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<blockquote data-quote="pdzoch" data-source="post: 6955956" data-attributes="member: 80982"><p>D&D is the ultimate cooperative game. It is not cooperative just in the sense that the player characters have to work together. It is cooperative in that everyone at the table builds the story together. I custom build my campaign for my players. When they make character or class decisions, I figure out a way to integrate it into the game. NPCs are a large part of making that happen. When one of my players took a prestige class, Tattooed Monk, I created a monk monastery that practiced that form of mastery, including the Grandmaster who mentored the player character. When one of my players entered a bard’s college, I likewise came up with the peers and masters of the college. I also created a competing bard’s college, The College of War, as a nemesis. One of the player characters in my current game has a sailor background. So, a sea going voyage was bound to happen and I brought in old sailing buddies and famous and infamous ship’s captains. Another has the noble background, so the game has more political intrigue that I originally intended. As the game progressed, I noticed the players making character decisions in response to the story playing out in the campaign, seeking certain magical items, selecting certain feats, spells, or other specialization. Ultimately, the characters define the world and the world define the characters.</p><p></p><p>I think the rules of the game describe generally the characteristics of the player races and classes. Sure, elves are dexterous, but are ALL elves dexterous? Sure that racial bonus to dexterity makes elves fine rogues, but are ALL elves rogues? Elves who play fighters are naturally inclined to use finesse weapons and employ dexterity as a primary trait, but nothing prevents an elf from using strength as a fighter. Just because an elf does not have racial bonuses to wisdom does not mean there are no elven clerics.</p><p></p><p>I do not worry too much about a player selecting certain races – class combos. I expect certain naturally paired combinations. And I do not expect much explanation unusual combinations either. Every race has clerics and every race has rogues, regardless of their racial inclination towards wisdom or dexterity. A player who makes conscious decisions about the mechanics of the race rules to foster an effective build of a character class also does not bother me. I think variation from campaign race norms would typically be from character races with advantages to do so, and those character races less supportive of the unusual build and variations would be less inclined to do so. [Sure, plenty of people who can’t sing still show up for American Idol, but they don’t go far without some sort of talent].</p><p></p><p>The game has so many different ways to play, with practically an endless combination of class, race, and backgrounds. I think the game is deliberately design to support that option to be creative more so than the optimal min-maxer builds. In boardgames, these "point-salad" designs allow players to adjust to challenges in the game and disruption of original strategies to still allow for a path to victory. In TTRPG, this is still true and by design.</p><p></p><p>I will admit that I was not a fan of the prestige classes. Especially when there seemed to be no end of them in previous D&D editions. To me, it was shortcutting the character build by presenting a pre-packaged class, background, story that could have been developed naturally through the normal roleplay of the character in a cooperative campaign. But that said, when my players chose one, we discussed how that prestige class worked in the current campaign. There were times when the players themselves opted out of prestige classes because it did not make sense in the current game – instead, it became the germ of an idea for another character in a different campaign later.</p><p></p><p>So far, I have not seen anyone suffer any backlash for playing sub-optimal characters. Ridicule, sometimes, but generally good natured. As long as a character brings something to the party, and displays at least one strength to benefit the party, the group has been very forgiving of any other shortcomings in character build.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pdzoch, post: 6955956, member: 80982"] D&D is the ultimate cooperative game. It is not cooperative just in the sense that the player characters have to work together. It is cooperative in that everyone at the table builds the story together. I custom build my campaign for my players. When they make character or class decisions, I figure out a way to integrate it into the game. NPCs are a large part of making that happen. When one of my players took a prestige class, Tattooed Monk, I created a monk monastery that practiced that form of mastery, including the Grandmaster who mentored the player character. When one of my players entered a bard’s college, I likewise came up with the peers and masters of the college. I also created a competing bard’s college, The College of War, as a nemesis. One of the player characters in my current game has a sailor background. So, a sea going voyage was bound to happen and I brought in old sailing buddies and famous and infamous ship’s captains. Another has the noble background, so the game has more political intrigue that I originally intended. As the game progressed, I noticed the players making character decisions in response to the story playing out in the campaign, seeking certain magical items, selecting certain feats, spells, or other specialization. Ultimately, the characters define the world and the world define the characters. I think the rules of the game describe generally the characteristics of the player races and classes. Sure, elves are dexterous, but are ALL elves dexterous? Sure that racial bonus to dexterity makes elves fine rogues, but are ALL elves rogues? Elves who play fighters are naturally inclined to use finesse weapons and employ dexterity as a primary trait, but nothing prevents an elf from using strength as a fighter. Just because an elf does not have racial bonuses to wisdom does not mean there are no elven clerics. I do not worry too much about a player selecting certain races – class combos. I expect certain naturally paired combinations. And I do not expect much explanation unusual combinations either. Every race has clerics and every race has rogues, regardless of their racial inclination towards wisdom or dexterity. A player who makes conscious decisions about the mechanics of the race rules to foster an effective build of a character class also does not bother me. I think variation from campaign race norms would typically be from character races with advantages to do so, and those character races less supportive of the unusual build and variations would be less inclined to do so. [Sure, plenty of people who can’t sing still show up for American Idol, but they don’t go far without some sort of talent]. The game has so many different ways to play, with practically an endless combination of class, race, and backgrounds. I think the game is deliberately design to support that option to be creative more so than the optimal min-maxer builds. In boardgames, these "point-salad" designs allow players to adjust to challenges in the game and disruption of original strategies to still allow for a path to victory. In TTRPG, this is still true and by design. I will admit that I was not a fan of the prestige classes. Especially when there seemed to be no end of them in previous D&D editions. To me, it was shortcutting the character build by presenting a pre-packaged class, background, story that could have been developed naturally through the normal roleplay of the character in a cooperative campaign. But that said, when my players chose one, we discussed how that prestige class worked in the current campaign. There were times when the players themselves opted out of prestige classes because it did not make sense in the current game – instead, it became the germ of an idea for another character in a different campaign later. So far, I have not seen anyone suffer any backlash for playing sub-optimal characters. Ridicule, sometimes, but generally good natured. As long as a character brings something to the party, and displays at least one strength to benefit the party, the group has been very forgiving of any other shortcomings in character build. [/QUOTE]
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