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I'm *GASP* Actually Going to Be Playing 5e in a Few Weeks -- What are the Character Creation Pitfalls to Avoid?
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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 6887074" data-attributes="member: 996"><p>I think there's a line between simply not having/applying system mastery just sort of phoning it in, and willfully sandbagging or counter-optimizing. I'm sure it'd be hard to pin that line down, but it's there.</p><p></p><p>In 3.5, you don't have to go anywhere near that line to build a non-viable character. Just don't optimize /enough/ relative to the rest of the party or the challenges the DM has decided on. </p><p>That's player empowerment. (Being 'empowered' doesn't always make things easy on you.)</p><p></p><p>In 4e, you had to seek that line out, cross it, and put it far behind you to build a non-viable character - or you could turn around and apply all the system mastery you could manage without getting 3.x level rewards for it. </p><p>That was balance. (And we all know how well that worked out, thus the past tense.)</p><p></p><p>In 5e, you can hunt for that line all day, and run towards it like a mirage in the desert, and your DM can /still/ force your PC to contribute meaningfully - or you can powergame to the nth degree and your DM can still stymie your uber-character at every turn. ;P </p><p>That's DM Empowerment. (And, no, it doesn't always make it easier on the DM, but, yes it's working out quote well.)</p><p></p><p>Stay'n on the right side of the above line.</p><p></p><p>Or more DEX. Why would you choose lighter armor? The only real difference is disadvantage on Stealth. There's other armors that don't give that, and if you want to be stealthy, you want DEX, anyway.</p><p></p><p>Empowerment is on the DM side. Yes, spells do fairly specific things, but as a number of threads around here have illustrated, they're still written in natural language and call for DM adjudication.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 6887074, member: 996"] I think there's a line between simply not having/applying system mastery just sort of phoning it in, and willfully sandbagging or counter-optimizing. I'm sure it'd be hard to pin that line down, but it's there. In 3.5, you don't have to go anywhere near that line to build a non-viable character. Just don't optimize /enough/ relative to the rest of the party or the challenges the DM has decided on. That's player empowerment. (Being 'empowered' doesn't always make things easy on you.) In 4e, you had to seek that line out, cross it, and put it far behind you to build a non-viable character - or you could turn around and apply all the system mastery you could manage without getting 3.x level rewards for it. That was balance. (And we all know how well that worked out, thus the past tense.) In 5e, you can hunt for that line all day, and run towards it like a mirage in the desert, and your DM can /still/ force your PC to contribute meaningfully - or you can powergame to the nth degree and your DM can still stymie your uber-character at every turn. ;P That's DM Empowerment. (And, no, it doesn't always make it easier on the DM, but, yes it's working out quote well.) Stay'n on the right side of the above line. Or more DEX. Why would you choose lighter armor? The only real difference is disadvantage on Stealth. There's other armors that don't give that, and if you want to be stealthy, you want DEX, anyway. Empowerment is on the DM side. Yes, spells do fairly specific things, but as a number of threads around here have illustrated, they're still written in natural language and call for DM adjudication. [/QUOTE]
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I'm *GASP* Actually Going to Be Playing 5e in a Few Weeks -- What are the Character Creation Pitfalls to Avoid?
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