Do you actually have to min-max/powergame your characters in

No, no one has ever played a sub optimal character and survived ever

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>>48913559

My rolls are complete and utter shit unless it is a massive fight or extremely important fight. So yes, I will minmax because RNGesus hates me.

>>48913559

Play with a not retarded GM. If they've got their wits about them and notice that the relatively routine encounter is kicking the crap out of their underpowered party, those skeletons will suddenly have a few hit points less than they should, one will lose his sword from a particularly ferocious blow, etc.

It's not a problem with any system or that system's culture, it's a problem with the GM from start to finish.

>>48913559
It depends a lot on the nature of the group and game. If it's all pretty relaxed, then it doesn't really matter and it's really more about collaborative storytelling than the dice. And this sort of game has its place, though I prefer to play MUSHes to get this sort of play experience. Why have a massive system when the dice don't matter as much as the story anyway?

For tabletop games, I like to play hard, play tactically and I like bloody adventure with high risk and PC deaths. If it's the sort of group and game that supports this, then that sub-optimal character is best off being murdered in their sleep as an object lesson to the newcomer, because in such a game, if you aren't building to win combat, you're actively hurting the party. Moreover, it makes no sense for hardened killers to travel with someone whose purpose is to provide derp.

Ultimately, there is no guarantee of survival; death happens either way, potentially. The only way to not risk death in your adventures is to not be an adventurer. But one style of game has a lot more lethality than the other, and I'm sure you can figure out which is which.

I've played many suboptimal characters, and not only survived, but had fun playing them and contributed to party survival.

/tg/ is not a good place to ask for advice on how to play anything, ever.

>>48913559
1) Stop playing D&D
2) Check other games
3) No more stupid issues with bad game design
4) PROFIT!

>>48913818
>no non-d&d games are badly designed

>>48913559
depends on how murderous is GM

>>48913818
First edition of Exalted looks nice, don't you think?

>>48913559
First off, don't listen to /tg/, including me.
Second, it all depends on your GM and how s/he tunes things. Try talking to them, tell them what you are looking for in a game and if your entire group isn't totally socially inept you should be able to figure out a way for everyone to have fun.

>>48913596
>implying min-maxing is exclusive to DnD

Fuck off with your retardation.

You can be sub-optimal and have fun in D&D.