10 Do’s and Don’ts for DMing Power Gamers

Power gamers can be difficult to DM, especially for newer DMs who don’t yet know the rules well enough to see their tricks coming. Worse, sometimes that leads to knee-jerk reactions like banning powers or overruling mechanics that don’t “feel right” to you at first glance. I think that’s a mistake.

In many ways, power gamers allow a DM to take the game to a new level. Powerful PCs let you bring out more dangerous monsters and encounters. Often, the power gamer has a way out of your traps and unbalanced encounters. Their abilities may even save you from balance mistakes that would otherwise doom the party.

There are challenges to running a game with a player who may know how to exploit the rules better than you do. It can even be – dare I say it? – INTIMIDATING to the DM. But it doesn’t have to be. And, as we discussed in the last episode of the 3 Wise DMs podcast, I have some techniques I use to manage power gamers that let them shine without overshadowing the rest of the game.

Here are 10 do’s and don’ts for DMing power gamers that will let everyone – including you and the power gamer – show off and have fun.

Do: Let Them Flex

Power games put time and effort into finding the optimal builds, tactics, powers, etc. That annoys some people who feel like it violates the spirit of the game.

But you know what? They earn that power. That is time and effort the player put into the game, and it should be rewarded. Be grateful they’re invested. Sometimes power gamers will turn out to be your most invested players, and that can be good for the table.

Let their combos go off. Let them mop the floor with enemies in some (not all) encounters. Let them show off the cool things they’ve found. Reward it in the game! Have NPCs notice and praise them. Let them be the badass. Give the devil his due.

This is what power gamers play for, and they have every bit as much right to be indulged in that as the most in-character roleplayer. By letting them embrace it and revel in it, they are more likely to embrace your game and less likely to use their rules knowledge to derail you.

There’s nothing wrong or dirty about exploiting the mechanics of the game. Let them enjoy the game their way.

Don’t: Let Them Dominate Every Combat

As much as you should let the power gamer go off at times, it’s important to check them other times. Even if the power gamer dominates in half or two-thirds of the battles, when it’s important, a good DM must have ways to bring the game back to balance.

Every few fights, bring in monsters that are a bad match-up for the power gamer. Find ways to knock them out. Design encounters that favor the other PCs and let their powers shine.

In other words, make sure power gamers see that they are vulnerable, they can’t do it alone, and the rest of the party is not just cannon fodder.

Do: Adjust Encounter Difficulty

The D&D 5E core books offer good guidelines for encounter building (as do most RPG rulebooks). Sometimes a power gamer has to count as more than one PC or higher level than the rest of the party. It’s OK to do that.

Add more monsters, up the maximum CR level, or add traps and other environmental elements to up the difficulty so it still challenges the party.

As you get to know your players, customize your encounter difficulties. Push them to find out how many enemies they can actually handle. Base your encounter building on that knowledge, not the DMG recommendations.

Don’t: Kill the Rest of the Party

This can be tricky: While you’re upping the encounter difficulty, make sure it’s not drowning the other players in the party.

This is easy to do if you up the difficulty, but don’t adjust who has to take on those extra challenges. Aim that extra weight at the power gamer. After all, they’re showing they can take it. In fact, most power gamers will want the challenge.

Power gamers can generally handle 2 monsters where other players are handling one, and they know it. Indulge them in that.

Do: Challenge Power Gamers Directly

Don’t run from the power gamer. Have some portion of the monsters come right at them.

For martial classes, keep them busy and occupied with things they can’t easily dispatch. Use that time to let the other monsters threaten the rest of the party (especially the healers). Occupy the fighter with blockers while your blitzers go after the quarterback.

If they’re casters, put monsters out there that threaten the backline, or have flankers enter the combat later behind the fight. Don’t let a power caster spend every combat sitting safely out of danger. Make them defend themselves, too.

Don’t: Run Every Monster Into Their Strengths

Just because you’re coming at the power gamer doesn’t mean you should walk into their buzzsaws. Figure out which monsters/effects/plans fair better against their favorite tactics and throw some in every few fights.

Be careful not to do this every fight – let the power gamer shine a lot of the time. But know how to overshadow them when you need to, especially in big fights that shouldn’t be dominated by one character.

Do: Have NPCs Plan Against Them

This goes with giving the power gamers their due: The bad guys should give them their due as well.

The mighty adventurer who kills half the monsters your party fights should have a reputation. Smart enemies can and should hear about these characters and make plans to deal with them when encountered.

It’s like a superhero comic: When Lex Luther fights Superman, he brings Kryptonite.

Again, this shouldn’t happen every fight. Don’t do it so often that the power gamer feels like their investment in the game is wasted. But do it often enough so the power gamer is motivated to keep looking for new advantages and the rest of the players have opportunities to shine.

Don’t: Ban Their “Broken” Powers or Combos

Personally, speaking just as DM Thorin here, I think banning a power that feels “broken” is bad DMing.

You have everything in the game at your disposal to find ways to threaten power gamers and neutralize their favorite tactics. Use those. Bring out different monsters. Bring out more monsters Have them attack the power gamer directly early to neutralize the broken stuff. Try encounters where defeating monsters doesn’t actually help achieve the goal – sometimes fights just waste time.

Don’t get frustrated and work yourself up into a rant about how justified it is to take something away. Calm down and think of ways to solve it in-game if that’s at all possible.

If you can’t find a solution, then do what you have to do. I’ve very, very seldom found that to be necessary, though.

Do: Encourage Power Gamers to Share Tips With Other Players

One way to help even up the power level of the party is to encourage power gamers to share what they know. Done gently, this can help everyone understand the game better and have more fun.

Personally, I encourage table talk. I want the players to plan with each other and talk about what they should do and what’s most effective. If there’s a powerful combo, I want everyone to know about it.

After all, I’m the DM. I have dragons at my fingertips. What I really want is for the party to show me they can handle that kind of threat.

And that’s exactly where the power gamer can help bring the party together as a team. Sometimes power gamers don’t shine in roleplaying situations – they can even be uninterested or sullen about it. But in a fight, helping everyone understand how things work, that’s where power gamers often help elevate the party.

Don’t: Let Them Bully Other Players or Control Their Characters

I want power gamers to help the rest of the party understand how to use their abilities and be effective in a fight. But no one gets to tell anyone else how to play their characters.

This is why it’s important to show power gamers that their characters are vulnerable, too, and why the rest of the party is important. Everyone has to value the contribution of the other players. If the power gamer starts bullying other players into essentially playing like minions or foot soldiers, that’s no fun for the rest of the party.

Remind the entire table that they get to decide their own actions. If necessary, you could ban talk during other player’s turns, but allow strategy sessions between turns so everyone can still talk about what they’re seeing and what could work. The goal is to keep the flow of information and knowledge, but ensure everyone has the freedom to play their characters their way.

What Problems Can We Help You With?

If you’re having a hard time managing an issue at your table, we’d love to help. Drop us a line in the “What’s Your Problem” form at right, 3wisedms@gmail.com, or on Facebook or Twitter. We’ll do our best to guide you right in an upcoming episode.