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<blockquote data-quote="Pielorinho" data-source="post: 688853" data-attributes="member: 259">I approach it differently:&nbsp; I try to minmax in character.&nbsp; Two examples:1) Goroshko, a dwarven druid.&nbsp; This was my beginning character concept, before I started looking at the stats, and I built a backstory around his exile from the dwarven mines (&quot;hippy!&quot; they shouted at him as he left.)&nbsp; As I played him, I built him around being an animal-based druid, and got him the augment summoning feat and natural spellcasting so that he could stay as an animal, and bring more animal companions, as often as possible.As for minmaxing, I figured that Goroshko well understood the prowess of various animals and vermin and studied them, and accordingly, I studied the stats for animals and vermin.&nbsp; Goroshko and I learned that giant wasps have a very potent venom, and that if you're gonna cast giant vermin on something, it should be on a wasp.&nbsp; We learned that brown bears are much more effective fighters than earth elementals, and that if you're gonna summon something for fighting, it should be a brown bear.&nbsp; We realized that summoning a lot of creatures and then casting animal growth on the lot was more effective in combat than summoning a single creature and casting animal growth on it.2) Oleander, a halfling rogue7, started off in concept as a pirate.&nbsp; I minmaxed him as a pirate:&nbsp; gave him a ring of swimming, a rope of climbing, several ranks in sailing and rope use and swimming.&nbsp; Although he was efective in dungeoncrawling, he wasn't really minmaxed for it.&nbsp; But hoo boy -- when fights occurred in rooms with chains dangling from the ceiling (&quot;sure, they're close enough to ship's riggings,&quot; my DM generously ruled), or when they occurred in rooms with water, he could clean up.My theory is that PCs are going to train themselves to survive well in the environment they're used to.&nbsp; Making in-character decisions to maximize your effectiveness is cool and appropriate.&nbsp; But making out-of-character decisions to do so is a wee bit annoying.Daniel</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Pielorinho, post: 688853, member: 259"] I approach it differently: I try to minmax [i]in character[/i]. Two examples: 1) Goroshko, a dwarven druid. This was my beginning character concept, before I started looking at the stats, and I built a backstory around his exile from the dwarven mines ("hippy!" they shouted at him as he left.) As I played him, I built him around being an animal-based druid, and got him the augment summoning feat and natural spellcasting so that he could stay as an animal, and bring more animal companions, as often as possible. As for minmaxing, I figured that Goroshko well understood the prowess of various animals and vermin and studied them, and accordingly, I studied the stats for animals and vermin. Goroshko and I learned that giant wasps have a very potent venom, and that if you're gonna cast giant vermin on something, it should be on a wasp. We learned that brown bears are much more effective fighters than earth elementals, and that if you're gonna summon something for fighting, it should be a brown bear. We realized that summoning a lot of creatures and then casting animal growth on the lot was more effective in combat than summoning a single creature and casting animal growth on it. 2) Oleander, a halfling rogue7, started off in concept as a pirate. I minmaxed him as a pirate: gave him a ring of swimming, a rope of climbing, several ranks in sailing and rope use and swimming. Although he was efective in dungeoncrawling, he wasn't really minmaxed for it. But hoo boy -- when fights occurred in rooms with chains dangling from the ceiling ("sure, they're close enough to ship's riggings," my DM generously ruled), or when they occurred in rooms with water, he could clean up. My theory is that PCs are going to train themselves to survive well in the environment they're used to. Making in-character decisions to maximize your effectiveness is cool and appropriate. But making out-of-character decisions to do so is a wee bit annoying. Daniel [/QUOTE]

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