DM needs advice

[BobTheNob]

From one DM to another
What to do. I have a player that is our party healer, but he is speccing up into an undead smiter. I dont mind it so much except that as this character progresses, the way it smack undead is rediculous. Combination of Kelemvor as a god and radiant servant PP.

Problem is, the damn thing ends up too good. What the player isnt thinking with this that he is creating a character so potent that the net effect it is going to have is that undead encounters are either going to become irrelevent or I am going to have to make encounters artificial in nature (i.e. put in deliberate counters to the capabilities of this character) or artifically difficult (making the rest of the party irrelevent) in order for them to have any relevance.

The irony of it is that as a long term effect this will alienate undead from the campaign, thus invalidating his character. The player has stars in his eyes when he looks the the numbers, but isnt thinking about it straight.
Does anyone have experience with a similar circumstance and how have you dealt with it?

 

[Mort_Q]

Let him shine. Just make sure you let the others shine as well. What are the other PCs good at? Throw that at the party too.

 

[Halivar]

It's a trade-off, from his perspective. Undead fights are easier, and non-undead fights will be harder. Is it really necessary that all of the encounters you present have a uniform level of threat to the party?

If your solution is to take undead out of the game (thus removing the player's raison d'être), I would suggest you examine your heart in this issue. What is your goal? To tell a story centered around him? To tell a story that has nothing to do with him? To challenge him and make him improve? To kill his character? To ensure he has fun? Are the choices he is making really preventing your goals from happening? I have to admit, if you removed all undead in the game (and the story!) simply because I was too strong against them, I would infer that you were more of an adversarial DM than I would care for, and probably seek another game.

My opinion in the matter is this: as a DM, I control everything behind the screen. That's a huge responsibility, and a huge entitlement. The one thing that players really have is what's on their character sheet. Guaranteeing that players have the autonomy to decide who and what their character is can often be an essential element to the players having fun, and feeling like they are invested, and own a piece of the game (instead of just showing up for your game).

If he can beat up undead, throw more of them at him, and higher levels. Let him suffer crushing defeat, or glorious victory. With it comes the experience points and treasure that duly reward good tactics and character planning. Don't punish smart play. Reward it. What you're asking him to do now is make character planning decisions based on meta-gaming, and is not generally something a DM should encourage.

 

[BobTheNob]

....if you removed all undead in the game (and the story!) simply because I was too strong against them, I would infer that you were more of an adversarial DM than I would care for, and probably seek another game.

I thank you for your response, but take a more than a little offence at that statement. I take alot of pride in providing my players with the best game I can. If I didnt I wouldnt have made this post in the first place.

I am not an advesarial DM at all and am trying to seek a way of allowing this player his character whilst keeping an important sub-set of monsters relevant. If anything, I am trying to be non-adversarial and am seeking your advice in how to achieve this.

Pointing your finger and throwing a bad DM accusation didnt help, and certainly saying "seek another game" was really below the belt.

You have given me something. You have helped me understand how my posts can be mis-interpretted by strangers, and for that I thank you.

 

[BobTheNob]

Let him shine. Just make sure you let the others shine as well. What are the other PCs good at? Throw that at the party too.

Compared to the other post, thats a lovely response. Thank you. Maybe I am thinking about this wrong...

 

[DracoSuave]

From one DM to another
What to do. I have a player that is our party healer, but he is speccing up into an undead smiter. I dont mind it so much except that as this character progresses, the way it smack undead is rediculous. Combination of Kelemvor as a god and radiant servant PP.

The game is working as intended.

Problem is, the damn thing ends up too good.

The game is working as intended.

What the player isnt thinking with this that he is creating a character so potent that the net effect it is going to have is that undead encounters are either going to become irrelevent or I am going to have to make encounters artificial in nature (i.e. put in deliberate counters to the capabilities of this character) or artifically difficult (making the rest of the party irrelevent) in order for them to have any relevance.

The only thing Kelemvor is adding to this is the ability to replace immobilizing undead as an encounter power for an extra +1 damage every 5 levels (give or take).

The amount of awesome pwnage this character is bringing against undead is a decent amount, but it's not enough to trivialize the battle.

I say, let him do it, fuggittaboudit, and when you send undead against him, watch his face light up and know that you've made his day.

Then destroy their hopes and dreams with a black dragon or two.

Yeah, D&D can be a rollercoaster.

The irony of it is that as a long term effect this will alienate undead from the campaign, thus invalidating his character. The player has stars in his eyes when he looks the the numbers, but isnt thinking about it straight.
Does anyone have experience with a similar circumstance and how have you dealt with it?

Well, the thing with clerics you see, is they're below the curve in damage. So, if you have a paragon path that situationally makes them much better, but against one type, all you've really done is make them at or slightly above the curve in damage for that one battle.

That's hardly as nasty a swing as you think it is.

 

[Mort_Q]

Let him shine. Just make sure you let the others shine as well. What are the other PCs good at? Throw that at the party too.

Compared to the other post, thats a lovely response. Thank you. Maybe I am thinking about this wrong...

I thought it was a lovely response regardless.

 

[Ryujin]

We have such a character in our party. He's bored to tears most of the time, only enjoying himself when the fight involves undead. It's a very narrow focus.

 

[BobTheNob]

I thought it was a lovely response regardless.

Ok, yes, it was a lovely response regardless.

Thanks all. This is going to require more serious thought on my behalf. I do want every player to shine in there own way. I will see how this plays out.

 

[Hjorimir]

Let him have is character. Player character power is always going to be relative to the strength of an encounter anyway.

I have some players that will make some darn powerful characters. It is a distinct part of the game the enjoy; character-smithing. In turn, I make encounters that are challenging (note that I am not saying that I make encounters that invalidate their builds, but I raise the bar of my encounters relative to the power of the player characters).

I find it funny that players will claw and scratch for every last bonus and benefit not realizing all the while that they can't "win" for their efforts. I keep a spreadsheet with average HPs, AC, Fort, Ref, Will, ToHit, DPR, and Healing available. I always glance at those numbers when making encounters.