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<blockquote data-quote="FrozenNorth" data-source="post: 8229400" data-attributes="member: 7020832"><p>Other options:</p><ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Create more puzzle combat encounters.&nbsp; Monsters that must be targetted in a particular place or who are immune to all damage except for specific types (which can be pretty esoteric: monster can be defeated by quoting passages from a particular religious book).&nbsp; This rewards players for treating monsters like actual creatures rather than bags of HP, but optimizers still have an important role to play: protecting the party while they discover the monster’s weakness, luring it away from weaker characters, rolling high enough to target the one weak scale in its armor.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">More encounters that mix in skills and traps rather than just combat.&nbsp; Some players optimize because they don’t see the value of a well-rounded character.&nbsp; Show them.&nbsp; A fight that takes place on slick rocks above green slime against enemies that make contested Ath checks to knock you into green slime reward characters that didn’t dump Str or Dex, but the penalty isn’t sufficiently severe that optimizers will feel like they are being nerfed specifically.&nbsp; Unraveling magic zones can make spellcasting more dangerous, forcing certain characters to consider whether they are better avoiding spells for a couple of fights, and environmental effects can force players to adapt, such as fog forcing everyone to fight blind, or thunderstorms forcing concentration checks every round.</li>
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[QUOTE="FrozenNorth, post: 8229400, member: 7020832"] Other options: [LIST] [*]Create more puzzle combat encounters. Monsters that must be targetted in a particular place or who are immune to all damage except for specific types (which can be pretty esoteric: monster can be defeated by quoting passages from a particular religious book). This rewards players for treating monsters like actual creatures rather than bags of HP, but optimizers still have an important role to play: protecting the party while they discover the monster’s weakness, luring it away from weaker characters, rolling high enough to target the one weak scale in its armor. [*]More encounters that mix in skills and traps rather than just combat. Some players optimize because they don’t see the value of a well-rounded character. Show them. A fight that takes place on slick rocks above green slime against enemies that make contested Ath checks to knock you into green slime reward characters that didn’t dump Str or Dex, but the penalty isn’t sufficiently severe that optimizers will feel like they are being nerfed specifically. Unraveling magic zones can make spellcasting more dangerous, forcing certain characters to consider whether they are better avoiding spells for a couple of fights, and environmental effects can force players to adapt, such as fog forcing everyone to fight blind, or thunderstorms forcing concentration checks every round. [/LIST] [/QUOTE]

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