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13 months ago ::
May 30, 2012 - 7:31PM
#1
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Date Joined:
May 30, 2012
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Ok, so im pretty new to dm'ing and im very concerned about one player imparticular in my party...hes a VERY experienced player and dm, hes torn holes in my first 2 campaign attempts (not purposely mind you) and he knows how to optimize classes very very well within the confines of the rules including my own additions and my book limitations. Already in this campaign of three players, he has trashed the first boss in 2 hits (minotaur cr4 with a party of 3 him being a sword sage one being a rogue and one fighter). Yes...he two shotted the boss...so my question i guess is how do i limit him without making it feel like im singling him out or making him dumb down his character...or how do i level the playing field without destroying the other two party members whos strength (damage output and those such things) doesnt come close to his right now?
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13 months ago ::
May 30, 2012 - 8:11PM
#2
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hes a VERY experienced player and dm, hes torn holes in my first 2 campaign attempts (not purposely mind you)
Sure about that?
so my question i guess is how do i limit him without making it feel like im singling him out or making him dumb down his character...or how do i level the playing field without destroying the other two party members whos strength (damage output and those such things) doesnt come close to his right now?
Make some of their objectives about something other than killing everything.
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13 months ago ::
May 30, 2012 - 8:21PM
#3
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Date Joined:
May 30, 2012
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Well its not a combat oriented campaign, well not completely anyways...The problem is that the combat i am presenting to the party poses a problem with him being able to kill things easily that will cause the other party members to perish...
And yes, im sure he didnt do it purposefully btw, he didnt do anything unreasonable by any means its just that the things he did happened to not work well with what i was doing and i didnt want to just say "no", ya know? i hate doing that, i like my campaigns to be as open as possible to the PC's but at the same time keeping structure and story, which i can do except with his characters, they simply excel at whatever it is he designs them to do, bluffing diplomacy illusion feinting or whatever his character happens to do, and this time hes picked a damage dealing character and its working well for him, not me...and yes its out of one of the books im allowing. So to clarify, aside from making hime re-roll a character and eliminating the class, how do i level the playing field as far as combat goes? How do i make it challenging for him but not deadly for the others at the same time?
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13 months ago ::
May 30, 2012 - 8:41PM
#4
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You probably can't. 3e classes are horrifically unbalanced. Just consider yourself fortunate that he's not playing a cleric, druid, or wizard.
Also, the CR challenge system does not work, at all ... you'll need to practice eyeballing encounters, and probably have the opposition focus on him more than the others.
Another day, another three or four entries to my Ignore List.
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13 months ago ::
May 30, 2012 - 9:43PM
#5
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Date Joined:
May 30, 2012
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You probably can't. 3e classes are horrifically unbalanced. Just consider yourself fortunate that he's not playing a cleric, druid, or wizard.
Also, the CR challenge system does not work, at all ... you'll need to practice eyeballing encounters, and probably have the opposition focus on him more than the others.
Thats kind of what i was expecting to hear. What i was thinking about doing is maybe custom tailoring some baddies to be a bit more formidable to him whilst leaving some of them normal to take on the others...
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13 months ago ::
May 31, 2012 - 6:13AM
#6
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It wasn't uncommon for me to work on a 3.5 monster/NPC stat block for 2 days and then watch the poor fool be disintegrated (or something) in the first round.
Straight up, you could just approach him DM to DM and ask if he wouldn't mind toning it down. It wouldn't be my preference to ask someone to change their character like that, but it's not unreasonable if it's a recurring problem and affecting the fun of the other players. It wouldn't affect my fun as DM.
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13 months ago ::
May 31, 2012 - 10:45AM
#7
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Date Joined:
Nov 30, 2005
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For boss fights, set up one super bad dude that would be challenging for him. Then have a bunch of minions/body guards/helpers who the other PCs fight. Have him help the other PCs tweak their builds so they are on par with him. Then up the challenges so it is hard for everyone. Allow them to rebuild for free. Ask him to reign it in. If he is a decent DM, he knows that its important to keep people on the same playing field. Ask him to pull it back some. If he really wants to optimize, ask him to do it with a terrible class. CW samurai 20 or something.
5e comments and thoughts all in one place. Check it out to provide feedback, mock, or steal ideas.
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/28835423/Krusks_5e_Design_Goals?sdb=1
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13 months ago ::
May 31, 2012 - 1:59PM
#8
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Date Joined:
Nov 27, 2006
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You probably can't. 3e classes are horrifically unbalanced. Just consider yourself fortunate that he's not playing a cleric, druid, or wizard.
Also, the CR challenge system does not work, at all ... you'll need to practice eyeballing encounters, and probably have the opposition focus on him more than the others.
Thats kind of what i was expecting to hear. What i was thinking about doing is maybe custom tailoring some baddies to be a bit more formidable to him whilst leaving some of them normal to take on the others...
Every now & then you could just record less damage from his attacks.
Ex: Monster has DR 50% vrs player x, barring a crit.
What he says, & what you record don't need to match....
Just never mention the math your using.
(we apply this to one of our players who cheats. Guy never rolls damage below 97% of his max. So rather than argue about it....)
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13 months ago ::
May 31, 2012 - 2:00PM
#9
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Is switching to 4e an option? It's a little bit harder to have huge power disparities between characters, especially at low levels, and you're likely to be on more even footing with rules knowledge.
Having special extra-tough monsters for him to fight is just going to reinforce the impression that the other PCs are supporting cast in his heroic adventure.
Regardless of what you do, every person at the table shares the responsibility for a fun game and experienced players should be making an effort to make sure that things run smoothly. Unfortunately it seems all too common for experienced players to feel the need to 'show off' and ruin a game in the process. A diplomatic reminder that he should know better might not be a terrible idea.
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13 months ago ::
May 31, 2012 - 5:33PM
#10
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Date Joined:
Mar 10, 2011
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...Straight up, you could just approach him DM to DM and ask if he wouldn't mind toning it down. It wouldn't be my preference to ask someone to change their character like that, but it's not unreasonable if it's a recurring problem and affecting the fun of the other players. It wouldn't affect my fun as DM.
If you trust him, you can also approach him, DM to DM, explain your concerns, and ask him for advice. If he's a good guy, he'll volunteer to tone down himself, and offer to help you out. (If he's not a good guy after all, he'll take advantage of the situation and you'll know it, but you still learn something valuable, even if that happens.)
New DM Tips
Show
- Trying to solve out-of-game problems (like cheating, bad attitudes, or poor sportsmanship) with in-game solutions will almost always result in failure, and will probably make matters worse.
- Gun Safety Rule #5: Never point the gun at anything you don't intend to destroy. (Never introduce a character, PC, NPC, Villain, or fate of the world into even the possibility of a deadly combat or other dangerous situation, unless you are prepared to destroy it instantly and completely forever.)
- Know your group's character sheets, and check them over carefully. You don't want surprises, but, more importantly, they are a gold mine of ideas!
- "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It's a problem if the players aren't having fun and it interferes with a DM's ability to run the game effectively; if it's not a problem, 'fixing' at best does little to help, and at worst causes problems that didn't exist before.
- "Hulk Smash" characters are a bad match for open-ended exploration in crowds of civilians; get them out of civilization where they can break things and kill monsters in peace.
- Success is not necessarily the same thing as killing an opponent. Failure is not necessarily the same thing as dying.
- Failure is always an option. And it's a fine option, too, as long as failure is interesting, entertaining, and fun!
"Broken or not, unbalanced or not, if something seems to be preventing the game from being enjoyable, something has to give: either that thing, or other aspects of the game, or your idea of what's enjoyable." - Centauri
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