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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 3371969" data-attributes="member: 467">Maybe.  However, that's the definition used by a lot of people that level criticism not just against powergamers, but 3.x in general.  And, to be fully clear, by "pull his weight in combat" I also meant the PC that really, really pulled his weight in combat.As a DM most of the time, optimized characters don't bother me much.  There's always bigger and badder monsters.  There's always ways to optimize NPCs.  Unless a player thoroughly outclasses you, the worst case scenario is a game in whcih the definition of "Average Challenge" is different than what's expected in the books.The only real problem with "munchkinism" is when one player engages in it and does not "share the wealth" because they want to be special.  That falls outside the scope of pure powergaming -- that's being a self indulgent jerk.  But then, powergaming or munchkinism aren't the only ways there can be incongruities between players, yet so often those are the only things brought up by (usually old school, but often very "new school" people as well).One important factor is that, no matter how your campaign runs otherwise, it is still a game, and as a game there's a sense of competition there.  players versusu the DM, players versus the environment, and players versus the one another.  That's good and healthy and labelling anyone who indulges that aspect of the game as a powergamer fails to see the big picture.  No one can make rules for how fun a game is, how immersed the players are, or how many years a particular scene is talked about and fondly recalled.  Those things happen independent of the rules, and are a function of what we do as role-players.  Bob being able to do 50 points of damage with his 1st level barbarian has no impact on that -- unless you let it.</blockquote>

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