The deadly pillow over head trick?

[quiet1mi]

My friend has a power gamer in his group who is causing a whole lot of problems in his campaign [like killing npcs] and he feels like he can not do anything about it. Because anything he sends at the guy he will just kill and gain, Xp and if he sends something too powerful then it could wipe the party [he has intimidated them into helping him against anything after him or he will just kill their character]. So I suggested that the next inn he stays at have a commoner just kill him with a pillow [See the rules for suffocation]?

My question is if the problem player does not die immediately how [mechanically] does the fight continuing.

Does he just keep grappling until he suffocates?

[Collin152]

Coup de Gras with a Pillow?

[quiet1mi]

pretty much, but because of the huge amount of hit points the guy has i fear he may survive.

[monty]

I'm assuming your friend is the DM based on how you worded it. Remember, the DM is never limited to RAW and mechanics. He can just say the pillow kills the character, and it does. No roll needed. If the player is likely to complain about that, then make the roll behind a screen and lie about it.

Better in this case, though, would be to deal with the player OOC. If your friend can't convince him to play his character more reasonably (roleplaying is fine, but complete destruction of the plot isn't so good), then you probably don't want him in the group anyway.

[chiasaur11]

The good old Divine Smiting trick may work. I mean, you're the DM. Not ideal, but it would work.

[Hal]

Yeah, this doesn't sound like a situation which requires a rule-based solution. This sounds like one which requires a sit down and chat solution.

Tell this guy he's ruining the game. Ask him to play like a reasonable human being and not a sociopath. If he won't, kick him out. There's no reason to sacrifice everyone else's fun for the sake of his own.

[BRC]

No, this is easy.

The local governments, having recognized this guy as a mass-murderer, send an elite team to apprehend this guy.

For Extra Points, have the team be a Warforged Paladin. In short, send RoboCop to bring this powergamer in.

Said character is found guilty of the crimes and is imprisoned for life (not killed, so no True Ressurections.) They can't find out where he is being imprisoned, he dosn't break out.

[quiet1mi]

I'm assuming your friend is the DM based on how you worded it. Remember, the DM is never limited to RAW and mechanics. He can just say the pillow kills the character, and it does. No roll needed. If the player is likely to complain about that, then make the roll behind a screen and lie about it.



right, now all He needs is a Suitable Dm screen and a way so his players don't get suspicious about his rolls even if no fiat was involved...

[monty]

Actually, the RoboCop idea sounds interesting (my friend's playing a paladin with a throwing returning shield and armor glamered to look like Captain America's suit, so I have experience with things like that)...also, not allowing him to play his character but also not allowing him to make a new one would be a not-very-subtle way of getting the point across.

[Citizen Joe]

You could just send a never ending stream of kobolds at him. At his level, they aren't worth any experience. After he's killed a couple hundred in a small room, have someone ask "Jeez, how many kobolds have you killed?" When he answers, act all surprised and say "Oh wow... that's a lot. I don't think that many will fit in the room... Let's see.... *calculate* Oh my... yea... ummm... you start drowning in all the kobold blood. How strong are you? Oh my... ya... that's not enough... you're not strong enough to swim through the corpses. Every time you get close to the surface, another drowning kobold drags you under as it clings desperately for life. You swing at it? Well ok you kill it, but that counts as two rounds off holding your breath....

[BlackStaticWolf]

May I suggest... a heavy dose of lethal ingestion poison? It's just what the doctor ordered.

You know... if the doctor wants to kill someone.

[Cuddly]

Yeah, put like 1000 doses of some ingestion poison in his food that does con damage. Then make him roll a lot of saves.

[BRC]

Robocop>poison

[Collin152]

Robocop>poison

Robocop>everything

[sikyon]

Easy:

His alignment shifts to evil for mass murder. His party begins to shift to neutral for associating with him. Another group of good adventures undertakes hunting down the current party as a quest (being incidentally higher level, and using non-lethal force to subdue them). They are arrested, rest of the party is found guilty of association and punishment quest, he is found guilty and executed.

Or just have the commoners pool their money for an assasin and death strike him.

[quiet1mi]

hmmm.... at a crossroads

1 i can use Robo-cops [which are cooler than inevitables]

Pro:it is ROBO-COP,doesn't change the campaign
Con:he could run away or potentially win the fight and become stronger

2 I can use a hoard of [non-tucker] kabolds and drown him in their blood....

Pro:his strength does not matter,he receives no XP, allows me to introduce a dragon shaman cult
Con:will have to think of a reason why a flood of kobalds are there,could kill other party members

hmmm coolness wise i would go with robocop. least amount of problems i could go with kobalds...

any way to combine the two?

[D Knight]

the robocop idea sounds very good but make it epic just in cast the plaryer in question wants to fight back.
player: i order some food.
DM: ok. you get food
player : i starting eating it
DM: roll a fort save
player what?!?!?!(rolls)
DM: ahhh to bad u die.
Lesson poison fun on improv

[monty]

A horde of half-iron golem kobold paladins?

That would just be too awesome.

[Collin152]

Con:will have to think of a reason why a flood of kobalds are there,

Lemming Kobolds in a Suicide Cult.

Or, a horde of mindraped minions.

[Citizen Joe]

The flood of kobolds, being evil, may be running from Robocop.

[monty]

Evil kobolds? Blasphemy! Everybody knows that most kobolds are Chaotic Good, with enough LG for the paladin flood.

[Citizen Joe]

As for saving the rest of the party, the paladins could, upon encountering the pool of blood, reach in and pull out the non-evil creatures.

[TempusCCK]

Better than Robo-Cop:

A Huge or Gargantuan Warforged Paladin with a Shapeshifter template shows up, but at first they just think it's an Airship, (or a ship that's flying for some reason [gasp!] if Airships aren't common in your world) Until it yells in a loud booming voice "Roll out!" and shifts into the large warforged and proceeds to capture the problem maker.

If you as a DM have a problem beating your player with OPTIMUS FREAKIN' PRIME (!!!!) get out of my D&D.

[The Sandman]

You could just send a never ending stream of kobolds at him. At his level, they aren't worth any experience. After he's killed a couple hundred in a small room, have someone ask "Jeez, how many kobolds have you killed?" When he answers, act all surprised and say "Oh wow... that's a lot. I don't think that many will fit in the room... Let's see.... *calculate* Oh my... yea... ummm... you start drowning in all the kobold blood. How strong are you? Oh my... ya... that's not enough... you're not strong enough to swim through the corpses. Every time you get close to the surface, another drowning kobold drags you under as it clings desperately for life. You swing at it? Well ok you kill it, but that counts as two rounds off holding your breath....

And then Pun-Pun shows up to avenge his fallen brethren. :smallamused:

[Cheesegear]

I fail to see how anyone in this game (D&D) can 'beat' the DM. Just make something a DC-51 poison. Problem solved. But, really, when he goes around mass-murdering people, the local government steps in.

Enter RoboCop, stage left.

There's plenty of things the DM can do to curb that sort of behaviour. In D&D, the DM > Everything. Even RoboCop.

[Sholos]

Better than Robo-Cop:

A Huge or Gargantuan Warforged Paladin with a Shapeshifter template shows up, but at first they just think it's an Airship, (or a ship that's flying for some reason [gasp!] if Airships aren't common in your world) Until it yells in a loud booming voice "Roll out!" and shifts into the large warforged and proceeds to capture the problem maker.

If you as a DM have a problem beating your player with OPTIMUS FREAKIN' PRIME (!!!!) get out of my D&D.

Except that Prime is a truck, not a ship. But other than that it's a cool idea.

I second the "subdue 'em and throw them in prison" route.

[The Necroswanso]

right, now all He needs is a Suitable Dm screen and a way so his players don't get suspicious about his rolls even if no fiat was involved...

Bullocks to the players. If they don't agree with rolls they can't see that is the DM's priority. Books also works as a good screen.

[Hal]

I still maintain my "talk it out" stance, but if you're itching for an in-game solution and you're considering poison, try either Megapede poison (DC 44, 2d6Con+1d4Dex, 2d6Con+1d4Dex), Pit fiend venom (DC 27, 1d6Con, death), or Colossal Spider venom (DC 28, 2d8 Str, 2d8 Str).

Not sure how high level this guy is, but if you can pull off any of those things, he should be down and out.

[Worira]

Level one Warrior with a scythe, and a strength of 16 performs a coup de grace:

Strength bonus of 3, x1.5: 4 damage
Power attack for one point of BAB: 2 damage
Average scythe damage: 5 damage
Total: 11 damage.
x4 critical: 44 damage.

He must then make a DC 54 fortitude save or die.

[Torchlyte]

And then Pun-Pun shows up to avenge his fallen brethren. :smallamused:

This. :smalltongue:

[Ward.]

Level one Warrior with a scythe, and a strength of 16 performs a coup de grace:

Strength bonus of 3, x1.5: 4 damage
Power attack for one point of BAB: 2 damage
Average scythe damage: 5 damage
Total: 11 damage.
x4 critical: 44 damage.

He must then make a DC 54 fortitude save or die.

This sounds good.

Or wait until the next time he attempts to slay an NPC and have it turn out to be some sort of demi-god looking for a party of heroes to perform a quest that he's not allowed to do himself.

[Waspinator]

About the screen thing: the really evil thing to do is to have a bunch of identical d20s, make sure that they see the one you're about to roll, have a cup or something behind the screen that you can roll it in to, and when they say "what? show me the 20!" you can lift up the screen to show the identical die pre-positioned to be 20-side-up next to the cup. :smallamused:

[The Necroswanso]

You don't even actually have to show them the dice. The point of the DM screen is that the DM's rolls are secret and that is is said DMs pergoative to sometime bend a roll.

[Solo]

The player could end up in a bar with Ozymandias in it, imbibing ale and wooing women.

Make a tavern fight between the two characters, and let him taste raw sorcerous power.

[Behold_the_Void]

Honestly, this needs to be solved out of game. Talk to the problem player, if he doesn't stop, he needs to be kicked out.

[Waspinator]

Or simply a series of alarmingly close near-misses by falling meteorites hitting near him, each slightly bigger and closer than the last and each with "Stop being a *censored*!" written on it.

[Khanderas]

Hitpoints or no. Getting stabbed in the throat when sleeping kills anyone.
Have it be the uncle or other relative of some NPC who the PC killed.
The NPC confesses to the crime, is exectuted and both he and the PC are buried before they stink up the place.
That way the new PC rolled up, the player can't totally unrelatedly seek out "his murderer" and torture for revenge.

[Funkyodor]

Comical and Fun way: Robo-Cop for the win.

Wierd and physics defying way: Drown in the blood of random swarm of Kobolds, only to be slaughtered by Pun-Pun when he shows up...

Gritty and Angst filled way: Lone young teen sneaks into his inn room, then coup de grace him with a con-poison short sword enhanced with an oil of Magic Weapon. If you're a Jack Nicholson / Marlon Brando fan you can go for a The Missouri Breaks moment and have him wake up with an intense pain at his neckline (hopefully right before dying). The Angst teen can then say "the reason you just woke up is because I slit your throat [insert character name]."

[Bayar]

Send a basketweaver after him (bonus points for being a warforged commoner). He will laugh until getting hit by 50 baskets dealing 2d6 bludgeoning damage.

Or for more fun things, make a hulkless hurler orc that throws his cart at him (or his cow).

Or just call the Twice-Betrayer of Shar for some help. That guy is immune to almost anything.

[Angelmaker]

My friend has a power gamer in his group who is causing a whole lot of problems in his campaign [like killing npcs] and he feels like he can not do anything about it.
I didn´t bother to read all replies, I ma sure there are pretty good answers to this in here...

But really? There are 1.2 Quadrillion solutions in game to this problem that are indefinitely better than pulling off something, that has a high chance to fail following the rules.

That´s what I think:

He killed NPC´s ? They are out for revenge and hire an assassin/bounty hunter/group of rogues and bandits or pledge for help with a paladin, or they talk to the local militia. I´d like to see if he can vanquish the local militia ( 4-10 average soldiers with a squad leader ) AND ( far more itneresting ) if he can talk the group into backing him up - IF he can, they surely are in for an alignment change - could be the start of a real good EVIL group. When militia fails, surely the border patrols or the military of the region may take interest in things. This goes on and on and really is ITSELF a great plot hook. Save whatever you´ve planned for later and follow this though.

Cheers,
myself

[lord_khaine]

i vote for getting him arrestet by the local rulers elite hit squard, (might include robocop or mr prime), then they can first give the rest of the party the option of standing aside while they arrest the mass murderer.

if the party stay out of the fight then np, the murderer will be beaten down with subdual weapons, set for a kangaroo court and sentenced for 99 years in prison.

after this the problem player can then be told it was a nonsuble hint to play nice.

if the party desides to help the murdere they can be beaten down with subdual damage as well, and sentenced to some community service, like hunt down some bandits, or clear out some monster lair, whatever you have prepared.

[Roderick_BR]

Some hints to your GM:

First step: Talk to him, and explain the problem. If he agree to tone down, alright.
Second step: Non-threatening NPCs not meant for combat DOES NOT give XP.
Third step: Tell him his aligment will shift to evil (or whatever moral ruleset you use).
Fourth step: After a while (not immediatelly), he starts to suffer the consequences (huge circunstance penalties to social rolls, NPCs avoid him an are hostile, NPCs call the guards when he step on the streets, paladins with large task forces "invite" him to leave the city...) Just remember it needs to be smooth. Doesn't make a 20th level paladin fall from the sky on him. The signs should start low, and grow as he keeps making infrations. Then, when he slaugher half the city, he'll be clearly labelled as a villain, and then the 20th level paladin will notice him.
Fifth step: Don't invite him to play anymore.

Seriously, talk first, then tell him he's acting as a vilain, then punish him in-game, and if everything else fails, tell him he's spoiling everyone else's fun and that he'll be kicked out.

[Mr. Friendly]

How about this:

Does this killer have any method of Planar Travel?

If not:

You wake up, stirring from a terrible nightmare. You suddenly realise you are not alone. Looking up, you see in the wan light on the Inn room a face, a somewhat familiar face. You see he is young and he is shaking slightly. You see he is staring intently at you, his face contorted with grief. In his hands you almost make out a shape, gloves? No, a bag and a cloth of some sort. That face, you know it from somewhere. "Good, you are awake." he says resolutely. "I couldn't kill you while you slept. Only someone like you could butcher someone in their sleep. The way you butchered my father!" With that he thrusts the cloth into the bag and you feel yourself lurch as the universe tumbles out from under you. You feel yourself flying and falling at the same time, whipping through a twilight world (the Astral Plane if he knows such things). You and your items all seem to have scattered in every direction and your nameless attacker is nowhere to be seen.

<At this point you can either just go for the kill, or like a cat with a cornered mouse, play with him>

Option One: The kill

He wanders the Astral or whatever, finds a couple of color pools. After finding staying on the Astral is, unpleasant (see the play options below) he will eventually choose between one of the pools. Roll dice behind the screen, it doesn't matter which portal he chose, he ends up on the Negative Material Plane. Take his character, apply nasty undead templates and have it return as a villain at some point.

Option Two: Playtime

The Astral is home to plenty of horrific creatures that can gut this guy. Xill hunter squads, Githyanki assault teams, bored Liches. Whatever. Also, pretty much *anything* can be found on the Astral, so have fun with it.

[Rift_Wolf]

How about this:

Does this killer have any method of Planar Travel?

If not:

You wake up, stirring from a terrible nightmare. You suddenly realise you are not alone. Looking up, you see in the wan light on the Inn room a face, a somewhat familiar face. You see he is young and he is shaking slightly. You see he is staring intently at you, his face contorted with grief. In his hands you almost make out a shape, gloves? No, a bag and a cloth of some sort. That face, you know it from somewhere. "Good, you are awake." he says resolutely. "I couldn't kill you while you slept. Only someone like you could butcher someone in their sleep. The way you butchered my father!" With that he thrusts the cloth into the bag and you feel yourself lurch as the universe tumbles out from under you. You feel yourself flying and falling at the same time, whipping through a twilight world (the Astral Plane if he knows such things). You and your items all seem to have scattered in every direction and your nameless attacker is nowhere to be seen.

<At this point you can either just go for the kill, or like a cat with a cornered mouse, play with him>

Option One: The kill

He wanders the Astral or whatever, finds a couple of color pools. After finding staying on the Astral is, unpleasant (see the play options below) he will eventually choose between one of the pools. Roll dice behind the screen, it doesn't matter which portal he chose, he ends up on the Negative Material Plane. Take his character, apply nasty undead templates and have it return as a villain at some point.

Option Two: Playtime

The Astral is home to plenty of horrific creatures that can gut this guy. Xill hunter squads, Githyanki assault teams, bored Liches. Whatever. Also, pretty much *anything* can be found on the Astral, so have fun with it.

Your username is a misnomer, sir.

I'd try to work it out with the player before dropping the rock. If he still decides to act up, then have a bounty hunting group consisting of Pun-Pun, Batman, CoDzilla (Both versions), a crab, and a diplomancer. (The diplomancers just there so the powergamer ends up getting killed by those he accepts as his best friends)

[Oslecamo]

Don't kill him. Humiliate him.

Have every enemy start the fight using a candle of invocation to bring forth a titan. Or two.

Give the titan quicken spell like ability:greater dispel magic.

Have the titan cast greater dispel magic in the guy to make his magical equipment nonmagical. Then sunder it. Have the titan kill him and bring him back to life several times untill he's back to level 1.

Then the titan leaves saying he has had some good fun.

[crabpuff]

You could all take turns kicking him in the balls until he agrees to play like you want.

[BRC]

I Still say you use Robocop.
It goes somthing like this.

"The wall bursts open and you see a metallic figure standing there, holding a massive hammer (+10 Merciful Brilliant Energy Greathammer)."
It booms "[Character's Name] You are Herebye Charged with being a threat to the innocents of the world, Come with me and face the charges."

If he does, he is found guilty and sent to an extradimensional prison.

If he does not, Robocop (epic-level paladin with full plate of +5 DM Fiat) beats him and any party members foolish enough to help him into the ground. He wraps the powergamer in anti-magic chains. Any party members that wake up are let go on account of being coerced into helping, if any of them help robocop, then he rewards them with the powergamer's gold and items.

[TempusCCK]

Or, even better, you could wait around a while and I'll have my nerdily made Iron Man Construct/Armor up in the Homebrew forums and yu can use that against him, though it's probably going to have a CR of about.... 20 or so. We'll see. Immunity to piercing, Immunity to magic, Dr 25/-- FTW!

[Quincunx]

If someone does stat up Robo-Kobo there, please share.

[commie comrade]

Seriously, talk first, then tell him he's acting as a vilain, then punish him in-game, and if everything else fails, tell him he's spoiling everyone else's fun and that he'll be kicked out.

I agree with this. Talk to him out of the game, and tell him that if his character keeps acting like a jerk, there will be in-game consequences. I don't think that Robocop or similarly over the top punishments are good, though, as that would make it obvious that the player is being punished rather than the character and could break immersion for the other, more serious players.

Instead, have realistic in-game consequences. Shift his alignment toward evil, have people stop talking to him, have militias and local law enforcement groups attack him, have good NPCs refuse to help him or the party, have angry relatives of his victims (and assassins hired by those relatives) come after him, and if he was/is bad enough, send good-aligned adventurers, military forces, and groups from the church after him. If the party supports him through all this, shift their alignments toward evil and have some of the same consequences happen to them.

In the end, either the character will be dead, and the party will be sent on a quest to gain atonement, or the campaign will become a fast-paced evil-aligned adventure with the party on the run from the law. Heck, that might turn out to be a fun campaign even for the non-jerk players.

If he's really ruining the game, though, just ask him to leave. :smallwink:

[Ethdred]

Honestly, this needs to be solved out of game. Talk to the problem player, if he doesn't stop, he needs to be kicked out.

Absolutely. Amusing, inventive and downright evil as the other suggestions have been, what you have here is a problem with the player not the character. If you kill his character, he will simply come back with another one, and this time he'll be p-ed off.

Also, talk to the other players - what do they think of this guy's behaviour? Maybe they think this is great fun (if only for a while) or maybe they'd back you up in throwing the jerk out of the group. It's important to know which.

[FMArthur]

Talk to him out of game. He may be ruining your fun and possibly your other players' fun, but talking to him out of game is the only solution that has the possibility of resulting in restoring fun for everyone including him. He may be a **** in-game, but he probably doesn't know how much of a jerk he's being.

[Tokiko Mima]

Tucker's Kobolds (http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/) and the Tomb of Horror are also good staples when players get out of hand. I wonder if anyone has ever thought of combining the two somehow? :smallamused:

[Lycan 01]

Judging from the guy's playing style and such, I doubt he's the sort to say "Okay, I'll play nice!" if you talk to him...


My vote? Robo-cop.

But what would I personally want to see? Drown in Kobold blood/corpses.


What would be awesome?

While the party is off on some random quest (preferably in an enclosed space or low spot so the blood doesn't flow away), a swarm of psychotic Kobolds attacks them. The rest of the party is dragged away (rolls some dice and lie about everyone but the power-gamer failing their "escape Kobold grasp!" rolls or whatever), leaving the power-gamer to fight hundreds of Kobolds on his own. After he's commited genocide, he starts to drown in their blood and corpses.

Should he managed to escape, he fights Yokyok.(http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0348.html) I'm new to DnD, so I can't tell you what sort of stats to give him, but I'll just say this: make him one tough little Kobold. Yokyok of course wants to get revenge for the power-gamer killing his father a long time ago (surely he's killed a Kobold before...) and possesses the keys to the cages that contain the rest of the party. Should he defeat Yokyok, he can save his friends (though I doubt he will...), and if he loses, Yokyok releases them since he accomplished his mission.

Now, should he survive the Kobolds and Yokyok, have him get ambushed and raped by Robo-Paladin a short time afterwards, before he has a chance to heal and stuff. :smallbiggrin:

[BRC]

My serious advice: talk to him out of game, say somthing along the lines of
"hey, your powergaming isn't making this very much fun for everybody else. I'll give you an opprotunity to replace your character with somthing less munchkiny, and we can keep playing."

If he says no, or says yes and dosn't do anything, break out the Robocop.

[Tsotha-lanti]

Hitpoints or no. Getting stabbed in the throat when sleeping kills anyone.

Except that's not how the game works. Survived the coup de grace of "having your throat cut" ? The killer's hand slipped, the blade grazed your neck open badly, you're bleeding, but you're also awake and angry. And so on.

Hit points reflect so much more than blood loss, shock, and tissue damage. It also covers luck and destiny.


Also, trying to solve issues with players by punishing their characters is stupid on some many levels. Problems with players need to be spoken about. If the problem cannot be solved, the troublemaker is told not to come back next time you play.

[DrizztFan24]

PGer begins to slay kobolds left and right while the rest of the party in being dragged off. What the PG doesn't know is that the kobolds cannot speak to the players and are trying to help them. They are fleeing from something and are attempting to drag the players away from the danger (angry dragon down the corridor?). Then the PG is killing innocents attempting to help him. By now he should be swiming to stay afloat. He loses his paladinocity and drowns as a pally gone way wrong. Since he is dead he can't decide to go blackguard and continue his spree.

Actually that might be his plan, the level after he loses his "hoodness" he is going to go blackguard.

[The Sandman]

Tell him about this great god he can worship named Aoskar. If necessary, use Portal references to convince him of the sheer coolness of the stuff you get from worshiping the God of Portals.

Then have the first portal his character makes or uses dump him into Sigil. :smallamused:

[Khanderas]

Except that's not how the game works. Survived the coup de grace of "having your throat cut" ? The killer's hand slipped, the blade grazed your neck open badly, you're bleeding, but you're also awake and angry. And so on.

Hit points reflect so much more than blood loss, shock, and tissue damage. It also covers luck and destiny.


Also, trying to solve issues with players by punishing their characters is stupid on some many levels. Problems with players need to be spoken about. If the problem cannot be solved, the troublemaker is told not to come back next time you play.
I know that is not the RAW, but this is the DM who is planning this. I'm sure he can make it float.

True, but most people suggest evil in character things to do, because the OP asked for a way to kill him off, also it is kinda boring after a while to suggest talking to him. More flare in having him killed in some gruesome way.

[Animefunkmaster]

Or as an alternative, if you have tome of battle.

Have some Valkeries show up, have them notice the strength of the character and shower him with riches and complements, ask him to return with them so that other valkeries may bask in his greatness (since valkeries are all about glorious combat). The Valkeries then lock him in a giant arena (maybe antimagic field the place because the valkeries want a fair fight) and send monster after monster at this guy (When he dies, he should die at least once, have a valkerie cleric raise him to fight again). The rest of the party has to rescue him... theoretically the party has the upper hand now, and could leave him for dead/undeath.

Edit: Second thought (a very cunning DM did this to me). One of the NPCs he killed was a skilled necromancer (maybe?). His soul is twisted and corrupted durring death making him a ghost. The ghost then raises a small undead army for which he lays out plans to torture the player in question. He posits his death was unjust and has some repercussions to various lawful entities. He requests that as just thing to do would be to confront the PC and ask him why he was slain. The lawful beings will agree and send out emissaries to find this person and bring him back. If the first ones are slain (they will start with a diplomatic route) then income inevitable, angels, or possibly an Aleax (maybe from a lesser deity). Long story short he should be captured and the party should be kept out of it (walls of force, hold person, stunning, whatever it takes). Once back the ghost will kill the lawfull emissaries and take you back to be tortured (tortured, killed raised, rinse and repeat). PCs try and save him while he tries to escape.

[Yahzi]

A high-level paladin comes into town to check up on things. You know... the local hero. Let the entire party know just how heroic he is. Then, if they start trouble, let'em die.

They'll appreciate the next game that much more.

:smallbiggrin:

[FlyMolo]

Inevitables are designed for this sort of thing. Get him cursed to eternal life, then send a marut after the bastard.

Scary! They walk at you. Forever. Till they find you. Then they use wall of force, chain lightning, and circle of death to cut you off, kill your powerful buddies, and nuke your minions, respectively. Then he beats the everloving crap out of you.

[Tsotha-lanti]

I know that is not the RAW, but this is the DM who is planning this. I'm sure he can make it float.

So why the hell do they need advice? "You died of cancer" is just as fair, dramatically appropriate, and makes as much sense as "You were killed in your sleep."

And it still doesn't resolve anything, because the player can just make a new character and continue being a ****. The only thing that's changed is that now the DM is a **** too, and the player knows it. That's a lose-lose situation.

[Koji]

To smother someone with a pillow, you'd approach their sleeping form (move silently check vs listen with a HUGE penalty, like -10 or so), then grapple him, pin him, and use the pillow to smother him.


Damage Your Opponent

While grappling, you can deal damage to your opponent equivalent to an unarmed strike. Make an opposed grapple check in place of an attack. If you win, you deal nonlethal damage as normal for your unarmed strike (1d3 points for Medium attackers or 1d2 points for Small attackers, plus Strength modifiers). If you want to deal lethal damage, you take a -4 penalty on your grapple check.

I would give the attacker one or two rounds to automatically succeed on grapple checks, to represent him catching the defender off guard. The pillow might grant him a circumstance bonus on his attacks.

Obviously, a better way to go is to use a weapon and coup de grace him, or tie him up while he's asleep. DM fiat is also an option.

...all this is pointless, though, as you are trying to punish a player by attacking his character. If you are not comfortable with the level of hack and slash he is providing, stop giving EXP on a by monster basis--give it for advancing the plot or doing sidequests or extra cool roleplay stuff. The player is behaving like he's playing Grand Theft Auto Neverwinter because he's probably a little bored. Enemies don't have to face him directly, or stick around to accept his challenges.

Unless he's just a sociopath, he'll have more fun if you show him a potential prize, then remove it and use an enemy to snatch it away. This will create a motivation for the player to send his character to hunt down the bad guy and kill him, and when he does so, he'll be a lot more satisfied than when he murdered random villager #12.

[icefractal]

Don't go with the "random inevitable attacks" thing, or even worse, the "you drown in kobold blood" thing. Seriously, WTF? :smallannoyed: It may seem like just desserts, but honestly, if you do this, you're being an ass.

I mean, imagine that you're playing D&D. You don't even know that the way you play is annoying the DM, because he prefers "solving" it in-game to actually talking about it. Then suddenly, the DM says something patently ridiculous like "you cut the goblin's head off with so much force that a bone fragment bounces off the wall and flies into your throat, killing you." Are you going to think: "I should try to be a better player", or are you going to think "WTF? This DM is crazy."


There are three ways to solve this:
1) The Right Way - Just talk to the damn player already. This is probably the only way that will result in actual improvement. But if you're pathologically incapable of doing so, there's ...

2) The Fast Way - Literally have a god appear and smite the character in question. Don't even pretend this is a fair fight or random chance, because it isn't - you want the character dead. With any luck, the player will see that you're gunning for him and quit the game. But if you think you can solve this "in character", there's ...

3) The "Realistic" Way - News of this character's psychotic nature spreads. Kingdoms across the land declare him a Nemesis, meaning they consider him to be the same as a marauding monster like a dragon. So villages will be evacuated when he approaches, adventurers will be hired to slay him, and the more powerful kingdoms may try sending assassins or laying traps. Also, since he's no longer considered a person, any crime against him is legal, so the more enterprising thieves may try robbing him (again, much like a dragon). See how long the rest of the party sticks around when nobody will trade with or talk to them. This may just encourage him to act the part of a monster, in which case see way #1.

[Tiki Snakes]

Personally, having just picked up a second hand copy of the ADnD Ravenloft, I would suggest that, next time the party travels from anywhere to anywhere else, he gets seperated from the rest by a strange Fog. Have him roll some survival checks (In attempting to find his party, which will fail.) Eventually he realises he is somewhere else *entirely*.

He's in the aforementioned, inescapable demi-plane of horror and inevitable nastiness. Feel free to fade either to black, or to being-eaten-by-a-million-werewolves at your choice.

Cut back to the rest of the party, mists clearing, no sign of their 'Dangerous' mate.


Seriously though? Talk first. Minor in-game repercussions following, eventually leading up to something like above or the throat-slitting.

For extra options, make him roll lots of inexplicable will-saves. Every one or two he fails, he becomes a little more 'Corrupted', picking up deformities and/or penalties that may or may not be entirely obvious to him at the time.
(In the 2nd edition ravenloft thingy i bought, there were some great suggestions of 'Rewards' and 'Penalties' for doing really evil stuff whilst in Ravenloft. The negatives on their own would be perfect for this. They start as compulsions and minor things, gradually growing into black-outs and uncontrolled activities, essentially climaxing in becoming a full blown NPC and in Ravenloft, possibly also one of those Domain-Lord guys.)

Question; When you say he is bullying the other players, did you mean In-character, his threatens theirs, to get his way, or out-of-character, the player threatens to kill their PC's if they don't do as he wants? If it's the latter, well. He's just got to go, really.

[Konig]

He wakes up with a celestial standing in his room, "You have far too much blood on your hand, and I have been dispatched to rectify the situation and lead you to the path of being the hero you were destined to become.

"I have dosed you with a ravage called Conscience. I leave it to you to discover the effects."

--

A bit heavy handed, but it should get the point across. Effectively a poison that causes his power to wane as he commits more inappropriate deeds. When he does something that detracts from the game, he temporarily loses stat points and feats (roll to determine which. If he loses stats or feats that mean he no longer has prerequisites for other powers or feats, he loses those too).

If he complains, show him a list of every NPC and every evil deed you can recall. Ask him, honestly, how many good aligned enemies he probably has at this point. Does he really, truly find it surprising that one of these enemies put him in this situation?

Give him ways out, but use the situations to hammer it all in.

"An atonement spell will cleanse the ravage from you... but the local high priest is angry because of rumors that you killed his cousin."

"There is an antidote. It requires fifty tears of thanks and a token of amends for at least one in ten evil deed you committed."

[Aquillion]

Oh, for heaven's sakes. Ignore all the people giving you various ways to kill him. That won't help; he'll just roll up another character and be just as much trouble (more, because now he'll be annoyed.)

Talk to him out of character. Talk to the rest of the group, too, and see if this is really a problem. (If they're all having fun, it's no big deal -- maybe they just want to do a psychopath campaign, there's not anything necessarily wrong with that as long as the DM can cope. Of course, if he's threatening to kill party members, it probably is a problem.)

If it is a problem, and he won't back down, you only have a few options. You can tell him to stop coming to your games. You can try and find a compromise. Or the DM can throw up their hands and try to write campaigns where it doesn't matter if NPCs get slaughtered. At the end of the day, the game has to be fun for everyone involved... if you can't compromise with him, and he won't compromise with you, your only real option is to kick him out.

What good would killing him do? The game isn't real life; unless you're going to refuse to let him roll another character (see 'tell him not to come back', above) it's no solution at all.

Another idea: Maybe drop some artifacts specific to the other party members. It sounds like part of the problem is that he's just dominating them completely... if even one of them (the most level-headed, hopefully) got a major plot artifact specific to them, that could maybe calm things down, since they could keep him in line. Of course, that can lead to even more problems, but if the player receiving the artifact is a good one it doesn't have to.

[Wender]

If he does not, Robocop (epic-level paladin with full plate of +5 DM Fiat) beats him and any party members foolish enough to help him into the ground. He wraps the powergamer in anti-magic chains. Any party members that wake up are let go on account of being coerced into helping, if any of them help robocop, then he rewards them with the powergamer's gold and items.

Bonus: Said paladin's name is "Miko."

Seriously, though, this is a player problem, so talk to the player. If this is the only way he can play then disinvite him. If he agrees to change then give him a bye on past deeds, but start to implement the "realistic" option: alignment shifts, people out for both justice and vengeance either going after him themselves or hiring proxies. For added pathos, send a poor old weeping mother whose only son he killed who has no levels, no armor, no combat ability, nothing but an improvised weapon, but who still throws herself recklessly at him and refuses to give up because she has nothing left to live for anyway. If he still doesn't get the message, disinvite him.

[EagleWiz]

A god/Pun-Pun shows up, admits his power and tells him that he is so powerfull that he might be a threat.
Then he gets killed, rolls up another overpowered charactor and gets killed in same proces.
Repeat untill he stops being an a-hole

[UserClone]

Has he killed any beggars? Introduce him to Erbin (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20020406a).:smallamused:

[Bosaxon]

Send an Inigo Montoya after him.

Build an uber character on par if not stronger than the problem player's, bent on revenge toward that one character. No risk to the other party members, fits logically into the storyline.

"My name is <insert name.> You killed my <relation.> Prepare to die!"