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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carpe DM" data-source="post: 1832180" data-attributes="member: 677">This is always hard to answer.  Because I just left a campaign in which I was not permitted to control my character because of "powergaming" concerns, let me give you an alternative perspective.I am usually a DM, so I share your concerns.  But it is frustrating when a DM's vision of what is right for your character wins over what *your* vision for the character is.  What are the costs of a DM-restrictive approach?  (1) It reduces player involvement with their own character.  That's the joy many players get from playing.  They have no other "toys" in the world to care about.(2) It always feels arbitrary.  Not letting a player have a flying mount *in planescape* just because it's his first horse?  Yet I'm sure some other player has an equivalent boondoggle.  Perfect consistency is impossible whether you intercede or not -- so interceding just makes the DM look unfair.(3) There is a difference between powergaming (the use of the RAW for advantage, which I think is just plain *fine*) and powermongering (the bending of rules for advantage, which is not).  The example you gave at the end is a good one: a player seeking to bend a one-time advantage.  But that's different from a player building a wise and powerful character.The above is not a criticism of you.  I don't play in your game, so obviously I don't know the situation.  I do, however, always powergame, because the elegant crafting of characters is what gives me joy, either as a DM or as a player.  So often, complaints about powergamers are simply complaints that players have read and care about the rules.  Why is that not a good thing?  If they don't accept your authority as a DM to houserule, that's bad -- but if you houserule too often to thwart player desires, you'll lose your players.  That's the dynamic.best,Carpe</blockquote>

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