D&D 3.x (3.5) Problem player and campaign issues

[Itamu]

I say give them a room they can't teleport into or out of with a DC 20+ resetting trap on the door that won't open until they disarm the trap, that'll throw them for a loop for a while.

 

[Jhaelen]

The Assassin can do 28d6 of sneak attack on a full attack - he has to always hit, sure.

Yawn. There's tons of monsters that are immune to precision/critical damage. The assassin is clearly the least problem.

The White Dragon, my bad. It was the Old age category, CR 15. I didn't want to play him fully prepared because the last one I had played that way killed the Dread and I don't want to always kill PCs

Umm, well, what do you want then?

If you want challenging combats it's almost impossible to avoid that some of them will die from time to time.

If the cleric in my game wasn't paying attention, I'd have two or three dead pcs every session. And if he's doing his job, he's getting into danger (like last session when he was killed by efreet fighters after they realized he was the healer: Three efreet with three attacks each, dealing 4d6+26 on a crit for a potential total of 36d6+234 damage).

Really, I think you don't know what you want. One the one hand you're complaining the pcs are too strong, on the other hand you are holding yourself back when designing encounters.

 

[green slime]

Yawn. There's tons of monsters that are immune to precision/critical damage. The assassin is clearly the least problem.
Umm, well, what do you want then?

If you want challenging combats it's almost impossible to avoid that some of them will die from time to time.

If the cleric in my game wasn't paying attention, I'd have two or three dead pcs every session. And if he's doing his job, he's getting into danger (like last session when he was killed by efreet fighters after they realized he was the healer: Three efreet with three attacks each, dealing 4d6+26 on a crit for a potential total of 36d6+234 damage).

Really, I think you don't know what you want. One the one hand you're complaining the pcs are too strong, on the other hand you are holding yourself back when designing encounters.

I agree totally.

Characters are going to die, once beyond 10th level: because high level combat is swingy: winning the initiative is paramount, and with the amount of damage being dealt, you rarely get down to single digit hp (and that oops, dangerous feeling you had at level 5): you go from 40-50+ to below -10 in less than a single round, easily. At high level, its "Oooops! Combat = dangerous"

That or the battles are walkovers. The answer, I have found, which places a large burden on the DM, is massed combats, with large numbers of foes. As a DM, it is easier to run a single opponent. But they no longer make the grade. Precisely because of the massive damage output a single hit incurs.

I hve often challenged 10+ level parties with massed combats involving up to 100 combatants.

 

[krupintupple]

Well the Psion is able to dish out 150 energy damage per turn maximum (37d6+37). Save for half, but it's a horribly high save and almost always Reflexes.

just noticed this. refresh me on how he's able to toss so many d6's as a 13th level psion? typically, unless i've seriously misunderstood some things, a psion cannot spend more than their manifester level on a single power (barring really specialized events or items) ever. i'm not being critical or anything, just curious is more like it.

i ask because this might be where some of the headache is coming from. before i had a grip on 3e psionics as a DM, i was accidentally letting a psion in my game completely ruin everything.

edit:
read the bit about schism. not to be a wanker, but i'd definitely not allow the psion to apply practiced spellcaster to his manifestations, because psionics are definitely not spells!

also, how many psionic focuses does the psion have? you need to spend your focus to overchannel, but also to quicken. by my math, he can do either or, but not both. moreover, to regain a focus mid-combat is a full-round action - not very smart mid-battle. again, i've skimmed the forums, so i might've missed some integral bits regarding how he's doing this.

 

[Eldritch_Lord]

edit:
read the bit about schism. not to be a wanker, but i'd definitely not allow the psion to apply practiced spellcaster to his manifestations, because psionics are definitely not spells!

also, how many psionic focuses does the psion have? you need to spend your focus to overchannel, but also to quicken. by my math, he can do either or, but not both. moreover, to regain a focus mid-combat is a full-round action - not very smart mid-battle. again, i've skimmed the forums, so i might've missed some integral bits regarding how he's doing this.

The OP already mentioned that the psion has Psicrystal Containment (he has "that other focus feat"), and he likely has Psionic Meditation as well to refresh as a move action. There's a Practiced Manifester feat in CPsi, so that works out.

It's apparent that the PCs are playing by the rules (minus a custom item or two, I think); the problem is that even challenging them within the rules is hard.

 

[krupintupple]

ah, i knew it might've been something along that route. i mean, i was skimming but i probably should've examined the thread closer.

 

[Deset Gled]

Mucco, it's starting to sound like you're playing a different game than your players. You "don't want to be constantly challenging my players with monsters or opponents that exploit their weaknesses". Your players, on the other hand, want to exploit every possible weakness they can find in the rules and want to constantly challenge you with what you will allow. Neither method is badwrongfun, but until you and your party start playing with the same mindset, you'll never really find a comfortable space in the game.

It's worth noting that you're allowing many things that many DMs would flat out disallow, and probably some things that the rules don't allow, either. For starters, consider the Spellstitched template. This is a template designed for monsters, not for players. Note that it is listed in the Monster section of Complete Arcane, and has no Level Adjustment listed for players (not LA +0, just no listing). When previously discussed on the boards (http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-legacy-discussion/124863-spell-stitched-template.html) it was decided it should be about a +2 or +3 LA. You gave it out for $60k. Even if that's a lot of money to the player, it's ridiculously overpowered for the cost. And where the heck did they find someone willing to apply the template, anyway?

Also previously noted was the fact that the Necromancer has a set of armor that gives orders to undead for him. As mentioned by someone else, this doesn't work. The Necro has to command the undead himself. I also have to ask - where did the player go to custom order intelligent armor? And has the item's ego had any affect on the player (as it should)? Both of these examples are probably only scratching the surface of quetionable material that the group is playing with.

You also previously mentioned that forcing the party to have multiple encounters a day is really hard. This is simply not true. For starters, there are a ton of ways to prevent your players from taking the easy route and running away after every battle. More importantly, though, is the number of ways to make them not want to. Any mission that has even the slightest time-dependent goal should make your players question if they should push ahead or regroup. There could be an impending apocolypse. There could be another group of adventurers half a day behind them trying to get the gold. The enemies could respawn by the time they return, meaning they never make any forward progress unless they push through. Even worse, enemies could respawn with the knowledge of how their comrades died, meaning they now know the party's weaknesses.

 

[HoboGod]

There's also a very simple solution. If you don't want the combat to end in two rounds, don't let it. Scale the monster's HP on the fly. If they would kill your monster at double HP, bring it up to triple and the encounter keeps going! You're the DM, if there's anyone who's allowed to have unlimited power to do whatever seems fun, it's you.

 

[carmachu]

Also previously noted was the fact that the Necromancer has a set of armor that gives orders to undead for him. As mentioned by someone else, this doesn't work. The Necro has to command the undead himself. I also have to ask - where did the player go to custom order intelligent armor? And has the item's ego had any affect on the player (as it should)? Both of these examples are probably only scratching the surface of quetionable material that the group is playing with.

How amusing would it be to have the armor's ego finally break free and take control of the undead an an unopportune time? I cant see an intellegent object like that eventually not breaking free....

 

[Theroc]

How amusing would it be to have the armor's ego finally break free and take control of the undead an an unopportune time? I cant see an intellegent object like that eventually not breaking free....

That would be a good reason for the Dread to stop using it.