Full-strength fighter question

[Sodainacan]

So I'm DMing for only about the 2nd time ever, and i have played with my group of friends for a few campaigns now with 3.5e. One of them is always, without fail, a fighter or barbarian with 17-18 STR, and some kind of 2-handed weapon. He gets all the feats to go along with his build, and seems to be confident only HE can kill monsters effectively. I'm trying to keep the other players interested, but it seems he saps some of the fun away just because he never lets them deal damage or use their skills effectively because of his brute force approach.

My question is, is there a simple way to help the other players who are not fully strength-based tackle encounters without being overshadowed by Mr. Kills-a-lot? Thanks in advance.

 

[Diamond Cross]

Whatever you do don't allow mages. They are inherently superior to fighters in all things, and you don't need fighters when you have mages.

 

[SuperJebba]

These are just some ideas off the top of my head:

1. Fight ghosts or other incorpereal creatures for the 50% miss chance.

2. Fight flying creatures so he can't reach them and forces him to find another method.

3. Make trap encounters. Something like a moving wall pushing the players towards a pit with a beholder at the bottom and on the other side of the pit is an illusory wall with something else behind it. These kind of encounters allow other roles to shine.

4. Come up with more tactical encounters. Put the enemy on higher ground. Have the bad guys use more teamwork to trip him or bull rush him grapple him. This will take his big stick out of combat.

Obviously don't do this for every encounter, but put them in there so other people have a chance to shine.

 

[Sodainacan]

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[bobhayes]

My question is, is there a simple way to help the other players who are not fully strength-based tackle encounters without being overshadowed by Mr. Kills-a-lot? Thanks in advance.

Short and sweet: Hold Person is a 2nd level spell, and smart enemy clerics know that fighters have crappy Will saves.

Long: If a player's character is unbalanced, there are a lot of ways to approach it. Here are a few.

If the player is not a jerk (sounds like your guy is a jerk) then the best approach is to help the other players design their characters to be more effective, and - especially if they're newer to the game - help them to explore the ways in which their characters are superior to the Uberdude. Have most of your adventures include at least one encounter which is simply not solvable by melee combat - you have to convince the much-more-powerful warrior (the one ten levels higher, who could break your fighter in two using his bare hands) to grant the party access to the crypts with Diplomacy or guile, you have to fight the flying-monkey bowmen of the dark lord, you have to scale Mt. Slippery, you have to defeat the mystic mage of the mountains who is effectively immune to weapon damage but quite vulnerable to spells.


If the player IS a jerk, then you get to have a little bit of fun. Make the recurring villains in the campaign be the Clever Clerics of Cthulhu, so that every damn encounter he's running into fighter-targeting casters with Will-save-based powers that shut him down. Give the kobold leader enough wit that he decides to arm all his troops with slings and spears - you can even tell Mr. All-About-Me that this is BECAUSE he's so darn effective and special, the enemies realized it and are taking countermeasures.

 

[Dandu]

Whatever you do don't allow mages. They are inherently superior to fighters in all things, and you don't need fighters when you have mages.

1. Only if you know how to use them.
2. Even then, you probably want someone around to deal damage, since using spell slots to do it is usually inefficient. (Ignore if my mages, you included Clerics and Druids.)

My question is, is there a simple way to help the other players who are not fully strength-based tackle encounters without being overshadowed by Mr. Kills-a-lot? Thanks in advance.

Grease him.

 

[Sodainacan]

If the player IS a jerk, then you get to have a little bit of fun. Make the recurring villains in the campaign be the Clever Clerics of Cthulhu, so that every damn encounter he's running into fighter-targeting casters with Will-save-based powers that shut him down. Give the kobold leader enough wit that he decides to arm all his troops with slings and spears - you can even tell Mr. All-About-Me that this is BECAUSE he's so darn effective and special, the enemies realized it and are taking countermeasures.

Oh man this made my night; not to sound mean but he's very cocky and tends to try to take all the credit. This sounds like a very devious and hilarious way to deal with the problem. Thanks a bunch!

 

[Dandu]

Actually, come to think of it, there's an entire guide that points out how to shove it to beatsticks.

 

[Icyshadowlord]

I think that while you should make it more enjoyable for the whole group by setting enemies up in situations more plausible for them, you should also be careful not to make the Fighter feel discriminated.

Like, if you make five encounters in a row where the Fighter is more or less useless, he is bound to complain about it while watching the mages and Rogues doing everything. Of course, I doubt that this will really be a problem as balancing encounters isn't that difficult.

 

[R-Hero]

So I'm DMing for only about the 2nd time ever, and i have played with my group of friends for a few campaigns now with 3.5e. One of them is always, without fail, a fighter or barbarian with 17-18 STR.

Attack with any spell that needs a Reflex or a Will save.
Something like Ego Whip vs a low Int.

and some kind of 2-handed weapon..

Sunder, Grapple and Remove said 2H weapon, Grease Spell makes it harder to hold on to.
Heat Metal and he'll drop it on his own.

He gets all the feats to go along with his build, and seems to be confident only HE can kill monsters effectively.

Incorporeal creatures are 50-50% vs weapons, Force Effects, like Magic Missle hit every time.

I'm trying to keep the other players interested, but it seems he saps some of the fun away just because he never lets them deal damage or use their skills effectively because of his brute force approach.

Put him in an enviroment that hampers or negates these feats.
Mounted combat feats are usless with a disabled Mount.
Fast Movement feats are weaker on uneven terrain or ice.

My question is, is there a simple way to help the other players who are not fully strength-based tackle encounters without being overshadowed by Mr. Kills-a-lot? Thanks in advance.

A target out of reach needs missle attacks, magic attacks or even something as simple as a flight spell to engage. Last time I checked a fighter cant cast fly upon himself, (most of the time anyway)

It sounds like the player is the real issue. Does he know he is sucking the fun out of the game? Talk with him and the group. See what the majority think of the situatuion.

He is not a party of one. Eventually he'll need healing, a lock opened, emergency transportation or a really big damage-dealing spell to get the large grappling monster off of him.