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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cergorach" data-source="post: 9825848" data-attributes="member: 725">I think that's based on assumptions, randomness, not understanding the system, and a certain level of unintentional min/maxing.In D&D 3e the issue was worse, partly due to how the system was implemented, partly due to how much choice there was with all the official books and people assumed that if it was official they could use it. And a healthy dose of power creep and maybe not enough internal consistency. 5E 2014 was already a little better, there was less stuff even after a decade of use, and 5e 2024 was even better. After I had DMed last in 3.5e I also figured out that I would NEVER allow complete usage of all books again if I DMed again, and with my latest 5e 2024 campaign I said "Only from the 5e 2024 PHB, nothing else!", it gives enough options to keep internal balance.But I still say that when people make choices in an RPG without understanding the RPG, the group, the other players/characters, the DM, and the adventure/campaign. You'll have issues exactly as you describe them. By making a choice THEY find cool/interesting, without seeing that in context. One player might find something powerful cool and interesting, another player might find something weak cool and interesting, and if that continues in the same way for every moment they can make a choice, it snowballs. This is not just an issue with character building, these issues also present themselves when building adventures/campaigns, people making choices in adventures/campaigns that are not related to your character mechanical advancement.Rule #0 and Session #0 should be imho: get everyone aligned in expectations, in objectives, in style, mechanics, etc. RPGing is a group activity, not an individual game. But when people treat parts of an RPG as an individual activity because their choices matter more then other choices, your going to get back to the same problem, no matter the system and how balanced it is. Even is something like Vampire, I can build completely different style characters, but due to the expectations of Vampire a certain style is assumed.</blockquote>

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