My DN Rant (cont'd)

[Oracular Vision]

A simple solution

Give him what he wants, but make it cursed at a high level. There should be serious in-game costs to it. Make it change his alignment to evil, so in-game clerics will not aid him, and Paladins may even arrest him or worse. Make it intelligent, and smarter than him, so it is always looking for someone more worthy to wield it, and even tipping off enemies to come and relieve the glaive of the burden of its owner. Make it berserking, so that he has to attack the nearest live target, friend or foe, until he is unconscious, or dead. And because he is a munchkin of the worst sort, give him all of the above...

I allowed a character to pick and wear a helm of mind blast, a little too powerful for him, but he did it without even finding out what it was, and it turned him evil of course, and he also could not get it off...he couldn't go to town anymore, he detects as evil, and the other party members have sworn to get it off him and destroy it as soon as they can...he had to buy a magic item to allow him to hide it so he could function at all...so, it came at a cost, and did not unbalance the game...he has saved the party several times with it, although he always seems to get one or more party members with it too...

Try it you'll like it...

 

[mmadsen]

Minor hijack here, but this player seems hooked on books where the character gets some MacGuffin artifact early on, and than goes off on some halfarsed adventure. Explain to him that D&D doesn't work quite that way...

To play devil's advocate for a moment, would it hurt to give him the world-saving artifact and send him on an adventure? The level of opposition is arbitrarily decided by the DM anyway; he can just make it harder.

The only issue is whether the other players would feel overshadowed -- and that's only if they don't get their own magic items (or extra character levels, or whatever).

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Kugar beat me to the punch; his suggestion is exactly what occurred to me when I first read about the situation. Give him the weapon, but make it a completely normal weapon that slowly has its powers revealed as the PC goes up in level. Of course, this is in lieu of getting other equipment or money of an equivalent value.

I mean, if the player is gonna write out a long backstory, he or she should get some reward for it. I'd love to see more players with such initiative.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Yeah, no kidding. No reason to dislike the kid or call him a munchkin. He's got an idea, and it's the DM's job to make that somehow viable. Only screw him on it if he's obnoxious about not getting what he wants.

Heh. oops on my part for the +8. I was under the impression that to get a special ability on a weapon, you had to already have an enhancement bonus of at least + the value of that ability.

Silly Midget, he go give his players better weapons now.

 

[Squire James]

I think it's a BAD idea to give a player weapons because they wrote up some elaborate backstory. If the player wants to write a backstory, they should do so because he wants to, not because the DM throws him a big magical bone for doing so. If you're requiring your characters to write a backstory, however, expect plenty of "rancid meat". Not everyone's a great writer.

I suggest giving the player a sheet of paper detailing about 5-6 things the character needs to find in order to make the half-glaive he requires. Ask him to put skill points in Craft (weaponsmith) so he can make it himself. When he's about half done with the list, he has a +1 Half-Glaive (whatever that is). The stoning ability shouldn't be arriving until he finishes the whole list, and by then he should have some levels under his belt and game balance hasn't suffered quite so large a disturbance. Don't make it too easy or too hard to get the parts... I'd say the opportunity for 1 part per 2-3 adventures is fine.

Besides, I would think the player would feel better about a weapon that his character created/enchanted himself, than something Daddy handed over to him!

 

[Darkness]

To play devil's advocate for a moment, would it hurt to give him the world-saving artifact and send him on an adventure? The level of opposition is arbitrarily decided by the DM anyway; he can just make it harder.

The only issue is whether the other players would feel overshadowed -- and that's only if they don't get their own magic items (or extra character levels, or whatever).

I can't speak for the original poster but, this guy being a new player, doing so would probably radically change the plans the DM had for his campaign... *shrug* Just my 2 euro cents...

 

[The Dungeon Nazi]

I'd love to see more players with such initiative.

When I get a player who writes up a novella detailing his background, I see it as more trouble than it's worth. In my experience, it usually turns out to be a sign that the character is planning on hijacking the party and telling everyone, "See, such-and-such is my destiny, so we need to go here and do this," or they'll come to me and say, "You should write up a campaign around me because look how much cool stuff I gave you to work with in my character's background!"

So I don't ask for it, and I don't encourage my players to write much of any back story.

The way I run my game (and consequently, the way I use the FR materials) is by setting up the world as it appears in the sourcebooks and novels. I tell my PCs, "Okay, here is the state of things in the Realms right now, here is what's going on in Shadowdale right now -- what are you going to do about it?"

So the PCs effect some change in this world of Aber-Toril, and that's how they become legendary figures on the scale of Elminster, the Seven Sisters, the Lords of Waterdeep -- not by spending a number of hours before the first adventure writing up a character's unique history, setting themselves up as the one person who can change the world before they even hit first level.

 

[Squire James]

I guess you just have to make it clear that:

1. You are not their Daddy.

2. If you were their Daddy, you still wouldn't let them have a magical Half-Glaive of Stoning, and you won't let them permanently polymorph themselves into minotaurs!

 

[ColonelHardisson]

To be blunt, I wish I could afford to waste player initiative and to discourage people from playing. That would mean I had a wealth of people wanting to game. I don't think most people are able to afford to trounce on potential players; that's been true for the 23 years I've gamed.

I keep seeing people criticize players writing some backstory. I can't imagine anyone is such a brilliant writer and designer that their campaign world is perfect and untouchable. It seems more a matter of being too controlling on the part of the DM.

If you don't want the guy to play, or you want everyone to play exactly your way or no way, then just tell them so. Eventually you won't have to keep telling anyone that, because you'll have run out of players.

I honestly mean no insult, but I think you're being too exacting and demanding. It's a game, not a way of life. Again, no offense, but I can't imagine that your campaign plan is that much better than what a player may write. So what if he pumps himself up in it? Take what's there, revise it, and disabuse yourself of the notion that the players and their characters are simply puppets for you to play out your campaign with. They have role to play; they should have the attitude they're the ones to save the world. If not them, then who? NPCs of your own devising? D&D isn't a spectator sport, as was proven by the 2e version of Forgotten Realms.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Not everyone's a great writer.

Including the DM, despite how much we like to think we are.

What about ancestral weapons? Should those elements of just about every culture's myth and legend be dispensed with in order to follow game rules? You criticized part of what I said, but didn't address the rest - give it to him, and let powers be revealed as he rises in level, in lieu of treasure of equal value.

I'm sorry, sincerely, to come off as so caustic, but I think scornfully dismissing someone's writing efforts so completely comes off as assuming that what the DM has written is so much better, that the player is simply there to play a part as mandated by the DM. Who cares if they write a long backstory?!? These are your friends we're talking about, not people trying to make some kind of "cut."