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<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 7343088" data-attributes="member: 2629">When I encounter this problem, I respond by explaining that power gaming is a good way to get your PCs killed and ruin the game.1.) When a PC Power Games, their PC is stronger than expected by the designers of the game in some way.2.) To provide an interesting challenge, the DM responds with stronger threats (in some encounters, at least) to give that PC a challenge.3.) However, the Power PC is usually not stronger in all ways.&nbsp; They often have some facet that is disproportionately strong, but have others that are relatively weak compared to that strength.&nbsp; For example, a high damage PC may not have high defenses (like AC or saves) that match their damage.&nbsp; Or, they may have huge damage per hit, but not a great chance to hit.4.) The stronger foes the DM uses may not align to the strengths and weaknesses of the PCs, and that may result in a battle where a little bad luck puts that PC out of the battle - and then the rest of the party is overmatched. This is why I see TPKs in Min/Max games far more often than in games without the Min/Max.&nbsp; To that end, I'd ask the player to consider different - story based - goals.&nbsp; However, many players really enjoy building super powerful builds.&nbsp; There is no reason to deny them that opportunity - just target it outside of the campaign.&nbsp; I sometimes run *one shot* sessions where I encourage everyone to bring power game builds.&nbsp; This gives people a chance to exercise their brains on building strong PCs - and allows them to get it out of their system so that they can have more fun on the RP heavy campaigns.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 7343088, member: 2629"] When I encounter this problem, I respond by explaining that power gaming is a good way to get your PCs killed and ruin the game. 1.) When a PC Power Games, their PC is stronger than expected by the designers of the game in some way. 2.) To provide an interesting challenge, the DM responds with stronger threats (in some encounters, at least) to give that PC a challenge. 3.) However, the Power PC is usually not stronger in all ways. They often have some facet that is disproportionately strong, but have others that are relatively weak compared to that strength. For example, a high damage PC may not have high defenses (like AC or saves) that match their damage. Or, they may have huge damage per hit, but not a great chance to hit. 4.) The stronger foes the DM uses may not align to the strengths and weaknesses of the PCs, and that may result in a battle where a little bad luck puts that PC out of the battle - and then the rest of the party is overmatched. This is why I see TPKs in Min/Max games far more often than in games without the Min/Max. To that end, I'd ask the player to consider different - story based - goals. However, many players really enjoy building super powerful builds. There is no reason to deny them that opportunity - just target it outside of the campaign. I sometimes run *one shot* sessions where I encourage everyone to bring power game builds. This gives people a chance to exercise their brains on building strong PCs - and allows them to get it out of their system so that they can have more fun on the RP heavy campaigns. [/QUOTE]

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