Powerplayers

[bargle0]

We don't hate Scrubb, but he has forced us in a stalemate.

There is nothing overpowered about this character. His power selection is legal, as far as I can tell: he has at least one psion and one wizard power for each type of power. Even his wizard dailies are not that encounter-breaking unless you get unlucky with the saving throws. The only real power combo that he has going on with his equipment/feats/powers is a Staff of Ruin (SoR) combined with Dual Implement Spellcaster (DIS) and the Siberys Shard of the Mage (SSotM).

There are some things you should check with this character:

1) He should not be quadruple-dipping on the enhancement bonus with DIS + SoR. At best, he should get a triple-dip when dual wielding the staff as an implement, but only on wizard powers:

+3 enhancement
+3 item (SoR)
+3 untyped (DIS, dual-wielding the staff as an implement)
+6 or 7 intelligence
+2 implement focus
+3 untyped (SSotM)
-------------
+20 or +21 to damage, total, for wizard powers

2) He does not get DIS with Psion powers, since they are not arcane:

+3 enhancement
+3 item (SoR)
+6 or 7 intelligence
+2 implement focus
+3 untyped (SSotM)
--------------
+17 or +18 to damage, total, for psion powers

He'd also get +3 damage from the guardian staff superior implement property on Cranial Disturbance and Telekinetic Maul.

His bonus to hit should be something like this:

+3 enhancement
+2 feat (Staff Expertise)
+6 or +7 intelligence
+7 half level
---------------
+18 or +19 to hit

At best, he's hitting an on-level average monster 70% of the time, which is good but not game breaking.

As suggested by other people, it sounds like Scrubb might be playing funny games with the rules. I'd be interested in hearing what he does that you perceive as broken since he may be outright cheating. I'm also interested in his bonuses to hit and damage, since he may just be doing the math wrong.

If he's not actually cheating, I think that you and the other players are overreacting. I have further thoughts on this matter, but I will keep them to myself until we find out what it is that Scrubb is actually doing.

 

[chitzk0i]

Look at it this way: he could be using Arcane Admixture and Enlarge Spell to make Winged Horde a burst 3. Or he could be a gnome psion that's adding slide 5 to any at-will attack he makes while hidden.

 

[Reffy]

Wow, thanks for all the replies. I saw some very interesting things mentioned:

He's not overpowered at all.

I said this because I had no clue what type of encounters I should make. The artillery/lurker focusfire on the wizard is indeed a good suggestion. I'm not trying to 'beat' the group, but I want to make it challenging.
But an adventure with mostly artillery encounters is kind of lame...

You're overreacting.

True, that's why I joined this forum, for advice. I play D&D for like...3 months at most.

You should find another player, not every player is compitable for every group.

True, but we are also friends. It's below the belt to play without him, we all like the game.

With this new information, I know what to do to make it a fun game for everyone.

I will look at his character because I think he has his math wrong.

One question: Do hybrids really need to choose about 50/50 between their powers? So in this case, 50% should be wizard powers and the other 50% psion?

EDIT: [MENTION=59879]Nork[/MENTION]: Indeed, calling someone a scrub, isn't very classy. It was a good thing I joined this forum.

 

[Nork]

Yea, I don't see anything out of the normal for that character. The only nit-pick would be the Eberron mark feat and dragon shard magic item if your not playing in Eberron (although the CB will let you use them on any character).

Are you sure that you don't simply dislike controllers? Controllers by design tell the DM "no" and gimp their encounters. Sometimes DMs are not used to being told no.

Are you letting them take extended rests too often? If you let a controller extended rest after every fight, they are just going to dump daily powers non-stop and put your monsters into gridlock.

Honestly, based on what you've presented it doesn't seem like the player is doing anything that should be causing a problem. If a problem exists I'd look elsewhere.

Also, calling him Scrub doesn't come across as being terribly classy.

 

[Matt James]

I would focus more on ways to challenge his build via gameplay than outright kick him out. Everyone plays this game for different reasons and everyone derives their enjoyment in an equally diverse manner. Going only off what you wrote and your demeanor towards him, my advice would be for him to find a better group to play with.

 

[Riastlin]

True, that's why I joined this forum, for advice. I play D&D for like...3 months at most.

This is likely your problem. You've played for 3 months but are running 14th level characters. PCs and monsters get much more complex as you level up, particularly as you move up into a new tier.

Did you start out at Paragon? If so this may have a lot to do with everyone's issues. Even experienced players may take a while to adjust to a paragon tier character if they didn't work him up from level 1.

As the DM, this can be really hard too since your players have so many more options (especially control options) that if you are not prepared for them can make life difficult. Honestly, I would give some thought to starting a new campaign from level 1 or 2. This will help everybody out. A and B can get a better feel for their characters (including how they interact with player C). You can get a feel for the PCs as well and as they get more options and start throwing more things at you it will still be a little at a time so it will make it easier to adjust to.

Just some food for thought.

edit: Good points [MENTION=1958]matt[/MENTION]_James we too often focus on the other guys rather than looking in the mirror. Thanks for pointing it out. Deserves XP but alas, I must spread some XP lovin first.

 

[Herschel]

True, that's why I joined this forum, for advice. I play D&D for like...3 months at most.

Erm, 3 months and you're at 14th level? Here might be the issue. New players starting at high levels is kind of harsh in 4E. There's a whole lot going on and it's far easier to grow a character organically from first level and have a better grasp of how the game works than jumping in to higher level play. Heck, even when I need a higher level character for a one-shot I find I have a better feel for the character if I know where I want to be but start him at level one, look him over, level to two, repeat, level to three, etc. rather than do a hyper dump in to the full level if it's a character class I haven't played before.

And that's just from the character side. From the DM standpoint, there's a boatload going on even at low levels and trying to deal with paragon shenanigans before you're ready is a nightmare.

 

[aurance]

I agree the character looks just fine, power-wise. If this character is hurting your game, your encounters may need a bit of tweaking.

Ultimately of course it's your call, but in the interests of fairness you should probably take a good long look at your game knowledge and encounter building before you make that call.

 

[Kerranin]

There are some inconsistencies:

Powers
7 are wizard, 3 Psion and I don't know where 'Thunder Ether' is from.
From a variety of sources including PHB, PHB3, Essentials, Red Box, Dragon & AP.

Background
This background is from the scales of war campaign - if you aren't running that he shouldn't have it - if you are running SoW, then all the Eberron material should be excluded.

Feat
I think dual implement spellcaster is OP but as long as the orb is in the off-hand the feat says you get to add its enhancement bonus to damage for arcane attack powers.
Mark of Scribing - only allowed in the Eberron setting, which Scales of War is not.

Items
Feytouched armour (Manual of the Planes - allow this?)
Deep Pocket cloak (AV2)
Guardian Staff of Ruin (AV - note guardian staff does extra damage for force attacks only)
Orb of Heightened Imposition (AV2)
Diamond Cincture (AV2)
Foe Stone (AV)
Dragon Shard (Eberron setting)
Ioun's Revelation (DMG2, divine boon) - Divine boon can only be awarded by the DM, not bought by the player.

Gosh, I really was bored.

 

[BobTheNob]

Ooo, this old nugget. After decades of playing D&D with the same guys, we have had one player who is exactly as you describe. But as I said...decades! We are all old friends, and truth is, I have had to walk softly around this issue.

I have brought up before with him the effect this has when one character completely outshines his comrades. Its not only an issue of encounter balancing, its an issue of the other players enjoyment as their players get marginalized. Dont underestimate the effect this can have on the group.

Our campaign ended recently, after over two years of play! I found a rather novel solution. I personally aided everyone except the powerplayer in putting together the best tweaked characters they could. So rather than pulling the power player down, I lifted everyone else up (within the theme they wanted their characters to be). Then, after everyone the character they wanted at the best possible config they could have, we had a level playing field

I had to make encounters harder than I would have otherwise, but it worked.