter and was pretty confident that I was going to kick ass with relentless endurence and second wind but then when it came time to play my brother allowed 1 person to be an actual jedi with an actual light saber with 1d8+1d6 damage and jedi mind trick (you'd think it would be a spell but no, it was just a PLUS FUCKING TWENTY to persuasion, a dragon rider with a baby dragon that she could ride that done 4d6 breath damage twice every SR and at level 3 she could throw her pike for 1d10+2d6 fire and it returned to her as a bonus action, and least op of all them all a shifter hunter with a dire wolf pet that she had a mind link with.

honestly once you've experienced shit like that as your first game you have no idea what to expect. I didn't know what my DM was going to allow so when I saw that I was the special snowflake with my bird man I was rather pleased. not to mention he's very good at dialog which has always been my only weakness.

I get that I sound like my next line is and everyone clapped but honestly my brother is that retarded.

>Not having all Human parties

Degenerate.

>you and everyone you know

I can pretty much agree with this though again in my defence it was pretty damn obvious that we weren't mean to win. it's impossible not to know that if you know what fire giants are capable of. not to mention I did play as if my character was fighting to survive.

I said flat out that accepting defeat and allowing them to knock you out because you know nothing is likely going to happen is meta gaming. it's in character for my boy to stay as long as there are party memebers hurt. eez a gud boi.

you either die a hero or live long enough to become a special snowflake

>not having all orc/goblinoid parties.

he's playing with EE, seeing as the other guy had a goliath, aka the dm was allowing EE rules and races

>One of the giants, who apparently speaks common, shouts up to you, "Surrender to us, or we'll kill your companions here and now!"

You weren't at fault for playing your character or and didn't derail the campaign. It takes the barest amount of improvisation from the GM to salvage the scenario.

Hotdq does. You have a one on one fight outside a keep with a half dragon at some absurdly low level, but you can possibly win. The guide lets you know what happens if you win, but not much changes.

I think the siege goes on and the half dragon gets replaced with another half dragon.

> it was pretty damn obvious that we weren't mean to win
That doesn't fucking matter. It's not your job to predict and protect whatever little story it seems the GM's come up with. You think your PC's were standing and thinking, "Oh well, gee. Looks like we're not supposed to get out of this one guys! Let's just throw down our swords and see what happens!"

>not to mention I did play as if my character was fighting to survive.
Good, retard. Do you have any reading comprehension?

And this The DM isn't just cancer for having such twisted, shit views on his role. He's garbage because he can't even accomplish that decently. He couldn't plan his little encounter with your powers in mind (how the fuck do you forget birdmen can fly?) nor could he come up with any improvisation to salvage it. And you're absolute cancer for being entirely oblivious to it. KYS.

I don't have a problem with DMs who railroad hard, my problem is when they get pissy when players derail for a bit. Like as a DM when you storyboard that hard you have to be able to roll with the punches and figure out ways to keep things going. Assuming the DM had some grand sweeping plan for everyone after you ran, he could have played along with you for a bit and let you snipe at them, then had the fire giants spring some rouse to trap you, then when you get ko'ed the party gets taken prisoner. After escape, he continues more or less with whatever he had planned before. It's not that fucking hard to let the players have fun within the story and keep your narrative going.

Not every encounter has to be winnable by killing the monsters. Sometimes the encounter will require something else. From diplomacy to knowing to run.

It is a hard thing for a dm to pull off though. Players tend to assume that they are intended to fight any monster they come across. And by extension they can by dm encounter design.

A dm typically has to be pretty obvious if he wants the party to do other than fight.

This is why I like old editions oof dnd.

They have something called the angry villager rule. This serves to explain why monsters stay away from towns and hide in dungeons.

Basically, a group of around 30 trained first level fighters can kill any monster in the book, unless they get caught in an area attack, which is only likely in the enclosed space of a dungeon.

Here's the stats:
ODND
LVl 1 fighter, 1d6 hp, ac 5 (chain) attacks 1, damage 1d6.

Lvl 10 giant, 10d6 hp, ac 4, attacks 1, damage 2d6 .

Absolutely wrecks 1 or two men in a fair fight, but the brute can't fight an army alone. Its less anime.

For comparison, here's the stats for 3rd edition and 5th edition.

Lvl 1 fighter+1 to hit, hp 10, attacks 1, damage variable (between 1d4 and 1d12+4) but lets say around 2s6

Lvl 10 giant, hp 10d12+40 (more than twice as much) attacks 2, damage dice+10. +20 to hit.

AUto hit, attacks always kill 2 first level fighters per round unless the giant rolls a 1 on the attack

>not raping the orcs

>They have something called the angry villager rule
What? What edition?

OD&D assumes level 3 fighter = strength of 3 normal fighting men as per Chainmail, so it's not implausible, though note villagers are level 0 and monster levels are just HD.

If the dm was a good dm, he would have let the players beat the giants by rallying the villagers.

Who's with me? NOW LETS TAKE BACK OUR TOWN!! *crowd cheers*

A level 3 fighter will, on average, lose a fight to 3 level 1 fighters. This is because the level 1 fighters get 3 attacks per round, and the level 3 only gets one.

Side notes for those who don't know:
Fighters are the best class in odnd, even at high levels. Wizards are useful, but they're super easy to kill.
Fighters only get 1 attack per round, no matter how high level they get. This might be for as much as 2d6+6 with the best possible gear and strength, but really a fighter's bonus of +1 to hit per level makes a world of difference.

Its a very different game, and I like it.

>>druid turns into bear and cleans house
>picturing bear in maid outfit with vacuum
Once again, the internet has not failed me.

With alternate combat rules or Chainmail's man-to-man?

one more thing: a 9th level lord (the highest fighter level) with a good magic sword and ac -8 (best ac with +5 armor, equivilant too AC 28 in 5th or 3rd) can fight off 25-50 1st level fighters. Without the armor and weapon, he can take less than 10.

fucking furfags

>honestly it's a good GM
See
>This was a telling sign, your DM isn't able to communicate or control anything.
This. Whole. Post.
Seriously, you stole my post man.

>>able bodied men are inspired to fight back against the giants
>>DM visibly mad
How do you get mad at what you choose to allow to happen?
Literally all he had to do was fluff some reason for these particular villagers were particularly terrified of these particular giants and then set the DC high.
Right?
And that's ignoring DM fiat.
I doubt I will ever understand.

>I want to feel justified and if people tell me what I done was wrong then I'll stop it.
>I'm a DM usually and rarely play myself I want to get a better understanding of player ethics.
Okay, first:
Greenlighting your own flying character without checking with the GM is a dick move.
The GM agreed to it, so it's not an issue, but it could have been.

The problem with your scenario is that it is one of those occasions where you are acting in character, the npcs are acting in character, and because of the mechanics of the situation the fight will just drag on until the giants squash you with a lucky boulder or you manage to pester them away, which seems unlikely.
It's not your fault and you should only do what makes sense for your character.
You made it fun for the others, so it wasn't too much of a problem.
When such a problem occurs it is the GMs responsibility to shake up the dynamic so that it doesn't get boring.

I had a similar issue with a near party wipe where only the rogue was fast enough to dodge a golem that had KO'd the rest of the party.
The Golem almost couldn't hit the rogue, but the rogue was only slowly chipping away at the golem.
It became a problem that I had not expected where the other players are watching a slow battle of misses and chips where the Golem is probably going to lose eventually.
I chose to fiat the golem missing the rogue, striking the wall to loosen up a chunk of rock high up in the cavern .
The rogue took the hint and dislodged it to crush the golem.

If I were you, I would focus on trying to get the others to safety.
It is in character, keeps low enough so that you might not pancake if hit, and if you are, then the railroad goes back on course.
And if you manage to evacuate all the PCs?
Well, mischief managed, I guess.

>all he had 5o do was make the villagers run away from the giants

But dms don't know you can do that.

Also, if MY dm constantly prevented me from succeeding at cool stuff, I wouldn't have fun.

>But dms don't know you can do that.
heh
That some don't is ridiculous, but certainly possible.

>Also, if MY dm constantly prevented me from succeeding at cool stuff, I wouldn't have fun.
Totally.
Like others have said, it would have been railroading and Bad GMing.
But that, at least, I could understand: "Muh Plot" and all that.

I've been annoyed at turns of events that prevented "really cool" encounters from happening.
But being actually mad at what you are having your own npcs do is just so stupid I can't wrap my head around it.

WHY CAN THE GIANTS NOT JUST TEAR CHUNKS OUT OF THE BUILDINGS AND THROW FUCKING ROCKS AT YOU?!

REEEEEEE!

Is this a bad GM general?

Because he had cast a debuff on them and was flying high now

Also the giants are too stupid to just grab a roof or something and use it as full cover or threaten the villagers or something as others have said.

The problem is not with the giants, but with the shitty GM. If you depend on your Plot happening just as planned and cannot improvise for your life, please stay away from GMing in the first place.

Your DM's a fuckup, but you're a fuckup too for not accounting for that. If it's obvious the DM's trying to point you in a direction, go that direction, especially if they're not experienced enough to improvise when you do something they didn't anticipate.

Railroading is bad, but when you see a DM doing it, it's not time to mutiny. RPG's necessarily require a degree of give and take, and part of that is staying aware of what is going to keep the game going and everyone engaged. Sometimes, that means taking the less interesting/ in character option if you know the other option is going to make the session start foundering.

So in short, the problem wasn't that you picked a broken character, it's that you didn't read the room.

Come on nigga I was even rooting for you before this shit.

Did you and your group NOT have a session 0?

>If it's obvious the DM's trying to point you in a direction, go that direction, especially if they're not experienced enough to improvise when you do something they didn't anticipate.
This is true and I agree with most of your post.

>So in short, the problem wasn't that you picked a broken character, it's that you didn't read the room.
Except this.
I still think user wasn't given a rational choice.

If a mediocre GM tries to railroad you into an obvious plothook, take the plothook if you can remotely justify it.
Otherwise, you're making a mediocre GM toss his planned adventure and improvise, which leads nowhere good for anyone.

But if the only apparent solution to the GM's encounter is "Stand still and be squashed by a giant because the rest of your party is defeated and likely to be killed." then no, you are not obliged to comply.
Why would you as character? You never would.
The only reason to as a player is to commit to a tpk to get it over with.
If the other players were bored and wanted him to get on with it, the he would have been guilty of not reading the room.
But the other players were laughing and enjoying his aerial efforts, so there was no immediacy to risking certain death or outright suicide..

If they giants had ordered him to surrender and be taken prisoner, I could see stretching to do that.
That's another mediocre GM move where it's clear what the plot is and it's easier to go along than to try to teach a bad GM to improvise.

But no, it's never a players fault for not realizing the GM wanted him to suicidally welcome giant damage and embrace it.

aspiring dm here, would it be wrong for the dm to boost the monsters up or create a situation where it became harder to execute any action.
if the players were not meant to defeat the creatures in this particular scenario, could the giant just have burned shit to obscure the view from the sky or thrown dirt and rocks instead if boulders, making a birdshot kinda atack. if the Giants have such great advantage why not just ignore the pest and continue fucking shit up.

how can the Dm signal that the fight is unwinable?

Nah, you were doing your best and he gave an impossible fight.

>would it be wrong for the dm to boost the monsters up or create a situation where it became harder to execute any action.
Once in a while, no.
But if consistently done when the PCs try to do something cool, then it is a dick move.
It needs to make sense too.
If dumb giants do smart things, there should be a reason.

>if the players were not meant to defeat the creatures in this particular scenario,
Despite what some might say, this is a fine plot point as long as they are free to do so any way they choose.

>Could the giant just have burned shit to obscure the view from the sky or thrown dirt and rocks instead if boulders, making a birdshot kinda atack.
Good ideas.
Well trained giants might do that.
Of course, it would be helped if there were rules for a smokescreen (like a effects from a spell) or a buckshot weapon.

>if the Giants have such great advantage why not just ignore the pest and continue fucking shit up.
Fine point.
But they should avoid a coup de grace stomp on the unconscious PCs, depending on the kind of game played.

>how can the Dm signal that the fight is unwinable?
Usually in the description:
>The giant shrugs off your worst attack like it was nothing.
>The giant's attack is off and barely glances you, but you still take over a third of your life in damage.
>As you see the giants, you feel a cold pit in your stomach as you are dwarfed by the unbeatable enemies.
>As the villagers flee from the unstoppable menaces, it seems this fight is unwinnable.
>The giants have nearly wiped you out and you haven't scratched them, perhaps you might consider retreating?
>The earth visibly trembles as the giants crackle with so much power that their hair spikes yellow and their muscles bulge.
>No, really guys, these giants seem far too strong for your party... 's current level... of strength.
>This is going to be a TPK if you keep going.
>....Are you *sure*?

I think as a dm I might just have fun describing how the Giants are causing terrible pain and suffering for the ones that are still fighting, killing all the people they convinced to fight because after all they are the ones loosing their homes in this tragedy, how they helplessly charge at the fire giant just for their farming tools become to hot to wield or turn to cinders and how the Giants devour the half charred remains of the townsfolk. how their plead for help when they realize the bird man didn't know wtf and basically abandoned then in the ground...
Maybe even throw an enemy later in in the campaign seeking revenge for the perceived fault for their lost.
"you gave them hope for victory, you led them to death! merchants against giants! it's your faul!"

how far cab you go before it's too much?

If the DM wanted to end it he could have easily had the fire giants throw rocks

Rock. Ranged Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, range 60/240ft., one
target. Hit: 29 (4d10 + 7) bludgeoning damage


29 damage equals one dead birb

>aarakocra allowed
Your DM was a moron.

I am digging those natural consequences.

>how far can you go before it's too much?
There is a subtle line between laying on guilt and just over the top melodrama.
I'd say spotting the line depends on observing the player.
Regret or anger are good reactions.
Boredom or annoyance are not.

GMing Curse of Strahd, one of my players is an autist who never takes advice and we've long since learned that when he has retarded ideas, just let him do it until he figures out how terrible it is.

Hes played a wizard who cast nothing but sleep and colour spray, exclusively on full health enemies and then griping when he did nothing, he in character suicided out of frustration so he could reroll.

He played a Dwarf Barbarian with no ranged or thrown weapon, no mobility or flight, and simply swore and complained whenever a creature did anything but walk up to him and melee attack. The amount of times he genuinely and earnestly asked "Can I jump 30ft in the air to hit the griffon if I roll really good I'm trained in athletics and raging.".

In our latest campaign he insists on playing and Aarakocra with a pike to fly above people and jab them while being free from retallation because the tactic is fool-proof.

As per usual he won't listen to any advice that why it won't work out, so instead, what tactics and foes can I use to absolutely slam him that fit with Curse of Strahd and Barovia.

Giant Spiders seem a great one, web him mid-air causing both restraint condition and fall damage. What other foes or tricks will be particularly potent at punishing the powergamer who doesn't know how to powergame.

>orc slave wat do

OP. Have you considered that your DM is tsundere for you? Why don't you ask him?

>what tactics and foes can I use to absolutely slam him that fit with Curse of Strahd and Barovia
Never ran those, but it seems to me you need ranged fighters with high accuracy.

Aarakoca don't have hover.

Anything that stops their movement will knock them out of the air, taking 1d6 for every 10ft they fall.

Look for conditions or spells that stun/prone etc.