D&D Dungeon Master Advice

[Highlandheadbanger]

I've been playing for maybe 2 years now, but this is my first time DMing and I'm a little unsure about my first campaign. I'm playing with people mostly at my level of experience, but we got one guy who is far more experienced then the rest of them and has a penchant for min/maxing and building ridiculous custom classes involving obscure races, classes, and custom abilities.

We're doing an 8th level campaign, 3.5 rules, early Renaissance High Fantasy setting (i.e. Steel Weapons, Arcane Magic, and Simple Gunpowder weapons like muskets and arquebus). The friend I described earlier wants to be a Gun Mage (not too far out on a limb), but wants a Quick-Loading Pistol.

There's no such thing in D&D as a Quick-Loading Pistol, but it's a special upgrade for a Crossbow that does the following:

A quick loading crossbow accesses an extradimensional space that can hold up to
100 bolts, allowing you to reload the cross­
bow more rapidly than normal. Reloading
a quick loading hand or light crossbow is a
free action (allowing a character with mul­
tiple attacks to use his full attack rate), and
reloading a quick loading heavy crossbow
is a move action.
Different types of bolts can be held in
the extradimensional space, and you can
select freely from these when reloading
the crossbow. Adding or removing a bolt
by hand from an extradimensional space
requires a move (manipulation) action.


Does this seem resonable equipment to allow him or am I setting myself up for more trouble then it's worth?

 

[zen5887]

See, the problem with Min/Maxers is they are generally tools. If you're an inexperianced DM it would be much easier to say no to his crazy rules. If this Gun-Mage class isn't core or in the setting you're playing then there is no reason why he should play one. Maybe in a few years/months you'll be able to handle it but when your just starting off it could end bad.

When I first DM'd I didn't allow anything that wasn't in the SRD, then I started allowing things from the "Complete" series, now pretty anything that is offical is fine.

Theres no shame in this, my players understood I didn't want any feral half oger warsages running around with weapons of legacy. Hopefully your player will understand that, even though he is awesome at making totally bad arse characters, you may not be experianced enought to handle them.

Also - I think that building custom classes is pretty (very) dicky. I mean, what can't you do with the classes Wizards give you and a bit of imagination?

 

[Horticulture]

You could make the quick-reloading effect an enchantment spell that occupies a spell slot of appropriate level for its power and has a somewhat limited duration. That way he gets his gunslinging mage character concept and you get to avoid a broken munchkin character.

Alternatively, you could lower the Arquebus' stats to those of a crossbow and allow it.