[Sigon]

I'm a DM and one player has a power issue.

It's not so much as he wants to rule the land or anything but it's like he wants to make custom weapons, armor, even races.

He is curently wanting to have an archangle race and I don't think it's a good idea so if anyone wants to give me their opinions fell free.

[Darklook]

You know, these players that wants too much powers never realize that once they gain too much power the game will not be much fun.

You are the dm, and if you don't think that custom race is not good for the campaign you are running just shut him down now, or later it will give you mass headaches.

[Rintaran]

I agree. I've dealt with my fair share of power-gamers and trust me, it's best to shut them down early. They only want more, and more, and more, and pretty soon, if even the tinyest thing doesn't go their way, they complain, [POODLE], moan, and destroy private property. Kill it before it gets out of hand. And tell him that if he wants to have such superpowered things under his control, he can run a campaign. This tends to shut them up... Atleast until they try to run a campaign and expect you to play.

[blacxthornE]

You are in charge, man. It's your world, never forget that. It's good to please the players, but you *have to* maintain game balance. Balancing player powers is more essential than supplying their demands.

[Sigon]

The same character made a cusdom weapon. It could transform into like... two one-handed weapons, that wasn't the problem, it could transform into a bow with unlimited ammo.

I had it planed that they would either loss their characters or have them loss their levels and items because about half of the players wanted to start over for reasons (Wanted a different race at level1 for example) so I desided to let the character have his fun.

The weapon ended up doing about 10d10 and his armor he made brought his AC up to about 80 which not even a solar Angle could hit, it was hurrable.

Any DM out their who expereance this please post an opinion and know you arn't alone.

[PlaneTouchedOne]

I would treat it like a Wish spell...if you do decide to give him what he wants, make shure there is a big catch to it. An example is the "Witch" class described in the Wizard's Handbook 2E...very powerful but incredibly unstable on the wrong nights, plus the fact that everyone wants to burn you at a cross. Another example is the Pipe Organ artifact described in the DMG 2E...play a nice piece of music and you get +4 to charisma. Miss a note and you get turned into a leech.

[Gamemasta]

Treat "power-gamers" like you would a child at a store who wants everything on the shelves. If they are good at justifying the reasons then provide 'opportunities' for them to obtain the things they desire. DO NOT just give them stuff for free. Balance out the items you give them with drawbacks.

[blacxthornE]

Sigon, on Jun 30 2004, 12:24 AM, said:

The same character made a cusdom weapon. It could transform into like... two one-handed weapons, that wasn't the problem, it could transform into a bow with unlimited ammo.

God, this is one of the most unbalancing things I've ever heard. This is beyond even a Wish spell.

If he wants such a weapon, this should be given after a long, tiring and difficult adventure... And the weapon, IMO, should have only *one* of the following:

- Transforming size on command (one-handed, two handed) but not type
- Unlimited ammo if it is a ranged weapon
- Special powers equal to +5 (see the DMG)

Or something similar in power, but never more than one of them. That's almost (in fact, in my campaign, definitely) impossible.

[Darklook]

Come on now..that is just silly. You are just letting him have too much control over YOUR game. First of all he shouldn't be the one in charge of creating items for the adventures. If he wants such items, well let him take a craft skill and craft magic arms and armors and let him try to make such thing, I don't care how high is skill ranks are, and how much masterwork crafting tool he have, it will take at least an year of succesful rolling to finish that thing (not to mention the gp and xp cost).

Thankfully, none of my experiences were as bad, the worst I have had was a request to purchase a musket although it wasn't a Renaissance setting .

[blacxthornE]

Darklook, on Jun 30 2004, 03:41 PM, said:

Thankfully, none of my experiences were as bad, the worst I have had was a request to purchase a musket although it wasn't a Renaissance setting .

heeh heee... That's a good one.

[Shadowborn]

Sigon, on Jun 29 2004, 09:00 PM, said:

I'm a DM and one player has a power issue.

It's not so much as he wants to rule the land or anything but it's like he wants to make custom weapons, armor, even races.

He is curently wanting to have an archangle race and I don't think it's a good idea so if anyone wants to give me their opinions fell free.

Repeat after me:

No.

This is an important word for a DM to know. If you don't feel comfortable adding anything into your campaign world, you don't have to have it.

[Ssri-Tel-Quessir Hitokiri]

You know... Just for shits and giggles, you could allow him these things, the super power armor, weapons, and races but then have some fun on your own. Treat him differently from other players in your game by putting him, and only him, into situations where all his toys become useless. For example, you could have a wizard come in and go Mordenkaiden's Disjunction happy and destroy all his magic items. Or you could throw in a few paragoned rust monsters and let them reck havoc on his metal weapons and armor. Even better, because his stuff is so friggin great, have someone come by and steal it. Then have them use the weapon or armor on this character. There are other ways beyond the simple "Just say NO!" slogan used when dealing with drugs. Have fun with it and make sure to let him know that if he is going to power his character up like this, there WILL be consequences for him, and some of those consequences could also affect the group.

[Darius]

Ssri-Tel-Quessir Hitokiri, on Jul 2 2004, 07:35 AM, said:

You know...  Just for shits and giggles, you could allow him these things, the super power armor, weapons, and races but then have some fun on your own.  Treat him differently from other players in your game by putting him, and only him, into situations where all his toys become useless.  For example, you could have a wizard come in and go Mordenkaiden's Disjunction happy and destroy all his magic items.  Or you could throw in a few paragoned rust monsters and let them reck havoc on his metal weapons and armor.  Even better, because his stuff is so friggin great, have someone come by and steal it.  Then have them use the weapon or armor on this character.  There are other ways beyond the simple "Just say NO!" slogan used when dealing with drugs.  Have fun with it and make sure to let him know that if he is going to power his character up like this, there WILL be consequences for him, and some of those consequences could also affect the group.

I know a few God's that may want to visit and get their divine little paws on an item like this , Mr Power gamer may have the specky Uber weapon but when getting a visit from the Divine I know where to put my money

Seriously , this thing has "Artifact" written all over it , to get it he should have to do the "Long and Dangerous Quest" bit and then ,IF he gets it, have every power in the world that knows about it , come after him for it.
The player should NEVER be able to make something like this.

D

[blacxthornE]

Ssri-Tel-Quessir Hitokiri, on Jul 2 2004, 01:05 AM, said:

You know...  Just for shits and giggles, you could allow him these things, the super power armor, weapons, and races but then have some fun on your own.  Treat him differently from other players in your game by putting him, and only him, into situations where all his toys become useless.  For example, you could have a wizard come in and go Mordenkaiden's Disjunction happy and destroy all his magic items.  Or you could throw in a few paragoned rust monsters and let them reck havoc on his metal weapons and armor.  Even better, because his stuff is so friggin great, have someone come by and steal it.  Then have them use the weapon or armor on this character.  There are other ways beyond the simple "Just say NO!" slogan used when dealing with drugs.  Have fun with it and make sure to let him know that if he is going to power his character up like this, there WILL be consequences for him, and some of those consequences could also affect the group.

God, this is brilliant!

[Shadowborn]

Darius, on Jul 1 2004, 11:12 PM, said:

Ssri-Tel-Quessir Hitokiri, on Jul 2 2004, 07:35 AM, said:

You know...  Just for shits and giggles, you could allow him these things, the super power armor, weapons, and races but then have some fun on your own.  Treat him differently from other players in your game by putting him, and only him, into situations where all his toys become useless.  For example, you could have a wizard come in and go Mordenkaiden's Disjunction happy and destroy all his magic items.  Or you could throw in a few paragoned rust monsters and let them reck havoc on his metal weapons and armor.  Even better, because his stuff is so friggin great, have someone come by and steal it.  Then have them use the weapon or armor on this character.  There are other ways beyond the simple "Just say NO!" slogan used when dealing with drugs.  Have fun with it and make sure to let him know that if he is going to power his character up like this, there WILL be consequences for him, and some of those consequences could also affect the group.

I know a few God's that may want to visit and get their divine little paws on an item like this , Mr Power gamer may have the specky Uber weapon but when getting a visit from the Divine I know where to put my money

Seriously , this thing has "Artifact" written all over it , to get it he should have to do the "Long and Dangerous Quest" bit and then ,IF he gets it, have every power in the world that knows about it , come after him for it.
The player should NEVER be able to make something like this.

D

I don't do it this way because it causes problems. First, you end up spending more time and energy foiling this particular character, which sometimes leaves your other players high and dry. Second, because it can cause an antagonistic relationship between the DM and that particular player, which shouldn't happen because the game should be fun for everyone.