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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 5967809" data-attributes="member: 8461">The undeniable fact is that you are the one who is clearly and demonstrably wrong. Any sort of showcased build or encounter is always going to fail the "three strikes" rule of theory-crafting:1) The build always assumes that the character is at full power. This tends to only be true for the first encounter of the day (which, even if you stick to the whole "four encounters per day" paradigm, is only 25% of the time). So the vast majority of the time your character will already be down on hit points, consumable materials, spells, etc.2) The build assumes meta-game knowledge of the encounter before meeting it. Simply put, this presumes that the characters already know what they'll be facing, and have arranged their spells, feats, magic items, etc. so as to be perfectly optimized to defeat it. This is another area that's divorced from how things are in the game world.3) The build assumes that everything revolves around this encounter. This is really an extension of the second one, but shows how such builds are the product of tunnel-vision. Yes it's useless to have a helm of underwater action if you're showcasing how your character can one-shot a balor, but there's a reason why a character that's used in a game will have one, whether from what they were doing before, or (think they) will be doing later.So you see, requests for "show me the build/encounter" are not only a waste of time, but are asking the wrong questions from the very beginning. You admitting that you've never done these things completely undercuts the legitimacy of asking them to begin with. I've had full casters in my games who were "competent" in that they helped win the fights they were in - apparently, taking damage-dealing spells makes them "incompetent" despite the fact that they were contributors to the encounter. See above. This idea that wizards can handle anything fails the three strikes rule. First, saying that "all they lose is BAB, HP, and feats" showcases the tunnel-vision I've been talking about this entire time. Secondly, I've already explained why it's not a cop-out, please re-read the above post. Third, having magic spells in addition to items is only useful if those are the right spells, and they can successfully cast them - in this regard, they might have slightly greater potential, but that's meaningless if they can't actualize it. See? You're already falling into the trap of assuming the build is the most important part. With any luck, I've helped to dispel some of the naivete you had regarding this. Spellcasters can theoretically be powerful in a given challenge, but that's the thing about theories, they don't always mesh with reality. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

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