Wonderful :rolls eyes:

[Kugar]

He could be a 7th level character that was ambushed by undead and left at 3rd insta-plot hook.

I wouldn't allow the old 7th level character. I played a "old" wizard that was really powerful.

I am also not really comfortable with one PC being another one's mentor unless niether is the type to have the "then I'm leaving" mentality. Too much room for stepped on feet. Think, if this guy is trying to run roughshod over the DM, what will he do to the poor PC he is mentoring.

 

[Desdichado]

Give him some concepts as suggestions. Turn it around and let him be the 1^st level apprentice of one of the other 3^rd level PCs. I gotta say, though, I wouldn't even have considered this idea in the first place; you're in a bit of a tight spot for having said yes to begin with.

Then again, you say you're not playing for a month? If he can't come up with another concept in a month, he's not trying.

Or, let him be 7^th level, and keep hitting him with level drain attacks until he's back in the box.

 

[F5]

Think, if this guy is trying to run roughshod over the DM, what will he do to the poor PC he is mentoring.

Kugar's got a good point. What's the player of the "apprentice" character think of all this? Unless it was the apprentice player's idea, or he's 100% behind it, that's yet another reason to disallaow this completely unreasonable concept.

 

[Zappo]

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?

And while you're there, the first time you get into his house, make sure to look meaningfully at anything flammable, casually comment on the high cost of fire insurance, shake your head, and notice how lucky he is that he hasn't had a major accident. Yet.

 

[scottdunphy]

...that's yet another reason to disallaow this completely unreasonable concept.

It seems that most of the responses here agree that the player has done something unreasonable. I would have to disagree. While the DM needs to do something to balance such a character with the rest of the party, that doesn't mean the player is being a jerk.

Paul has a player that is very into the game and has committed a lot of time and energy for developing a background for his new character. Do you now how hard it is to find some one willing to write up their own background for a character? I've tried requiring the same thing of my players and the results weren't good. Most players come to the game with an "entertain me" attitude and don't want to do anything they would perceive as work (i.e. write a background, read a rule book, etc.).

The last thing Paul should do is be confrontational or set out to screw over the player at the start of play. He needs to hang on to this player, not because he has a place to play, but because this player is bringing something to the game that others won't.

 

[Count Arioch the 28t]

Smack the player with a PHB for insisting on being more powerful than everyone else. Being better than everyone else is NOT a character concept.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

If his concept absolutely requires two characters (a master and an apprentice) then I'll second some of the suggestions I've seen here:

1. Make the master 3rd level and the apprentice 1st level. Require that the master character take Leadership as his 6th-level feat (waive the feat requirement until then).
2. Make the master 7th level, but four levels are sub-optimal classes. Remind the player that he will advance significantly more slowly than the other characters, as he will get less xp for the encounters.
3. Make both characters 3rd level. Require that the master character take Leadership as his 6th-level feat (waive the feat requirement until then).

Whatever you do, discuss this with the player with an idea to finding common ground. Has the player ever been a GM? If so, he'll understand your concerns for balance and being fair to all the other players. Even if not, ask questions until you can nail down exactly what he wants - then help him find alternative ways to realize his concept.

Playing two characters, one of them 7th level, in a campaign designed for 3rd level characters simply isn't going to be fun for you or the other players, and will likely result in a failed campaign. If, in the end, he won't bend, scrap the campaign for the time being. You can always resurrect it later as a "new" campaign - then don't give the player permission to start four levels above the others in that campaign.

 

[Darklone]

Ok. Now all the others (nearly all the others) have said: It's baad, baad, baaaaad.

I agree. But I don't think that would really help you now.

I played in one campaign where three newbies got level 5-6 chars and the big buddies in the group were level 11 (wiz8/clr3)(with a level 7 dwarven ftr henchman), clr9, ftr9 (with level 6 henchman). It was horrible. I worked hard, chose a multiclassed character to contribute anything at all... and everyone accused me to be a real bad munchkin
Probably I was too good.

The other group had level 2 chars and one level 5, later 6 char. Sounds familiar, eh? It worked well. Why? The campaign was customtailored. The level 6 dude was old and frail, the other were youngsters. The real big baddies were chasing the group around the whole continent, and the usual encounters on the way challenged the group not too much.

Why? The level 6 dude was MUTE. (That was a nice idea of one of my PBeM chars so I took it for a tabletop group as well). At level 6 he finally took Silent Spell ... before that, noone knew that he could cast real spells (except for a Cure Light wounds from his wand now and then) at all. All he did usually was scribing scrolls and casting them later.

Give out XPs for everyone separately and the young ones will catch up soon.

So my advice: Do something like that. Talk with the player to avoid making his char a powerhorse. Tailor the campaign to this group.

If you want more advice, ask and please supply some more infos about the chars and the campaign.

 

[Planesdragon]

After a few days I gave it a lot of thought, and decided that I didn't like the idea of him being 4 levels higher then everyone else.

That's a game-mechanic problem. Meet it with a game-mechanic solution.

A vampire, wraith, necromancer (etc) that has a vendetta against the PC-master's master comes, having killed all the other students of their grand master. The vampire strikes while the master is sleeping, and inflicts six negative levels before it can be driven off--while its minions loot the master's equipment.

(Why six levels? Because that won't kill the PC, and will likely bring him in line with the others, assuming that he has a 1-in-three chance of making the fortitude save.)

 

[BigTom]

You could also take the other approach. Instead of tearing his character down with level draining and crippling old age, just use the FR experience system and let the 3rd level guys gain experience at a much faster rate that the 7th level character. They will catch up to him in a few sessions and he won't have the advantage anymore.