How To Backtrack Powergaming

[Azure Trance]

So ... I have a dilemmia. When my group first formed, we had a paltry 4 people. With the difficulties and obstacles I knew they would face which were more suited for a higher level or more characters, I was carefree in character generation. More specifically, attributes.

See, Night Below suggested it best for 8 level 1 characters or 4 level 2. I had 4 level 1s, with no cleric at the time. I thought what was the harm, it would even the odds and make them more heroic as they face a dozen orcs or something similarily dangerous.

Fast forward a few sessions, and I now have seven, which it's now capped at. I actually lost a few of the original characters, but more joined up. And all seven were created the same way. I was aware of it, but became a problem to me when a player asked me if he could re-roll his stats so he could keep up with the group. The player, Don, is actually a great roleplayer. He speaks in a thick, Russian accent like this all the time, yah? You, pansy elf boy, stop singing.

Character creation was 4D6, drop the lowest - and roll a D4 to add to your stats afterwards. Harmless twinkie points in the beginning. If you didn't like your stats, reroll another 6x4D6 + D4. A few people opted to do this, garnering much better scores this way (legit).

Comparatively speaking, he is weaker. Not that this gives substance to his argument, however. But that 8 he has, ouch. At least it doesn't beat the Dwarfs 7 CHA. I think those are the two lowest scores in the game; other then that it's all 10+ with an amazing plethora of 14s, 16s, 18s, and 20s.

Most of the characters do have amazing stats - probably 3-4 out of the 7, with the remainder above average I think. All were legit rolled, but some did roll twice. My question is, I know I'm DM and can do whatever I want ... but whats the best way to approach this? Specifically, take the +D4s I added in the end. I'm don't remember who rolled what on the D4s either, unfortunatly. Some got 1s, other 4s.

Their already 2nd level so I don't think I can ask them to reroll them up. Thanks for any advice ... damn me and my powergrabbing tendencies. (Only I'm allowed to power up, and that's the NPCs )

 

[Azure Trance]

I did think of a method, but it just seemed to cheap to utilize without the players glowering at me after they walked through the mysterious fog of attribute draining. I couldn't find other suitable enough monsters / traps either at only 2nd level.

 

[Azure Trance]

One mroe comment before I get back to writing my paper

In retrospect, Point Buy would've definetly been the best solution. *shudders* Repercussions and all that from high scores ... never realized how much it would affect the game play to the extent it did (eg, what's a +1 sword when I HAVE A 24 STR AS I RAGE! [+7 attack / +7 damage, pfft ... what's another +1?]). First time DMing a serious 3rd Ed anyway :/

 

[jgbrowning]

I'd just keep playing. Don't worry about your stats and change what EQ you give to your players. Be a little stingy with the items and you'll have no problems in a level or two.

But be careful to at least give them one item that can deal with special creatures (ie. damage resistance 10/+1). The games flexible enough that you shouldn't have any problems.

remember, its not whether or not you're powergaming.. its whether or not your having fun..


joe b.

 

[Piratecat]

This is how you learn.

It's also why I prefer point buy. High ability scores makes the PCs the equivalent of a level or more stronger than they really are, especially when starting out. The hard part is that you can't take them away without leaving the players feeling violated.

I'd leave the scores as is and be stingier than normal handing out magic items. If you peg the defaulkt magic aqt a level lower than it should be, things should be closer to balancing out.

 

[CTD]

It's rough because this guy perceives that he is weaker.

I have found (through trial and error) that the best solution for me is to offer people the standard roll of 4d6 and then also back it up with point buy set at a level that I deem appropriate. This way someone who really rolls low has the comfort of knowing they can use the point buy method to build a baseline character, but they still get the excitement of rolling and hoping for six 18's.

I agree with the sentiment of the others though, control the magic items instead of altering their stats. This keeps the spine in the DM'ing and allows you to repair the differences.

I'll wager that the guy who feels that his stats are sub par would feel less inadequate if he discovered a few magic items that boost his abilities directly, or otherwise.

 

[Drawmack]

I had a player in my current campaign who was full of complaints when we first started.

complaint 1) My (homebrew)class is underpowered. I pulled out the class construction engine and went over her class. I then did some work with the class and brought the power level up because she was right.

complaint 2) My character can't fight. Nevermind, that I'm playing a class based on Sherlock Holmes. Solution, you're playing a sherlock holmes type dumb ass.

complaint 3) My stats suck. I added up the stats of everyone in the group and arrived as something that I call power level (PL) for each character. They were all within 5 points of one another and she was the second highest.

I find that, in general, there are three types of complaints, or compliments, that a player can wage.

1) Other Players
2) The GMing style/adventures
3) Their Character

I handle each one a bit different.

1) I ask them to sit down with the other player and discuss the problems they are having. Usually it's a character/character personality conflict that once it is brought to light away from the table they can work through in game.

2) I work hard to attempt to let everyone have a good time. I attempt to incorporate different aspects that the players ask for and work in bits and pieces from the character's backgrounds. I am very fluid with style and gladly change things if the players don't like the way I did something.

3) I attampt to quantify the complaint with the character in the basis of the rest of the party, like the power level solution above. This has a great benefit. If you can quantify the complaint you and the player can easily see if it is valid. If it is valid the annalysis usually leads directly to the solution. However, usually you will find that the complain is not valid.

 

[buzzard]

When I started out my campaign the people just rolled specatcular scores. Thus when I had people join, to be fair, I granted a rather generous point buy (42). However to compensate I always would , shall we say, adjust the encounters appropriately. Also I adjusted the expeirence progression. If you feel that the stats are really powering up the people, just treat them as when level higher than they are when calculating experience. That should compensate adequately.
Also make sure you use the same method of stat calculation for creating NPCs and monsters. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

buzzard

 

[Ravellion]

I would just let it be. Things will smoothen out later, when stats aren't as important as they are in the beginning.

I would say that from now on, the +1d4 or the rerolling won't happen anymore, it was a "beginning character" perk.

Rav

 

[Ulrick]

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about your players having high stats.

In Third Edition, I found that there's always something to challenge players of almost any power level. There's always something or some one that can counter whatever the PCs throw at them.

In my campaign, I used a 40pt buy with the method in the DMG. The characters in the group are definitely above average.

However, I upped the encounter difficulties and was a little stingy on magic items.

It worked. The players feel challenged.

The player of the 4th level Half-orc barbarian with 21 strength commented: "I just wanna go to a city to spend my gold, where there's nobody constantly trying to kill us, the city isn't under siege or evil cultists aren't trying to take it over, we don't get conscripted into the military, we don't face marauding demons, and power evil necomancers will just leave us alone."

That will happen...someday.