DragonCon D&D Characters were minned, not maxxed

[Grant_Stoom]

Just came back from my first DragonCon in Atlanta this past weekend. I played several D&D events with my regular gaming group and found their pre-genned characters somewhat...silly.

Sorcerers with the Quicken Spell feat.

My 7th level cleric had Two-Weapon Fighting, Ambidexterity taken as feats, not from taking a level of 3.0 frontloaded Ranger.

Clerics with no ranks in Concentration but 3 crossclass ranks in Wilderness Lore.

In a party of 17th level characters, all were multiclassed so that no character had over 4th level spells except the Ranger/Druid. That particular adventure was pretty much all roleplaying anyway - so it didn't make much difference until we went against a pair of Titans with no magic items and no spells over 4th level.

So is this the usual case for pre-genned characters? Do they usually stink?

 

[Piratecat]

Nope. All depends on the author.

 

[Psion]

I don't see why it makes them stink. I see lots of less than optimal choices in chargen among my pcs... and am somewhat thankful that my players are minmaxers. A cleric with TWF sounds like an interesting way to make the character distincive. I see no reason that the designers should engage in this particular malady. I say "good on them."

 

[Grant_Stoom]

I don't see why it makes them stink. I see lots of less than optimal choices in chargen among my pcs... and am somewhat thankful that my players are minmaxers. A cleric with TWF sounds like an interesting way to make the character distincive. I see no reason that the designers should engage in this particular malady. I say "good on them."

Yeah, but a Sorceror with Quicken spell? That's 100% useless no matter how you slice it.

 

[Psion]

Yeah, but a Sorceror with Quicken spell? That's 100% useless no matter how you slice it.

Er, okay, I'll hand you that one.