Goldmoon said:
It seems all I see nowadays is "is there a build that does this?" What happened to "Is there a concept or idea that refelcts this?" Perhaps no one bothers to post role-playing ideas anymore and thus I dont see them, perhaps no one really has role playing ideas anymore and its all become mechanics. Has anyone else noticed a severe lack of character personality and an almost complete reliance on "builds" as a substitute for role-playing?
In general, I think (hope) most people don't need help coming up with a character concept. A character IS his background, personality, motivations, and deeds, and it shouldn't be too hard for someone to come up with some interesting ideas.
That said, since the "build" mentality came around, I've seen lots of people, both new to D&D and D&D veterans focus more on the character abilities, feats, prestige classes and gear than at any time in the past. I think this is due to the number of fiddly bits 3.x has, and so many players get lost in playing with their fiddly bits that they lose sight of the character and his motivations.
Take for example my buddy who is a vet of 1st and 2nd edition, and is usually a great roleplayer. About a year after 3E came out, we were starting a new campaign, and I asked him to tell me about his character and why is adventuring. He rattled off a long list of stats, feats, and the prestige classes he was trying to qualify for, but not a word about his character's background, personality, or motivations for adventuring. When I asked him, he said "oh, his family got killed by blah blah and now Tarkith seeks vengeance and to forget his past." Blah. The loner with no family, no connection, and a vengeful attitude is fine for a 12 year old gamer, but not for a guy who has spent 2 decades making memorable characters. When I pointed this out to him, he sat back and said "Whoah, you're right. I guess I got so wrapped up in tweaking my character, I lost sight of whats important." We went on to play for about a year in that campaign, and Tarkith became another one of his great and memorable characters for his personality and motivations, NOT because of his abilities.
IME, a lot of people who have played previous editions do get lost in the "build" mentality because its there and an integral part of the game now more than it ever has been in the past. I admit I like to try new ideas and combinations of abilities as well- everyone likes to see their character become more powerful and develop their abilities. But IME a LOT of people who play D&D now forget about character motivation, personality, and history because those things are scarcely mentioned in the PHB or DMG as desirable or important, and the temptation to play with their fiddly bits is overpowering to a lot of people. And players new to 3.x don't even have the experience to draw on- I've played in a couple of newbie 3.x campaigns that were ONLY about character abilities and dungeon looting. Fine for some people, but to me its unbearably dull to go from dungeon to dungeon for no other reason than to kill and take stuff.