A conversation in another thread spurred me to want to start this one so as not to derail that one further.
First, I get that there are plenty of perfectly legit playstyles out there. I'm no OneTrueWay believer or BadWrongFun caller-outer. This isn't about "I can't believe you guys play that way! How dumb!" or anything like that. If anything, it may be about expectations and preconceived notions of what 5e expect of its players. And yes, I'm an unabashed power gamer and experienced optimizer. Going back decades. So there's that caveat.
But it feels like there are people out there who believe they are required by 5e to build purely for maximum possible strength/power just to survive. The example given in the other thread: If you were a fighter 4, and your wizard friend started encouraging your interest in magic, would you take a level of wizard before getting that "precious" extra attack from fighter 5? That's the key issue here. Do you feel like you *need* that extra attack before you would consider broadening your horizons resulting from story development?
To me, the obvious underlying impetus seems to be one of make it through each adventuring day. This is where I think I have a certain small degree of disconnect with some people. 5e seems generally pretty forgiving of the minor power level discrepancies between characters (and, yes, in the grand scheme of things I think power level discrepancies between PCs aren't all that extreme). It can handle a non-optimized PC just fine, IMX. A character that isn't optimization-focused still generally manages to get through the adventuring day to enjoy the next. Is that not true? And isn't that the point? To win the day? I just see non-optimized PCs manage it all the time.
That isn't to say weak characters are immune from death. But neither are solidly built ones. I'm saying 5e's assumed power levels of play has a margin of probability, of either kind of PC dying, smaller than some might think. At least that's my experience playing it so much these last few years.
Anyway, I've been imbibing a bit this evening, so forgive me if I'm rambling or incoherent. But I thought this might be an interesting thing to explore.
First, I get that there are plenty of perfectly legit playstyles out there. I'm no OneTrueWay believer or BadWrongFun caller-outer. This isn't about "I can't believe you guys play that way! How dumb!" or anything like that. If anything, it may be about expectations and preconceived notions of what 5e expect of its players. And yes, I'm an unabashed power gamer and experienced optimizer. Going back decades. So there's that caveat.
But it feels like there are people out there who believe they are required by 5e to build purely for maximum possible strength/power just to survive. The example given in the other thread: If you were a fighter 4, and your wizard friend started encouraging your interest in magic, would you take a level of wizard before getting that "precious" extra attack from fighter 5? That's the key issue here. Do you feel like you *need* that extra attack before you would consider broadening your horizons resulting from story development?
To me, the obvious underlying impetus seems to be one of make it through each adventuring day. This is where I think I have a certain small degree of disconnect with some people. 5e seems generally pretty forgiving of the minor power level discrepancies between characters (and, yes, in the grand scheme of things I think power level discrepancies between PCs aren't all that extreme). It can handle a non-optimized PC just fine, IMX. A character that isn't optimization-focused still generally manages to get through the adventuring day to enjoy the next. Is that not true? And isn't that the point? To win the day? I just see non-optimized PCs manage it all the time.
That isn't to say weak characters are immune from death. But neither are solidly built ones. I'm saying 5e's assumed power levels of play has a margin of probability, of either kind of PC dying, smaller than some might think. At least that's my experience playing it so much these last few years.
Anyway, I've been imbibing a bit this evening, so forgive me if I'm rambling or incoherent. But I thought this might be an interesting thing to explore.