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Where does optimizing end and min-maxing begin? And is min-maxing a bad thing?
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<blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 7072672" data-attributes="member: 6775031"><p>At a basic level, it breaks the fundamental concept of fairness, which is that the DM is supposed to present the world honestly and without bias or consideration for external (metagame) factors. The only adventure that is <em>worth</em> the time and energy of playing through is the adventure that happens naturally, based on the premise that represents the internal forces of the world.</p><p></p><p>Consider the alternatives. If the DM goes out of their way to hit the PCs in their weak spots, then the players aren't failing based on their own decisions (either choices about what character to make during character creation, or their role-playing choices during the game); they're failing because the DM is a jerk. If the DM goes out of their way to <em>avoid</em> attacking their weaknesses, then the players aren't succeeding based on their own decisions either; they're succeeding because the DM is <em>causing</em> them to succeed, and there's no sense of accomplishment in that. In both cases, the decision by the DM essentially makes any decision by the players meaningless, because the outcome is already determined ahead of time. And even if the DM decides to take a balanced approach and throw things that they think will present a reasonable challenge for you to overcome, your success or failure still hinges entirely on what <em>they</em> think is reasonable for you; if you fail, it's because <em>they</em> mis-judged you, rather than because of any choice <em>you</em> made.</p><p></p><p>If we want our choices as players to <em>matter</em>, then the only alternative is for the DM to <em>not</em> take those choices into consideration. That way, you can succeed or fail based on your own ability to anticipate and overcome the obstacles in your path, rather than based on the whim of the DM. It is far better to fail based on your own merit, than to succeed by DM fiat.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Crimson Binome, post: 7072672, member: 6775031"] At a basic level, it breaks the fundamental concept of fairness, which is that the DM is supposed to present the world honestly and without bias or consideration for external (metagame) factors. The only adventure that is [I]worth[/I] the time and energy of playing through is the adventure that happens naturally, based on the premise that represents the internal forces of the world. Consider the alternatives. If the DM goes out of their way to hit the PCs in their weak spots, then the players aren't failing based on their own decisions (either choices about what character to make during character creation, or their role-playing choices during the game); they're failing because the DM is a jerk. If the DM goes out of their way to [I]avoid[/I] attacking their weaknesses, then the players aren't succeeding based on their own decisions either; they're succeeding because the DM is [I]causing[/I] them to succeed, and there's no sense of accomplishment in that. In both cases, the decision by the DM essentially makes any decision by the players meaningless, because the outcome is already determined ahead of time. And even if the DM decides to take a balanced approach and throw things that they think will present a reasonable challenge for you to overcome, your success or failure still hinges entirely on what [I]they[/I] think is reasonable for you; if you fail, it's because [I]they[/I] mis-judged you, rather than because of any choice [I]you[/I] made. If we want our choices as players to [I]matter[/I], then the only alternative is for the DM to [I]not[/I] take those choices into consideration. That way, you can succeed or fail based on your own ability to anticipate and overcome the obstacles in your path, rather than based on the whim of the DM. It is far better to fail based on your own merit, than to succeed by DM fiat. [/QUOTE]
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Where does optimizing end and min-maxing begin? And is min-maxing a bad thing?
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