how do i kick out a player in my game who is the biggest nothing burger
so as the tags say i am the dungeon master, i have 4 players in my game, 2 mid maxes a artificer and a cleric, and 2 newbies, a warlock and sorcerer/ warlock multi class. the problem player is the cleric, now i wanna clarify this, they have done nothing actually wrong.. more like he wanted something but never clarified this to me and now hes suffering those consequences, the campaign is basically a mimic apocalypse, a home brewed version of the mimic to make them more threatening and the players were charged with making their characters basically their modern day equivalent of adventurers, so magic is rare as after centuries magic has died out basically and mimics originally was a exciting species but got revived yadda yadda yadda not exactly important for this.
point is, all my players did amazing jobs making their characters, the warlock is in the pact of the gunslinger (a home brew patron i got inspired by the internet) our sorcerer/fighter basically just wants to kill god and take his place, and our artificer wanting to be one of the next god smiths (a npc that i use in every campaign to help upgrade our heros weapons, inspired by brok and sindry from Norse mythose) and the cleric...nothing... they wanted to be a war forge of the smithing gods, great on paper... until he wanted his character to have been locked away for 1000 years...this made things difficult for bringing the party together, while all my players i tend to start sepret and join half way through the first session.. the cleric couldn't join the party till session 3!!, granted this isnt entirely their fault as my players like to yapp and role play alot which i love, and combat takes absolutely forever, again, none of these are bad honestly, but this made it so that yea, for 2 sessions, one of my players have just been...a spectator...
and keep in mind, at this point, iv still gotten 0 update on what he wants done with his character, besides whats already been mentioned and all the other players, they have the back story and everything built for their characters cuz they kept coming back to me asking me if they can have or do sertin things with their characters storys and id collaborate with them to fine tune it so were both happy, and the cleric? nothing. their story? they dont remember as they been shut off for 100 years.. cool.. in character you can.. not remember.. guess what.. i feel like your dm should still know how your character should develop and learn its story.. were half way through the campaign and i still have gotten nothing, in game , they are also a big nothing burger, they dont engage in role play, they split from the party to do their own thing, and shoe horn their way in to other plot lines ment for other players / npcs that specific players are attached to.
a example being that one of my players had helped this knight find their spark and purpose to fight again, that npc refused to wear their clans insignia as they didn't belive they deserved it as they held it on such a high pedestle, later the sorcarer helps them give them their drive again then they ingrave the insignia of their clan on to their chest plate, it was a beautiful moment, then the cleric asks, if they can wear the insignia as support...no other player did this... and even moments before the npc said they were the final member of their clan and that they couldnt just give away the insignia its ment to be earned... and this dude just said that he wanted to wear it.. out of.. respect?? even thought thats against everything that the npc was saying the insignia was meant for to the point that even she wouldnt wear it and she was the right hand man of the captain of this clan, and when the npc said that she couldnt just give him the insignia as thats against the clans rules and such about earning the insignia, the cleric just says that hes gonna scrape it onto his shield anyway... like...what???
thats the most hes ever role played in this campeign and every other time he does, its the biggest nothing burger, i wana clarify that i dont care that he doesnt role play or anything, having a player that is just there for the combat and the story and not care about their own story, is perfectly fine, but what gets my goat is when the player gives me nothing, doesnt express that they want anything for their character, until were half way in the campaign, and then they ask me "hey, why haven't you done anything with my character" like my brother in crist... you haven't giving me anything!!, then as of a hour before writing this, my artificer whos work friends with this person, tells me that the reason that havnt given me anything, is cuz they wanted ME to write their WHOLE BACKSTORY for them... im busy writing this whole campaign and weaving it with the back story of all my players who did give me something, so at this point im just done.
and another thing, hes a new dad, his kid was just recently born so ofcourse being a new dad hes gotta give his kid alot of attention, and when were in combat and its his turn, we on average gotta wait like upwards of 20 whole minuts to wait for him to come back after helping his wife with his kid, to then take his sweet ass time with his turn, im not a dad but i know that being a dad takes alot of your attention, and being a dnd player also needs alot of attention if you wana be IN THE STORY.. so besicly having 2 jobs that need alot of attention at the same time... recipe for disaster and ofcourse im not gonna make him choose between being a dad or be in my dnd campaign, cuz thats messed up, so im kinda just done, and want him out... so how do i ask him to leave with out just ghosting him, im dating the warlock and the warlock is working a job with the cleric so outright ghosting is not possible as this will inevitably get the warlock caught in the crossfire.
and also, IM NOT THE ONLY ONE SICK OF THE CLERICS SHIT, me and the rest of the table feel the same but no one knows how to break the news that hes slowing down the sessions down to a crawl and getting complaints from him about how his character has no story or development when hes giving me nothing is hypocritical.
(u/AggressiveTheme4 in the comments has properly broken up the post to make it easier to read, im sorry my grammer is horrible and i dont usually make big reddit posts like this)