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<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 8497438" data-attributes="member: 1210">Dude. The earliest editions of the games explicitly encouraged optimizing. It was mechanically supported. I'll give you just a few examples.<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">In early editions, you could trade a penalty in one stat for a bonus in another stat that was more optimal for your class. Usually it was -2 to +1, but this could vary.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">After rolling stats, you chose your class and race, and this is a point at which you can optimize. Racial ability modifiers made some races better at being certain classes.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Thieves included modifiers to their main abilities by race, so you could optimize your thief for a given thief skill.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Weapon Specialization allowed you to optimize your fighter for damage at range or close up, as you saw fit, and some choices were clearly mechanically superior.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Unearthed Arcana included the ridiculous &quot;best 3 of 9d6 for Strength&quot; character generation method, which certainly optimized your ability scores. </li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Gygax explicitly stated that you should reroll starting characters who didn't have at least, what, one 16 or higher? IIRC- it might have been even better stats than that.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Weapons weren't balanced against each other at all until 3e, so there's another form of optimization available. </li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Early-edition multiclassing. Why make hard choices when you can have everything?</li>
</ul>I could go on, and I could go on at length. Your claim that early editions didn't support or encourage optimization is incorrect.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 8497438, member: 1210"] Dude. The earliest editions of the games explicitly encouraged optimizing. It was mechanically supported. I'll give you just a few examples. [LIST] [*]In early editions, you could trade a penalty in one stat for a bonus in another stat that was more optimal for your class. Usually it was -2 to +1, but this could vary. [*]After rolling stats, you chose your class and race, and this is a point at which you can optimize. Racial ability modifiers made some races better at being certain classes. [*]Thieves included modifiers to their main abilities by race, so you could optimize your thief for a given thief skill. [*]Weapon Specialization allowed you to optimize your fighter for damage at range or close up, as you saw fit, and some choices were clearly mechanically superior. [*]Unearthed Arcana included the ridiculous "best 3 of 9d6 for Strength" character generation method, which certainly optimized your ability scores. [*]Gygax explicitly stated that you should reroll starting characters who didn't have at least, what, one 16 or higher? IIRC- it might have been even better stats than that. [*]Weapons weren't balanced against each other at all until 3e, so there's another form of optimization available. [*]Early-edition multiclassing. Why make hard choices when you can have everything? [/LIST] I could go on, and I could go on at length. Your claim that early editions didn't support or encourage optimization is incorrect. [/QUOTE]

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