Character creation - do you even roleplay?

[conan_edw]

Min-maxed once. Never went back to have my PC stomped on every encounter while on low levels.

 

[Delterius]

TBH if i was a villain in a D&D world I'd shower my enemies with attribute dampeners in the full knowledge that they've been min-maxed into sub 8 dumpstats.

 

[RegionalHobo]

roleplay for me is in the choices in the game i see no point in roleplaying character creation when the result is less choices instead of different ones which is a limitation of the medium.

that said i don t go as far as min max with the exception of things like AoD that kinda force me to if i don t want to play 128121280- characters to see the content

 

[Saerain]

Suboptimal, sure. I don't research optimal builds, and I'm not going to try to make Kreia into She-Hulk if that's what you mean. But nor am I going to set out to utterly cripple a character for party diversity.

 

[vota DC]

You don't, right?

You play a roleplaying game but you just min-max your character/party, don't you?

Do you even play suboptimal builds because you have THAT character in mind?

I min-max when I train/level up, not much when I create.
For example since Fallout has LUCK as a stat I created Gastone (that is Gladstone Gander created by Carl Barks) with Luck 10 and all the others were average. I tagged gambling. When I played I developed the skills that helped me the most while ignoring the other.

Then there is Jagged Alliance where you can train mercs and develop them against their character. For example you can have a fast Turtle in Deadly Games: he costs 75 $ (but is 55 if he is under training) each day and has a good markmanship and wisdom, just make him some physical training and he would be fast, in a long campaign could be a good idea.

 

[luj1]

It depends on the game but overall there is a middle ground. You can still make a meaningful build and have a few flaws. I typically go anywhere from 60 to 80% munchkin instead of 100%

 

[King Crispy]

I don't play RPGs to "beat" them. I play them to experience them.

That doesn't mean I'm going to intentionally gimp my player(s). It makes no sense to artificially increase the difficulty of the game by either not spending all your attribute points (does anyone do this?) or by making a known broken build. Creating an orc wizard is just asking for pain.

On the other hand, there is something to be said about not attempting to break the game by swinging way outside its expected norms during chargen. If that's specifically your thing -- if you live to be a min-maxer and you just don't GAF -- then that's fine. But if you prefer a more gentlemanly approach to an RPG, you'll show some restraint during the creation process. Maybe choose a class you seldom have tried in the past. Take a race that's unique to this game so there's some question as to how it's going to work out for your party.

I mean if you take all the mystery out of party formation and thus its ultimate success, then what's the point of playing a single-player RPG?

The min-maxer, of course, would scoff. But he doesn't have all the answers.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Min-Maxers are ruining RPGs and they should go play MOBAs instead

Honestly there are a lot of shit RPG designers who seem to think that the appropriate solution to minmaxing isn't to fix the game so there is value in varied builds or improve reactivity but to tell the player to fuck off and go play arena shooters or shit if he wants to be a tryhard. Lazy gameplay design is depressingly fucking common in RPGs.

This.
If your game allows to easily make overpowered and unbalanced builds, it's because the game's mechanics are just badly designed. Not the player's fault for paying attention to your errors and take advantage of them to make the most optimal playstyle possible.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

What Crispy said. The fun for me personally is enjoying the experience, and that usually means picking classes, race/class combinations, or skills I normally wouldn't use, even if they aren't optimal. I still spend my skill points wisely, but I try to do different things that are outside the norm, because it means more fun for me in the long run. Min/maxing is fine if you want to do it, but to me it sort of ruins the fun of exploration of the game systems, since you are essentially copying a "win all the time" build from the internet and not doing any creative thinking yourself. Just my 2.

 

[Divine Blessing]

sry, but since when dumb persons become mages? weaklings warriors? Loremasters (AoD) rogues (hfgl)?

they dont, but they tend to post about it...


RPG as system has a technical basis. as stats r integral to the RPG experience, ofc class-affine build is roleplay per se.

 

[Tweed]

Making a character with shitty strength or dexterity and then playing pretend isn't roleplaying. So unless the game responds in a meaningful way then you're just gimping yourself for no reason.

 

[Background Character]

I want to say I'm a hardcore l33t gamer that dumps charisma and isn't afraid of nothing but I can never go through it. You have no idea how hard was to play Wasteland 2 (for many reasons though)

Now that being said I don't give up cheese/abusing mechanics, I will never give up cloudkilling beholders from across the room

IF YOU HAVE A BEHOLDER

AND I HAVE A CLOUDKILL WAND

MY CLOUDKILL REACHES ACROOOOOSSS THE ROOM AND KILLS YOUR BEHOLDER

I. KILL. YOUR. BEHOLDER.

 

[Sigourn]

I never roleplay, but thankfully New Vegas has plenty of stat checks in place so my build ends up making each playthrough different. Even better with difficulty mods that nerf stat growth.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I love to roleplay on single player CRPGs as a rogue, illusionist, conman, or trickster... if the game let's me. If the game focused on combat and character builds, such as in SSI's Wizard's Crown, then it doesn't make much sense to lean heavily into a pure rogue character no matter how much you want to play one. Even lore-oriented games such as the Infinity Engine games have so little need for pure rogues that playing one becomes a handicap.

There are a few games that let you play as anything that you want. You can get through Fallout and Deus Ex on any sort of pure build you want and the game's difficulties and rewards for doing so are on par with the combat builds. The vast majority of games out there will punish me if I don't play a purely combat-oriented character. It's not an RPG, but I'm very thankful to the older Thief series and Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, for letting me get my inner sneak loose.

I created a gnome illusionist in Pathfinder: Kingmaker and having a good time with him.

 

[frajaq]

First run of the game = play on normal/hard, LARP with stats for ~~~immersion~~~ even if they're not meta

Second run of the game if I like it enough = full optimization/meta and hardest difficulty

 

[ultra loser]

I don't roleplay because I always create a waifu character.
In the rare case of playing as a male I check guides for information on romances, specifically on how to avoid them because if some female character got interested in me I wouldn't be able to self insert anymore.
Actually I do that in the first case too because my waifu must be pure.

 

[majorsoccer]

RPGs aren't about role playing,RPGs are about reading text,dialogues and stories

 

[mondblut]

RPGs aren't about role playing

Yes.

RPGs are about reading text,dialogues and stories

Hey brah, I've got an RPG for you:

 

[aweigh]

i've actually had "conversations" with normies who've said that char-gen is bad because it doesn't allow them to fully inhabit the "role" of the character, that they need a protagonist who is pre-defined in order for them to be able to role-play as him.

not even kidding.

 

[eXalted]

in order for them to be able to role-play as him.

In normie land games role play you.

 

[Sigourn]

i've actually had "conversations" with normies who've said that char-gen is bad because it doesn't allow them to fully inhabit the "role" of the character, that they need a protagonist who is pre-defined in order for them to be able to role-play as him.

not even kidding.

And that's how JRPGs were born.

 

[Ventidius]

I typically play the role of an invisible, omnipresent, telepathic tactician whose squad of slaves each plays the role of a different type of murder machine.

 

[turkishronin]

I used the shapeshifting spell in Baldur's Gate when I could use more powerful spells because I thought having your caster turn into a giant monster is cool

 

[RaptorRex888]

Yes. I make totally useless pieces of gimped shit as long as it fits into my made up head cannon backstory for my character. I pick skills and weapons and armour based purely on aesthetics or description and if that is what I think they would wear/use. And I always play on the easiest mode and/or godmode enabled if I feel like it.

I also quicksave every couple of seconds and load if I don't like how a conversation went.