I find the way to take melee fighters down a notch is to have ranged-only combats once in a while. I have in the past had enemies attack them from across a large gap or from a higher altitude (IE: on top of a building)

I'm not saying "Snipe him in the back and see how hard he is then" I'm saying that some more combats where the problem character is not that much better than everyone else would be nice.

I have had this problem before. I tend to start new characters on a bit of karma if there are already experienced characters there so that they aren't that far behind.

I think the easiest way to take down a melee character is to send in a spirit : ) That, or a mage or something with decrease attribute- Charisma. That's normally the stat melee characters neglect the most, and if it gets to 0, you're still pretty much done for.

There's always something bigger. Always always always. The biggest question in my game is just making sure none of the players are 'bigger' than everyone else.

I don't think the task here is to take down the melee character, but instead level the playing field sometimes. Obviously a mage is usually far better at taking-out a spirit, You just need to send some spirits at a group, some melee fighters at the group, some ranged-only combats at the group, and some work in areas with a mild bachground count at the group... Just to ensure that non-specialist characters get a piece of the action.

Tell you the fastest way to encourage Munchkinism (of which I'm quite a fan of).

I started with a character concept that I wanted to play. I wanted a 'telekinetic' character. Only things I had an interest in (magic-wise) was Levitate and Magic Fingers. So I make a character and he was a Phys Ad with 2, 3-point powers. Magic Fingers, and Levitate. Other than the natural ability to move things with his mind, he was a basic character. GM says "No", he won't allow those powers, have to be a mage and gave the explanation if 'introvert' power of an Adept vs 'extrovert' power of a Mage.

Ok, so I make a mage. I asked if I could spend 18 of my spell points to have my 2 force 6 spells 'tattood' so I'd never have to cast them. Wisely, he said "No" again, and that it was 'munchkiny' to do something like that, even when I offered to 'geasa' that I'd never ever be able to cast any other spell at all, or that I would take a Magic Rating of 0 having lost all magic after the tattoo.

So I make a Raven Shaman with some Force 5 spells (I've learned by then that Force 6's are too heavy on the drain). My Sustaining Foci get destroyed, and I spend months trying to replace them and die in the process.

So I do it again, cept this time I Initiate immediately and Quicken them (can't steal that) and they get dispelled with 20 karma just 'lost' due to wards and such.

So I do it again, but start Quickening other spells to protect me like Astral Armour, and Increased Reflexes. Again, About 100 karma in, all my Quickenings are successfully 'eaten' by a huge ward.

Of course, now I play Thunder (link in my signature), the most "munchkin" character I've ever seen with all his Quickened spells being Force 6 for the 12 TN. Reason? Because I want a telekinetic character that, at first look, seemed 'too munchkin' for the GM. GM's create munchkins, not players. My GM now asks me if I'd be willing to turn in my 84 karma in Quickens to play the Adept who was basically 'mundane' with a Psionic/Telekinetic twist. My answer: Hell yeah I would. Thunder officially retires when I take the reigns of GM in January and when I play again, I'll get to play the original character.

Something to think about for those of you who think that complete-newbie character concepts are overpowered/bad. Every character in our game becaome munchkin due to GM, not due to self desire. 54 dice for an Edged Weapons specialist? There was always a 'spirit' with a Reaction high enough to roll more dice, nearly (or successfuly) killing the character who wanted to be the best with a blade.

Sphynx

I agree that GM´s are often to blame. It is natural for players to max out their primary skills if the GM constantly deminishes their worth. A player might have a very simple desire to be very good at one specific thing. It is then up to the GM to help the player acomplish that, and convince the player that it´s enough. Give the player a few gratefying moments using his abilety and feel good about himself. However, puting the players in a drekkload of trubble is one of the best ways to create an intense gaming experience. One of the most usefull things for a player to learn is to take drawbacks like a man and trust the gamemaster to tie things together at the end.

Some of it is the system itself -- how often have you used a skill at rating 4 to any real effect?

Never mind trying to use skills below 4 to any useful effect.

A character is almost required to specialize in a given field to assure some level of competence.

-Siege

Yeah, 3 and 4 are fine for most things, aside from your specialty and maybe a combat skill or two. I still consider three the minimum for any useful skill, though. 1s and 2s go into flavor skills.

A GM can convince their players, especially newbies, that they need to make their characters as powerful as possible to survive and prosper. Failing to reward (or provide the opportunity for) good roleplaying can make a newbie a poor rper. If this is all someone has experienced as far as gaming goes, that person can not be reasonably blamed for their roleplaying habits.

I am sorry if I seemed to imply that nothing is ever the GM's fault... obviously this is not true.

HOWEVER

I honestly dont think that such a person would necessarily become what I would call a munchkin. A heavy min/maxer and poor rper, sure... but those two things are not synonymous with munchkin. A munchkin is a player who will not have fun unless he or she gets his or her way all of the time, and this is, generally, a personal trait that (often, not always) has nothing to do with experience and everything to do with expectations. Munchkins expect everyone else to provide for their personal entertainment.

The poor newbie spoiled by bad GMing can often be helped by a good GM and a group of good players, unless he or she wouldn't have had fun doing *real* roleplaying in the first place or doesn't really care enough to listen to any advice. If the either of the latter scenarios is the case, I have no sympathy.