Wonderful :rolls eyes:

[scottdunphy]

I like the idea of making him old and giving him NPC classes, but the player may see this as a big let down or too big a change to the original concept.

Some other ideas that could serve the same purpose of balancing the character with the rest of the party:
- He was recently blinded (no time to pick up blindfighting) meaning he has a -4 to all attacks AND a 50% miss chance all the time, a lot of spells won't work (if he is a caster), and he really NEEDS the rest of the PCs. This can lead to quests to restore his sight or seek vengeance against an enemy
- His old enemies and their henchman can constantly attack him and the party. This will give him someone high level to fight while the party takes on the rest. When you split the XP awards evenly, the rest of the party will advance much more rapidly.
- He has some type of magical disease or curse that has seriously weakened his abilities. You can sprinkle clues to what the cure is and where they need to go or what to do to get the cure throughout the early adventures and when the rest of the group is close enough in level, you can finally let him find the cure.
- The master was permanently polymorphed into an animal that while providing interesting new abilities (flight, amphibious, etc.), deprives him of his former greatness. Again with the clues and the questing.

If you like several of these ideas or make up more of your own, maybe you can present them to the player and let him pick. If he is really into backstory and character depth (which it sounds like he is), he may really be into one of these ideas.

 

[Li Shenron]

Or otherwise allow him to play whatever he wants and make sure everybody knows you're letting him only because you need the house.

 

[Breakdaddy]

Well, I wouldn't let him bully me into letting him play his wonderful once-in-a-lifetime character concept. I dont know the guy, so Im not absolutely positive, but sounds like a powergamer looking for a large advantage more than someone looking for a great way to roleplay. I'd say the guy IS the master, but was recently assailed by powerful undead. This fight resulted in multiple level losses which brought the poor PC down to level 3. If the guy goes with this idea, I stand corrected (he is really in it for the roleplaying). If not, tell him that it happened anyway and ask him how this will effect his character concept.

 

[JoeBlank]

I agree with most of the others, you should not allow this scenario as is, without some sort of penalty to balance the high-level PC with the others.

Perhaps he was recently the victim of a rare, permanent level drain. Even more fun to roleplay, as he was once vastly more experienced than his pupil, but is now on equal level with him.

I'll add that you should call the guy's bluff, I can't believe that he would quit the game over such a silly demand.

 

[diaglo]

since he wants to play the master....let him. hand over the reins to the campaign and tell him it's all his...

that you will be happy playing a 3rd lvl character just like everyone else.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Why does he have to be 7th level?

BREAK THE RULES.

No reason a 3rd level character can't serve another 3rd level character.

-----

Player sounds like a powergamer to me, though. Time to find a new place to play. He's clubbing you over the head with the fact that he hosts the game at his house-- give in to this and it will never stop.

I'd tell him to F off.

Wulf

 

[Frostmarrow]

Allow it. Make the first encounter a CR 7. Kill everyone but the master. Let the master win the combat. Restart campaign.

 

[Henry]

Don't concede, because a single 7th level in a group of level 3's is going to either make it a cakewalk for the group, or a deathtrap. If this is an honest-to-god potentially long-running campaign, it will be very unfun, for either you, or the group.

 

[Azlan]

Myself, I'd be hard-pressed to allow a player to play a character one level higher than the other player characters, let alone three levels. Above all, I strive to make the game fair and enjoyable for everyone (myself included).

But if you absolutely must have this player in your campaign, then it seems the only way to make it fair and enjoyable for everyone is to start all the PCs in this campaign at 7th level. Otherwise, the campaign will be grossly unbalanced by having a PC three levels higher than the others, and it will end badly; and all the while, the other players will resent you for it.

 

[Rel]

I agree that you shouldn't concede, particularly if he's using the fact that you play at his place as a weapon (you didn't explicitly indicate this however). One way I might try talking to him about it is this:

"You say that this is the only character concept that you can come up with. Fine. But I think you'll admit that if I include your 7th level PC in with the 3rd level guys, I'll have to bump up the challenges for the party a bit, right? And, if your guy is doing 7th level stuff while the other PC's are doing 3rd level stuff then you will doubtlessly be the bigger threat. Any intelligent foe is going to try and take out the biggest threat first so your character may get more than his normal share of attacks coming his way.

What if I roll a couple of unlucky crits on you (no intimation that this is a threat WHATSOEVER, roll in the open if you have to) and your character bites it? You're telling me there's no way you could come up with another character concept and you'll effectively be out of the game at that point? Is this really what you're saying?"

See what he says to that. If he truly sticks to his guns and absolutely won't rework the character concept, I'd say it is more a sign of stubborness than a lack of creativity.

If worst came to worst, I'd probably table the campaign idea for now and play something else. Or let somebody else DM for a while.