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<blockquote data-quote="SPoD" data-source="post: 3442919" data-attributes="member: 51268">All of the characters are far from optimized, probably because optimized characters wouldn't be funny. They'd just dominate every combat with a mandated 20% expenditure of resources, instead of any battle being a crapshoot (and often running away from danger). I mean, a halfling two-weapon fighting ranger who didn't put skill ranks in Survival? A wizard who focuses on Evocation at the expense of other, more utilitarian schools (and who is barred from Conjuration)? A rogue who focuses on archery and thus denies herself Sneak Attack much of the time because she's more than 30 feet away? A bard? They don't know the meaning of the word &quot;optimized&quot;! Only Durkon comes close to being what we might normally think of as optimized cleric, although even then, he avoids the &quot;super-optimized&quot; cleric builds that start to drift away from the typical cleric archetype (like Cleric Archers and such). He's your basic cleric who isn't particularly poorly built, which just happens to stand out in this group.Interestingly, I think the PCs are mostly poorly constructed, but those poor builds are cunningly utilized for the skills they have, while the villains are often highly optimized but poorly utilized. I'm thinking of powerhouses like Xykon or Sabine that don't use their abilities to the full extant because of laziness or what have you. Which sort of reflects most D&amp;D games I've seen, where the PCs each have their own player who can devote all of their playing time to maximizing their effectiveness, while the DM is statting and playing all of the NPCs at once and doesn't have time (or desire) to utilize each one for maximum effect.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="SPoD, post: 3442919, member: 51268"] All of the characters are far from optimized, probably because optimized characters wouldn't be funny. They'd just dominate every combat with a mandated 20% expenditure of resources, instead of any battle being a crapshoot (and often running away from danger). I mean, a halfling two-weapon fighting ranger who didn't put skill ranks in Survival? A wizard who focuses on Evocation at the expense of other, more utilitarian schools (and who is barred from Conjuration)? A rogue who focuses on archery and thus denies herself Sneak Attack much of the time because she's more than 30 feet away? A bard? They don't know the meaning of the word "optimized"! Only Durkon comes close to being what we might normally think of as optimized cleric, although even then, he avoids the "super-optimized" cleric builds that start to drift away from the typical cleric archetype (like Cleric Archers and such). He's your basic cleric who isn't particularly poorly built, which just happens to stand out in this group. Interestingly, I think the PCs are mostly poorly constructed, but those poor builds are cunningly utilized for the skills they have, while the villains are often highly optimized but poorly utilized. I'm thinking of powerhouses like Xykon or Sabine that don't use their abilities to the full extant because of laziness or what have you. Which sort of reflects most D&D games I've seen, where the PCs each have their own player who can devote all of their playing time to maximizing their effectiveness, while the DM is statting and playing all of the NPCs at once and doesn't have time (or desire) to utilize each one for maximum effect. [/QUOTE]

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