Problem with a Player and his Items

[Gorfang113]

So, one of my players has given himself magic items so expensive its not even funny (or legal, or fair....). He was level 11 at the time and I think about 10-15 thousand gold. Lets start with the first item he gave himself though. He was "DMing" a session (it was a bad experience for me, i might go into it if needed, but otherwise I will leave it). About halfway through the session he had a chest appear in front of the group. Inside was a suit of black dragon scale blueshine, fearsome, acidic full plate. He actually flat out told us that the armor was for his character (the one who wasn't there at the time and no way involved). Later, when I was back to DMing I told the characters that they had 2 days to do whatever in the city they were at before the quest giving NPC would teleport them to where they needed to go. At the time I was anserwing questions for other players and wasn't paying much attention, as he was busy reading the Magic Item Compemindium. Later on in the session he mentions a couple of the items he had got, but once again I was busy keeping things from spiraling out of control (buisness as usual :smallbiggrin:) to really pay attention to what he was telling other players. After the session I got curious and looked at his character sheet. It was horrifying. So this is a list of what he has.

Items I Have Given Him (loot)
Chameleon Power Ring: 12,700gp
Bracers of Armor +2: 4,000gp
"Unholy Dagger": 8,000gp

Items He Has Given Himself (During 2 days)
Gauntlets of the Blood Lord [Relic]: 5,120gp
Ghost Shroud: 5,000gp
Fiendhelm: 10,000gp
Body Feeder/ Collision/ Screaming Long Sword: 28,000gp

Total Cost of Stuff He Bought For Himself: 48,120gp
How Much Money He Had: 13,960gp

So he has basicly got stuff that cost three times the amount of money he has. And the best part, he never even removed any money from his character sheet. Some other things you should know:
1) What he thinks is a dagger with the unholy enchantment is actually the dagger of denial (MiC, pg. 50). Im thinking of upping the dispel magic with disjunction and "removing" some of his magical things.
2) This is all very odd behavior for him. Normally he is one of the best players I have. He is also one of my closest friends. This is part of why im confused over what I should do.
3) The other thing that makes it odd is that he is one of the stronger characters in the group, so I see no reason for him to need these things.

I am mostly annoyed about the fact that he did all of this without even glancing in my direction (and literaly under my nose, he sits to about two feet away from me at the table) and that he gave himself a relic item so casually. In fact I remeber metioning that it was a relic when he showed me during a previous session and saying no buying relics). Should I go through with the dagger thing? Should I unleash a spellgaunt on him? What do I do about this?

[TroubleBrewing]

I'm confused. You switched off DMing? And during this switch, he gave himself a bunch of free stuff that the party didn't immediately take the opportunity to sell and use for their own personal benefit?

If that's the case, you should really talk to him out of game about this. Not only is he doing something that bothers you, the DM, but your party is nowhere near greedy and back-stabby enough.

Rule Somestupidnumber: Never Use In-Game Solutions To Out-Of-Game Problems.

[Kumori]

Definitely resolve this out-of-game, as Grey McBannert suggested. Otherwise, the player may think you are specifically acting against (which you are) but he would likely not recognize your motive. I'd not expect that to be accepted quietly by him and his reaction could very easily lead to the situation escalating out of control.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

This is nothing short of cheating, which should probably be handled outside of play. Tell him that he is blatantly cheating, having his character 'buy' items without paying for them, getting a relic when you've specifically told him they're not available, and throwing in loot for his character that he didn't even earn. Tell him that he has to take that stuff off of his character sheet, that you are going to be the one keeping track of all of his character's items and wealth from now on, and that if he wants to buy another item he has to do it directly through you.

If he disagrees, have a Wyrm Steel Dragon (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20040328a) show up in humanoid form. As it turns out, all the items he possesses which he doesn't deserve (all but the ones you gave him, including that armor) bear an Arcane Mark proving that they're this stranger's property, and he wants them all back. The dragon should already have enough buffs cast ahead of time that the party cannot even pose a threat to it, along with a Nondetection which would have a high enough DC that nobody would even know what protections it has. If he refuses to give up the items, the dragon should start by casting something scary like a Quickened Wall of Limbs (SpC) to separate him from the rest of the party and then a Maximized Split Ray Enervation for eight negative levels. If he still refuses, it can reveal its true form, attack, grab him with its Snatch feat, and fly away with him. If anyone was trapped in its wall it should dismiss it after leaving. As it's carrying him away it can inform him that it doesn't like thieves or cheaters, and that if he doesn't surrender the items he didn't earn it will simply kill him and recover them from his corpse.

Also, you shouldn't let him DM again. This player appears to be very immature and if he's put in charge for a session he'll probably try to get some sort of revenge.

[TroubleBrewing]

This player appears to be very immature and if he's put in charge for a session he'll probably try to get some sort of revenge.

Well, after a display like that, who wouldn't?

Why not just stick to talking to the guy? :smallconfused:

[Gorfang113]

As for switching, the players had just finished a quest line and were waiting for something to do. I was going to do some random sidequest when I got a new questline prepared for them but my friend wanter to give DMing a try, as he was thinking of starting his own campaign. So I let him DM a session. During said session he gave himself a expensive suit of full plate. The other players just brought it with them, since he was going to be back in game by the next session and none of them could really use it anyway (as for selling it at the time they were in a country that had them as Public Enemy #1, so that wasn't really an option). Later on during my campaign again he gave himself a buch of stuff during a 2 day rest period for the players without telling me and going way over the amount of money he has.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You definitely want to immediately take away every item that he doesn't deserve, preferably out of game. His cheating is not fair to the rest of the group, and if he can't have fun without cheating then he shouldn't even be playing.


Well, after a display like that, who wouldn't?

Why not just stick to talking to the guy? :smallconfused:

I did say to talk to the guy, but if he refuses to cooperate there's not much else to do besides either asking him to not come back, or to take the items away in-game.

[Kumori]

Later on during my campaign again he gave himself a buch of stuff during a 2 day rest period for the players without telling me and going way over the amount of money he has.

So he did it twice? Yeah, don't let him DM anymore.

[TroubleBrewing]

So I let him DM a session. During said session he gave himself a expensive suit of full plate.... Later on during my campaign again he gave himself a buch of stuff during a 2 day rest period for the players without telling me and going way over the amount of money he has.

This really is just blatant cheating. Has he offered any explanation for his flagrant disregard for the rules/common courtesy?


I did say to talk to the guy, but if he refuses to cooperate there's not much else to do besides either asking him to not come back, or to take the items away in-game.

That's true, that was your first suggestion. My apologies. I usually try to avoid in-game consequences, and in a situation as extreme as this one, I'd honestly just jump right to asking him not to attend anymore.

[Gorfang113]

Right, so im going to talk with him about it before next session. If he refuses then I will make good on my threat to unleash my trio of retribution on him (a great wrym rust dragon, his sidekick sparky, and their team pet, Arh'vak'ra'dras the Pit Fiend, Lord General of Asmodeus's Hellish Legions).

Ive already decided to never let him DM again, but for different reasons. Basiclly during tht session it was more of him telling the story and me struggling to DM it. I did have a character (my human dread necromancer, Abel and his baggage zombie Claude) and I told him what it was beforehand. He basiclly told me all the monsters he wanted beforehand and told me to make a treasure hoard. Then the session came. After we killed our first monsters (a couple of goblins) I was all ready to reanimate them. Then, his description "huge vines come from the ground, dragging the corpses under". Ok, thats not to bad I guess, I can still do this. During these encounters since he has no idea how I had to run the creatures and my character (and Claude :smallsmile:) (I actually had the players complaining that I was taking to much time on my necro's turns). Now, after awhile there was a giant ant encounter. Then, a one was rolled (by the PC's). Now, normally the opposite side gets a free attack of opp. Instead he wanted the ant to grab him and flip him into the ants behind him. I did work it out but it was a bit annoying. After many other failed raisings I eventually got fed up and slayed living everything that got near us. That was the end of that....

[Larpus]

Supposing that talking to him out of the game doesn't solve squat; what about that item-monster thing that disguises itself as a normal item and eats away magic stuff?

Since he's so magic hungry, I don't think he would be over-cautious with anything that comes his way which, oops, just ate all his items/their magical aura...oh bummer...