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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 9625996" data-attributes="member: 2629">This is not the first time the D&D scene had to face waves of optimization.  In the early 2000s the message boards (including here at Enworld) became flush with optimization threads that covered how to build the most effective PCs.  Some focused on DPR.  Some focused on stunlocks.  It became the norm for DMs to need to prepare for an optimizer (or several) as a part of preparing for a new group.My advice at the time, which worked well for me, as well as others that really put in the effort, was to focus the games away from combat for a bit and give the PCs a chance to engage with the world outside combat. You can lure them into a storyline with a combat ... but if you create an engaging storyline that can't easily be resolved with pure violence, it will start to shift their way of thinking about the game.  I find the best way to start this is to give them a simple mislead from an NPC that doesn't make any sense given what the PCs had learned - and which prompts them to 'solve the mystery' by recognizing the inconsistency.  The endorphin bump from solving a mystery, even a simple one, is not insignificant. In essence, you're trying to get these BG3 players to stop clicking through the dialogues as fast as they can and instead slow down and appreciate the quality of the dialogue and non-combat challenges in the game - and realize there is more to the world than the combats.Some good techniques for this are to have NPCs use some of those combat skills the PCs have collected in interesting ways outside combat.  For example, Hex, which can be cast at 90 feet, gives a target disadvantage on ability checks.  I had a Warlock character that used Hex to give guards disadvantage on wisdom ability checks, to give grappled foes disadvantage on strength or dex, etc...  One NPC was being brought up for (bogus) charges before a member of royalty, and due to a well times Tasha's Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter, he was seen as being disrespectful of the crown in a way that resulted in his immediate punishment.  Get them to find the uses of their spells outside combat and shift a little more focus in that direction.  Then, as they advance, they'll start looking at options for spells that have more utility outside combat.As for in combat right now - let them be successful.  Let them dominate.  That is what they want to do ... so give them what they want.  Players that go through this phase often get a little bored with it and start looking at other options.  If you've developed the more robust mindset in them to value the other sides of the game more, you should start to see less combat optimization and more total game optimization - meaning a wider array of abilities and less focus on optimizing combat.</blockquote>

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