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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lokishadow" data-source="post: 1563710" data-attributes="member: 19090">Give him what he wantsThe basic rule of DMing.  Give the players what they want.  If this guy wants to be an uber-powerful combat machine, give him uber-powerful combat machines that don't like him.What level is the party?  What level is this particular PC?  Remember, most people in a D&D world are not very high level, nor are they particularly competent.  If this guy is such a powerful combatant, then other powerful combatants are going to want to test their mettle against him in single combat.  Presume this guy is a fighter.  Another twinked-out fighter of equal level could very well challenge him to single combat, or just seek him out in the middle of a battle where said evil fighter's flunkies are keeping the rest of the party occupied.  This gives your power-gamer a roughly 50/50 chance of winning.  And don't pull your punches.  If your PC kills the challenger, the challenger's boss could get upset with the PC in question, and come after him with all his minions and guns blazing...and he's not interested in fair play.  Or, the PC's fame grows, and someone intending to challenge the slain opponent instead challenges the PC.  And it keeps escalating.  The trick here is a touch of "fantasy realism," as I like to call it.  Within the bounds of a plausible fantastic reality (where people gain levels and constantly seek out more dangerous challenges), sooner or later the PC's are going to upset some VERY powerful beings/people/wizards/monsters/demons.  These beings do not play fair.  They bring all their buddies, all their nasty tricks, and they don't particularly care if the "problem" PC is seven levels lower then they are...he's meddling in their plans!  He must be erased.  Permanently.  Basically, this is giving him a taste of his own medicine.  It's not terribly subtle, and the potential fallout could land on the rest of the party.  The alternative is to present this combat machine with something he can't handle, but the other PC's can.  Such as, say, political machinations.  If this guy is optomized for combat, he's not going to do to well at a fine-dining evern where everyone is expected to be urbane and tactful, and where everyone is really trying to find ways to socially or politically (or even economically!) stab each other in the back.  To boot, all the "bad guys" have some hoopty-powerful bodyguards...in fact, everyone at the even has enough power, and obviously so, to FLATTEN the entire party, whether by virtue of their own abilities, or by virtue of some very well paid retainers.  In short, you can either give him a taste of his own medicine, at the risk of splattering the entire party (unless you have some unusual baddies), or you can put him in a situation where he's absolutely helpless.One final thing is to reward role-playing.  A friend of mine was running a Star Wars d20 game, and one of the PC's had to undergo major cybernetic reconstruction due to the efforts of some pesky stormtroopers.  He then proceeded to go out of his way to study the tactics, training, and capabilities of stormtroopers, and went out of his way to kill any stormtrooper he encountered.  The GM awarded him a Favored Enemy: Stormtroopers ability that matched up with the D&D Ranger ability.  This is an example of a role-playing reward.  If the rest of the PC's are role-playing well, find some interesting ways to reward them.  You're the GM.  You make, and break, the rules.  Do so.  There is no PC on the planet that you cannot deal with.  All characters can be killed or dealt with.  If you don't want to kill the character, put him in a situation where he's not going to accomplish anything unless he role-plays, instead of roll-playing.My solution is usually very straightforward, and tends to lose me a lot of players.  "Bob, I need to talk with you a minute.  Don't take this badly, but you are disrupting my game.  This is not about how many monsters you can kill, or how much you can own the others in combat, but a story.  Play a character.  If you can't turn this character INTO a character, feel free to roll up another one.  But you are upsetting the majority of the group.  You need to change your play style, or you're not going to get far in my game.  Stop metagaming, and start role-playing."That particular spiel has earned me a few drinks in the face, but it works. Just my 2 cents.</blockquote>

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