How to deal with That Guy

So I have this obnoxious player in my table, we play together for over a decade and he still makes characters that attempt to break the game as well as having a background linked to important npcs just because.

Last game he made a daughter of a goddess, last of her race, with pure druid levels focusing on summoning at least 2 wolves per round, keeping all enemies on the ground with improved trip while the others do the heavy damage. Then came his girlfriend to play and he built for her a scout/monk thri-kreen that would end up as a dervish with 38 attacks per round.

How can I deal with this whithout stipulating a no fun zone?

Tell your players to ground their back stories and not break the game mechanics. If they can't deal with that, they are the idiots.

You can't. You've abided him and 3.5 for too long. Shit's built in. You don't let a dog piss on the carpet for 10 years without doing anything only to finally respond without looking like an asshole. It just won't understand, and your floors are already ruined.

This is so true it should've been trips

This, OP. Switch to something else, only this time tell your players NO when they try to come up with ridiculous mary sue snowflake PCs.

/thread

inb4 Veeky Forums complaints department

>Last game he made a daughter of a goddess,
first mistake right there.
Being of divine heritage is a LOT of trouble!
Look at Herakles, he couldnt get out of bed in the morning without Hera sending a monster to bite him in the ass.

You guys are sort of very special idiots, and I actually am sad that you are wiling to bullshit and attempt to meme like this on the internet.

Plenty of Gods there used to be pretty child about demi-gods. Hera is a special case of bitchyness and jealousy and pettiness. Not all gods were massive cunts like her.

Play a different game if you don't enjoy mechanical optimization.

If you can't, just raise the challenge to match their super builds. Give the enemy 'charm animal' as a passive ability.
Give them higher DR to deal with the 38 attacks.

Just work around it, your players enjoy it, so just challenge them occasionally and otherwise, just let them smash weak.orcs and feel powerful.

I mean, why not?

they are not wrong though. I had the same type of player. He would even change character every two weeks cus he got bored with the last way of breaking the game.
I don't play 3.5 no more

Memers get the fuck out of Veeky Forums and actually play some fucking roleplaying games.

Go meme back in /v/ or /a/. I heard they'll think you are cool or something.

I'm not even saying don't play 3.5. I'm saying there is no neat recovery from letting someone break a system for that long. The behavior and association with that system as being for him to break is literally habitual now.

Use the word "no".

>Play a different game if you don't enjoy mechanical optimization.


WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?

Do you even play fucking roleplaying games?

>hurr durr it's the system and not shithead players

The player would be a hsithead in any system you dumbass. Stop memeing and actually think.

Is this the new meme? That not liking complete powergaming bullshit is bad now? That Guys are okay?

They are wrong though, just as you are wrong.

Even just suggesting to actually talk to the players is beyond you? You have to try to suggest something that has no influence or bearing on the actual problem at hand, all because you are socially inept?

Watch him try to break the next system then.
Powergaming is a mindset, and there's literally no system that they won't try to squeeze every advantage they can out of.

Blaming 3.5 is just trying to conjure up silly memes without actually addressing any actually real issue.

>hurr durr I strawman you now
>i say u r mad at people sayin no powergamin when it obv u r mad at people bein "don't d&d"

Feel free to make more responses. I'm done with you, troll.

Oh, yep. Pretty much memes. People are saying don't 3.pf, not don't D&D. Play 4e or 5e or go back to the horrifying good old days. Die in a fire faggot, etc. etc.

Oh I agree switching systems is very unlikely to work at this point. Again my point entirely is that the problem wasn't nipped in the bud. Shit's fucked. Too late to fix things now.

Switching systems does have some merit though. If a switch is made there's a single chance to shut down that style of thinking. New system, new rules. That said, yes. Chances are this isn't going to go down well with someone who derives their enjoyment from breaking the previous system.

As I originally stated, all that's going to happen is op is going to come out looking like an asshole. There is no win, the situation is lose lose. No matter how much

Chuckle fuck 1 and chuckle fuck 2 and chucklefuck (you) want to misinterpret my post.

/thread.
Why is this thread still going on ?
If you don't like them , then play vidya
Otherwise break a leg, and try other approach ways.

Wasn't all the Greek gods massive cunts all the time. Its like one of those rich wife's TV shows

>Pretty much memes

Exactly. Empty memes made by disgruntled folk like yourself. Now, be quiet and stop trying to derail this thread with edition war bullshit.

Says the faggot who decided this was a case of edition war when its obviously OP being a spineless fuck who couldn't corral his players - and the player themselves likely being influenced by 3.5

> want to misinterpret my post.

> You've abided him and 3.5 for too long.
> You've abided...3.5 for too long

Shut the fuck up you fucking faggot.

Even if you argue "I meant the two combined not them individually" then you are a fucking faggot for not realizing how confusing your words are. Learn to actually read your own posts.

Or, he can talk to the player, impose restrictions and argue narrative/balance reasons, or any of a hundred other options.
You trying to save face now just because you wanted to blame something that isn't the root of the problem is pathetic.

>OP being a spineless fuck who couldn't corral his players

This may be true.

>and the player themselves likely being influenced by 3.5

This is your edition war bullshit. Now, shut up already.

Daughter of a god? Have a rival god start some shit with them. Druids using plants in every encounter? Set a few where there are no plants, like on flagstones or on a boat, have an enemy that withers/burns plants at a touch, or cant be tripped (blobs, etc). Use a bit of imagination and you should be able to beat them at their own game, if 'beating' the players is what all your games are about, and not presenting them with a series of problems for them to solve, which sounds like what they are doing at the moment.

Not being able to admit flaws in an edition is blind fanboyism and its a problem with you - not me. 3.5 is great for customisation but fuck does it make for some cringey NPCs with dumbass backstories.

Setting up specific counters like that can end up pretty obvious and is practically bullying.

Though, providing enemies that challenge min-maxed characters isn't a bad idea.

And he'll look like an asshole because he's waited too long to start. There's a certain point where if you ignore that weird rash on you arm and amputation being the only solution. Op has passed the point of there being a clean happy ending for everyone.

Yeah bitchwhistle he let the system literally known for being able to be bent over one's knee just get thrown on a desk and abused to the point where it will never walk again. I could care less if he keeps playing it, just best not to keep the rapist in the room its going to distract people from what you want to use the system for. Because all they're going to remember is how you ignored screams for help for 10 fucking years+

He let the system be abused for too long. Nobody's going to be fooled if he gets it a white dress and tries to prance it around as if nothing happened.

Guy did this all the time in my group.
>check for traps twice on low rolls because I'm paranoid
>took backgrounds for stats and never played to them
>my druid can wear metal because of background to me in my first ever gm game
>cheated on his dice all the fucking time
>would use hard to read dice for that reason
>had bad b.o
>never marked down used arrows, money or healing items
>would throw a fit if things didn't go his way
>was in his late 50s
>was playing in this group for around 20 years
>players kept him around because he was a really good gm. And he had been there for years
>hadnt paid the clue dues for 2 years

I left the group because I got tired of being the only one not to put up with this shit.
He had an argument with the rest of the group and left
>died of a heart attack game less and alone.

Stop. Seriously, stop. Want to talk about cringey PCs? You can make them in every system, and even moreso in many other games. You really need to stop acting like Double-Jedi Wookies or literally anything from Exalted is somehow better simply because it's not 3.5.

Now, please, for real, just shut up.

Making assumptions are we dickhead? I don't like Exalted specifically because of the nature of the PCs.

Look bub, if op said this guy broke paranoia for 10+ years but now he wants the group to take that system seriously, I'd be saying the same shit. Because of the lack of action, and that system being allowed to be abused, there is now an association with abuse and that system.
An association with 10+ years of fucking support and build up. That's some ingrained shit at that point. You literally cannot just say "Well now we're going to play the system as it was intended instead of as how we've been doing it". Because guess what? That's what the player knows. That's what he likes about that system. That's what for over 10 fucking years he's been told is ok.
If you break away from the system (I could give 2 shits what they switch to) you have the slimmest chance of finding something else they like about that system, something new for them to associate that system with that isn't powergaming munchkin time.

The best chance you have of this is to pick a system that is as unlike d&d as possible. It will either stick, or be so sorely hated that op will fully understand the toxicity of the player himself. Get the guy hyped about something d&d isn't made for like scifi, or hardboiled noir, or paranormal ww1 or some shit.

Now it might be petty, but I use the shonen anime solution to this kind of shit. If your players want to optimize the fuck out of their character do the same with the villains. Not only do you beef the fuck out of them, but give them a ton of contingencies and an intelligence network that lets them counter the heroes at every turn. I'm not saying give them an everything-proof shield or something equally obnoxious, but something that will challenge their infuriating mary sue. If they're going to amp up the power level have the world adapt in kind, and honestly you're likely to start having a better game as a result, especially if you or your group are actual weeaboos that get off on that kind of power fantasy.

If you don't want to run the tabletop version of an anime power fantasy you should probably stop allowing all the 3.5 supplements.

>OP: "He made a druid who summons wolves, a completely normal thing to make in any game with druids and wolf summons.

>Yeah 3.5 is like that, you can't unfuck it

>You: "Shut the fuck up you fucking faggot"

^^^^Found the problem.

Except that's not what he's saying. At all.

>We've let this guy make broken annoying characters without any complaints for 10 years now

>Suddenly we're all sick of his shit and want him to stop

That's what he meant by the dog-pissing-on-the-carpet metaphor. 3.5E might be a broken piece of shit but the real problem here is there decade-long attitude of doing nothing to a powergaming That Guy.

Can you stop with the system warring already? People have asked you already several times to stop.
All this memeing doesn't do anyone any good, especially because it's founded mostly on exaggeration and contrarianism, and also just generally a poor understanding of systems and how to evaluate them.

Literally just fucking talk to them
You can't solve this issue without either ruining the game or directly communicating with the problem players

Pretty much this, OP.

Its time you move on to a different system, and from the start guide your players to not break the system.

Its your only way out without looking like a no fun asshole

Hey. Quit being a memeing idiot.

>>hide trash threads
>>do not reply to trash posters

OP doesn't even look like he has responded. I kind of doubt this is even a real question, and if it is it has already been answered. Shit thread.

here's how we did it:
>after the session, we asked that guy if he wants to go to town to grab a bite
>he agrees, besides him there are two of us in the car(me and my player who is in on it)
>while we are driving through a forest, my firend says that he has to take a leak, we stop on some forest road
>I ask that guy if he wants to go for a smoke, he says sure
>while we are smoking, my friend sneaks up on him and hits his knee with a bassebal bat
>he falls down, we tell him to strip, give him a shovel and tell him to start digging
>he starts crying and shits himself
>me and my friend leave after hitting him with our bats some more
Haven't heard from him since.

>STOP IT STOP IT REEEEEE
Not your personal safe space, reddit. If you didn't want edition wars you shouldn't have been an instigator and an asshat.

Do you not have a Session 0 where you hear the character ideas and give pointers on how they'd better fit into your setting?

How does a guy just show up to your table and be like "Ayy I'm the fuckin chosen one" and shit without your blessing?

I'm genuinely starting to think that

Were just the same person, along with several of the replies to that post.

>hurr durr I strawman you now
>i say u r mad at people sayin no powergamin when it obv u r mad at people bein "don't d&d"
But user he may have misinterpreted your point but you're the one blatantly strawmanning. And, for the record, I love DnD.

How was he older than the very concept of RPGs and still not grown out of his munchkin phase?

>2017
>defending 3.5

user, take your snorg tees and will wheaton videos and fuck off back to the sub that you came from. You know who you are.

The amount of conspiracy and paranoia in this thread is fucking incredible. Thank you so much.

The whole thread makes a lot more sense if you read it that way, especially with OP disappearing and that guy getting particularly heated up defending what's really a leap of a statement, and anyone bothering to agree with it.

Are you just OP again? It'd be weird otherwise for you to get so defensive about it.

Is everyone op in your eyes?
are you op?

Learn the word "no".
Stop playing with retards.

>>defending 3.5

Idk dude 3.5 is pretty good if your playgroup consists of people who think they're hot shit and will bust out the graph paper to prove they'd be unhindered by the terrain you described.

My players are all autists so the autismally math-heavy 3.5 is a good way to shut them up. I agree that the edition fell into the trap of trying to make a game mechanic out of everything in the world but sometimes it's necessary

Powergaming when it's not appropriate deserves to be bullied.

Fun is overrated, seriousness is the way.

Holy fuck the triggered autists in this fucking thread.
Did I end up on /b/ or /r9k/ by mistake?

If a GM does that he's a "bad DM who pulls bullshit on the players". See how it goes?

This.

What are you talking about?

>finally get game together
>4 of us
>2 are new players so DM relaxes and doesn't mind metagaming too hard since this is their first game and we're all interested in just fucking around and having fun more than anything super serious
>grill player had trouble grasping that she can 'do anything' but she learns really fast
>other player is our fighter who "is a drunk first, fighter second'
>get about 8 weeks in, playing every sunday
>fighter is constantly ruining everything
>belligerent, will not talk to NPCs, just wants to fight shit
>fighter gets pissy about guards attacking him because he tried to piss on them for no fucking reason other than he could and wants to fight them when we just fucking got here
>tries to kill a very important, powerful lord for no fucking reason
>all of us including DM has to pull bs to keep him from getting killed
>no amount of metagaming or 'prep-talks' before session gets through to him
>ok whatever we will just go into the wilds to get him away from people
>he leaves the game because "we were trying to push him out anyway"

We all put up with his shit patiently and at worst, joked how when he left early we would put his fighter in a barrel or tie him up to keep him from causing shit. They want him back because it's no fun with 3 people but I can't grasp how he couldn't grasp just the basics of consequences.

Have the game break him.
Make it a point that power attracts power.

He likes to be OP? Maybe introduce some lore monster that hunts/haunts only the strongest of warriors. And he can't kill it alone no matter how bullshit his strategy is, it relentlessly hunts him and only him, and ruins his actions and brings even more trouble with it, and the only way he can stop it is to nerf his character and go into "hiding".

But it never outright kills him. It never actually kills anyone. It saps his strength, cripples him with every ailment going, sets traps that require special relics to even be able to detect. Influences enemy actions to randomly target him and only him all at once.

Best part is, that every time they encounter it and dont run, it gets even stronger next time.

And if they are smart they can even use this creature to their advantage.

Super tough boss? Buff him a load and wait it out. Let this monster itself attack it as an unwitting ally. Cleanup the mess it makes. (Though of course this could backfire and it could turn on you once the boss has debuffed)

Would make for a pretty interesting twist.

Even better dick move. Have said boss not actually be that powerful alone to draw the monster in.
They accidentally make the boss harder and he's just summoned his horde and he just snipes at you from afar.

Well, technically he has stopped munchkinging now.

Second post best post