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<blockquote data-quote="FireLance" data-source="post: 1436256" data-attributes="member: 3424">Heh.&nbsp; The bigger problem is the combat brute that maxes Strength, Dexterity and Constitution, mins Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma, and tries to get by on the player's (not the character's) brains and personality.But, to get back on topic.&nbsp; The reason why combat min-maxing tends to be a problem is because we get a lot of combats in D&amp;D.&nbsp; And why not?&nbsp; It's exciting, it usually involves all the players, and it's relatively easy for the DM as he can just choose a few suitable creatures and run them straight out of the MM.&nbsp; A session with nothing but traps occupies the rogue, but everyone else is sidelined.&nbsp; A tricky negotiation may involve the bard and the paladin, but the barbarian gets bored.&nbsp; However, all PCs are expected to be able to contribute something to combat, whether it is melee attacks, sneak attacks or spells.Because it happens so often, and because everyone is able to contribute, differences in ability become more obvious.&nbsp; The party doesn't react negatively if the rogue is the best trapfinder in the land - it's his area of specialty, not theirs, and they don't see that many traps anyway.&nbsp; However, if the raging barbarian deals over 100 points of damage in a round, or if the sorcerer completely wipes out the opposition with a single spell, some people may sit up, take notice and feel threatened.Another problem with combat is that it threatens every member of the party more or less equally. When a rogue is disarming a trap, the rest of the party can try to find a safe place to stand.&nbsp; The DM can increase the challenge of the trap to match the rogue's ability without worrying about a TPK.&nbsp; However, increasing the challenge of combat to match the ability of the combat min-maxer may result in the deaths of one or more other party members.Of course, a creative DM can work round the problem by having different types of challenges, specifically targeting the combat min-maxer's areas of weakness, or cause opponents to focus attacks on the combat min-maxer, but it gets difficult to do this repeatedly over the course of a campaign.&nbsp; It's just a lot of extra work for the DM.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FireLance, post: 1436256, member: 3424"] Heh. The bigger problem is the combat brute that maxes Strength, Dexterity and Constitution, mins Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma, and tries to get by on the [I]player's[/I] (not the character's) brains and personality. But, to get back on topic. The reason why combat min-maxing tends to be a problem is because we get a lot of combats in D&D. And why not? It's exciting, it usually involves all the players, and it's relatively easy for the DM as he can just choose a few suitable creatures and run them straight out of the MM. A session with nothing but traps occupies the rogue, but everyone else is sidelined. A tricky negotiation may involve the bard and the paladin, but the barbarian gets bored. However, all PCs are expected to be able to contribute something to combat, whether it is melee attacks, sneak attacks or spells. Because it happens so often, and because everyone is able to contribute, differences in ability become more obvious. The party doesn't react negatively if the rogue is the best trapfinder in the land - it's his area of specialty, not theirs, and they don't see that many traps anyway. However, if the raging barbarian deals over 100 points of damage in a round, or if the sorcerer completely wipes out the opposition with a single spell, some people may sit up, take notice and feel threatened. Another problem with combat is that it threatens every member of the party more or less equally. When a rogue is disarming a trap, the rest of the party can try to find a safe place to stand. The DM can increase the challenge of the trap to match the rogue's ability without worrying about a TPK. However, increasing the challenge of combat to match the ability of the combat min-maxer may result in the deaths of one or more other party members. Of course, a creative DM can work round the problem by having different types of challenges, specifically targeting the combat min-maxer's areas of weakness, or cause opponents to focus attacks on the combat min-maxer, but it gets difficult to do this repeatedly over the course of a campaign. It's just a lot of extra work for the DM. [/QUOTE]

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