old great and short lizard in cowboy boots. Please tells how?
I have bumped hit points, damage per round, and # enemies. And had them target the PG. Result. More xp per encounter for pcs.
I have shifted focus so the non PG and shine and the PG then tries to turn every encounter into a combat/what ever his build focuses on encounter.
My solution has been talk with the player. And if they don't power down. Do nothing. Or ban the player.
Send me his build plus what's going on in your campaign in brief via PM and I'll give you some ideas that are directly applicable.
Generally, dealing with any given build and any given power gamer is specific to the campaign he or she is playing in. Just because you have a powergamer doesn't mean that it's a problem.
Step 0 - Be sure you have a real problem. Talking isn't always the best idea. Having stats is. (how he's rolling in combat, average damage per turn, is it area or single target etc What are his combos.)
First, you have to be willing to scale the encounters to the power gamer's build and increase the risk of death for everyone else at the table -
Second, you have to be willing to expand the campaign into the political and social role-playing areas that may not play to the strengths of the power gamer.
Third, you have to be willing to explore the concept of consequences. A power gamer inevitably causes problems in the game world. This ties back to the second point.
Fourth, you have to be willing to balance things out. Ex. Giving a PG more magic and more toys until you figure out how to address the problem is not a good idea.
Dealing with a power gamer is NOT a pure combat fix. However, it can be helped by not forgetting about other areas of the game and having a good grasp of probability and stats. Last time I ran in a Pathfinder group as a player I essentially gave the GM a chart with all of the parties average damage per turn, average armor and general probabilities to hit. Turned out we were optimized to be three levels over standard as a party. Next game we had a really hard time winning, which was what everyone wanted.
So I'd say the most important thing here is this: Make sure your group is ok with the challenge level of the game after you fix it. While you may be correcting things in favor of a better game, it's not a better game unless everyone keeps showing up.
KB