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'Better' here means 'better realises the concept in game mechanics terms'. How could anyone object to the mechanics more closely realising their own concept? And the OP is suggesting his players are not happy, therefore a change might fix it while not changing definitely will not fix it. Quite...

Hah! You actually made me laugh out loud! : ) What made me laugh-in disbelief more than amusement-is your apparent conviction is that the process of optimisation necessarily involves reading a guide or watching a video! How old are you? I'm 55. I've been playing D&D since AD&D wasn't even...

Well, you've sent three posts my way in this thread, and in each post you've misrepresented my position. Gotta admire that 100% record. : ) I'm saying that it's equally possible to paint either group as the bad guys, which itself demonstrates that neither really is. I'm also saying that, as...

Exactly! Problem players! : )

I 'liked' your post, and other similar posts where horrible players got their deserved comeuppance, but I must point out that the problem players here are not problems because their PCs were optimised, they were problems because they had their PCs behave badly! In your example (and I've been...

The OP has posted more since I wrote all this, and the problem has become even more clear. The OP is telling us that the problem is optimisation. But he is wrong. Mistaken. Reading his posts, it's clear that the actual problem is that some players are optimising and refusing to stop...

The point was not to mock, although I knew it might come across that way. That's why I mentioned my motive, which was to demonstrate that exactly the same points could be made to cast the actor-types as the villains and the optimiser types as the innocents, showing that neither version would be...

Fiist, let me start by saying that I think role-players are great at finding ways to ignore the rules. Though I do think their dark powers should be used for good. When new material is being designed, role-players should be set loose on the stuff so they can find all the breaks...so the...

The Arcana check isn't about studying the spell being cast, it's about recognising the verbal/somatic components. The roll is to see if you recognise it or not. This is similar to other checks which are about resolving if your PC already knows that particular piece of information. If you...

I use the 3e rules here, because the 5e PHB has no guidance and the Xanathar's rules here are totally stupid. As long as the counterspeller can see (somatic component) and/or hear (verbal component) the baddy casting the spell, the counterspeller can make an Arcana check (DC 15+spell level) to...

You're correct, but check out the spell globe of invulnerability, the monster might have a similar defence.

If they present a future race whose concept is that they used to be a different race, or that is famous for being adaptable, no problem! But I find it unconvincing that every future race will have that concept. I hope it doesn't come to pass, but remember this fear didn't spring out of...

??? What does that mean? Does it mean that if I (as DM) use set racial bonuses, it follows that because I don't allow halflings to move their +2 from Dex to Str...that I'm denying them +2 completely? Not even to Dex? Try and re-frame it and I'll give you my honest opinion. You think it's...

Reductio ad absurdum. An individual dwarf can certainly start out intelligent. Int 15 is definitely particularly intelligent. 1st level gnomes can have Int as low as 10 in point-buy, and as low as 5 by rolling. A smart dwarf can certainly start out smarter than that gnome. Can the smartest...

And I am also ignoring the fact that I want my 1st level fighter to be able to cast 9th level spells. Waaah, my creative freedom has been taken away! If a race is conceptually strong, then it's appropriate that they get a bonus to Strength. Whether it is interesting or not isn't a factor on...

Actually, I don't have a problem with these three lineages because one concept they share is that each creature with one of these lineages was born with a conventional race, then something happened to stop them being that race and start them being one of these lineages. They chose to represent...

If the race is famous for being adaptable and that concept is represented by two floating +1s, your choice of skill and your choice of feat, you don't need any guidance in realising your concept than you needed for choosing your concept in the first place. If you choose a race with set bonuses...

And all three could have been created using set bonuses and unchanged concepts. The only difference is that +3 instead of +2. What's wrong about is misusing what the choice of race gives you for something that does not reflect that race. To me, there is no difference to a halfling claiming a...

Just because they do an imperfect job, this doesn't mean that they aren't trying to do that job. I don't share your opinion. I don't believe for a second that the designers chose racial ability score bonuses in order to steer a player's choice of class. If anything, it's the other way around...

The 'sometimes' means that you also believe that he racial ability bonuses are not random, which demonstrates my point. The 'not always' demonstrates that game designers have to balance PC races against each other. They chose to do away with the Level Adjustment mechanic from 3e, so they can...