Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
"pure" survivable, or "mixed" mandatory?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Starfox" data-source="post: 4820078" data-attributes="member: 2303"><p>When optimizing, you always have a goal. This goal is the target you are trying to focus on. Then you decide how much of other things you are willing to give up to reach that goal.</p><p></p><p>A big selling point for class systems like DnD (any edition) is that it restricts optimization. In a pure points-bye system like Champions or GURPS, you can spend all your points on a single ability if you like, creating characters viable in only a single situation/role. In DnD you can't - the minimum performance of a character is still "within the curve" in quite a lo of fields - most importantly combat.</p><p></p><p>Various possible optimization goals include the following <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Class performance</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Combat performance</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Class adherence (what the OP was asking about)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Survivability</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Damage per round</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Damage per round to one target</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Social skills</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sneaking</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Role performance/fulfillment “I want to play a galactic senator”</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Being "fun" for my particular definition of fun, that can be quite obscure to others</li> </ul><p>Some of these goals are "hard" in that they can be quantified in game terms. Others are very "soft" and hard to define. Basically, we all optimize for the most elusive of them all - fun.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Starfox, post: 4820078, member: 2303"] When optimizing, you always have a goal. This goal is the target you are trying to focus on. Then you decide how much of other things you are willing to give up to reach that goal. A big selling point for class systems like DnD (any edition) is that it restricts optimization. In a pure points-bye system like Champions or GURPS, you can spend all your points on a single ability if you like, creating characters viable in only a single situation/role. In DnD you can't - the minimum performance of a character is still "within the curve" in quite a lo of fields - most importantly combat. Various possible optimization goals include the following[list][*]Class performance[*]Combat performance[*]Class adherence (what the OP was asking about)[*]Survivability[*]Damage per round[*]Damage per round to one target[*]Social skills[*]Sneaking[*]Role performance/fulfillment “I want to play a galactic senator”[*]Being "fun" for my particular definition of fun, that can be quite obscure to others[/list] Some of these goals are "hard" in that they can be quantified in game terms. Others are very "soft" and hard to define. Basically, we all optimize for the most elusive of them all - fun. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
"pure" survivable, or "mixed" mandatory?
Top