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<blockquote data-quote="Tyler Do'Urden" data-source="post: 7873228" data-attributes="member: 4601">My favorite solution, and one used often in fantasy fiction: the drawback.Usually in D&amp;D this takes the form of a blatant penalty to one's abilities, but there's no need to make it that obvious. It can be more fun - and a great adventure hook - to make the drawback less mechanical.For instance - say you've let a PC get their hands on an overpowered weapon... what if, every time they kill a living creature, someone they have befriended/cared about/loved dies?It starts with them hearing about childhood acquaintances in their hometown dropping dead mysteriously. Maybe they think nothing of it, or maybe they go home to investigate. As their own deaths rack up, they start getting closer to home... friends and contacts back at the home base, close family, lovers... eventually, if they don't realize what's happening, the other PCs themselves could be threatened.Talk about a situation for drama and moral dilemmas! It sounds like something straight out of Moorcock or eve Tolkien!A lot more fun than just nerfing their stats, right?If your players are murderhobos who see tabletop RP as simply an analog World of Warcraft, this might not work so well. But if you're in a RP heavy campaign, this approach can be a good balancer if you see things going off the rails. Heck, I often throw in quirks, connections to upcoming adventures and mysterious special abilities to player items &quot;just because&quot;- no vanilla +1 longswords at my table!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tyler Do'Urden, post: 7873228, member: 4601"] My favorite solution, and one used often in fantasy fiction: the drawback. Usually in D&D this takes the form of a blatant penalty to one's abilities, but there's no need to make it that obvious. It can be more fun - and a great adventure hook - to make the drawback less mechanical. For instance - say you've let a PC get their hands on an overpowered weapon... what if, every time they kill a living creature, someone they have befriended/cared about/loved dies? It starts with them hearing about childhood acquaintances in their hometown dropping dead mysteriously. Maybe they think nothing of it, or maybe they go home to investigate. As their own deaths rack up, they start getting closer to home... friends and contacts back at the home base, close family, lovers... eventually, if they don't realize what's happening, the other PCs themselves could be threatened. Talk about a situation for drama and moral dilemmas! It sounds like something straight out of Moorcock or eve Tolkien! A lot more fun than just nerfing their stats, right? If your players are murderhobos who see tabletop RP as simply an analog World of Warcraft, this might not work so well. But if you're in a RP heavy campaign, this approach can be a good balancer if you see things going off the rails. Heck, I often throw in quirks, connections to upcoming adventures and mysterious special abilities to player items "just because"- no vanilla +1 longswords at my table! [/QUOTE]

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