There's a Big Difference Between "Not Optimized" and "Not Functional" in RPGs

We all know that one player who is terminally unlucky. No matter how good the stats they have are, or how small the chance of failure is, they are practically guaranteed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory if you have them roll a die. As someone who has gone entire sessions barely breaking double digits on a d20, and who once rolled half a dozen natural 1s in a row, there are theories about which ancient deity my bloodline wronged, and what sort of quest I need to undertake in order to free myself from this burden.

Changing dice doesn't help. And may curse the new set temporarily.

However, it is this tendency to roll absurdly low numbers that led to me carefully tweaking every aspect of my character builds so that even with my abysmal luck accounted for I can still succeed often enough to contribute to the ongoing game. A habit that, if I'm honest, is why I have guides ranging from The Death Korps of Krieg to Teddy Roosevelt over in my ongoing Character Conversions project. And while I've weathered my share of accusations that I'm a min-maxing, number crunching point whore who's more concerned with my stats than just "having fun" with the game, there is something that I would like to address this week.

Because as someone who feels he has to optimize his character to the nth degree in order to have any chance of success, I can tell you there's more than one way to reach a goal. Also, there is a massive difference between a character who is simply not optimized, and one that is not functional.

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You Don't Need To Be The Best (But You Shouldn't Be The Worst)

Something I always recommend that players think about when making their characters is asking what they are meant to do. What's their function within the party? Because once you understand what a character's job is, in a mechanical sense, you can find the rules in the game to help support that goal. That is the framework you can then attach your story, personality, quirks, goals, etc. to.

Now, some choices are going to be more "optimal" than others when it comes to achieving a goal with your character. But sometimes a player will specifically not take those options because it will conflict with the story they're trying to tell, or another aspect of their character. And they aren't "playing the game wrong" by not making the best of the best... but they still need to make sure their character can actually get the job done adequately when the dice start rolling.

Perhaps an example would help?

For instance, let's say a Pathfinder player wanted to put together a blasting caster that could penetrate enemy spell resistance. Taking the feats Spell Penetration and Greater Spell Penetration are some of the most obvious choices, as is playing a character that's an elf. Those three choices together add a whopping +6 onto attempts to overcome an enemy's spell resistance, thus making it very likely that slung spells aren't going to slam up against that natural resistance and fizzle out to no effect.

However, say that a central feature of this character's story and history requires them to be an orc. Or a halfling. Or really any species that isn't an elf. Sure, not taking that additional +2 is going to be less optimized, but the difference between a +4 and a +6 on the check isn't some uncrossable gulf. Hell, the player could even opt not to take the Spell Penetration feats, just going at enemies with raw caster levels, and that is not an inherent problem because spell resistance is generally scaled specifically to provide a challenge in this manner.

The elven wizard with the 20 Intelligence and the right feats is going to have an easier time blowing through the protections than the half-orc sorcerer with the 20 Charisma who doesn't have the feats, but both characters are still viable options capable of overcoming this challenge. The half-orc version is still functional.

What would make it less functional, though, would be if the player chose to multiclass the character, ensuring that every other level is something other than sorcerer, thus putting them at a serious penalty when it comes to overcoming spell resistance. Or even choosing a partial casting class like ranger, bloodrager, etc. instead of a full caster like a sorcerer or wizard. In this scenario it's not impossible that they could overcome an enemy's spell resistance, but the fact that their caster level is so much smaller, and that it isn't boosted by feats, class features, etc., it might mean their magic won't practically work against a lot of enemies if they try to use it as a gun.

Change Your Goals, You Change What's Functional

The key thing to remember when discussing optimization and functionality is that you can only use those terms if it's in service of a specific goal. And if that goal changes, then suddenly the specifics for what makes a "good" choice for building an effective character also changes.

For instance, take our spellcaster example above, but alter the goal. Now instead of overcoming an enemy's spell resistance, you want to make that character a more effective buffer for fellow party members. By switching that goal (and casting spells like mage armor, bear's endurance, haste, etc. to protect and boost fellow party members), this character suddenly becomes a lot more viable for the reason that they won't need to overcome spell resistance in the way they would if they were attacking foes. They're using the same tool (magic), but the goal changes, and so things that made them bad at one task are suddenly not a concern on this new one.

There are many paths to success... you just need to define what success is.

Something else to keep in mind is that the more specific you can make your goal, the better the chance you have of narrowing the field in terms of functionality. Because if you have a broad goal like, "dealing the most damage in melee combat," there is probably a single best way to get that done (likely involving an over-sized bastard sword and some combination of barbarian Rage Powers and/or fighter archetypes and features). But say you wanted to make your character Dexterity focused rather than Strength focused, and you wanted to use a dagger, or a shortsword instead. You may not measure up to the raw numbers output of the hulking brute described above by using a swashbuckler, a fencing-style fighter archetype, or one of the other finesse-leaning combat options, but the difference between that extremely optimized brute and your fancier, faster character might not be as big as you think. Again, you're still functional.

Where you will run into problems, though, is when you attempt to choose square-peg options, and hammer them into round-hole goals.

Because that fighter/barbarian with the massive bastard sword he looted from an ogre? Well, he's not going to get a lot of class skills, or skill points. And if you try to make that character knowledge-centric in their skills, chances are good they're not going to get enough points to ever meet the DC to know what a monster, noble, exotic plant, etc. ever is. If you want to multiclass your fighter into wizard, but he has an Intelligence of 9, then you have an entire class level that's essentially grayed-out because you need at least an Intelligence of 10 plus the spell level in order to cast it. And while it's entirely possible to make a sorcerer that wades into melee with a greatsword swinging, between their very low base attack bonus, inability to wear armor without penalty, low hit points, etc., that is a decision that is far more likely to lead to a quick and messy death than it is to a truly unique character who succeeds in unorthodox ways.

I talked about all this and more in Players, Remember, Just Because You CAN Doesn't Mean You SHOULD for those who missed that installment.

So when it comes to discussions about builds, and effectiveness, and arguing over what is and isn't a smart choice, do your best to clear all the static from the air. First, ask what task you want your character to accomplish. Second, ask what requirements they need to have (whether they be of a certain species, from a certain part of the world, if they need to use or not use a certain weapon, fighting style, etc). Then find a way to accomplish the goals you've set forth for them, within the constraints of both the game itself, and their character.

If you can accomplish those goals, then you don't need to be completely optimized. It's only when you can't actually achieve the goals you set out to (or when those goals aren't necessary for the game you're playing) that you end up as a fish trying to climb a tree... and that's a situation nobody wants to find themselves in.

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