How to make a PC special... Power?

[metabolicjosh]

So we all know that its easy to make a God from a Spellcaster, or a Titan of Death from a Warrior. This is cool and all, but it removes the challenge from the game.
E.g.
Wall- Punch it down
Big Scary Dragon- Jump up and throw it down
Wizard- We have a better one
So we all like power. Its awesome to have a PC who is powerful. I like it, my best friend likes it. (Heck my girlfriend. who barely tolerates the game, likes it) Because power is good. You don't need anyone else if you have power. That is good right?

Wrong! This removes teamwork! It makes the game simple chance of initiative! Furthermore you over shadow other players! That bad.

But power is good right? So i ask how can we get a PC to feel powerful, yet not be capable of world domination on his/her own?

Well for starters you need a good concept, an ability that is strong in one way, and a way to use it. For instance you could have a telekinesis ability at-will. its powerful and yet its not too powerful.

I hope you can give a few beneficial ideas.

[Xervous]

From the cheesey fantasies of the TO crowd, it has been made apparent that mere capabilities are less defining as they are generally less unique. Countless methods for boosting one's power have been discovered, so most combinations will be accompanied by the feel of "sameness" or a varying intensity of fermented dairy products.

However there are things that strive to etch themselves into the coveted patterns of memory with such thoroughness that they are not washed away with the next night's viewing of CNN, Family Guy, Dirty Jobs, or The Big Bang Theory.

Those memorable characters have definition beyond their statistics, they have an attitude which stems from the player's presentation of said character, and/or the brilliance that went into designing such a character build.

Also, IIRC, some tests (not sure how official) were done on memory and the results suggested that events that were highly similar to previous ones did not receive as much dedicated memory, which is why you don't really notice how long you've been gaming or browsing the forums, but you remember every interesting character you've ever encountered.

So, make the character unique, do something different, make it special in its own way, not someone else's OMG1337SPEELZ build

[Uncle Pine]

Optimizing a bard is always a good option if you don't want to overshadow other characters. You actually do the opposite by buffing them.
Dragonfire inspiration (Dragon Magic) and words of creation (Book of Exalted Deeds) are a good starting point.

[Karoht]

So we all know that its easy to make a God from a Spellcaster, or a Titan of Death from a Warrior. This is cool and all, but it removes the challenge from the game.
E.g.
Wall- Punch it down
Big Scary Dragon- Jump up and throw it down
Wizard- We have a better one
So we all like power. Its awesome to have a PC who is powerful. I like it, my best friend likes it. (Heck my girlfriend. who barely tolerates the game, likes it) Because power is good. You don't need anyone else if you have power. That is good right?

Wrong! This removes teamwork! It makes the game simple chance of initiative! Furthermore you over shadow other players! That bad.

But power is good right? So i ask how can we get a PC to feel powerful, yet not be capable of world domination on his/her own?

Well for starters you need a good concept, an ability that is strong in one way, and a way to use it. For instance you could have a telekinesis ability at-will. its powerful and yet its not too powerful.

I hope you can give a few beneficial ideas.

Optimize the characters for maximum teamwork, not so much maximum ass-kicking.
IE-Upcoming character concept for me and my fiance
Barbarian who specializes in Overrun and Intimidation
Bard who rides in the Barbarian's backpack who buffs the Barbarian, has some blasty to help punch holes in things, and has some fear to synergize with the Barbarian's Intimidation effects. And maybe some skill-monkeying, for when our actual skill-monkey (we might have two, actually) isn't around.
And we plan on helping out another team mate who is going to run a Cleric Necromancer, so the army he sends will be able to take advantage fo the AoO's/Prone status from Overrun as well as the debuffing from Intimidate/Fear.
Now what would synergize well with that? We're hoping for a Wizard who specializes in Necromancy and Transmutation, some battlefield control/lockdown, maybe perhaps banning Evocation or Enchantment. Or something to that effect. I dunno.

But say we had a new player show up who wanted to be a Paladin. Would we recommend Anti-Paladin so this player would synergize better? Heck yes. If he wanted to play a regular Paladin would that be okay? Certainly, although we might have to adapt our characters and tactics a bit to find a good spot for him.

Just some thoughts.

[metabolicjosh]

You know i once thought of an idea for a PC.
Imagine Ironman. You are an artificer 10/Warlock 10

Here is the kicker though!

Construct Armor...
Helmet- Tiny Construct
Chest- Small Construct
Arms- 2 Small Constructs
Crotch- Tiny Construct (lol)
Legs- 2 Small Constructs
Boots- 2 Tiny Constructs
Gloves- 2 Tiny Constructs

Just imagine a dude with his back pack walking down the road. You have a big sword, but no food. His backpack is full of stuff, and the man is unarmed. So you step out and tell him to hand over his stuff. He laughs and says no. He keeps walking. You swing your big sword at him, only to see metal fold onto him, and block your attack. Then the glove shoots a lazer at you...

See a construct is a creature. So it gets its own actions! :)