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<blockquote data-quote="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 8225916" data-attributes="member: 50987">Slight tangent:&nbsp; how &quot;new&quot; is this phenomenon?&nbsp; I don't remember character optimization being an issue when I was playing D&amp;D in the 80s and 90s.&nbsp; The first time I heard someone refer to another character as &quot;a munchkin&quot; or a &quot;min/maxer&quot; was in the early 2000s with 3rd Edition.&nbsp; Now it's fairly common, even expected, in some groups.And it felt really sudden, too...it didn't seem like there was a build-up to it to us.&nbsp;&nbsp; It seemed like overnight, my players went from:&quot;Hey check out my new character, he's a dwarf fighter and his name is Huxley Fabernak and he's the youngest of his clan, and he has a short temper when people make fun of his height so he fights with giant polearms&quot;to&quot;okay so my fighter has the ABC class variant from Unburied Magica and the XYZ racial variant from Rolo's Book of Baddies, so he gets the spells of a sorcerer, and according to the erratta he can cast this one spell which lets him qualify for the feat that lets him qualify for the weapon that lets him qualify for the prestige class which lets him qualify for...huh?&nbsp; His name?&nbsp; Oh, I don't know...hadn't thought about that yet.&nbsp; Call him Bob or whatever.&quot;Of course, my players are a rowdy and shifty lot, so my experience shouldn't be used as an indicator of any trends (they hiss and recoil at anything considered &quot;trendy.&quot;)&nbsp; Still, this focus on optimization feels new to me.&nbsp; Is it really new?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="CleverNickName, post: 8225916, member: 50987"] Slight tangent: how "new" is this phenomenon? I don't remember character optimization being an issue when I was playing D&D in the 80s and 90s. The first time I heard someone refer to another character as "a munchkin" or a "min/maxer" was in the early 2000s with 3rd Edition. Now it's fairly common, even expected, in some groups. And it felt really sudden, too...it didn't seem like there was a build-up to it to us. It seemed like overnight, my players went from: "Hey check out my new character, he's a dwarf fighter and his name is Huxley Fabernak and he's the youngest of his clan, and he has a short temper when people make fun of his height so he fights with giant polearms" to "okay so my fighter has the ABC class variant from Unburied Magica and the XYZ racial variant from Rolo's Book of Baddies, so he gets the spells of a sorcerer, and according to the erratta he can cast this one spell which lets him qualify for the feat that lets him qualify for the weapon that lets him qualify for the prestige class which lets him qualify for...huh? His name? Oh, I don't know...hadn't thought about that yet. Call him Bob or whatever." Of course, my players are a rowdy and shifty lot, so my experience shouldn't be used as an indicator of any trends (they hiss and recoil at anything considered "trendy.") Still, this focus on optimization feels new to me. Is it really new? [/QUOTE]

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