Player characters become gods

>Player characters become gods
>Suddenly become jerks and tyrants.

Guys, is this normal?

They were jerks beforehand. They just didn't have the power to act on it.

"If you want to get the measure of a man, see how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."

You...made your players gods? I'm not sure whether you're the best GM ever or the worst

I think the answer o that depends on how they became gods - did they earn it?

"Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Yes

Chronicles of Amber suggest that that is normal.

>Give player a kingdome
>He decides to establish democracy and proceeds to spend his wealth on whores and ale

Well OP, power corrupt, and absol... Nevermind.

Yes, this is normal. They're doing nothing wrong.

How?

Yes.

You only really find the measure of a person when they know that they are accountable to nobody.

No, usually they become tyrannical jerks long before ascending to divinity.

>Normal
No.
>Typical
Hell yes what the fuck were you thinking?

Honestly, I've never been able to run a game where the players could be described as "jerks". That is far too benign a term to encapsulate the pathological psychosis and almost sublime selfishness that drives them.

Literally all of them were jerks anyway.

The only ones who weren't were the three or whatever had already left the family.

>inb4 someone cripplingly indecisive obtains godlike power

well seeing as how the gods are jerks, why would you be surprised to see player gods being jerks?

Basically this.
If they saw godlike power as a chance to be dicks, they clearly weren't good people to start with.

>Play LG cleric of Lathander (FR god of sun, healing, renewal, etc)
>Get to high level
>Use time and spells to help the poor, assist the town guard in daily activities, and give to charity
>Other players bitch that I'm wasting my resources on NPCs and should reserve my efforts for adventuring
>Most NPCs now automatically trust me
>Granted favor and co-operation by lawful authorities without question
>Murderhobo PC companions grumble about the DM (through NPCs) treating me so well

Absolute power corrupts absolutely

>PCs suddenly become jerks and tyrants.

The unusual part is that they weren't jerks beforehand.

>Player characters become slightly above average people
>Suddenly become jerks and tyrants.

Guys, is this normal?

It's pretty normal, which says a lot about the general state of humanity.

I kinda want to play a campaign where I get to do that, just to see. In games like Crusader Kings, where the player is in a position of serious power, I'm actually pretty benevolent to my subjects for the most part, even if it's not the optimal choice gameplay-wise. However, I also tend to be absolutely intolerant of certain views. I feel like I'd probably end up being a little like Pholtus or St. Cuthbert.