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<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 7525048" data-attributes="member: 2629">Or, you could realiz this is a role playing game and that you are playing the role of a character that is not making battle decsions based upon abstract optimization of statistical models, attack bonuses and all this junk.If you're a sharpshooter, you take the precise shot when it tells a good story.&nbsp; Do you always do it?&nbsp; Do you only do it against certain foes?&nbsp; When angry?&nbsp; Against big brutes?&nbsp; What tells a good story?If you're a great weapon master, when do you sacrifice accuracy for power?&nbsp; You'll have more fun if you stop optimizing the mathematical models at the game table and start optimizing the story.&nbsp; If you optimize your math, it just results in a war of escalation with the DM that ends in imbalanced play - and usually PC deaths. The dirty little secret of optimization: An optimized PC is more likely to die than a non-optimized one.&nbsp; So are his allies.&nbsp; Why?&nbsp; Optimization usually is not balanced - it makes one aspect of the PC better while leaving other things at normal levels.&nbsp; When the DM adjusts for the excessive element, usually offense, of the PC, they do so wth more advanced threats that are better at a spectrum of things.&nbsp; If those enemies negate the focused advantage of the PC, such as with a stun or by separating that PC, the rest of the PCs become overpowered more easily... and that starts the chain of PC deaths.&nbsp; The game works best with balanced PCs that focus on optimizing only one thing: fun.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 7525048, member: 2629"] Or, you could realiz this is a role playing game and that you are playing the role of a character that is not making battle decsions based upon abstract optimization of statistical models, attack bonuses and all this junk. If you're a sharpshooter, you take the precise shot when it tells a good story. Do you always do it? Do you only do it against certain foes? When angry? Against big brutes? What tells a good story? If you're a great weapon master, when do you sacrifice accuracy for power? You'll have more fun if you stop optimizing the mathematical models at the game table and start optimizing the story. If you optimize your math, it just results in a war of escalation with the DM that ends in imbalanced play - and usually PC deaths. The dirty little secret of optimization: An optimized PC is more likely to die than a non-optimized one. So are his allies. Why? Optimization usually is not balanced - it makes one aspect of the PC better while leaving other things at normal levels. When the DM adjusts for the excessive element, usually offense, of the PC, they do so wth more advanced threats that are better at a spectrum of things. If those enemies negate the focused advantage of the PC, such as with a stun or by separating that PC, the rest of the PCs become overpowered more easily... and that starts the chain of PC deaths. The game works best with balanced PCs that focus on optimizing only one thing: fun. [/QUOTE]

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