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Are powergamers a problem and do you allow them to play in your games?
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<blockquote data-quote="Ancalagon" data-source="post: 7325265" data-attributes="member: 23"><p>I have 4 comments on this:</p><p></p><p>1: Powergaming and it's potential impact is very dependent on the system. 5e is a lot "flatter" than 3.X or Pathfinder (can't comment on 4e). In 3.X/Pathfinder, there was a lot more options and choices, and taking the "right" combo could make your character far more powerful that a character who made poor choices. In 5e it seems to be less the case (and even more so if you don't allow feats). So I'm less worried with this edition.</p><p></p><p>2: The motives of the powergamer are important. I find myself powergaming more when I feel my character has to "compensate" for something. In one game (this was 3.x, with an alchemist imported from Pathfinder) I was in a party with poor "tank coverage", no wizards, not enough healing... so I made a jack of all trades character (an alchemist). But I really wanted to play a dwarf (a sub-optimal race for alchemist) so... you bet I powergame the heck out of that character, I had so many niches to fill! </p><p></p><p>In another campaign - a short lived PbP campaign here, using 5e, I really wanted to play a gnome ranger... but we had no tank. So I created a melee gnome ranger (dex based). This is *really* not the best way to make a tank, so I used as much of my system mastery as I could to compensate for those poor choices.</p><p></p><p>If on the other hand, *every optimal choice* is made and the only concern is how bad-ass your character is then... </p><p></p><p>3: In general though, it's all in the eye of the beholder. I remember, many hears ago, I was accused of being a power gamer... because I had put a high con score on my fighter... </p><p></p><p>4: I am a huuuge fan of this rolling system: every character is about the same, you get to roll, and you can't intentionally create a dump stat (you might have one, but you may not). I have a battlemaster with the lowest stat is a 10. It's very refreshing to play someone who isn't deficient in some way <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /> <a href="http://aramis.hostman.us/dnd/RedrickRoller.html" target="_blank">http://aramis.hostman.us/dnd/RedrickRoller.html</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ancalagon, post: 7325265, member: 23"] I have 4 comments on this: 1: Powergaming and it's potential impact is very dependent on the system. 5e is a lot "flatter" than 3.X or Pathfinder (can't comment on 4e). In 3.X/Pathfinder, there was a lot more options and choices, and taking the "right" combo could make your character far more powerful that a character who made poor choices. In 5e it seems to be less the case (and even more so if you don't allow feats). So I'm less worried with this edition. 2: The motives of the powergamer are important. I find myself powergaming more when I feel my character has to "compensate" for something. In one game (this was 3.x, with an alchemist imported from Pathfinder) I was in a party with poor "tank coverage", no wizards, not enough healing... so I made a jack of all trades character (an alchemist). But I really wanted to play a dwarf (a sub-optimal race for alchemist) so... you bet I powergame the heck out of that character, I had so many niches to fill! In another campaign - a short lived PbP campaign here, using 5e, I really wanted to play a gnome ranger... but we had no tank. So I created a melee gnome ranger (dex based). This is *really* not the best way to make a tank, so I used as much of my system mastery as I could to compensate for those poor choices. If on the other hand, *every optimal choice* is made and the only concern is how bad-ass your character is then... 3: In general though, it's all in the eye of the beholder. I remember, many hears ago, I was accused of being a power gamer... because I had put a high con score on my fighter... 4: I am a huuuge fan of this rolling system: every character is about the same, you get to roll, and you can't intentionally create a dump stat (you might have one, but you may not). I have a battlemaster with the lowest stat is a 10. It's very refreshing to play someone who isn't deficient in some way :P [url]http://aramis.hostman.us/dnd/RedrickRoller.html[/url] [/QUOTE]
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