race & feat combos that destroy my campaigns melee combat.

[Sir ThornCrest]

we've only had 2 I think 3 game nights so far its a new campaign, so I am learning the party as we go. These are just some of the things I have come across recently and Im sharing them with you guys.

Thorncrest

If this guy was in my campaign, he would be a ham sandwich by now.

Weak will saves, flying creatures, incorporeal undead, sundering his weapon first, a good grappler creature, creatures who trip ...... there are dozens of ways to take this PC down a peg or two.

Really...the problem is your game is currently playing into this PC's strengths. Mix it up and see if he is still a problem. Even a simple fight on the deck of a ship at sea in which balance checks are required for each physical action will take the air out of this PC's sails (assuming of course that he doesn't have balance as a skill).

 

[tarchon]

You start throwing Will saves at him. Lots and lots of Will saves. They don't call 'em Fighter's Bane for nothing.

Yep - imagine your other players when he gets Dominated and sunders all of their magic weapons. Hehehe.

 

[Sir ThornCrest]

Hey Seeten,
Who are you posting this to? Not me! Im asking what I should do. I havent tailored the campaigns to go against ther weakness. Ive beefed up a few areas. As far as looking over the character sheet, umm, Yah! It's a new race, I have seen it before, why wouldnt I read over the new race?

Honestly?

THorncrest

What is the problem with characters actually being good and useful? I dont understand why you would want to check the players sheet, and then only play to their weaknesses. I would swiftly leave the campaign of any DM who didnt have the interests of the party at heart.

What, you have combat reflexes? Ok, no one will ever come near you. What, Combat Reflexes and a Chain? 30 archers attack you. Sunder? No one has a weapon in the entire campaign world. 30 Strength one trick pony? Haha! Only thing you'll ever see again is Shadows. Took Blind fight? (dummy) Well, never see the dark again, then! Cleave? No foes ever stand within 10 feet of each other.

What game are you playing? Lets make the game as little fun as possible? Honestly.

 

[Seeten]

Here is a suggestion for fun encounters that dont make the characters useless. Use will saves that disable for a couple of rounds, to allow others to shine. Have multiple bad guys, cleave or no, with enough hp he cant take em down in 1 round. He will get hurt via attrition, and still get to whack stuff. Have weapons not be the focus of the bad guys feats. Ie, Sword, or Unarmed, they can still fight. He gets to sunder, and look cool, but the encounter rolls on anyway.

Use acid coated enemies, hitting them with the weapon causes the weapon damage. Above all, the game should be fun for all. Players should get to use their feats and skills to good effect at least most of the time, or they should get to repick their feats. If you consistently throw save or die will saves at fighters, you arent much of a DM, as far as I am concerned.

The only way to lose the game is for everyone to not have fun. Winning is when everyone has fun.

 

[Sir ThornCrest]

Now that would be entertainment!

Thorncrest

Yep - imagine your other players when he gets Dominated and sunders all of their magic weapons. Hehehe.

 

[Seeten]

Hey Seeten,
Who are you posting this to? Not me! Im asking what I should do. I havent tailored the campaigns to go against ther weakness. Ive beefed up a few areas. As far as looking over the character sheet, umm, Yah! It's a new race, I have seen it before, why wouldnt I read over the new race?

Honestly?

THorncrest

Your repliers, mostly. I think you ought to be adding more challenge, if he consistently wrecks your encounters solo, but not by making him "useless".

 

[Raloc]

Well he chose 18 str and 18 con and the stone child race gave him +8 to str and+8 con so its by RAW would you suggest I not allow this race? Or tell him the race gives him less of a bonus? That was part of my initial question.

Thorncrest

I wouldn't have allowed it. Then again, I'm fairly oldschool in my DMing. The other option you have, since he's pseudo (I say pseudo since he could have picked better combos) min/maxing is to simply min/max the crap out of your NPCs. Every cheap trick in the book, anything you could think of. Get clerics with feats from Libris Mortis, make it so their summoned guys kick buckets of arse, etc. Make a trip based fighter to go against him.

My character in one of the games I play in is a trip based fighter, he can do ~120 damage per round, and have about 46 AC at level 12 (using Improved Combat Expertise).

Another thing I'm doing with some of my NPCs (well, one of them) is to give them delayed action items. In this case, CSW. After they "kill" the enemy cleric, some of his thugs are going to run up and distract the PCs, draw them out of the room. CSW item goes off when he reaches 0, but he plays dead. After they leave the room, into the secret door and bingo, recurring villain.

 

[jester47]

cleric w/ Saint, monk w/VoP and this meathead,

And this guy is the largest of your problems?

 

[DragonLancer]

What is the problem with characters actually being good and useful? I dont understand why you would want to check the players sheet, and then only play to their weaknesses. I would swiftly leave the campaign of any DM who didnt have the interests of the party at heart.

A DM plays to both the strengths and weaknesses of the party. Or he should at least.
The Dm shouldn't have the interests of the party at heart, instead his job is to make the game fun and a challenge.

What, you have combat reflexes? Ok, no one will ever come near you. What, Combat Reflexes and a Chain? 30 archers attack you. Sunder? No one has a weapon in the entire campaign world. 30 Strength one trick pony? Haha! Only thing you'll ever see again is Shadows. Took Blind fight? (dummy) Well, never see the dark again, then! Cleave? No foes ever stand within 10 feet of each other.

Thats an extreme view, but in a sense yes. Not every encounter or session, but sometimes you throw something in make it tougher on the party for their weaknesses. And as I said above, you throw in encounters that play to their strengths as well.

 

[Sir ThornCrest]

To this I agree. This big meathead pc is just filling in what he saw as a gap in the party, they didnt have a heavy hitter. The party is a arcane trickster, a cleric with the saint template, this meathead stone child, a ranger/bowman favored enemy undead, a monk with the Vow of Poverty, and 2 alternating players 1 Psion and 1 Rogue.

I make the campaign tough but my players are pretty sharp (most of the time) they do beef up the Stonechild they use acid attacks as he is immune to that the clerics Saint template is another problem it radiates the lesser globe of invulnerability and a double str pro vs evil.

Thorncrest

Here is a suggestion for fun encounters that dont make the characters useless. Use will saves that disable for a couple of rounds, to allow others to shine. Have multiple bad guys, cleave or no, with enough hp he cant take em down in 1 round. He will get hurt via attrition, and still get to whack stuff. Have weapons not be the focus of the bad guys feats. Ie, Sword, or Unarmed, they can still fight. He gets to sunder, and look cool, but the encounter rolls on anyway.

Use acid coated enemies, hitting them with the weapon causes the weapon damage. Above all, the game should be fun for all. Players should get to use their feats and skills to good effect at least most of the time, or they should get to repick their feats. If you consistently throw save or die will saves at fighters, you arent much of a DM, as far as I am concerned.

The only way to lose the game is for everyone to not have fun. Winning is when everyone has fun.