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WARNING, SPOILERS CONCERNING THE KINGMAKER CAMPAIGN BELOW

Hello folks, I am finding myself in need of some advice in how to manage player creativity without stiffling it. While I generally love it when the players come up with clever plans and amusing solutions, things have been getting a bit overboard in my group. Let me add some useful context which will be enlightening, and probably amusing and/or disturbing, depending on your point of view. Beware, wall of text incoming.

I have been running a Kingmaker campaign with my group for some time, and we have recently reached War of the River Kings. My woes comes primarily from two players and their escapades - a short bio of each follows:

Arodus Stormcrow, LE chelaxian Oracle (time), Seer archetype - Very close to dying of old age and knows it. Primary goals are avoiding dying and making his prophecies (or, sometimes, "prophecies) come true. Acts as magister of the kingdom.

The player likes playing niche characters with both strengths and weaknesses. Very good at coming up with clever plans. Uses divination spells (commune and scry in particular) to gather information for the party. In combat, uses heightened sanctuary for defence and a wand of spectral hands to deliver touch spells such as curse and plane shift. Has ridiculous DC due to old age.

Pataxmos Atma, LE chelaxian wizard (conjurer) - Secretive and plotting wizard, acting as spymaster. His main goal appears to be seeing the kingdom become as powerful as possible as quickly as possible, but the reason is so far unclear. Prefering to manipulate Lord Tilmar (the ruler) instead of ruling directly, with very good success so far. He is the cardinal Richelieu of our campaign.

The player is the type that knows the rules, what feats to take, what spells are good and so on. Also exceptionally creative when it comes to combining spells, and using spells in unexpected ways. In combat, uses a variety of spells to devastating effect.

There were few problems on earlier levels, but as the party gained in power and became a bit pressured by a few players leaving, they started to emerge. I won't go into details about most of their pursuits, but they used combinations of scrying, commune and teleport to almost completely bypass most of the content of Blood for Blood. The crowning glory there was when Arodus,using his commune, found out where Armag was waiting for the party. Pataxmos, aided by Arodus using Use magical device, first cast 8 scrolls of Delayed blast fireball and then used teleport object to teleport the beads into the chamber where Armag waited. Goodnight and goodbye.

But last time, the proverbial feces really hit the fan. The players fought a desperate pitched battle against the army sent by Pitax during the Rushlight Treachery. I sent a lot more of Pitax forces than the adventure suggested, as I was sure that this was the only real challenge the party would face due to wizard/oracle shenanigans. Rarely have I been proven more correct. Pataxmos, greatly angered by the considerable losses taken by the kingdoms armies in the battle, proclaimed that he would bring Tilmars judgment down on king Irovetti. After a quick visit to Pitax, where Arodus prophecied doom to the king in front of a large crowd with his +30 or so perform (oratory), Pataxmos went to work. After a few days crafting scrolls, and making skill checks for mathematical calculations, he was ready.

Teleporting high into the atmosphere, he cast Magnificent mansion. Inside, he used his 10 scrolls of Major creation in conjunction with Fabricate to fuse his creation together. The result was an enormous, bomb made from solid gold. He finished with a casting of permanent image. After this, he dispelled his mansion, ejecting his glittering harbringer of death.

Shortly after, the people of Pitax had a brief glimpse of a golden light in the guise of an enormous lord Tilmar, clad in shining armor and wielding a mighty spear, striking from the sky right at the palace. Pataxmos player had calculated the terminal velocity, the time needed to approach it, and the effect of the blast based on a scientific paper on meteorite impacts.

The palace and a considerable part of Pitax is now a crater, and that is where we stand. Pataxmos invented a dratting nuke.

So, at long last, my question to you... how to handle player creativity without stiffling it? I should add that Pataxmos player still claims to be pulling his punches...