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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 2791116" data-attributes="member: 2067">I don't think this declaration is as universal as The Shaman makes it out to be. In his gaming group, this is the way it goes. Mine, to provide a counterpoint, is much more organic and flexible at deep, important levels. It's about 50/50. I don't want a character demanding a jester in a serious campaign, and I wouldn't run a diplomatic style of campaign with a party of low-Cha barbarian wilderness types. I don't see anyone really demanding that their characters be 100% optimized, just effective over the course. The original post seemed irate that his choices were always gimped by disruptive DMing that didn't warn him and ended up hurting his enjoyment. The idea of being constantly attacked in surprise if your character concept uses heavy armor, for instance. He thought he could have some fun standing in the front row and having creatures miss him. Turns out he doesn't get to have fun because of the design of the campaign. That's more than not being 100% optimized -- that's being completely gimped. That's not even a roleplaying choice, it's a mechanics choice, a choice of class and equipment, and it's screwed over. Like the wizard who constantly has his spellbook stolen. If a DM doesn't warn a player and isn't going to change the plan for the night, I don't see why bringing along another adventurer or bowing out is a bad choice. That's saying "Hey, obviously the character I created won't be fun, I didn't understand what the world was going to be like, let me make a new, more effective character." Heck, if it happened often, I wouldn't blame a player for walking out on the game -- obviously the DM has some issues with designing a good challenge.</blockquote>

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