Should I kill off my pathfinder party?

> start up new pathfinder game after old D&D 4e game slows down
> i draw out a huge map of new setting and decide to remake my old D&D world
> players make their characters
> bunch of weird-ass races but i convince them to tone it down
> one player wanted to play a literal dragon from some 3pp shit
> another player plays an armiger / swashbuckler
> another is a kineticist
> six players altogether
> they want a political intrigue campaign (of course)
> start out, one player is owner of tavern that the others either own stake in, work at, or stay at
> friend's gf plays illusionist prostitute who doesn't actually sleep with her clients, just casts illusions on them to make them think she did
> one character is swashbuckler starting out with 21 AC which he can buff to high 20s
> also has ability to force opponents to make a will save to not attack him only
> campaign continues, I get rather bored of it
> don't like the setting and am too lazy to flesh it out because like an idiot I started too big
> one character smokes opium to get temporary hp so has hp of 60 by 4th level (also due to rolling max hp on every single hit die which he did not roll in front of me)
> group regularly crushes encounters three or four levels above them
> can't even figure out how to into political intrigue for a pathfinder game
> have foreshadowed group of assassins helping out main cult group they are fighting
> realize that a few level 5 rogues with invisibility potions would bypass this guy's Dodge bonuses to AC
> once he goes down, the rest of the party would be easy pickings
> they also have three ogres and an ettin to deal with because the 27 AC guy decided to walk downstairs whistling in a dungeon region i specifically designed to force the to be careful for once
> considering switching out the ogres for the assassins when the PCs go back downstairs and having them all die

Should I do it? I want to start a new campaign, preferrably a lower-powered setting.

Why don't you raise your concerns to your group and discuss the issue?

>hey guys, this isn't working out how I'd like, I'd be interested in a lower power campaign where we talk about themes and make characters together so there's more cohesion.

talk to them you dipshit

You probably shouldn't be GMing.

So long story short, you want to kill your party because, what, they're too powerful? Welcome to 3.PF in the age when anybody can Google optimized builds. Everybody gets to be a superhero and save the world.They're not going to roll up less bullshit characters if you kill them all off. In fact, I guarantee that if you try, it'll all end in tears. From your description, it sounds like the only person who's not enjoying the game is you.

Only if you switch to a better system after they're all dead.

I think wiping them is a bit much.

Showing them there are chinks in their armor and they are nowhere near as invincible as they think? Sounds good.

That's the thing, you can't GM and not find any satisfaction in it; the amount of work you put in needs to be justified. Tabletop is a give and take. He can't keep going: the question is really about how he should get off this ride.

>Does not step up his game

Your players want Exalted. Give them Exalted politics.

>it sounds like the only person who's not enjoying the game is you.
Perfect reason to change or end the campaign.

Well since they wanted political intrigue campaign you could try to work on that more.
Fighting skills don't mean much if they are threatened by the entire city guard because they fucked with the wrong noble.
Anyways I don't know much about everything else but simply killing them off seems like a dick move. Just tell them you aren't having much fun anymore.

Tell them how you feel, ask if you can wrap up in one, two sessions.

...Or kill those munchkins dead. Just make it memorable.

Make them die due to political intrigue, remind them what they wanted the campaign to be about

You're shit GM. Kys asap.

OP here, you pretty much hit the nail on the head. Which is why I want to switch to AD&D because I like the D&D feel of things. I know of the other options out there but they own a shitton of the AD&D books so unless I can get them into Lamentations I think I'd stick with AD&D.

I don't mind quite that it's because they're too powerful, more because the fluff of the world just seems completely boring and forced. I mean I have a good story going, but I don't like it much. I have just lost all enthusiasm for the campaign beyond trying to kill them. I don't know why. Maybe it's cause I read about the OD&D setting a few months ago, with the spread out frontier villages, and remembered how good that was in our other campaign and I miss the sense of attachment we had to that one.

Thing is, they don't actually want political intrigue. Because they do not do subtlety.

I know, but I don't want to be a fucking cunt about it.

Then why do they make me keep GMing campaigns and tell me I am the best?

No, I am not a bad DM, I just fucked up and am taking a coward's way out.

I might have something like that happen.

>No, I am not a bad DM, I just fucked up and am taking a coward's way out.
That makes you a bad DM, pally.

Literally just tell them "I don't get any enjoyment out of this any more and I don't want to run it for you, I can give you my campaign notes and ideas if one of you wants to keep running it, but I'm not going to. Laters."

Couldn't you just... you know take a break form this campaign and play something else?

Is that a thing people do?

Not taking the most noble road doesn't make them a bad GM, you shitlord, it makes them a cowardly PERSON.

>convince them to tone it down
>clearly mad that they're good at the game
>trying specifically to kill them because butthurt
>wants a new campaign with lower power levels aka group getting destroyed for the first ten sessions
Never dm again

OP, ignore the hyperbole from fuckers like for a minute.
You picked up a game that is rife with internal problems that you didn't know better than the players, and have found yourself out of your depth.
That is fine, and it happens, especially since nothing in the 3.PF DMG material warns you about pc power discrepancy. There is nothing wrong with a more restrained power set, and you already seem to know that 3.PF is the outlier to avoid.
This is a lesson to do your research before you run a game, and be the one who either knows it best, or knows it as well as the most knowledgeable player. Never allow yourself to be suckered mechanically, because if players can use the rules to bludgeon the GM (and this is incredibly common in 3.PF because of the far reaching power the pcs can possess), they will do exactly that and claim righteousness.

>starting out with 21 AC which he can buff to high 20s
That doesn't sound nearly high enough to survive in a d20 game.

At early level, yes, it is exceedingly high.
Most CR1 enemies have a +3-6 to hit.

>From your description, it sounds like the only person who's not enjoying the game is you.
So you're saying that he should kill them off?

We play a lot of other campaigns. The thing is I rushed into this one and ended up hating it.

Well, I am a cowardly person.

No, I don't want the group destroyed, only their hubris toned down a bit. When they strut around the dungeon singing i think they've gone a bit far. Might as well just say "ok you guys won, the BBEG is dead, gg no re"

Well I've run 3.5 for years, but Pathfinder seems to be rife with even more broken shit. Not to mention I never really played with power gamers before.

Uh most people have a sub-20 AC until level 3 or so. Even then.

>I've run 3.5 for years, but Pathfinder seems to be rife with even more broken shit
Dude, the fuck are you on about? 3.5 STILL has more abuseable shi-
> Not to mention I never really played with power gamers before.
That's why, you never played with people who knew about what they were playing.
Even if you went to 3.5, they would still be the same, and honestly, I doubt they would play anything else.
I would seriously recommend something that ISN'T D&D.

I suppose thats true. I neglected to mention my biggest failure in this case was refusal to veto characters because I was a huge pussy. Such as a 3pp class that helped this one guy become invincible. Ignoring the fact he outright cheated on his hit-die rolls, that was quite a bit of what made him so overpowered.

The only other OP character is the kineticist, which sounds like a joke but it is actually true. I actually like that character though.

I just feel like the whole campaign is fucked at this point. Which is sad cause it's going well for them. But I've lost interest in it and I just keep escalating encounters to deal with the fact that this guy can force pretty much anything with an Int score to attack him and him only with his 30 AC. At level 4.

>this guy can force pretty much anything with an Int score to attack him and him only with his 30 AC. At level 4.
He a Ordained Sentinel Warder? He doesn't have Grand Challenge, yet.
>kineticist
user, kineticists, at least until the one 3pp book comes out, are still only good at dealing damage at a fairly high personal cost on the long run.
You never used ToB in 3.5?