Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="mcbobbo" data-source="post: 6425088" data-attributes="member: 6680581">So many great subtopics...&nbsp; but must be brief.Notes - Yes, very.&nbsp; Go get those little 50 cent spiral pocket notebooks and have each player keep their own up to date.&nbsp; Have them turn them in each night, and award minor perks for participating (as above).&nbsp; The added bonus of being able to go over them during prep is seeing what they thought was important enough to write down.&nbsp; E.g. if they noted 'Glurb the farmer', you might see about working him back in to the next session in place of some other character.&nbsp; It's double-reinforcing, and works really, really well.Jerks - Don't play with them.&nbsp; Seriously.&nbsp; If you're not enjoying 'Cheese D---' comments, and they don't know it, that's on you.&nbsp; But once you have told them why you want it to stop, and they have decided not to stop, that's on them.&nbsp; You don't have to tolerate it if it makes your game nights less fun.Optimization - It sucks, plainly, so I do feel your pain.&nbsp; As others have said, you need to bring it out front and address it.&nbsp; If there's no compromise to be had, and you're not willing to adapt, then you've reached the end.&nbsp; Sometimes it happens this way.Just to nitpick for a second:What's being described here is a pawn.&nbsp; It's a mechanical construct only.&nbsp; But it could have been 'Geoff the Woodsy who snuffs out the agents of death with his great stubby shillelagh'.&nbsp; If you asked this character, why do you carry that weapon, his reply would necessarily be 'because my DM is stingy with magic items', as above.So here's at least one avenue of compromise in optimization - try and imagine the best and most well-rounded 'healer' and design towards that.&nbsp; Ignore the DM, the feats list, whether or not there are dragons, etc, and go for the theme.&nbsp; Or, at the utmost, select one trait off of the lists and try to imagine a real actual fantasy person who would have such a thing.But as stated, this would not be THE BEST!!! character possible.&nbsp; Except of course unless you're playing a role, which the 'best' would include being as plausible as possible.I'll be fair and say that there could be a 'second pass' over the mechanical concept to skin it with some kind of flavor, but no such thing was stated, so it is at a minimum not nearly as important as the skeleton underneath the skin.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mcbobbo, post: 6425088, member: 6680581"] So many great subtopics... but must be brief. Notes - Yes, very. Go get those little 50 cent spiral pocket notebooks and have each player keep their own up to date. Have them turn them in each night, and award minor perks for participating (as above). The added bonus of being able to go over them during prep is seeing what they thought was important enough to write down. E.g. if they noted 'Glurb the farmer', you might see about working him back in to the next session in place of some other character. It's double-reinforcing, and works really, really well. Jerks - Don't play with them. Seriously. If you're not enjoying 'Cheese D---' comments, and they don't know it, that's on you. But once you have told them why you want it to stop, and they have decided not to stop, that's on them. You don't have to tolerate it if it makes your game nights less fun. Optimization - It sucks, plainly, so I do feel your pain. As others have said, you need to bring it out front and address it. If there's no compromise to be had, and you're not willing to adapt, then you've reached the end. Sometimes it happens this way. Just to nitpick for a second: What's being described here is a pawn. It's a mechanical construct only. But it could have been 'Geoff the Woodsy who snuffs out the agents of death with his great stubby shillelagh'. If you asked this character, why do you carry that weapon, his reply would necessarily be 'because my DM is stingy with magic items', as above. So here's at least one avenue of compromise in optimization - try and imagine the best and most well-rounded 'healer' and design towards that. Ignore the DM, the feats list, whether or not there are dragons, etc, and go for the theme. Or, at the utmost, select one trait off of the lists and try to imagine a real actual fantasy person who would have such a thing. But as stated, this would not be THE BEST!!! character possible. Except of course unless you're playing a role, which the 'best' would include being as plausible as possible. I'll be fair and say that there could be a 'second pass' over the mechanical concept to skin it with some kind of flavor, but no such thing was stated, so it is at a minimum not nearly as important as the skeleton underneath the skin. [/QUOTE]

Verification