Power Gaming

[Digital M@]

I may finally give up the game. I play with college students and have been unable to hook up with adult players and I think it is killing me. No matter how hard I try, I always seem to get a few power players in my group and they hurt the game. I just started a new campaign at 3rd level and one player bought a huge bastard sword and using feats is doing 3d8 damage way outstripping the other players. So in order for me to offer him a challenge in combat, I will have to put something together that will easily kill the other players. I will let him use this weapon for a few games and then I will sunder it to pieces, but I am tired of always fighting this. To me D&D has become about power gaming. All of the feats designed to go around the rules and create exceptions and special abilities have gone crazy. I am just not sure I have it in me to care anymore.

 

[Kunimatyu]

The problem is the group. If you have a few people dead-set on powergaming, it really doesn't matter whether you're playing D&D3.5, Vampire, or 7th Sea. Find a new group.

 

[SG1Laura]

And, I'd like to point out that the age of your group is probably not the reason for the problem. There are plenty of good college-gamers.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I just started a new campaign at 3rd level and one player bought a huge bastard sword and using feats is doing 3d8 damage way outstripping the other players.

*blink*

Well, have you ever tried, and this is going out on a limb here, but maybe it would be helpful if you LOOKED at the feats before you let people take them? Especially if they're not from the core books? Having a dialouge with your players about their characters is usually a pretty good way to nip this kind of thing in the bud with a "sorry, too powerful, choose something else," kind of remark.

Seriously, man, not every feat out there is the most sensibly designed thing in the world. Excersize the judgement.

You could also try the following:

1) Letting him get away with it and have fun. Throw weak things at him he can cut down in droves. They're only third level; 3d8 damage doesn't matter when the there's a million things with 3 hp each. You could also disable him by targeting saving throws or using ranged attacks and spells that don't allow him to close to melee very easily, making him make other kinds of rolls than attack rolls.

2) Similar to that, not every challenge can be overcome with a bastard sword to the face. Skill checks of various sorts can still do damage and sap rescources; especially if using traps. Challenge the other members of the party by giving them noncombat challenges to what they're focused in, or split the group up.

 

[Crothian]

Tell them "No". When a player brings in a weapons or feat that you feel is too much, tell him he can't use that.

 

[GlassJaw]

One of the easiest ways to curb the rampant powergaming is to limit the books you allow. Until you get to know your players, limit them to the core books only. If they don't like it, they can find a new game.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

I may finally give up the game.

Why not look for a different way to play? Have you heard of tried PbP (Play By Post) gaming? Its slow, anyone can play in about 4 games at once and not fill rushed, and it has some other issues but the games are more based upon story. (The slowness seems to reduce the number of power gamers.)

 

[Turanil]

As has been suggested above, you can:

1) Limit the books available to create a character. Obviously you should let a player use everything from the PHB, but you can begina game saying: only the PHB and DMG, nothing else.

2) Let the guy have fun with his 3d8 of damage per strike. Where is the probem? Send a bunch of hobgoblins, he will slay several easily (and have fun with that) while the other players will slay far less of them. So in the end, you just need to add two or three hobgoblins more to take him into account.

3) There are many instances in an adventure where doing 3d8 with a sword are not going to be much useful...

 

[billd91]

I may finally give up the game. I play with college students and have been unable to hook up with adult players and I think it is killing me. No matter how hard I try, I always seem to get a few power players in my group and they hurt the game. I just started a new campaign at 3rd level and one player bought a huge bastard sword and using feats is doing 3d8 damage way outstripping the other players. So in order for me to offer him a challenge in combat, I will have to put something together that will easily kill the other players. I will let him use this weapon for a few games and then I will sunder it to pieces, but I am tired of always fighting this. To me D&D has become about power gaming. All of the feats designed to go around the rules and create exceptions and special abilities have gone crazy. I am just not sure I have it in me to care anymore.

For one thing, college students are adult gamers. And you'll see similar distributions of powergamers and role-players and munchkins and whatnot out in the non-college world as you will in college. You just may find a larger percentage of people with time to play in college than afterwards.
So you've got a few powergamers in your group. It's not the end of the world. Powergamers have always been out there and in every version of the game. Granted, 3E's PC customization flexibility can offer powergamers more tools to do their business, but 3E didn't create powergamers.
Your problem is how to weed out powergamers in favor of some other, unspecified, style of play. You've got a couple of choices. If you've got college kids at your disposal, start recruiting other players with different styles. Keep reformulating your group until you've got a mix you enjoy. Perhaps give prospective players an interview sheet in which they try to describe their style of play. Suggest that the powergamers form their own groups of like-minded players and have a ball.
Alternatively, you could lay down the law on character options and rule out the really exploitive feats/powers/classes/whatever that won't fit your campaign.

 

[Gunton The Terrible]

What feats has he taken that will allow him to do 3d8 with a bastard sword?