A potential "that guy," what do?

[SangoProduction]

I started something of a meme campaign, and one guy put forth an interesting character. I invite him. Every one gets chatting...and this guy's throwing serious red flags, talking quite extensively about power levels, and how such and such is OP or busted or what have you. And really...playing up...the power of his "build". (Having to be corrected a couple times.)

This worries me, and had already provoked the Brawler to chime in (jokingly, I hope), with a "Hey, don't leave us normies behind." "At least, not more than normal."

Like...he hasn't yet derided nor directly attacked anyone over the builds yet, and we haven't had the first session yet. It would feel pretty premature to kick him just based off of a gut feeling of unease about this guy. I'm really rather conflicted.

[Gruftzwerg]

Either you find a compromise or let it go.

You can either ask him to play a non optimized fluff oriented build or ask you other players to optimized their characters (maybe with his and your help).
If those ain't options, leave it..^^

[Unavenger]

Talk to him about it directly?

[Psyren]

I'd wait until there's something more to it than talk. There's no harm in simply stating your goals for the campaign (including expected power level, importance of combat, emphasizing cooperation over spotlight-stealing) to everyone up front though, without necessarily singling anyone out. That way, if you need to have a difficult conversation, you have that initial theme statement to refer back to.

[Elves]

"That guy" usually means someone who's rude/obnoxious/disrespectful. Obviously I wasn't there, but the fact that someone is into the optimization side of the game and enjoys building characters isn't a red flag in itself.

[JNAProductions]

Talk to your players. Look at their builds, see if your "problem" player is actually that much more powerful. If they are, consider asking them to focus on a buff build, so they can help your other PCs shine instead of hogging the spotlight.

Nothing you said really seems like a massive red flag, in terms of "This guy's a jerk!" more red flags as-in "We might not have compatible playstyles."

[Seto]

Have you actually seen his much-vaunted build? Is it legal? is it actually powerful or is that just his misguided perception?

Anyway, I'd agree with Psyren that for now, there's not much to be done. Wait and see if he actually disrupts the game and gets on everyone's nerves. Then you'd have a reason to do something.

[Quertus]

Balance to the table. Did you provide clear directives about expected balance range, complete with sample characters? No? Then you've lost the moral high ground.

Do not respond to your failure to communicate with a failure to communicate.

Now that we've got that settled, what should you communicate when, and how?

Personally, were I in your situation, I would probably hit it early, explaining the concept of "balance to the table", and my concerns that they may have failed to do so. I would take the opportunity to explain what "balance" means to this table (such as, "is the Monk op?", "If you aren't dealing damage, you aren't contributing", etc), and include sample characters both within and outside the group's balance range. I would express my concerns, and give them the opportunity to ask questions, retool their character, etc.

This way, if I later had issues with their balance in play, I could refer them back to our conversation.

Although, personally, I prefer to do it as buy-in and an agreement, and "on infraction" explain "you agreed to X. You did Y. Here is how Y is not X."

[Nifft]

It would feel pretty premature to kick him just based off of a gut feeling of unease about this guy. I'm really rather conflicted.

Your gut feeling says two things:

1 - There's probably something wrong; and
2 - It's either something inherently wrong with him, or something incompatible about him and you.

You already disfavor and distrust this guy, and you're looking for misbehavior from him. You will eventually find it, since confirmation bias is a very easy slope to slide down.


Conclusion: Boot him. You're either going to see him become a problem (if your gut was justified), or you're going to drive him into becoming the problem that you expect by mistrusting him (if your gut wasn't). Neither outcome is good. It might not be his fault, but that doesn't matter. You can't treat him fairly while you expect him to be THAT GUY.

[upho]

I started something of a meme campaign, and one guy put forth an interesting character. I invite him. Every one gets chatting...and this guy's throwing serious red flags, talking quite extensively about power levels, and how such and such is OP or busted or what have you. And really...playing up...the power of his "build". (Having to be corrected a couple times.)Ouch... FWIW, I can also see the red flags here, but I also agree with Psyren that you at least owe him (and yourself) a real chance, especially since you invited him.

And I guess it's possible that he'll soon turn out to be someone you'd like to have in your game, and he's just insecure with people he doesn't know yet. But IME your gut will unfortunately very rarely turn out to be wrong when in cases like this, even if you should manage to not have that gut bias your impressions of him.