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<blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 8933668" data-attributes="member: 20564">I think both are valid ways to play.For myself, I often ask to &quot;pick last&quot; for characters and go for what the party needs.&nbsp; Gives everyone unique times for spotlight.I've come across two time recently when this came up.&nbsp; One was with a new player.&nbsp; We were all discussing characters, they wanted something (I forget what) and I was going to make a wizard.&nbsp; I'm halfway through creating my wizard, when it comes back that they actually wanted to play a wizard but were a little put off by the complexity.&nbsp; While having two wizards doesn't mean overlap and isn't something I'd have a problem with, I didn't want to make the new player feel second fiddle so I changed to a rogue.In the same group, a few campaigns back, we had a player enter mid-campaign.&nbsp; The group as a whole is somewhat casual when it comes to system mastery, so I tone down because I have the most fun when every character is around the same level of effectiveness*.&nbsp; Well, the new player came in with a character very close to mine in where they get spotlight both in and out of combat, even having 3 of the 4 same expertise choices I did, but was fairly optimized.&nbsp; I'm not against optimization, one group I played with for a decade everyone including the DM went full out all the time and it was hella fun.&nbsp; But in this case I had a character that did what I did, but better.&nbsp; Stole the spotlight consistantly.&nbsp; I was not happy about that.(* about &quot;same level of effectiveness&quot; - I do admit if doing a support character or a tank I'll go a half-step more than everyone else, because those characters are designed to make the other characters shine.&nbsp; So it doesn't make them feel less.)I'd definitely play in a &quot;make what you want, you won't find out until we start&quot; game, I find that for me, a bit of coordination at the beginning of a game makes the months or years of play after that work better.&nbsp; It's the same information that a player replacing a dead character would have.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Blue, post: 8933668, member: 20564"] I think both are valid ways to play. For myself, I often ask to "pick last" for characters and go for what the party needs. Gives everyone unique times for spotlight. I've come across two time recently when this came up. One was with a new player. We were all discussing characters, they wanted something (I forget what) and I was going to make a wizard. I'm halfway through creating my wizard, when it comes back that they actually wanted to play a wizard but were a little put off by the complexity. While having two wizards doesn't mean overlap and isn't something I'd have a problem with, I didn't want to make the new player feel second fiddle so I changed to a rogue. In the same group, a few campaigns back, we had a player enter mid-campaign. The group as a whole is somewhat casual when it comes to system mastery, so I tone down because I have the most fun when every character is around the same level of effectiveness*. Well, the new player came in with a character very close to mine in where they get spotlight both in and out of combat, even having 3 of the 4 same expertise choices I did, but was fairly optimized. I'm not against optimization, one group I played with for a decade everyone including the DM went full out all the time and it was hella fun. But in this case I had a character that did what I did, but better. Stole the spotlight consistantly. I was not happy about that. (* about "same level of effectiveness" - I do admit if doing a support character or a tank I'll go a half-step more than everyone else, because those characters are designed to make the other characters shine. So it doesn't make them feel less.) I'd definitely play in a "make what you want, you won't find out until we start" game, I find that for me, a bit of coordination at the beginning of a game makes the months or years of play after that work better. It's the same information that a player replacing a dead character would have. [/QUOTE]

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