Me. Myself and a Munchkin.

[Bonedagger]

Lately I have heard a lot about the therm "Munchkin" so I started wondering about what this mysterious word cover. I sat, I thought and I concluded the following:

A munchkin in my book is someone who doesn't really play a character but just some stats.... One who make some stats and then almost forgets to name his charater. I'm not tallking about rule lawers. I'm talking about one whos idea of a good character equals maximized stats. If that cannot be then a munchkin will try and find some way by which he can ignore those dump-stats he might end up with.

But now for my question. Is this different from how other define a munchkin?

- By Dagger O. Bone

Edit: A serious typo.. Shudder

 

[Sodalis]

my idea of a munchkin is:
a person that does not play the game as intended, but a game within a game. Whether it is trying to persuade the Dm to give him his way (and thereby winning if he is able to) or one upping the other players (and thereby winnign when he is able to)

In any case, the "game" is an underlying motive for the social activity. He gets together and creates a char for DND only to try and outdo someone else in the group, and feel a sense of pride in himself.

anyone that does not RP in a RP game is considered a munchkin in my books: (type: underlying game)
*rules lawyer: to expose the DM, or other playeers for not knowing the rules- and exploiting them to his advantage
*min/maxer: to get the best stats possible
*powergamer: to get the best equipment possible

i cant think of anymore right now... but i shall return

 

[Bonedagger]

*min/maxer: to get the best stats possible
*powergamer: to get the best equipment possible

The one who decline points in a pointbuy is rare indeed and there would be a fine line between powergaming and clever reasoning.

.... So are we not all (almost ) guilty of those?

 

[Valicor]

*min/maxer: to get the best stats possible
*powergamer: to get the best equipment possible

Guess I'm both then. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be strong. It can be a great motivation for RP.

 

[drizzit]

well, every gamer i know considers me one of the biggest munchkins they have ever met. yet my characters aren't just a collection of stats and equimpent. i write epic backstories for my characters. i do my best to play every character to his backstory, distinct personality and statistics to boot (had a blast playing a chaotic neutral fighter with a low CHA once). so here's my take on what a munchkin is:

a player who may or may not roleplay a character well (it's irrelevant), but attempts to make the character as obscenely uber as possible without cheating. he uses rules, loop holes in rules and some off the wall logic to make his character extremely powerful. but it must be done within the rules. cheating makes you just that, a cheater. munchkins take joy in finding some new, twisted use for an obscure spell, skill or feat (i was heart broken when, after coming up with a great use for create water, i found that you cannot create it inside of other creatures). that, is a munckin.

 

[Weeble]

metagaming of any kind

 

[KnowTheToe]

Metagaming and playing for stats. Players that are studying on which feat combos can combine to create an unbalancing character. Everyone I have ever met is partially a munchkin, but it is combining character creation with metagaming in mind that can hurt a game.

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

Originally posted by Drizit:

a player who may or may not roleplay a character well (it's irrelevant), but attempts to make the character as obscenely uber as possible without cheating. he uses rules, loop holes in rules and some off the wall logic to make his character extremely powerful. but it must be done within the rules. cheating makes you just that, a cheater. munchkins take joy in finding some new, twisted use for an obscure spell, skill or feat (i was heart broken when, after coming up with a great use for create water, i found that you cannot create it inside of other creatures). that, is a munckin.

I agree whole-hardedly with this decision, although I am a munchkin I do fit into both the min/maxer and powergamer descriptions Sodalis presented.

Also, Drizit, have you considered getting a high level cleric to take innate spell of create water and then use it to create water as high as you can over an opponent's head? I believe the damage was pretty good for the weight of water falling down from a high place...

 

[bloodymage]

a player who may or may not roleplay a character well (it's irrelevant), but attempts to make the character as obscenely uber as possible without cheating. he uses rules, loop holes in rules and some off the wall logic to make his character extremely powerful. but it must be done within the rules. cheating makes you just that, a cheater. munchkins take joy in finding some new, twisted use for an obscure spell, skill or feat (i was heart broken when, after coming up with a great use for create water, i found that you cannot create it inside of other creatures). that, is a munckin.

Agreed.

Maximum
Uber
Nuke
Character
Having
Killer
Insane
Numbers

The Sultans of Smack, of course, epitomize munchkinism. Not a devotee myself, but sometimes it is fun!

 

[drizzit]

take innate spell of create water and then use it to create water as high as you can over an opponent's head?

hehe, never thought of that, thanks! right up there with using Polymorph Any Object to turn the several cubic feet of air in someone's lungs into acid or using Telekenesis to move an object (such as the victim's spleen) about. thanx again for the tip! my DM'll be quite disgusted!

mat