Power is a relative term. It may look like an enormous challenge to deal with characters of this magnitude.
But, it's not overly hard. Try the following changes if you are using published adventures.
Increase all hit points to max.
Add the Advanced simple template to important monsters.
Remember the adventuring day, Challenge rating ratio? Characters of X level can handle 4 encounters per day of that same cr. With their high stats they can handle more encounters per day, 6-7 is a good number. Or they can handle cr encounters at a higher level, like +1 or 2. Be careful of increasing the cr however. The cr ratings assume that your party has certain abilities at certain levels, lacking those, you will tpk them.
If they do not want to restart their characters, that I have little advice on, other than to suggest you tell them
If you want to play, please, play my way.
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Well last night 6 out of 8 players walked out on our DM. Had a boss fight that took out everyone but 3. The other 5 were unconscious. One of the party members came up and killed 2 out of 5 stating he didn't like them and took their loot. They only reason the 7th person didn't walk is because they are related to the murderer out of game.
2 people tried to stop him but the DM told us that he gets to act first because he said he wanted to kill them. (both unconscious characters were over 50 feet apart and were killed before we could react).
Our levels are from 5 to 7 but characters are extremely overpowered. IE: sorcerer with 18/18/18/17/17/17 stats. They want to keep their characters and play them in the new campaign but I want them to make new ones at a 15 or 20 point buy... they dislike this because they don't feel "powerful" anymore.
I don't have the experience to set up a game with uber min/max characters... how do I convince them to make new ones?
To make sure I'm reading this clearly, the DM refused initiative or anything else and simply allowed attacks/autokill for no other reason than because the offending murderous player wanted to kill more unconscious characters, all while other defending characters were still conscious?
If this were the case, I'd fire more than a DM. I hope you and your now-smaller group of players have a new place to play, because in my opinion, it's better not to play than to deal with drivel like party-murdering 'pvp' and other passive-aggressive table behavior. I think you did the right thing walking out, again, provided I've read this right.
Regarding how to get them to play lower stats, simply explain to them what you told us: you're just not experienced enough yet, and you would have extreme difficulty in meeting an appropriate challenge for stats like that without the experience, but that you're willing to work with them if they'll start properly low to help you learn. The olive branch typically works pretty well with most players, at least in my experience.
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It sounds like you are ready for the next step in your gamer-life.
I remember back in 2nd, playing with two friends that showed up with characters that were "pre-rolled" both had unbelievable stats. Neither wanted to reroll their character claiming "but I rolled SO well! You can't make me reroll that!"
That was the last time I ever played with them. I realized we wanted two different things out of our game. I wanted to be challenged, and they wanted a power trip. Sometimes it's hard to encourage a change in play styles, and most of the time a person has to grow out of it on their own.
If they are friends, remain friends but you don't have to play with them now. If you really do want to play with them, then simply tell them when they run the game they can set the parameters. If they aren't friends, then you now know what you want out of an RPG.
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Thanks for the tips scotty!
Apotheosis, That is correct. He allowed him to kill 2 unconscious players before the two remaining alive were allowed to react. So I voiced my opinion about it and he said that's how the rogue likes to play and have fun.
I told him it's no fun for someone to spend 2-3 hours creating a character only to have him murdered, loot stolen and forgotten about because one player created his character for group PVP. The other five agreed with me and we left.
They will be playing at my house each Friday night. I just want everyone to have fun and enjoy themselves.
Ok, that's what I thought, and you state your reasoning very well. As a side note, why is it so often the rogue who does something like that? *sigh*
At least in my opinion, you've done exactly the right thing. Coming off of a bad experience is typically when you have the most solidarity from a gaming group; use that solidarity to express your concern about their characters power levels. Scotty is absolutely right about increasing monster challenges to make up for relative power level ('power' being used as a generic, all-encompassing term); however, I do think that they'll be willing to work with you if you just ask them directly to make new characters more in-line with the expected power of the game. It's entirely possible that they're used to such high scores because the previous DM felt that the game wasn't a challenge without them, thus making scores for both characters and bad guys an arms race of sorts (a problem I found myself getting into not so very long ago), so by lowering their own scores it will likewise lower enemy scores (of hand-created enemies, obviously). This also gives you a chance to get a bit of experience in adjusting CR's and the not-quite-concrete definitions of what CR expects from the party without it threatening a TPK.
I wish you the best of luck with your new game, and don't forget to put in a good gnome or halfling! =)
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Just tell them that as your the DM then they play by your rules and if they don't like it then there's the door close it after you leave
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Thanks for the tips scotty!
Apotheosis, That is correct. He allowed him to kill 2 unconscious players before the two remaining alive were allowed to react. So I voiced my opinion about it and he said that's how the rogue likes to play and have fun.
I told him it's no fun for someone to spend 2-3 hours creating a character only to have him murdered, loot stolen and forgotten about because one player created his character for group PVP. The other five agreed with me and we left.
They will be playing at my house each Friday night. I just want everyone to have fun and enjoy themselves.
Bravo buddy! You did the right thing.
I would talk to the remaining guys and let them know that you are not comfortable with those PCs. Starting new is that best way to go.
Power is a relative thing. All the best stats in the world can't compare to the finger of the GM squishing them like ants, like they saw your previous GM do and that isn't fun. The best games are when everyone is having fun.
What you need to explain to them is how it makes your job harder as a GM having to balance for those stats. If they want to feel powerful they don't even need those stats. As a DM you can make them feel powerful through descriptions, modifying their opponents stats and things like that.
The same goes in the other way, you can make them feel underpowered wathever their stats are. They may have fallen into thinking the relationships between players and GM is an opposing one where the GM is trying to kill their characters so they need to be great or they'll die. Ask them to give you a chance and see how it goes, if they don't like their new characters they can always go back to the previous ones. Then make sure you give them a few easy fights to start things off and let their new characters be awesome.
Yeah James...I feel you did the right thing too. Good luck, and just let them know that maybe you can go back to those characters they have now, but you just need some time keeping things balanced so you don't TPK them and such. Ask them to give you time to get a feel for it. Because honestly...there are big differences even in monsters of the same CR. My group of 5 took on and killed a black dragon of CR 9 at 5th level. At 6th level they took on a CR9 vampire. As a matter of fact the one straight out of the Bestiary. Almost TPK. Had a Deus Ex Machina on that. Worked out fine. They had been noticing someone following them for sometime. They just helped out after they were all down.
Anyway...both CR9...the vampire was at level 6 but they couldn't handle a creature that can dominate and turn invisible. A dragon was a challenge but doable. Use my story as an example if you like.
Game Master Scotty is giving you good advice. Simple things like max HP and tossing that advanced template on can make a big difference in keeping it challenging.
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Why in the hell would you want to play with this pair at all?
It's not just a matter of what stats they bring to the table.
There's a whole mess of issues with their play style.
Are these PCs going to murder every one of their travelling companions, every time they drop unconscious?
What about murdering them in their sleep?
Most real-world soldiers or explorers don't murder members of their own expedition, when they're deep in hostile territory, because it makes it less likely that the survivors will be able to make their way back to safety.
That implies they either weren't behaving like their own characters would really act (ie rotten characterisation), or knew they could do so with zero repercussions from this GM (ie rotten metagaming).
Unless they had some very compelling reason for doing what they did, some terrible act perpetrated in-character on them by the now-dead PCs, that could not be resolved peacefully, then what you have is two players who insist on dragging real-world rivalry and arguments into the game, or simply enjoy griefing the other players to wreck ongoing games.
Many people would have second thoughts about including these two players in any future games, even if they made brand new characters, of the same point buy as everyone else, because the odds are more than good that every single character they make will be a similarly sociopathic clone of the last.
Well last night 6 out of 8 players walked out on our DM. Had a boss fight that took out everyone but 3. The other 5 were unconscious. One of the party members came up and killed 2 out of 5 stating he didn't like them and took their loot. They only reason the 7th person didn't walk is because they are related to the murderer out of game.
2 people tried to stop him but the DM told us that he gets to act first because he said he wanted to kill them. (both unconscious characters were over 50 feet apart and were killed before we could react).
Our levels are from 5 to 7 but characters are extremely overpowered. IE: sorcerer with 18/18/18/17/17/17 stats. They want to keep their characters and play them in the new campaign but I want them to make new ones at a 15 or 20 point buy... they dislike this because they don't feel "powerful" anymore.
I don't have the experience to set up a game with uber min/max characters... how do I convince them to make new ones?
First of all hat's off to you and the rest of the players who left, smartest thing you could have done.
As for the players who want to bring in characters with 18/18/18/17/17/17 stats, just tell them that it's your game and everyone "who" wants to play creates a character using 15 or 20 point buy. If you have mixed feeling, you can maybe allow 25 point buy but that's of course is totally up to you. No way would I allow this (18/18/18/17/17/17) stats though.
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I've wasted my time on so many games where people just go full stupid that I no longer tolerate it. I play games where it's understood that we play our characters honestly and not take it personal, while keeping things democratic when dealing with situations like considering rule changes/dice fudges/questioning something. Before playing our game we laid out what to expect from the game and other players, especially in how we choose to build and act out our characters.
I suggest doing this, and hearing out all ideas. Maybe something you don't want because you fear it being abused you can allow when a player can state that they'll be aware to not do so for the sake of the game.
This is personal time taken from everyone, so everyone deserves to have fun.
Our levels are from 5 to 7 but characters are extremely overpowered. IE: sorcerer with 18/18/18/17/17/17 stats. They want to keep their characters and play them in the new campaign but I want them to make new ones at a 15 or 20 point buy... they dislike this because they don't feel "powerful" anymore.I don't have the experience to set up a game with uber min/max characters... how do I convince them to make new ones?
Tell them that, and that you're quite happy for someone who wants that style of game to be the GM instead.
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Well done for doing what you did.
Stick to your guns and use 20 point buy.
I would suggest Core rules only until you feel comfortable as a GM.
Pick an AP or Scenario and scan the boards for advice and tips on it.
Have immense fun.
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Sounds like superhero stats aren't your only concern. Some of the players in that original group were not compatible with each other, if there was murderous PvP, a GM siding with the in-game murderer, and 6 people walking out.
Primary problem is getting a group of people who are compatible with each other.
Second issue is getting agreement over the "philosophy" or "feel" of your campaign. If you're the GM however, you can only compromise so far -- you're doing the bulk of the work, after all, and it's no fun planning a campaign that you're not really into. If the majority are absolutely for a style of play that you won't have fun doing, then you're not a compatible GM with this particular group.
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You could remind them that a typical person might have a high stat of 12. Even a 15 point character is head and shoulders above him, and then you add in HP, class abilities ... you're plenty powerful.
And, as stated above, if the PCs are stupidly OP, then the enemies will be stupidly OP. If the PCs are reasonable, the enemies are reasonable.
Also, if you're new at GMing PF, the game is balanced (sort of) around a 15 point buy; that's the expected baseline. You'll want to stick to that while you're getting your feet wet.
And definitely do not invite the jackass(es) who murdered the fellow PCs, or if you feel you must, make an ironclad rule and make sure everybody is aware of it. NO PVP.
I read 18/18/18/17/17/17 and just laughed and laughed.
Hey, at least they weren't all 18s!
Seriously, there's nothing wrong with having such high stats - it makes them more durable and more powerful, but what's good for the goose...
What matters is if they want these high scores because they want all fights to be pushovers. That's not a high stats issue, that's a player maturity issue (one I had for years - I blame my brother).
Still, firing the previous GM is a good sign that there is maturity there. I've seen and been in games where such events played out and were almost accepted as the norm, so I think you'll be ok.
Also, asking for advice here is another good sign :-)
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I am of the same mind as snorter. In my game, if a player were to kill another player because 'his character doesn't like the other character', I would seriously consider kicking the 'killer' out of the group.
The player controls the character. It isn't the other way around. It is the player that decides how his character will act. I cannot see how one player can gain enjoyment out of killing another player, unless he's a jerk.
It is one thing for a character to be killed within a story. Player's don't want it, but at least they know it can happen.
As for starting a new game, I strongly suggest that you stay within a power level that you are comfortable with. Being a GM does not mean you have to sacrifice your fun for the other players. Everyone should be having fun (including you). I personally do not like high-powered games, so when I set my game up, I told my players that for me to have fun, I would want a more 'grounded' game. I set down a list of guidelines and then we discussed them. A few changed during our discussion, but in the end we all agreed and we have had a lot of fun. If they would have said that they were not interested in 'my' game, then I would have not GMed.
Please don't think that I am advocating PVP in what I am about to say. However, there is a time and place for it. It takes a very mature gaming group and the people that you are playing with simply aren't there yet.
Let me give you an example:
I was a player in an open alignment game. I chose to play a chaotic good character and unbeknownst to me, most others were LE. My character struggled for a long time in the group and did what he could to sway the actions of others. At a certain point when the group was hard pressed, my character sided with our enemies and attacked the leader of our group (a fellow PC). I knew what this meant for me. My character was out numbered and outmatched, but I did end up dropping the leader. When the rest of the group turned on my character, he ran. The group ultimately raised the leader and I presented a new character for our GM that fit the campaign better. The GM used my old PC as an ongoing threat to the group. A threat my new character took seriously.
It was a pivotal combat and one I remember to this day because it was incredibly fun to finally have that inevitable combat. At the end of the day, I needed to conform to the group. The character had run his course and as much as I loved playing him, he wasn't fit for the group. I knew that in order for everyone to have fun i needed to play something else.
Again, this isn't what those players are doing. Their actions are chaotic and evil and advocated by a Gm who doesn't seem to know what he is doing. It would have been much wiser for the GM to conform to the group, turn that players character into an NPC and have everyone role up new characters. Now the demigod jerk with 18/18/18/17/17/17 is a BBEG with everyones gear. Alas, decisions like this take a bit more experience than what your GM has and for now I agree with most everyone on this board.
Start a new game with the people who share your vision of what the game should be. Remain friends with the others, but come to a mutual understanding that you want different things out of the game. One day they might grow out of their play style and you might want to game with them again, but for now just be happy you know what you want.
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Just play.
I learned to play as a kid where we constantly bent the rules to make players more powerful. It didn't scar me for life or prevent me from becoming a more "mature" player (whatever that means) later in life.
In a player versus DM style of game (not sure if previous game was like that), low stats are weakness and weakness is death. It's hard to let go of that for a while, but it requires a DM who has experience and can coax a player into trusting them and rewarding them with awesome game experiences for that trust.
My advice, embrace the overpower, build a place where the group can feel comfortable and trust one another, including between players and GM. Have fun first, then work on adjusting the mechanics.
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I read 18/18/18/17/17/17 and just laughed and laughed.
One of my ex-stepbrothers told me of a time when he first started playing Basic D&D (before I met him), and one of the players turned up with an 'honestly-rolled' (with no witnesses) stat array of 18/18/18/18/18/17.
"No, honestly, you can tell I didn't cheat or anything, because look! The Charisma is only 17, so that proves I didn't cheat!"
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With my last group, I was going to suggest that the player give their characters all 18's, because they were big-time Min'maxers. Those guys rolled their characters 4D6, reroll ones, so you can imagine... I ended up having them use 25 pt. system and they still had powerful characters.
I agree that you might have to ween them off of the OP characters. From the sounds of it, they had good reason to want them. I would suggest to the players to use the point system (I would even go with 25 pt. to start) and ask them to trust you. Promise them that that challenges will be in line with their power level - that's not to say that a character won't die from time-to-time from bad rolls, poor play and GM mistakes(we've all made them).
Just have them try it for a session or two - Then it will be up to you to help make it fun with interesting encounters and challenges. It's hard sometimes to gauge what kind of game the players want to play.
I always ask players if they play any video games in "God-Mode" or use cheat codes, for me, it's been a good indicator of what type of players you're GM'ing.
You could remind them that a typical person might have a high stat of 12. Even a 15 point character is head and shoulders above him, and then you add in HP, class abilities ... you're plenty powerful.
And, as stated above, if the PCs are stupidly OP, then the enemies will be stupidly OP. If the PCs are reasonable, the enemies are reasonable.
Also, if you're new at GMing PF, the game is balanced (sort of) around a 15 point buy; that's the expected baseline. You'll want to stick to that while you're getting your feet wet.
And definitely do not invite the jackass(es) who murdered the fellow PCs, or if you feel you must, make an ironclad rule and make sure everybody is aware of it. NO PVP.
My name is RedneckDevil and i approve this message
:-)
I read 18/18/18/17/17/17 and just laughed and laughed.One of my ex-stepbrothers told me of a time when he first started playing Basic D&D (before I met him), and one of the players turned up with an 'honestly-rolled' (with no witnesses) stat array of 18/18/18/18/18/17.
"No, honestly, you can tell I didn't cheat or anything, because look! The Charisma is only 17, so that proves I didn't cheat!"
He's wasn't from IL was he? Might be a relative. That is the EXACT same line the guy in my first post was famous for. He actually took it a step further one game and brought someone into the game to play. They witnessed each others rolls. So NOW there were two liars corroborating each other. Granted I was 13 and they were 11.
Ahhhh....kids.
Ironically, the 18's can really happen. My uncle has actually pulled it off, but he actually -had- witnesses, and he made one other player in his group pull his hair out because he rolled high numbers two or three times in a row when people couldn't believe it at first and told him to do it again. He had one set of 18-17's, and the others , if not that high, didn't go lower than 14 and had high numbers.
It can be done, and it's usually those 'omg' sort of stories you hear with witnesses of legend.
As such, it can be done without witnesses too, so i would not be surprised if some of those 'liars' just rolled a lot, and a lot, and then got lucky and said 'omg yus!'
Course, I would rather have it as point buy if I can't see rolls for safety reasons. I have my own beef with the attribute system that can't be helped. High attributes open up possibilities, whereas low ones lock potential in annoying ways (unless you happen to not be going certain routes, then it's not as bad).
I feel bad about that game of craziness you got into, and I'm glad you got away with it. Here is hoping things turn out well!
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Ironically, the 18's can really happen. My uncle has actually pulled it off, but he actually -had- witnesses, and he made one other player in his group pull his hair out because he rolled high numbers two or three times in a row when people couldn't believe it at first and told him to do it again. He had one set of 18-17's, and the others , if not that high, didn't go lower than 14 and had high numbers.
I would have made him use a different set of dice after that.
Ironically, the 18's can really happen. My uncle has actually pulled it off, but he actually -had- witnesses, and he made one other player in his group pull his hair out because he rolled high numbers two or three times in a row when people couldn't believe it at first and told him to do it again. He had one set of 18-17's, and the others , if not that high, didn't go lower than 14 and had high numbers.I would have made him use a different set of dice after that.
I would have made him buy a lottery ticket.
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They did that too. that was part of why the one guy was pulling his hair out. XD
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Hey, James.
Welcome to the other side of the screen. That you’re both willing to step up to run for your friends after a mess like you described occurred and are willing to post and look for help / advise speaks well of you as a person, which in turn often means you’ll do well as a GM.
There is a lot of non-specific advise out there for new GM’s, but it looks like what you are primarily seeking is advise in managing player expectations as it has to do with a game you want to run. This is potentially one of the big roadblocks to everyone having fun, as you’ve seen already when you had to walk out on a GM that just didn’t get it.
I would recommend that you and the other players all sit down and talk about what sort of game that you want to run and that they want to play, and do so way before stats, characters, etc. enter into the discussion. If you want to remain open minded about people converting characters over, that’s up to you, but make sure that all of you are on the same page or you may end up with similar (though hopefully less wack-tastic) circumstances as the ones which led to you and your friends walking out of your last game. Be honest with both yourself and your players about how much time / energy / money you have available to sink into planning & running games. The AP’s are great for GMs who don’t have the time / energy / etc. to write their own campaigns, but the trade-off is that they are designed for a specific power level and outlook of PCs (generally a 15-pt buy group of 4 designed to support and complement each other’s builds, if I recall correctly). Adding high point-buys or other house rules can throw this balance very out of wack. This doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing, but it’s something to be aware of before you sit down behind the screen.
-TimD
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A GM has to be able to say 'no'. That is the one thing many find hard to do. Knowing when to say 'yes' or 'no' is important too.
You could...
1)Get rid of the 2 idiots that like to throw their teddies out of the pram if they can only play high stat pc's and kill other PC's off, they can go back to the other GM who is an idiot too.
2)Give everybody the same stat array so that everyone is the same.
3) 20 point buy (my best idea), core rules (as you need to get a fell for GMing, you could change it after a module or 2), no AP for a stating GM, go for a series of 2 or 3 linked adventures instead. Do bear in mind though that most adventures and AP's from Paizo are written for a group of 4 15 point buy players, if you have more players and you have higher stats chances are they will cake walk it and you will need to adjust the encounters to make them work.
Above all disallow ANY PVP. Don't let it happen in your game, it will just ruin it. Make sure they are all willing to work together as a team. If any of them so they won't play that way show them the door.
High stats are not such a issue. Just give the Monsters high stats. The only real issue is that if there is a huge disparity, like that one guys having a 18/18/18/17/17/17 and the next highest having a 18/16/14/12/10/9. That's bad.
But you are to be congratulated on moving up, now you can play with grown-ups. Yay!
IE: sorcerer with 18/18/18/17/17/17 stats.
In all my years of gaming, no matter what the roll system is (d20, 4d6 drop the lowest, 3d6, point buy), I have only had 12+ stats across the board twice. If someone brought a character like that to my table, they would have to reroll their stats period as the probability of getting stats like that (even with 4d6 drop the lowest) is a 1 in 11,284,439,629,824.
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Honestly, I once rolled up an 18/17/17/16/16/15 PC for another player, so I know it's possible to get ridiculous stats. This player also couldn't roll less than 17 on a d20. She's just super lucky.
But I would suggest starting a level 1 game, and then tell the uber 5th to 7th level players to wait until the average party level is the same. It will either give y'all some cooling off time, or the ubers will get sick of waiting to play and agree to play a more balanced character.
Alternatively, grant other special abilities to lower point buys, like Hero Points. In my games, Standard races get 3 Hero Points per session, Advanced races get 2 Hero Points per session, Monstrous races get 1 Hero Point per session, and Very Powerful races get no Hero Points.
Higher point buys can be considered alternate races with lots of additional Advanced Ability Score RPs.
Another thing I've learned when dealing with superpowered PCs: Don't try to challenge them, try to unchallenge them. If they are level 1 and have +10 to hit and do 30 points of damage, instead of giving them a creature with AC 25 and 120 hit points, give them a creature with AC 13 and 5 hit points. All the autokilling will get boring, and they'll either re-balance their characters, or have very slow advancement (low CR opponents = low XP gains).
IIRC, the last time I rolled a character (instead of my preferred point buy), I got 18/18/17/16/14/12 or something like that. I promptly lowered most of those voluntarily, if for no other reason they didn't fit my character concept.
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Okay so first off, you did the best thing you guys could do to keep the game time fun for most of you. The others can have their brand of "fun" with themselves.
Second, if I understand this right, you are a new GM, running a game for the first time? In this circumstances, talk to your players and ask them to try the game however you need to run it to feel comfortable. It is going to be challenging enough (but fun!) to GM as a first timer without worrying about adjusting the power level of encounters due to inflated stats, etc.
After you get in the swing of things a little and run a few adventures, you will know when you feel confident enough to change things up some and let them be a bit stronger starting off.
Good luck, there is nothing so challenging or rewarding in Pathfinder as GMing an exciting adventure for a good group!
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I personally wouldn't find a character with straight 17-18 stats interesting - and I like high stats. My group mostly plays with stat arrays coming out to 30-40 point buy. But if you don't have some sort of relative weakness in your character's stats you're just naturally talented at everything.
I would suggest Core rules only until you feel comfortable as a GM.
Depends on how much experience you have as a player. If you're familiar with the material as a player it shouldn't cause much of a problem from the GM side of the screen.
Ok since there seems to be some confusion going around, did the person who player-killer walk and join your new group or not?
Beyond that, here is my suggestion. Insist on point-buy but offer to do 20 or 25 pt. This means it is a bit less of a jump powerwise for the players. Insist on new characters(although eb open to the idea of recreating characters at the new pt buy lvl) at a level you decide, 1 is traditional but 2 and 3 also have a lot to recommend.
While you don't have to allow the same sources of course, what sources did the old DM allow?
I personally wouldn't find a character with straight 17-18 stats interesting - and I like high stats. My group mostly plays with stat arrays coming out to 30-40 point buy. But if you don't have some sort of relative weakness in your character's stats you're just naturally talented at everything.
I would suggest Core rules only until you feel comfortable as a GM.Depends on how much experience you have as a player. If you're familiar with the material as a player it shouldn't cause much of a problem from the GM side of the screen.
I've found that Core Rules-only or not, the main way your rules mastery is challenged is having optimizers who scan all the options or rules-lawyer players who argue at the table (regardless of how much actual knowledge they have -- and they invariably find the rules work in THEIR favor). If you have those players, then it's a concern. (It also helps a LOT to have a rules lawyer you can trust.)
But first, think carefully about who you invite to the table, and lay some ground rules. If there are certain behaviors such as PvP you don't want, ban them outright and with advance notice. If you're lucky, any problem players who aren't happy with that will walk out on you. :)
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Have you looked into the Mythic rules?
There are some CRAZY good powers/feats/spells and stuff in that book.
Allow them a normal 15 or 20 point buy, but then give Mythic levels every other level. The power creep is pretty serious, but it allows you to also have mythic bosses and BBEG types, with plenty of mooks without any of that cool stuff for them to mow through.
I've found that it allows for a lot of fun just cake walking the little, unimportant monsters/bad guys, but then makes for a far more memorable boss fight.
And I haven't met a player yet that wants to play a guy with all 17+ in stats who WOULDN'T love to learn new crazy powers and new free upgrades and all the things the Mythic game play gives.
Its pretty power gamey, but it allows you to have a handle on the control of the power gamey aspects...and you can throw just as many power gamey bad guys back at em.
Seriously, give it a look.
As others have said, welcome to GMing! The world needs all the GMs it can get!
That said, GMing is a skill, and it takes practice, and jumping right in to mid-level play with crazy-powerful characters and trying to adjust the encounters on the fly is a great way to get frustrated and burn out fast. When you're learning to ride a bike, you take it slow and get the basics figured out -- you don't jump right in to riding a unicycle while juggling flaming chainsaws.
Run an AP -- one you're excited about -- and let them play somewhat-powerful characters: 20 pt buy, or an extra 500 gp starting cash, or an extra trait at first level. Once you get comfortable with the game, have them pull out the old crazy characters for a one-shot "special" in an over-the-top adventure of your design.
You don't have to take a hardline "my game, my rules" approach to it -- it's all about good sustainable fun. Would everybody else prefer to get in a lot of gaming with reasonable characters, or force you to crash about for a few sessions before throwing up your hands and ending the game?
Well last night 6 out of 8 players walked out on our DM. Had a boss fight that took out everyone but 3. The other 5 were unconscious. One of the party members came up and killed 2 out of 5 stating he didn't like them and took their loot. They only reason the 7th person didn't walk is because they are related to the murderer out of game.
2 people tried to stop him but the DM told us that he gets to act first because he said he wanted to kill them. (both unconscious characters were over 50 feet apart and were killed before we could react).
Wow...just wow. I have so many problems trying to wrap my brain around this kind of player.
In game: what exactly did the murdering party member think would happen to the group when he did this? Did he expect the other 2 people to just let him off the hook and continue to trust him because "he likes them" (I guess for now, at least)? How is the rest of the party ever supposed to let him keep watch again? Would you ever go to sleep with that guy hanging around?
I mean, I can even understand a reaction like "I don't want to waste my healing resources on them--if you want to, go ahead" or "Hey, dude, I brought you back from the brink of death--you owe me some of your loot." But this is...wow.
Also, in game, the GM needs to realize that a coup de gras is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. If another player was standing next to the guy when he started, the murderer would have taken at least one hit from the other player's standard action, (assuming he was flat footed when the coup de gras started), potentially 3-4 hits (from an AoO and a full attack on the other player's turn). And that's just on the FIRST guy he tried to kill. The second one is a completely different issue.
Unless the guy was using sleight of hand to stab the players secretly, the rest of the party should get a chance to stop him. (And if he did use Sleight of Hand, well, the "how the hell are we supposed to trust him, ever" comment applies even more.
Out of game:
How the heck did the player think this was going to play out? Unless the other players really hated their characters and the GM wouldn't let them switch, does he expect them to just "let it slide" that he killed their characters? Or does the GM just expect them to let HIM slide for letting the guy get away with, much less actually breaking the rules to allow it?
Are they both really so clueless that they didn't see the group explosion coming?