Scared of PC Homebrew--Help Please!

[Greenfield]

Okay, now here's what you do.

Sit or stand straight. Take a deep breath, all the way down into your gut.

And now, from the gut, repeat the following magic word:

NO!

Repeat as necessary. And don't be afraid to practice during what passes for normal play with this person. You want to be ready when he tries to spring his homebrew on you.

If you want to get in some design practice, take his homebrew class and rebuild it. Follow the theme, regarding color and feel, but rewrite it from the ground up.

In general, not every player is a good fit in every game. I've seen campaigns I wasn't at all comfortable in because of the power game attitude. I've met players who were uncomfortable with the power levels I ran my characters at. What you or I might consider "power gaming", others may consider normal play, or even a bit on the conservative side. And what you or I might consider normal, comfortable development, others may think of as over the top.

But there are always players who work to challenge the DM's ability to manage the game, who in essence strive to break the campaign. If you have such a player, have a private chat with them and ask them to stop. Explain that it isn't supposed to be a contest between the two of you, but a cooperative effort and fun and friendly gaming.

And if that doesn't work (and in my experience it usually doesn't), then suggest that they leave.

I hate that part, by the way. I think every DM does. But sadly, sometimes it's part of the job.
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[TheYeti1775]

What he said.

Just Say Nope Not At My Table.

The only time I've ever played (as a player) a homebrew class/PrC in any campaign was when working with the DM to create it specifically for that campaign.

Now as a DM, I've had a few NPC only PrC's generally pulled from other custom campaigns that fit good with flavor. But generally they never were involved in combat at all.

 

[SPECTRE666]

Whack him with a folding steel chair...

 

[Rhun]

The word "NO!" is your friend.

Also, in the case you do allow a player to play something overly powerful: just remember that as a DM, anything a PC can do, you can do better.

 

[jefgorbach]

Accept it as written and adjust your next sub-boss accordingly then after the resulting TPK, abide by the group's decision to ban the class henceforth.

 

[Greenfield]

A general problem I've had with power-gamers is that the ones I've dealt with didn't simply want more power for their characters. They wanted more than anyone else. It was a contest within the group.

Now if everyone's comfortable with a high power game, it's fine. Go for it.

But when one player insists on having the dominant character, it leaves the DM with a small range of options, none of them very good, when it comes to combat.

1) Match the opposition to the power level of the majority, and let the powered up character run roughshod over them.
2) Match the opposition to the powered up character, and slaughter the rest.
3) Fine tune encounters to play to the power gamer's weaknesses.
4) Come up with some reason why the Mega-Cannon-of-Doom (tm) is always aimed at that one PC, and always misfires when it's used on someone else.

Option 3 might seem acceptable, and it is for a short time. Pretty soon it becomes obvious that you're picking on the one PC. Additionally, don't be surprised if he finds some way to patch the hole in his "perfect" character that you're exploiting.

You can't beat the power gamer mentality by slapping the characters down. Yes, you as the Dm have more power than they do, by definition, but they won't learn that power gaming is a problem. All you'll do is convince them that they need even more power to beat the amped up situations you're throwing at them.

When I get in pick up games at a Convention or game club, I can regulate my own play to the style of the DM and the other players. As a DM though, I have to accept that I'm going to see an irregular power level in the PC's. If I say, "8th through 10th" as a level range, and one guy just has to play his 11th level thing, I kind of know there's going to be a problem. I ask him to tone it back a bit. It seldom helps, because he usually has three times the equipment budget for even the 11th level he started with, and in D&D 3.*, the gear plays such a huge part.

My general solution, though, is to run story driven games, adventures that aren't focused on combat encounters, but on RP and problem solving. Oddly, while some of the players complain about the lack of action, they also enjoy themselves immensely, and talk about the games for quite a while afterward.

We, as DMs, can pound any character flat any time we like. That isn't our goal, or at least it shouldn't be. The challenge for us is to come up with a good challenge for them, encounters that make the players think, make them work together, make them sweat a bit.

If you have someone who doesn't like to think, doesn't like to rely on others, and doesn't like it when his character is facing a real chance of losing a fight, then they're playing the wrong game.

 

[Dandu]

Accept it as written and adjust your next sub-boss accordingly then after the resulting TPK, abide by the group's decision to ban the class henceforth.

Just make sure the sub-boss is a kobold who is higher level than the PCs. Give him a Belt of Battle so you can cast a movement debuff (Sleet Storm, Solid Fog, Freezing Fog) in the same round as Arctic Pillar...