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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Xakk" data-source="post: 5798781" data-attributes="member: 88355">Asking the player(I was confused about what was going on till I reread the post) to archive his character is the advised way to go about removing him. You could even craft some scenario together in game that removes him from play. As he was the DM before and is apparently good with the numbers by your own admission, he'd probably be able to come up with something that would throw a curve at the party; Especially considering he's been up against them till now already. That said, there are a number of cases in which it might not work, more likely in this case. He could refuse, quit the game, or just come back with another nightmare character. The problem is these are also likely if you blatantly slay his character. Let us consider two solutions that are a bit extreme, but ultimately the most advantageous to you as a DM:His character chooses death, or crippling disability, to save the party.OR (and possibly literally or, depending on the situation)Total Party KillI can hear jaws bouncing off desks with that last one. But you said yourself that the party is a bit overpowered for their level. Killing them off and spinning some way for another group of adventurers to become embroiled in their previous adventures (last will and testament, one member escapes, friends of the party, etc) could balance things more the way you like it. Further, if most or all of the party is killed so the EXDMPC can keep his life and limb, perhaps at this stage you might have a vengeance triangle, which are incredibly fun to play out. Here's a scenario I came up with on the spot:The party encounter their nemesis as hostage of another enemy, one with a fondness for poisons/disease that do permanent ability damage if not saved against, with a method of delivering them that can't easily be fought off. I'm thinking here of swarms, but don't know if there are any venomous ones that do permanent score damage. The point here, is that the fighter will likely be the only one with enough strength/constitution/whatever to hold them for long enough for the rest of the party to escape.Of course, this could be enforced when the fighter becomes the target for all such attacks, and you drop a line like "Some of them look at you hungrily between attacking Yournamehere, and you know you're next on the menu." Or the fighter will turn tail like a scared rabbit, but be unable to forestall his, or in that case, anyone's demise. TPK, and they begin again with something more reasonable. Thereupon, with the EXDMPC brought very low with a new ability score in the low single digits, the Psion calls off his captor, or slays him outright, so the players know they were duped. At this point you can easily hold the gimped PC hostage till the rest of the party rescues him like a princess in a tower, that's both eliminating and humiliating enough. But I would take it a step further. I know there are psionic powers that swap minds in 3.x, I'm sure there's something like it in 2e. Have the gimp body switched for something you think is poetically just (I would here use a surpassingly physically endowed body - of the opposite gender. Or a humanoid aberration. Or both), and then for the kick in the pants, threaten to return him to his original crippled shell if he refuses to turn in his friends and all their amassed wealth (the nemesis does this to prove the PC of poor character). At this point the player is actively avoiding playing their original PC as designed, keeping only his mental abilities, and the EXDMPC as it was is no longer a concern. If they're so attached to their body they demand it back immediately, bribe them with the offer of restoring their original body as the price for betrayal (an offer which was never sincere, as the enemy will proceed to slay said body immediately upon delivery). This puts the party back in the same dungeon, in the same room, but with a different end to the quest: fighting the psionic nemesis and possibly the mindswitched EXDMPC.Got a little wordy there. Point is, as a DM, and especially in this case,  you want to avoid inavoidable situations, because players are likely to call foul on them. What you do, is narrow down the players' choices to a set you can predict, and plan the consequences of each (but be prepared to reward/punish 'none of the above' thinking). Of course this applies more to when you need to enforce something than in usual play.  Also, you should probably become familiar with the game mechanics, as your players likely are.</blockquote>

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