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Alright, if you're playing in my game....

....feel free to keep reading anyways, there aren't any spoilers  

So i'm running a "war" game....think heroes of battle from 3.5....but in a 4e game.

we first meet our 11th level characters as they are the "best of the best" on the currently losing side.  The currently occupy an area roughly the size of alaska on a continent roughly the size of north america.  On a scale of 1-100 with one being "they lose" and 100 being "they win" they are currently around 10.  They all have a wild/primal theme going on and are currently defending a loose coalition of tribes, villages, and minority species against the infringing empire, with various sinister and evil connatations TBA as i think of them or they become appropriate.

Now, i've had my share of issues with ALL of these players in the past, and am currently working to allow all of them to have fun both in and out of combat (a difficult feat for a RADICALLY diverse group of people).  Combat is going well so far (1 session and 3 encounters in), we have the beginnings of a story, some direction, some suitable paragon-level feeling scenarios and things are going well.

i know, i know....what does this have to do with the title?

well i've got two issues that the title covers....the first is in-combat, and the second is in general, both about specific players.

#1 is that i have a player playing a "black-hole knight"....for those unfamiliar, this character slides and knocks prone anything he hits...ever...period.  He has 2 uses per encounter of "come and get it," which allows him to pull any enemy within 3 squares up next to him and attack them.....very accurate and 100% combat advantage means that he will hit roughly 85% of the time, and the defender aura means that monster have a nearly impossible time escaping him (his defenses are also pretty strong, an on-level monster will basically only hit him on 11+, vs. any defense).

Don't think that i'm complaining....i'm not....i've designed my monsters and fights appropriately....i dont want to ice his character TOTALLY out of fights or make him near seless, so the monsters are spread out, but generally not SO far apart that he can never get multiple enemies with his "come and get it."  i've given appropriate monster roles 1/encounter abilities to allow them to fulfill their role (eg. my skirmishers had a 1/encounter minor action to stand up, remove slow, immobilize, daze, and restrain, and ignore (but not end) any marks or defender auras until the end of their current turn.....my controllers had melee powers that pushed, and 1/encounter abilities that let them teleport (similar to fey step))  The problem comes when these measures to keep fights interesting come into contact with some of my other melee players.  if the minions who slow people happen to go first in a spread-out encounter and land a slow effect on everyone, it generally sucks (it happened in one fight....slowing minions went and hit the melee players, then the melee players had their turn before the melee monsters could run up and engage) or if a melee player other than the knight tries to hit an artillery or controller that is on a ledge or raised wall and the NPC pushes them off, it can be extremely frustrating after spending turns getting there.  

I want my combats fun for ALL (me included) - not frustrating....finding a balance to keep the 3 melee, 2 archers in the party involved and all relevant to the fight is, of course, a challenge....i've got a handle on it right now, but i'm very open to any suggestions or tricks to allow me an even better mastery of the encounters.




#2 issue is not totally combat related, and not totally out-of-combat.....one of my players has a passive perception (for creatures) that basically spots anything....she beats out just about every on-level monster i've seen that attempts to hide, even when rolling a 20 stealth.  Now i understand the investment of character resources into perception needing to make a difference, and i have methods to make the game interesting even with the all-seeing-eye in the group.

SO FAR i've had no trouble in combat (though admittedly it was only relevant in one combat encounter) with simply saying you 4 see this guy, and you (the all-seeing-eye) also percieve THIS guy.   The worry here is more personal...the "all-seeing-eye" tends away from the "take charge" type of player in the party, and her immense perception means that as they approach an area, she gets a pretty detailed description and generally has the most information on an upcoming place or event.  The real question, then, is thus:

how do i give the additional information warranted by a super-duper perception score, keep her character at the forefront of disseminating the additional information, but NOT shine the brilliant spotlight of "what are YOU going to do now" in her face every time such information surfaces. 

#1. Alternative (sometimes non-) combat goals and/or victory conditions. Characters who are good at keeping things near them and hitting things until they are dead are all well and good, but you didn't defuse the bomb, so you're screwed. Or better yet, all those widows and orphans are screwed.

#2. I'm not really sure what the problem is here. The players have different levels of information. You can assume (with the player's permission) that she shares whatever information she gets automatically, if it is appropriate to the scene and then everyone can decide on their own what to do. If you're asking every single time whether or not the PC is sharing information, that gets old. I'd ask for a default position from the PC and then move forward on that basis except when the situation calls for that to change.

#1 The previous replies of dwarves and terrain sound like good ideas, but you could also try putting them against an enemy that dominates - the level 12 solo Deathbringer Dracolich, for example - since the party will now be facing their own "black hole," which synergizes well with a Breath Weapon. Just for a while, at least.

#2 One does not need to be a leader in order to convey information to fellow players. This sounds more like a scout than anything else, and simply asking "What do you do with this information?" doesn't neccesarily put the spotlight on them. You could try putting them in a silent environment, where the All-Seeing Eye can't communicate what they're seeing/hearing to the rest of the group, if you want the player to worry about traps and so on.