Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="nameless" data-source="post: 1435545" data-attributes="member: 1543">I wonder if min-maxing and specialization are really the same thing. Focusing your abilities to be better than most of your peers seems to meet both definitions. At a certain point, enemies you face will have potent defenses against most things and it just takes a big stick to knock them down... the medium-size stick that generalists get simply won't get the job done.Min-maxing only is a bad thing (IMO, obviously) when it breaks suspension of disbelief. It's fine if your AC is so high (for example) that the enemies you fight can only roll 19s or 20s to hit you with their best attack. It's not fine when the BBEG can only hit you on a 20. Because in that situation, only bad things will happen:A. The character is effectively invulnerable in melee.B. The DM finds some reason that the bad guys will have extra attack bonuses without raising the CR, or will lower the character's AC somehow. This is just an arms race, and everyone who hasn't min-maxed their AC will lose out. Besides that, if every viable enemy has to have a ring a true strike, things definitely start to break suspension.C. The DM just raises the CR of the encounters. But when specializing, the character probably doesn't function at that higher level in all respects, so it's a formula for TPK.D. The DM finds some elegant solution to that character's strengths. And that's not fair to the character. What's the point in focusing your character to be better than others if you just sacrifice some abilities for others and get hit with the nerf bat. Never getting to use your cool powers is definitely not fun.There are other things like that, too. Maybe one character can Fly, or has good DR, or a powerful elemental attack, or regeneration. Some enemies can overcome that, but there will always be some that can't. If you can fly, every encounter with melee-bound enemies is auto-win. If you have DR, every encounter with nickel-and-dimers is auto-win. If you regenerate, every encounter with dumb monsters that don't think of overcoming it is auto-win. If you have some powerful attack, any monster not resistant to is is auto-win. One time I had a character with Spirited Charge that worked when he wasn't mounted (as a special monster ability). His high strength pretty much made sure that every enemy he hit died in one blow, even guys of much higher CR.Making too many encounters auto-win or auto-lose isn't much fun. I think that's really the danger from too much min-maxing... turning D&D into rock-paper-scissors.</blockquote>

Verification