Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Runestar" data-source="post: 4399159" data-attributes="member: 72317">On another note, one argument I often see against optimizing is that it disadvantages the player who did not optimize. Every time there is a disparity in terms of &quot;power level&quot; between the different players, it is somehow always the optimized PC's fault for apparently &quot;spoiling the market&quot;, so to speak, and that the solution is obviously to dumb down his build to keep it in line with that of the weakest PC, so that everyone can be equally challenged.My question now is - why should it not be the other way around? Could I not argue that it is in fact the other player's fault for not optimizing that is preventing my own character from unleashing his full potential and being all that he can be (within reasonable limits, of course)? It would be like saying &quot;I don't want to optimize, so no one else should optimize either&quot;. Or at least, find a suitable middle ground where the &quot;too strong&quot; players revise their builds downwards, and those with crappy character builds revise their own builds upwards? Given a choice, why would everyone opt to be equally weak, as compared to being equally strong? After all, if a DM can adjust his strategy to cater to sub-optimal parties, logic follows that he can naturally revise his strategy to accommodate &quot;stronger&quot; parties as well.<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/erm.png"&nbsp; class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":erm:" title="Erm&nbsp; &nbsp; :erm:" data-shortname=":erm:" />Problem is - the way it gets flung around here, its meaning more or less appears synonymous with powergaming/munckinism. Nothing can be further from the truth! The purpose of optimization is not to wreck a campaign, but to help players create the characters they want to make, who are as efficient in their roles as possible (and capable of fulfilling all the roles they feel their characters ought to be capable of). Or am I missing something?<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue&nbsp; &nbsp; :p"&nbsp; data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Runestar, post: 4399159, member: 72317"] On another note, one argument I often see against optimizing is that it disadvantages the player who did not optimize. Every time there is a disparity in terms of "power level" between the different players, it is somehow always the optimized PC's fault for apparently "spoiling the market", so to speak, and that the solution is obviously to dumb down his build to keep it in line with that of the weakest PC, so that everyone can be equally challenged. My question now is - why should it not be the other way around? Could I not argue that it is in fact the other player's fault for not optimizing that is preventing my own character from unleashing his full potential and being all that he can be (within reasonable limits, of course)? It would be like saying "I don't want to optimize, so no one else should optimize either". Or at least, find a suitable middle ground where the "too strong" players revise their builds downwards, and those with crappy character builds revise their own builds upwards? Given a choice, why would everyone opt to be equally weak, as compared to being equally strong? After all, if a DM can adjust his strategy to cater to sub-optimal parties, logic follows that he can naturally revise his strategy to accommodate "stronger" parties as well.:erm: Problem is - the way it gets flung around here, its meaning more or less appears synonymous with powergaming/munckinism. Nothing can be further from the truth! The purpose of optimization is not to wreck a campaign, but to help players create the characters they want to make, who are as efficient in their roles as possible (and capable of fulfilling all the roles they feel their characters ought to be capable of). Or am I missing something?:p [/QUOTE]

Verification