I need a little help (Read spoiler IF you're not in my Campaign)

[lynxd80]

If you are a member of the "Fata Fabulae" 3.5 Campaign, then I urge you to not read any further and find another thread.

That said, My players have just reached level 9 and, within the next month or so, should see level 10. It is at that point that I am having all of my players evaluate their characters and rebuild them and their items in such a manner that they understand the characters they're playing and can enjoy playing them. It's a long story to get into, but to short and sweet it: I have a player whom tried to help "optimize" the other less experienced members and they're not having an easy time getting it. However, there is no question there as I have consulted ideas in earlier posts about this subject and made my decisions. However, this IS about that player, though.

In their case, I have decided that I allowed WAY to much optimization which has proven to be a stumbling block for their fellows both in and out of character. So, I'm leveling the playing field. The character is A Sorc whom used to unwittedly work for the villians of the story, but discovered their plot. They tried to escape to warn the people, but was caught and then forced to ingest an poisenous alchemical cocktail composed of Primordial giant, dragon blooded, necropolitain, and a couple of other templates that I allowed them to talk me into before I realized how Overly powerful the character was and had them to remove the additional templates. They dropped the body off into a swamp, thinking that it was dead, but it magically coccooned in the swamp and it came back to life some year or so later with no memories past it's name.

In game, I've been dropping hints to the player as to their past and it has helped drive the story forward. But, when a Character is rolling in the 50's for bluff at 5th level and (at level 8) level 15 enemies have to roll high and catch him flatfooted to hit... Still to powerful. Therefore, I have decided that at the turning of their 10th level, I will have them captured by the villians and I want to have the villians return the Sorc back to human. I guess the real question would be how would I go about doing this in a way that would be rules legal? Note: I originally thought of true Ressurection, but I see that the undead has to die, first, before being rezz'ed... And, that would be pointless for what will happen afterwards. I have, also, thought of Wish, but the wording is a bit confusing so I'm not certain IF I can or can't have it wished back to normal or back to its previous self.

Suggestions are welcomed and my thanks ahead of time!

~Lynx D.

[Demidos]

Not 100% clear what you're asking here, so let me resummarize to see if I got it:

You're DMing for an overpowered PC who you'd like to tone down (via capture by the villains).
The way this is going to be done is by removing templates that they have added (or were these already removed? Unclear.)
Your PCs will be rebuilding their characters soon (does this have anything to do with the other PC? Or is he going to be simultaneously rebuilt to bring him down in power while the others go up?)
You want a rules legal way to revert the templates.


Well, based off this, a few comments....

1) Your players likely won't appreciate a fight where they are expected to be captured, because they'll feel it to be railroading.
2) As is often posted in this forum, issues about PCs being too powerful usually are better discussed with the player themselves before taking actions like the ones mentioned in your post, lest the player become angry when their toys are taken unfairly by seeming GM fiat. You might have done so already, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
3) Wish should be able to handle that. Miracle definitely.
Alternately, since your villains apparently have some sort of super alchemist who can implant templates via potion, he should be able to brew up something to reverse that. Or to seperate the templates off into a seperate creature that will then stalk the sorcerer. Or cause the templates to absorbed by other minions of the evil guys via a magic potion. Perhaps the cocktail used his soul to power the creation of the templates, erasing it, and now he has to reverse that before he loses his soul permanently. Because really, alchemists can do pretty much anything. Also sets you up with a interesting and quirky extra BBEG/villain.

[Drork]

Reincarnate. If your worried about wish or miracle breaking the game your not ready for the players ever getting access to the spell.

OK so in getting these templates the player didnt do it in a rule legal way. Taking them away is your prerogative but be ready for a negative reaction from the player so talk to them before hand. True mind switch would likely work with what you want, this could be done live in combat. Assuming it is cast by a human, or what ever template you want to throw him into. With touch of idiocy you should be able to drop their will save enough to make it land. If you want to go over the top you can double mind switch then their natural body is actually the second body if they ever reverse the effects of the spell. If you combine it with magic jar you can throw bodies around left right and center.
Do not forget combat assist tactics to lower his touch AC for the touch attack, or just use true strike for touch of idiocy.

The reason the BBEG is doing to all this trouble to get the body is because it is a valuable research subject they want back. Your going to end up throwing some high level magic around. The best thing about the situation is then they have to fight the monster they created to teach them a lesson.

[icefractal]

The answer is - talk to the player, get them on board with the change, don't try to do this IC. Trying to force it through in-game events will just make you look like an *******, quite possibly cause a fight with the player, and maybe even torpedo your campaign.

The player is no doubt enjoying their abilities and, while they'd probably be ok with toning it down if you discuss it (and you're certainly allowed to put your foot down here, they can either get on board or leave the campaign), they're going to be pissed at your railroading if you just do it with no explanation. And whether the method is rules-legal excuses nothing. There are rules-legal ways to turn the PC into a first level Commoner - that doesn't mean it's not a **** move to do so.

Also, consider that depending how the player feels about the character, they might rather retire it and bring in a new one that fits the power level of your campaign, as opposed to playing a neutered version of the existing one.

So TL;DR - first step is talk to the player, get them on board. Second step is figure out how the change manifests IC, depending on what change is happening.

[lynxd80]

I appreciate the advice from everyone, thus far! It seems that the number one Suggestion here is to pulling Them aside to talk about it. I was hoping to use the whole thing as a surprise ending to the "10th chapter" of the Party's story along with a few other twists... But, it's probably smarter to talk to Them about it BEFORE it happens. They're pretty reasonable and I think they'd understand with the direction that the Campaign is going. I just don't want them to feel like their being punished for something that I allowed... Even IF I had done so at a time where I didn't realize what I was allowing them to do and they took full advantage of it. It's not worth losing a player or a friend over.

Also, appreciate the confirmation and further suggestions! If I can get them to agree to the situation, then I may make something like this happen. Very awesome idea with the 'Body swap"! Well then, I think that is about all the help I needed. Thanks again, everyone! Really appreciate and value the input! Take care and have a blessed one!

~Lynx D.