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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercule" data-source="post: 6944356" data-attributes="member: 5100">This. It's been years (like on the 2E dnd-l listserve, IIRC), but I was part of a conversation about optimizations. There was one guy who was extremely good at it and he made a distinction between what he called "min-max" and "max-min". I may get them backwards, but his definition was something like this:Min-Max: Minimize your maximums such that you put a laser focus on what you do well. Sacrifice everything to be the best at one thing. Once you're the perfect hammer play as if everything is a nail. Yes, you may end up with some ridiculous weaknesses, but your strategy is to do everything in your power to beat nails -- then rely on your team to cover for screws, etc. At a certain point, you may decide to diversify, but do so judiciously; the more you water down your strengths, the more those weaknesses matter.Max-Min: Maximize your minimums such that your weaknesses are covered. This is, essentially, defensive optimizations. You may not solve problems as well as the Min-Maxer, but you also don't have to worry as much about your flank. Once you're comfortable that your weaknesses are sufficiently dealt with, you may start to better develop a couple of tools.I've never seen that distinction made, since, but it stuck with me. Most optimizers in D&D are min-max. D&D is a team sport and you get more bang for your buck by having the Fighter be stronger, the Wizard smarter, etc. The more PCs are in the group, the higher the rewards of this style play. Such things as the 3E spiked-chain master are clear, but effective, one-trick ponies.If you're in a small group, especially a solo game, the max-min style makes sense. Save-or-suck is indistinguishable from save-or-die. Also, "fifth player" characters, like the Bard, have a certain amount of max-min flavor. Also, some kinds of heavy RP games, like a group of Sharn inquisitors, might be well suited to max-min because you're likely to be able to work towards slow success, but also more likely to be able to be isolated from the safety of your team.The idea of making ASIs favor low stats tends to nudge people in the direction of max-min play. If you're in a standard D&D game, I'm not sure that sort of play is strategically beneficial. If you're in a high RP game, you might actually end up making the problem worse. About the only time I think it would be beneficial is if you have a group that's heavy into the min-max mindset but you're playing a campaign where a max-min might be better. Even then, once they shift their gears, it'll probably do more harm than good.</blockquote>

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