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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Warpiglet" data-source="post: 6955882" data-attributes="member: 6689161">Hello fellow gamers…Just had some musings about roleplay, multi-classing and character choices…wondered what others think about these issues.  (If TLDR, look at the last few lines for my discussion questions).(My one disclaimer or caveat for discussing this would be please don’t remind me that this has been discussed before and you are tired of it.  I too have read other discussions but want to have a new one.  Please indulge me).I am a long time player.  I played AD&D 1[SUP]st[/SUP] edition, some third and now love 5e.  I totally skipped 2e, 3.5 and played one session of 4e.  If that changes anything, I thought I would throw it out there.  Over time, there has been a lot of discussion about roleplaying and rollplaying (an artificial dichotomy, I believe), power gaming, rules bending and so on.  The internet has changed this discussion dramatically and frankly, I believe it has altered history in a sense.Looking back on the game’s roots, I am struck by how much the game was focused on surviving hazards and encounters via problem solving and dice rolling.  It seems to me that the strong emphasis on deep roleplaying “my character would not do that even though it is optimal,” is a newer addition to the game.  At the very least, its primacy would be a later addition.I know roleplaying is important.  It is one reason I like TTRPG over games like Diablo for example.  But allowing it to trump all other conventions and choices seems to be a recent development.  The guilt of not playing the game seriously can really hamper a person’s fun should they be inclined to such seriousness.I seem to be walking a fine line.  I really did not like the stacking of prestige classes without much regard to story.  It could go too far for me: (“my Mega Knight, Clownmaster, Beaststalker, Robe Designer has proficiency of +14 for this roll, all bonuses probably included!).  Conversely, the idea of a prestige class wedded with the game, even two of them, could make sense. Currently, I want to play a Blade Pact Warlock with a few extra spell slots.  I plan to start as a Sorcerer for one level and then move forward as Warlock.  The character is a mountain dwarf.  I actually thought his background and talent for innate magic made sense and could attract a patron.   Wow.  It suddenly all fits, even if it did not at first!But let’s be real: I first thought of Mountain Dwarf because of increases to abilities and armor proficiency.  And starting as sorcerer?  I got the idea because I wanted to be able to cast detect magic without using an invocation.  The search for abilities to deal with the game fostered character development into a whole concept which would not have occurred without some limits or barriers or synergies. I do not feel guilty about the search for effectiveness.  I could take it a few steps further but I like some of my suboptimal choices for character reasons.  I do not feel guilty about making some choices for increased efficacy.  And as it turns out, neither is really inconsistent with the game’s intent.   I also do not worry that I could be taking MOAR power vie eldritch blasting all day.  My group will not suffer if I want to reduce DPS to fight with a hammer sometimes!For anyone who likes to merge roleplaying and effectiveness, I would love to hear how you marry the two masters in a seamless whole…And did you ever doubt your approach or wonder if it was consistent with the game’s design/purpose?</blockquote>

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