Tizzbin’s Tirades: Optimization Aggravation
As some (if not all of you) may be aware – I am not a Dungeon Master. I don’t play one on TV, nor in naughty Craigslist ad role-play scenarios. I’m a player, a gamer, and a ‘character’ through and through. I’m here today to talk to you about a topic very near and dear to me: gamers who insist on Over-Optimization.
I think to truly understand what I mean by this, I’m going to have to first take all gamers everywhere and break them into three groups, which I KNOW is limited, but it’s a start:
First, you have the Role-Players, who play to create a character more than anything else. When these folks pick their powers and feats – 
they’re deciding what their CHARACTER would choose – not looking for optimization so much as something that makes sense in telling the story of their character. Granted, not every one of these characters are going to be like “Lollieillolioieau the Elven Ranger”, who has a complex and tragic back-story, which would take you two years to read because the guy who wrote it penned the entire thing in functional ‘Tolkien-Elvish’. Some might just be outlandish heroes like Badass McGee who lives in Castle Awesome with his Frat-boy buddies – downing brews, screwing wenches, and picking fights with the homeless peasants along the way. It’s still role-playing – it’s all about who you are and how you play.
Next you have the Roll-Players, who play D&D like its Yahtzee, but with a character sheet. It’s less about the characterization, so much as just running the combats and skill challenges as efficiently as possible. When their turn comes up, they’ll make their play, roll the dice, and then likely go back to their smart phone where they’ve paused their game of Angry Birds, or maybe were in the middle of tweeting about their plans for the weekend.
Then you have the Power-Gamers, who play D&D like they’re buying a Ferrari to curb their midlife crisis. 
It’s about taking the perfect feats that synergize with the powers, and then throwing on the perfect set of gear, hand-tailored to make the other heroes in the party know who has the biggest and most virile “member” in the Kingdom. But when every decision you make for your character is designed to incrementally increase your damaging potential via a complex mathematical algorithm that would make Matt Damon’s head spin, I cease to take you seriously.
[Authors note: I’m referring to Matt Damon, by the way, as a Good Will Hunting reference, not as a Bourne Identity reference… Because I’m sure that algorithm would make Jason Bourne’s head spin as well, but then he’d kill you with his bare hands. And that’s probably why we’ve never seen Jason Bourne playing D&D.]
But I do think that optimization has a place, without a doubt! Like for instance – if you’re in the D&D Championship at GenCon – then rock that mother out, and make the most hardcore character you can! If you want to be able to tell me what you’re average Damage per Round is going to be? Well, in that environment, it totally makes sense. But for the week-to-week game with your friends? I just don’t see it. Unless, of course, you’re trying to impress the girl sitting next to you, in which case – I’d remind you that the girl is already sitting down playing D&D with you! And if she’s seriously impressed by how HUGE your crit is, well, she’s probably packing a “monster’s vault” downstairs from all the Rangers and Rogues that tossed their 20’s before you.
But what effect does creating an insanely optimized character have if you’re in a party with folks who just want to sit down and have a good time?
Well, here’s the facts: If you’ve created the ultra-healer, then expect the DM to ramp up the damage. If you can personally slay an Elite in one round, then expect creatures during the next encounters to have a ton more hit points. If you can fly over combats and never take any damage while raining down death-blossom AoEs and making the DMs encounter into a giant game of whack-a-mole? Be ready for everyone in your party to just look at you and sigh, because all you’re doing is creating a more hostile world – a world that’s designed to pose a greater challenge, because YOU are raising the bar!
“But Tizzbin, are you telling me that I should arbitrarily DUMB DOWN my character and choose less than optimal abilities just for the sake of keeping things even?! How is it my fault that other gamers can’t make a character better, like mine? Am I supposed to sacrifice my enjoyment for the sake of others?!”
These are marvelous questions, and ones that I can only give my opinions to, but here are a few pointers for the sake of those folks who are caught in that scenario:
- Choose more ‘Group Friendly’ Feats: If you find yourself choosing all the “lone wolf” feats, try to expand your scope from just raising your own to-hit, damage, or defenses to finding ways to add synergy and
team-work to your party. D&D isn’t a single player experience, and any player that focuses on being able to take on an encounter all by themselves is missing out on the ‘big picture’. - Help Fellow Gamers with Character Creation: Talk to the other players and open dialogues about their powers. See if they may have options that would work together with others to increase the “party” dynamic. You can set yourself as the leader of your team, and also the ‘go to guy’ for questions when the DM is busy.
- Find your “Niche” in the Party: Is there some adventuring ‘thing’ that your party DOESN’T have? Maybe that’s a direction where you could stand out! But you should always be careful that you don’t step on anyone else’s toes. If you have a controller in the party already and you decide he’s not doing enough controllish things, it would be a nice thing to ask before you bring “ultra-controller” into the game, ya know?
- Look for a New Game: I hate to say it, but this might be your last resort. If you just can’t stand not being the Captain Planet to your parties Planeteers, it may be time to find a group in your area that wants to run your style of game!
But all of this really comes down to the fact that some people just don’t want to be a member of the team. They want to stand out and have attention lavished upon them. They want the other party members to leave the gaming table, and decide to name their real-life children after “that amazing character”. And in future days, when we have jet packs and flying cars, someone will dig up your character sheet and base an entire religion around your amazing ‘to hit’ numbers!
And in closing, let me give you, the reader, a gentle warning: If you tell me that you have to make your character amazing, because it’s secretly a “deity” in disguise, I’m going to be more inclined to conspire to kill your so-called “character”, and take all their belongings… because I have to assume that there’s a huge XP bonus for killing a deity – and your gear would definitely look WAY better on me!
[Editor's Note: The views expressed by Tizzbin are not necessarily the same as those of the Editor of Neuroglyph Games. Nor are those views necessarily the result of certain interpersonal "debates" which occurred recently in a certain D&D 4E campaign - but one also cannot deny the possibility.]
Illustrations courtesy of Wizards of the Coast – Player Strategy Guide
About The Author
>But what effect does creating an insanely optimized character have if you’re in a party with folks who just want to sit down and have a good time?
Which of your 3 categories “just wants to sit down and have a good time”?
IMHO it’s all of them.
So why do the optimizers have to change to accomodate you and not vise-versa?
I am not sure where I fit in under the descriptions above- which are a good start. I only dungeon delve and rarely role-play. But I don’t optimize either nor loose focus of the game. I mostly pick out a DDM miniature and build my character around it. My fighter doesn’t always choose toughness or weapon focus. I pick a feat because the mechanic seems to fit the mini or it is exciting to pick. Quick draw if my fighter has a 16 in both Str and Dex in order to switch between a longbow and a longsword- I’m looking at the Human Highter from DoD. Or Potent Challenge for a Dwarf Fighter with a huge maul.
Optimizers drive me nuts. I mean I can optimize like any other optimizer but then I might as well roll a d20- on a 11 or higher I win. Hooray. It’s just that much fun for me.
Well I am a DM. With around 30 years of play experience. (Old DMs rarely die, we turn to necromancy and become liches. If you really think Gary Gygax passed away then I have a bridge to sell you : ) ).
Anyway, the point I was going to make is that I certainly do adjust encounters (and thus by default the game world) based on character abilities. In my current 4E campaign I have a Shaman that has not really maxed out his healing but certainly did a good job of cranking out the healing HP. When I realized he could singly hanedly keep the party on its feet with little problem I started using higher damage potential critters. Our dwarf has the ability to spend 3 healing surges on his own from items. As they party an take damage, I give them plenty of damage to take.
For power gamers I suggest that you go ahead and set up one strong set of 3 or so powers that let you be the good of war when you really need to be to save the day, then let yourself pick some less optimized things that give the bag of numbers you gave a name to a little “character”. Defeating an adventure with sub-par abilities is actually the ultimate gamer skill – not being able to cull a rule system for the best set of number combinations.
Great article, and I couldn’t agree more. As a GM, I constantly encourage my players to NOT optimize and pick powers and feats and the like that complement the character, not the build. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t.
One thing I think needs to be mentioned, though, is that what you talk about here is dependent on environment. In a home game where the GM is completely in control, and all the players know each other, this is completely accurate.
However, in an environment like D&D Encounters, where often the players are strangers and the adventure is known to be particularly lethal, optimization is, to an extent, necessary for survival for the whole party. If everybody else is loaded up for a tournament-style game and one player brings the weak link, that can be the difference between a successful encounter and a TPK. It’s a corner-case, yes. But it’s still important to note the difference in style of a home game and public play.
most popular dnd myth of all time, that you cant roleplay and hit worth a crap at the same time
Nice article. I’ma DM and a player both. Everyone in the group I run is a Power Gamer. The Bard/Warlord adds 10 to everybody’s initiative… so I add 10 to all monsters initiative. The fighter deals huge damage, has a ridiculous tolerance for pain, and immobilizes everyone… so I up all hit points, damage, and give monsters the ability to teleport.
I’ve told my players, for everything they do I can top it as a DM.
I play along many of those same players in the other group. They can’t understand why my weapon of choice is a xen’drik (1d6, prof +2, range 6/12), it’s absolute crap that you have to spend a feat to get. But it looks cool I tell them. Meh, they say. Meh. They just don’t get it.
So thank you for the post, maybe gamers will start to figure it out. Not all kobolds deal 4d12+12 and teleport at-will. Just kidding, but seriously.
[...] Games had a thought-provoking article on character optimization. Agree or disagree? Leave them a comment! (We do see his point, though we wish he would have [...]
Whew… for a second there, I thought you were going to call out the ADD gnomes who constantly checked Facebook between attacks…….
I am with you Tizzbin. There is a place for the power gamer. However, for my home game I like to play a cooperative roll playing game not a strategy game. I like the game to lean more to roll playing. The fighting encounters should help build the story. I do not want to play a game where it is a system to carry you from one fight to another.
Like you, I am a cheating DM and when I need to, have a wizard in the encounter to put that sleep spell on the optimizer so the others can have some fun in the encounter. Then every once in a while I let the optimizer do his thing and say to him, “Wow, you really kicked butt!”
However, if the optimizer is still dissatisfied, I do not think he should find another game, he should find another group with a killer DM. Play strategy with that DM. Nothing wrong with that, it is just not my thing.
In closing, again I am with you. I think D&D can be a richer more enjoy able game with more roll playing. Making a character to support playing a roll. It is a heck of a lot more fun than a video game on paper.
A couple notes to a couple folks:
@Chris: All 3 do want to have fun, but sometimes, you actually have to think about how your fun effects other people. If you’re playing basketball – its more fun to take every shot you can, and ignore the concept of passing – but a bunch of people didn’t get together to watch YOU play basketball… ya know?
And I think the main point here is that I was talking about OVER-optimizers. I think on some level everyone optimizes. If you’re a Warlock and you picked charisma as your “to hit” and you take a bunch of Con based attacks? You’re not very optimized. But that’s just BASIC optimization. Not going buck-wild in the theory-craft department.
And I’m sorry, but if one person’s play style negatively impacts the group as a whole – that’s why THEY’RE the ones who would need to change. The same would be true if the Power-Gaming group had a single HEAVY Roleplayer who drug out their nights by wanting to go every detail of what their character was doing at any given moment. Some people just want to go from combat to combat.
But maybe that’s another article for another time, when I feel like playing devil’s advocate.
@Jason Dawson – RE: Encounter’s character optimization: TOTALLY AGREE! That’s why I mentioned the D&D Championship. I’ll fully admit that I only played a few encounters, and that was right after PHB3 was released (I played a couple games at PAX and subsequent cons). I’ll also admit, though – my Sorcerer was totally not optimized… but you wouldn’t have known it when my first Chaos-Bolt did a 7 target jump!
@All else – I love the feedback and reading the personal experiences/ways that YOU handle Over-Optimizers! Keep em coming!
Yes, I have to second Tizzbin’s point about a single over-optimized character in a campaign – it might be fun for that character, but it puts the DM in a quandary: Do you accept the fact that this one character can blow through the encounter built for the mean attacks and defenses of the party, or do you up the difficulty level of the encounter and force to challenge the over-optimizer at the expense of the rest of the characters. Any DM will tell you that the old saying about the “needs of the many” applies to gaming rather frequently, and it only takes one player-character to ruin the fun for others. On lone over-optimizer can either they make encounters too trivial, or force up the difficulty level and make all the other characters feel less than adequate. And the easiest solution is just to rein in the over-optimizer.
Jason brought up a good point about organized play situations, and of course Tizzbin mentioned the D&D Championships, and I have to agree there. Organized play, like D&D Encounters, Living FR events at conventions, and other events of that ilk are the exceptions that prove the rule – go ahead and over-optimize til your eyes bleed, and wow your fellow gamers at the convention or at the weekly Encounter at the gaming store. But for a regular campaign among friends, just take a step back, make a solid character, and just have a good time. Most “friendly” campaigns are full of gamers that are going to be more impressed with your role-playing than your roll-playing, and you don’t need to over-optimize for that.
At first when you were talking about confusing Matt Damon I thought you were referencing Matt Damon in “Team America”. Haha. It’s a good thing you clarified that.