D&D Imbalance

[Kushin]

Ok, so the scenario is that my friend has severely overpowered his character beyond the rest of the party in my game.

I'm the DM of this 3.5 Eberron game, my friend is a Fighter Zanthurium variant (iirc), we also have a Pixie Rogue/Swashbuckler, a Warlock and a Crusader/Warrior Skald.

To put it bluntly, the Fighter was doing 3 times the damage of the rest of the party, letting the rest of the party do nothing while insisting that he shouldn't have to scale himself back because the others weren't as advanced.

This is my first time DMing so I'm unsure of the best way to balance him. I dont really want to have to make him reroll, but he doesnt seem to have any concept that the party wants to cruise along and have some fun (which is my intention in this game) and that he should be on his game 100%. The only idea i've had so far, which I'd need to look into more, would be allowing the others to gestalt a few of their levels to give them a power boost while letting this player do his own thing with no gestalt levels.

I'm aware I didnt throw an amazing display at them all in terms of difficulty, but surely throwing them against stupidly hard creatures would only serve to annoy the newer players while making the better player seem like a dick.

 

[Kushin]

It's not about spoiling this one guys fun, its about making the game balanced to make it fun for all 4 of them. I'm asking for help because I've only played a few campaigns and a lot of people have more knowledge about 3.5 than I do.

 

[GrandmaFunk]

it sounds rather broken if it's frowned upon to be good at it.

the problem isn't that he's "good" but that he's so much more powerful than the rest of the party.

look at it this way: it's not frowned upon to be good at sports...but picture a pro player joining a street game and playing at his 100%...that game would get boring really fast for everyone else.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Wait, is the fighter several levels higher than the party? How did you let that happen? I typically don't let players bring in characters from any game I haven't personally DM'd (even if the character sheet checks out).

Anyway, if he is than either boost up the other party members, or present challenges that can't be solved by fighting. If they are all the same level, and he is just doing more damage, then don't handicap him for playing well.

At the end of the day, you are the GM, and if people aren't having fun its your fault. Don't punish people for being good at the game.

 

[GrandmaFunk]

I'm asking for help because I've only played a few campaigns and a lot of people have more knowledge about 3.5 than I do.

I don't think the right answer will be rules-based, especially since this problem is common to all systems.

My suggestion: give him enough rope to hang himself.

the next time he rushes into the fray ahead of his party, keep him isolated(something along the lines of a gate dropping between him and the party).

let him play by himself for a while and serve him challenges that are specifically hard for him to do, make him regret leaving his buddies behind.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

If he's a Fighter, throw monsters with status effects that rely on Reflex or Will Saves. Charm or dominate him and have him attack his own party, then let them kill him. Problem solved.