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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 6236324" data-attributes="member: 17106">I used to do the latter some some extent and it was a problem. These days, I look at PC creation as a collaborative process. If, for example, the player of a first level barbarian wrote a background in which he was the leader of a tribe, blessed by the gods, and referred to himself as a "warlord" who inspires men to greatness, I would read this and tell him: "No, you aren't. You're a first level barbarian. Some day, you might be all those things, but that's not where I'm starting this game at." I do see less extreme versions of this pretty regularly, where players make a character that doesn't make sense, where they overreach.Or, for a more practical example, I had a player who created a character who hunted mind flayers but had various flaws and penalties that knocked his will save down to a negative number. I let this go because it was his choice, but in reality I should have conveyed to him that this was such a suboptimal combination of mechanics and goals that it wouldn't work. I had used the player's background to make an aberration-heavy campaign full of tough enemies. And, indeed, the character was blasted with will save effects repeatedly and eventually died as a consequence. The player's mistake? Yes, but also mine for letting him go down the wrong road.I think the gaming culture overemphasizes player choice. The DM knows what's going on in the whole world, and he determines the tone of the game and the goals of the campaign. Soliciting player input can be great, but it's important that he make sure that no one is blatantly outside of his vision for the campaign, because that just sets up a confrontation, one that the player will always lose and which won't likely be much fun for anyone. Trying to convey just the right amount of information, such that the players are within the box but are also independently creating something that adds meaning to the game, is a delicate process.</blockquote>

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