Balancing D&D
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
Because a DM balancing a min/max build without overwhelming the players with regular builds is actually a real challenge. If I was going to be snarky, I would make a comment along the lines of "if a DM doesn't know that, then maybe someone else should DM" - really it's easy to adjust your challenges to a group that on even keel, be it all min/maxed or all median, or all suboptimal. The game though doesn't give a lot of mechanical tools when you've got a mix though.
At that point, often the best solution is not trying to assert your game mastery or unlimited cupboard of monsters over a character, but rather a mature conversation with the player.
TwoSix
Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer
<nod>
Plus, reading CZ's other thread about running an encounter based on Tomb of Annihilation, I don't see anything there that's some degenerate D&D situation. It looks like he's running a WotC published module mostly straight, with some tuning up of difficulty based on the number of PCs and their overall capability, and an acknowledgement that a capable party needs the screws really tightened in order to challenge them.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
It's amusing, but as an analogy misses the point. All of the pieces of a color are controlled by the same player - they are more like class features, not individual characters. The two players are balanced in features - the primary difference at the state of the game is who has initiative.
GameOgre
Adventurer
Well it's really like he sat down at the table to play a game of Chess where the house rules made sure its a challenge to play the game but forgot that one side only had pawns and so Zapp is trying to introduce the missing pieces.
Sacrosanct
Legend
Actually, if you go by his description of high level play from a while back, when he sits down to play chess, every piece does the same thing. Just charge forward regardless of what's going on in the game, and see which piece breaks first.
Satyrn
First Post
And En Passant. It's too situational, it hardly ever comes up.
Flexor the Mighty!
18/100 Strength!
Yep. I like reading Cap's attempts to make the game work for his table. I don't get why people who are apparently bored or upset by this come in to say they are tired of this or upset. Just stay out of his threads would be easier I think. I was to a lesser degree trying to make 5e work and I didn't find a way and just switched to a different system. Hopefully Cap has better luck and maxes the fun at his table.
Tony Vargas
Legend
Really, which of the many systems out there did you switch to?
Did you have to switch players, as well?
Similar Threads
