stupidity and monte haul gaming

[fl8m]

I was hoping somebody might be able to give me a bit of advice.
I'm currently running a game with 2 other people, a human 15 rogue/5 paladin and a dwarf,weretiger fighter 12/barbarian 2/ weaponmaster 2. Now in my fear that they would be easily destroyed by the campaign i've run i gave them quite a bit of magic. and i'm having quite a challenge giving them a challenge.

as a basic run down the dwarven fighter has +3 medium fortification, hasted mithrial full plate, a +5 keen, acidic burst, human bane greataxe. the rogue has an intellegent +5 keen, flaming burst, holy rapier, and is wearing +4 hasted, shadowed, silent moves mithrial chainmail armor. they also have a variety of random magic items, a ring of invisibility, a cloak of charisma, a belt of giant strength..

i hate to just take it away and say "oops i gave you to much stuff" but i'm actually having trouble finding stuff that can hurt them much less give them a challenge. can anybody help a dm who's a wee bit to generous? thanks

 

[Green Blade]

One word.... Tarrasque

Or how about this one, a 25 level Lich Necromancer whose Phylactery contains the Tarrasque.

Or, if you own Manual of the Planes, send them to the plane of fire, or earth, or negative energy, or water, or the abyss, or the nine hells.

There is never a lack of ways for a DM to kill, err, I mean challenge his players.

Just keep this one thing in mind. A god has alot more hit points than a 20th level human whatever. Even a really dorky god.

 

[Black Omega]

It's a tough situation. One of them reasons I've been going conservative in my game is precisely because it's easier to give when you are too stingy than to take away when you have been too generous.

Assuming you want to avoid just starting a new campaign, there are still a few ideas you can try. The PC's are really not high level enough for all that magic. Have a devious, higher level group decide to take it away from them for themselves. Devious ambushes, anti-magic fields to cancel the effects of the magic items, or even luring the group to an area where magic doesn't work takes away the huge edge given by the items.

Of course, depending on your group, this might not sit well with the players who have had it easy so far.

 

[fba827]

Step 1: Make two photocopies of each of the PC's character sheets (you should end up with 4 sheets of your own at the end)

Step 2: Add 1d4 levels to each of your sheets

Step 3: Change names, genders, and a couple of feats or skill distributions or equipment on each

You now have 4 NPCs that start off AT LEAST as powerful as the PCs

(Of course, I'm big on enemies being people rather than monsters...)

But, as an alternate to the above - an alternate that will give your PCs a little more of a fighting chance and will save you from having to give them even more magic weapons if/when they win...

Start out as before, but don't make any changes. Basically, there are 2 'shadows' (clones/whatever) of each of them that must be defeated. Of course, once defeated, they (and their equpment) disapear so that can easily avoid the situation of giving them more stuff.

Couple other options:
1) Magic-using enemies. They can be annoying and you don't have to give magic items at the end (since the arsenal would have been spells)
2) Have a theif steal some of the precious items. While they may be able to recover the items, it does present the possibility for them to do things for at least a couple sessions without said items. The theif doesn't have to steal all of the 'big magic items' but a couple of the major ones should suffice. It would allow them to rely on other resources/abilities at their disposal and would allow you to be able to offer a couple more challenges
3) A powerful enemy (who really really really doesn't like them) casts a wish or miracle spell that either reduces the ability of their weapons/armor (defenses/offenses) or perhaps dispells all magic, permently or not?, on them.
4)Shift focus of campaign from encounters that can be won by force to onces that require other... for instance, run a couple sessions where diplomacy is the key. Or perhaps they gain a seat on a Kingdom's council and get involved in politics (even if just a side-line activity from adventuring) - not all people are up to this type of session though... some of the best sessions i've been part of never involved a single melee combat... lots of skill checks though

so maybe the ideas aren't great but maybe they'll get some thought process going

Just keep in mind, whatever you do, do not actually make it a no win situation for the PCs if you do deminish (either by taking away via NPC or whatever) their resources. It might just frustrate them.

 

[madriel]

Could you give us some details about the campaign? Do they have powerful enemies, is there a war going on, etc? Why were they supposed to have these powerful items storywise?

My DM was running a Warhammer Fantasy campaign about 5 or 6 years ago and our party accumulated too many magic items to make things truly challenging, so I know what you're talking about. He stripped us of our excess magic items using the ongoing story of the campaign.

There's a number of ideas I could suggest. Powerful enemies hiring agents to steal or destroy their items, their church telling them they have cursed items that must be destroyed or long-lost relatives turning up to say that grandfather's sword was left to them.

Do something story related to take away their over powered items. Our DM did and our search for the stuff in little more than the clothes on our back and some *ahem* borrowed equipment turned out to be the best session that group ever had.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I'd handle this in two steps.

Step 1: Destroy everything. Mordenkainen's Dysjunction works perfectly.

Step 2: After you've destroyed it all, replace their lost gear with what you think is an appropriate level of magic.

A simple way to do this would be a vault that has a trap which activates the Dysjunction. Then you put whatever gear you want them to have inside the vault. They lose the old stuff and get the new stuff, all at the same time...

 

[MythandLore]

I'd handle this in two steps.

Step 1: Destroy everything. Mordenkainen's Dysjunction works perfectly.

Step 2: After you've destroyed it all, replace their lost gear with what you think is an appropriate level of magic.

A simple way to do this would be a vault that has a trap which activates the Dysjunction. Then you put whatever gear you want them to have inside the vault. They lose the old stuff and get the new stuff, all at the same time...

Mordenkainen's Dysjunction doesn't work as well as it used to.

Just use dragons, lots of dragons, lots of dragons can kill lots of parties.

 

[hong]

I'd handle this in two steps.

Step 1: Destroy everything. Mordenkainen's Dysjunction works perfectly.

You misspelled "disjunction". Although "Mordenkainen's Dysfunction" sounds like an incredibly cool spell, even if I'm not entirely sure right now what it should do.

 

[MythandLore]

Although "Mordenkainen's Dysfunction" sounds like an incredibly cool spell, even if I'm not entirely sure right now what it should do.

I think your onto something, what about "Mordenkainen's Oddfunction" that could be cool.
Or "Mordenkainen's Funkyfunction"
Or "Mordenkainen's Wrongjunction"
Or "Mordenkainen's Lil'munchkin"
Or "Mordenkainen's Stinny Frog Cheese"
Well I not quite sure about that last one.

 

[hong]

Mordenkainen's Dysfunction

Mordenkainen's Dysfunction

Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Wiz/Sor 9
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Medium (100 ft + 10 ft/level)
Targets: Up to 10 creatures, no two of which may be more than 30 ft apart
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

Mordenkainen's dysfunction turns a party against itself, making friends into enemies and enemies into friends. Those affected see their closest friends as their worst enemies, and vice-versa.

Material component: a bottle of wine and a pinch of white powder