One player OP

[Yomega]

Hello all I have a bit of a troublesome problem.

My campain is going along fairly well and I have a new player join us my problem is that altho he is using the player options exactly as I intended them all the early players didnt and he ends up being particularly OP compaired to my other players.

Now because he used the options as I told him to I dont want to penalize him nor do I want to just dump enough magic stuff to fill the others in.

His character is optimazed for grapples trips and disarms so he has a particulary high strength score and a high con but he hasnt invested in the feat support so he can do it well yet, so I have been thinking of just giving him the feats in excange for some of his raw damage.

Do you all think thats a good way to go about it?

[Hopeless]

So how does he relate to the other characters?

From what you've said he's looking to specialise in grappling, ok so how does that make him OP over the others?

Not every combat will result in him dominating through Grappling, he might win a few at first but sooner or later he'll be up against foes grappling just doesn't work so perhaps you could elaborate on why he's so overpowered and what the difference is between him and his fellow player characters?

[Yomega]

No the problem at the moment is he cant grapple effectivly yet so while yhe other players hit for ~1d8+10 ish he hits for ~3d6+40 and since he cant grapple he just hits he doesnt want to be the one who trivializes combat like that so I want to find a way to make it all work

[Artillery]

You can indirectly do it in a way. Certain things you don't want to or can't grapple. Undead, vampires, ghouls; they all want hugs. Bigger creatures also reduce grapples effectiveness.

Can you tell us any more details, such as race, class, and level?

What books are you allowing?

[Ceaon]

Do the other players mind that the new player is stronger than them?

[Yomega]

I think we are missing the mark a bit I want him to grapple more and deal less damage.

My game is intentionaly wide open everything wotc for sure and most d20 is fine they have to show me first tho.

And to my best memory atm he is a Human/Half-Minotaur/Lolthtouched/Stoneboned/Fighter2 and he uses a spiked chain

[Yomega]

The other players dont mind atm they see it as "sweet easy loot" but the player doesnt want to be the "I hit things" guy his back story is that he is a desighner sunglasses and hawian shirt salesman

[mucco]

Nerfing mundane melee characters can be hard, especially when you're trying to bring them in line with other melee.

I suggest you talk to him about taking away some of his templates. It is the templates that make him deal so much damage. Take away Half-minotaur and Lolth-touched, give him the feat Jotunbrud, and he's still large size which is good for grappling, but has lot a ton of Str and Con and is not as powerful as before. The LA he lost can be recovered with more Fighter levels which will allow him to get his grapple feats in order.

May I suggest Psywar. Psywar is "the" class you want for combat maneuvers in general, if he is into psionics he might like it... a lot.

[Yomega]

What book is psywar in?

[TuggyNE]

What book is psywar in?

It's from the XPH, and is available on the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/classes/psychicWarrior.htm).

[lord_khaine]

I agree with the guy in the green cloak, your problem is mostly that he has gotten some insane templates stacked up, if he exchange them for something more sensible, like fighter levels, psychic warrior levels or maybe goliath, then things should be a bit more reasonable.

[RoyVG]

And to my best memory atm he is a Human/Half-Minotaur/Lolthtouched/Stoneboned/Fighter2 and he uses a spiked chain

Well, there's your problem (http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/228/252/131907060520.jpg)

Damage Reduction is one way to reduce his damage, and he can still grapple anything. Half minotaur grants a +12 Str +Size increase, LolthTouched another +6, after some google-fu, I found that Stoneboned has Powerfull build and anotehr +4 Str. That means Large with Powerful build, and +22 Str

If he started with a 18 in Str, he now has 40 (+15 modifier) (excluding magical items, level upps, etc). Ouch

If you want to give the rest of the party something to do, put some ranged character in, he can go grapple some stuborn fool that came too close, while the others snipe the other ones down. Put some Huge monsters in front of him, specifically those speciallizing in grappling themselves. Nothing beats a good wrestling match. Lots of smaller monsters or enemies also make it harder for him, because he can only be in one place at a time.

agains disarms, equip some human enemies with locked gauntlets, so they can't be dissarmed, so they are not useless (though his Strength should be enough to rip their arm off instead, but hey, it's not in the rules of disarm)

Grapple, disarm and trip all provoke attack of opportunity, if he doesn't have the feats for it. Human Fighter2 should have 4 feats. Imp Disarm and Imp Grapple need Combat Expertise, and Imp Grapple needs Improved Unarmed Strike, so he shouldn't have all of them. Whenever he gets hit by an AoO provoked by these maneuvers he cannot complete them. It is only at this time that I remember that he wields a spiked chain -_-'.


the player doesnt want to be the "I hit things" guy his back story is that he is a desighner sunglasses and hawian shirt salesman

I lol'd

[Yomega]

Thanks everyone I will run some of this by him I like the idea of staging my encounters with a bigger monster that he can focus on fixes my problem in the shirt term

[Eldan]

With that much level adjustment, he should be, what, four or five levels behind everyone else? So, while his damage should be extremely high, shouldn't his hit points be so low that a strong wind is almost enough to kill him?

[Yomega]

The requirement of my game is everyone needed lvl ajustmen racial hit dice or 3 base classes so with his massive con he is pretty average to high end on hp save skills feats ect

[ngilop]

I have seen this issue take place before im a few campaigns ive been in. Im never one to complain about stuff becuase I know a that what eventually will happen is this.

Yeah the big str guy is scary now! but wait 3 a few levels and thats when those levle adjusments hurt. I mean that guys is what.. ECL 6 or 7 now? yeah thats crazy compared to what other actual level 6 melees can do. That is unless you are making everybody be level 2 with his tempaltes stacke don then that is not his problem that comes back to your corner and you need to set them up to the equivalent.

but by the time he gets to ECL 8 those other standard melee are going to be doing things he cannot do. plus theres teh fact that alhtouh he migh thav ea huge con,, he stil only has 2 HD so thats what 40 HP for a level 6 or 7 character.. blasts spells are a real threat there.

[AlchemicalMyst]

I'm sorry but I'm failing to see where the character is OP. He is just simply powerful in one very small field. Want to give him a challenge and let the other players shine? Don't always put them in that field...

I once played a Feral Half-Minotaur Half-Ogre Orc Barbarian/Fighter with adamantine claws. Yeah I could hit like a tank and cleave stone like butter but I became a real threat towards my own fellow party members when a Wizard who loved mind raping came into view. And ranged attacks? Good god, my HP was low enough until buy-offs where just a round or two of well placed shots brought me to my knees.

Being a large creature as well your player should also be having quite the hindrance in any battle not outside considering most rooms/hallways/etc are usually built with medium creatures in mind.

[Yomega]

My main problem was staging encounters are other meele guy is hearing impaired so alot of what he does is just meele attack and I want him to still feel valued and just throwing a brute in the enemy party fixes that problem big guy hits big guy everyone else focuses on the other guys.

And ya everyone has lvl ajustments

[ksbsnowowl]

Color Spray. As a "6th level" character, he will be taken down for the count by a 1st level spell.


2 HD or less
The creature is unconscious, blinded, and stunned for 2d4 rounds, then blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, and then stunned for 1 round.Stunned for a minimum of 4 rounds. Make your bad guy a Wizard with several 1st and 3rd level rogue mooks.

Alternatively, Sleep on the lot of them. I assume they are all under 4 HD?

[The Grue]

The other players dont mind atm they see it as "sweet easy loot" but the player doesnt want to be the "I hit things" guy his back story is that he is a desighner sunglasses and hawian shirt salesman

If he doesn't want to be the "I hit things" guy, then, gee, maybe he shouldn't be the "I hit things" guy?

I don't really understand what his issue is. He makes a character that excels in close combat, but doesn't want to hit things? I understand he wants to go the grappling route but can't yet due to lack of feats, but still; what's grappling if not close combat?

Do any of his stats reflect his background as a sunglasses and shirt salesman? Does he actually attempt to ply his trade during his adventures? Or did he just build the character and then tack on an lol-worthy backstory so he could say "hay guise I'm roleplayin"?

[ksbsnowowl]

He's a Fighter 2. That means he has 3 feats. If he wanted to be a grappler, why doesn't he have Improved Grapple yet? That's only 2 feats to get there: Imp Unarmed Strike -> Imp Grapple.

His grapple bonus should be +2 (BAB) +4 (Imp Grapple) +4 (Powerful Build) +4 (Large Size) +11 (Minimum Strength modifier, assuming he started with a 10 before racial stat adjustments) = +25

He should be able to grapple anything he wants at ECL 6.

[HunterOfJello]

Have the character get ambushed and kidnapped by Mind Flayers of Thoon. They decide to do experiments on him and replace his arms with tentacles. These improve his grappling abilities significantly, but ruin his ability to wield weapons properly. It now takes both of his tentacles together to hold a one-handed weapon and attacking with it that way still counts as if it's being wielded in one hand.