My Munchkin Options

[Wasabi]

Give it a duration of 1 combat turn and a recovery (reforming of the body) of one *lost* combat turn after the being liquid for 1 combat turn.

It'll work great as a get out of cuffs spell but not be like the movie The Blob.

If he doesnt like that let him have Turn to Goo and turn into a petrified statue since thats what he's basing it off of and in 4th ed lacks a liquid component.

Still, I'd just say no. You're asking for trouble. But if you MUST...

[The Jopp]

[Blade]

Make it like the critter form spell : you don't change the clothes, only the body. So the water form of the mage will be trapped inside his clothes. ;)

[Mercer]

I often feel trapped inside my own clothes...

My feeling in the general sense is that if something is that great of an idea, someone will have already done it. (Though I do recall Jeb Bartlet shooting some holes in that theory.) That's not really an argument for or against allowing the spell, just against the assumption of players that by creating a new spell, piece of gear, contact or some other type of mf-ery that they can break the game.

[GreatEscape_13]

Perhaps take the time-honored approach of asking "Do you want to need it?"

Any player wanting some crazy-powerful, uber spell, weapon, or combo will likely run it by the GM. Get them to point out how powerful it is. Then say "Do you want to need a spell that turns you into movable liquid?" (or whatever goodie they're seeking at the moment). If they say yes, then obviously that character wants to be put in situations where they must be able to turn into liquid or perish horribly (the rival gangers drive about in a garbage truck to dispose of foes after they blast them...). If they legitimately want to need power, then it is your responsability as a GM to throw unreasonably powerful threats back at that character.

It works pretty well for splitting between the sheer powergamey stuff and legitimate ideas that people come up with that may offend at first glance.

It works best around the other players, so that they can chime in as well. "Hey, you better be able to cover us all with that spell, or you'll lose your entire team when the GM pulls the old 'no escape' room trick." Let peer pressure say no rather than you as the GM... all you needed to say was "Do you WANT to need that?"

Cheers,

Andrew

[Wasabi]

Make it available to every NPC. Yup, that's a discourager to a powergamer AND a egalitarian form of power escalation for all parties.


(Disclaimer: I'd still suggest sticking to RAW, but hey... thats just me)

[Buster]

[Adarael]

Just because players are capable of upping the ante doesn't mean the opening bid is one penny, so to speak. In any game, there is a 'ground floor' of horrible shit past which players cannot expect it to get any easier.

[laughingowl]

wonder twin powers activate!

[farlanghn]

[Fortune]

How old is the person in question?

[Robot God]

22-ish.



Farlanghn is one of my players, btw.

[Fortune]

Kinda figured that. :)

[toturi]

[farlanghn]

[hyzmarca]

What you need, friends, is a written Constitution for your game group. This Originating document would clarify things like expected power level and be the basis of all rules and laws in your game.
Articles of this Constitution would explicitly address the intended tone of the games and state quite clearly the group's rules about PvP, sexual content, sexual violence, doing evil for evil's sake, and other controversial subjects.

This Constitution would also provide a procedure for allowing a non-canon item to be added to the allowed lists, for which I would recommend a requirement of a 2/3 majority vote by secret ballot with GM veto powers and a 3/4 majority required to overturn a GM veto.

[Ol' Scratch]

My advice is to slap him upside the head, tell him to stop being a dumbass, and acquiesce to the group's and the GM's preferences. That's the point of a social game like RPGs; you're all there to share in a story, not to "win."

[Draconis]

[Buster]

[apollo124]

What worked for my group before was pretty simple: karma for creativity. If someone in the group can come up with a really clever way to overcome the mission, while using the materials on hand and RAW, that's worth extra karma. Make sure the group knows about this policy and use it, it's a good carrot to lead the group without the stick of just saying "No!".

You might also try to challenge the player. "I don't like this spell, but see if you can figure out how to do what you want within the already written rules." Maybe help him brainstorm a little to try to accomplish some of what he wants within the rules. But sometimes, a GM just has to say "No!"

I've had people show up in a D+D game I was running, wanting a first level wizard to have a Displacer Beast as a familiar, because that's what they were allowed in someone else's game! I actually had to take him aside and show him the rules and let him know the other GM was frickin' nuts.

[Argonnite]

[Begby]

[Glyph]

[DTFarstar]

The majority of available roleplayers in my town remind me of this guy. You just have to establish that there are rules for a reason and just because something doesn't say it's not possible it doesn't mean it is. Turn to Goo is just that, it turns something to Goo, if you then want to attack with it, well, Sustain TTG and cast Psychokinesis and hurl globs of one enemy at another enemy. Doesn't matter if the Goo gets damaged you hated that guy anyway. Teach him/tell him/beat it into his thick damn head that you can make REALLY cool characters in SR with crazy gimmicks that don't smash the game. If he feels the need to have really cool gimmicks and stuff make him figure out how they would work by the rules, not by finding the holes where the rules don't explicity forbid crazy fucking ideas that aren't remotely supported anywhere in the rules either.


There is a guy in my town that I used to play DnD with, and as I noted earlier on this thread I tend to make very powerful but strictly by the rules characters. I then try to stay in the background and hold back unless it's absolutely necessary to but on the super stuff. So, if the DM/GM misjudges a monster or something else we don't have to smack the magic rewind button or all make new characters. I can just step it up a level or two and even things out. I also make sure to let/facilitate others shining. I also always play characters with a very high log/int in SR or Int in DnD so I can legitimately use convoluted tactics. Anyway, this guy played with us for a few months running. Made a Desmodu(crazy bat thing) Paladin and constantly fought with our DM for every scrap of power he could get. There is an item in one of the sourcebooks that is an extendable grappling hook. He wanted it to be able to shoot the hook up to it's maximum distance, lodge in an enemies head and pull him up to them/them to him with an autograpple so they couldn't get away.

:WARNING EXPLICIT:
Also, an evil priest harmed him(as the spell) at one point, he decapitated the priest and used his head and body to smear blood all over the guys room, ripped up his bed and sheets, tied it all together and set it on fire, once it burned down he urinated and defecated on the ashes. He then proceded to literally scream and yell when our DM told him that completely shattered his Paladin's Code. He also literally had his character walk over to the wall, sit down, and not do anything during one fight because the monster used a special ability that he rolled a one to resist and he lost his weapon.
:EXPLICIT OVER:

So, yeah, don't indulge people like this. That was the last time we played with him and I saw him again recently he said exactly this about DnD "Yeah, I learned alot about making effective characters from Chris. He's really good at it, but he doesn't even approach my skill level anymore because I found out that any character you make becomes way more effective if you just make stuff up to add to him."

So.... please don't encourage this. There are enough bastards in the world already.


Chris

[apollo124]