Foolish question?
Jonathan Jochum
What exactly does min/maxing mean?
Sea Wasp
Jonathan Jochum wrote:
>
> What exactly does min/maxing mean?
Minmaxing is the behavior characterized by sorting through the various
rules of an RPG to find the best way to design a character that will
minimize his flaws and maximize his potential benefits. Used as a
derogatory term, it's emphasizing the fact that this behavior is often
done without any regard for character design as a personality and
sometimes without regard even for the spirit of the character class. A
minmaxer would never, for instance, take a character trait which would
decrease his character's effectiveness in any way, even if that
character trait would make perfect sense for the character as they were
describing him/her.
--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Bruce L. Grubb
In article <341321F3...@linknet.net>, Jonathan Jochum
<jere...@linknet.net> wrote:
> What exactly does min/maxing mean?
It is a form of munckinism found in point baced RPGs. In essence it means
minimising the disadvantages the character has while maximixing their
abilities and/or level.
Bruce L. Grubb
In article <bgrubb-0709...@10.0.2.15>, bgr...@acca.nmsu.edu
(Bruce L. Grubb) wrote:
Minor correction. First min/maxing happens in all RPGs and describes what
muchkins usially do: manipulating the rules (and any loopholes in them)
so as to create characters that have large amounts of power and few (if
any) weaknesses.
StephenJ
Jonathan Jochum wrote:
>
> What exactly does min/maxing mean?
It's a munchkin character generating technique where you try to find the
rules that will give your PC the highest stats, and in the categories
you want....
--
*****************
Was the Order to Slay given because of the Sign of the Goat found on the
ancient Roman crypt beneath the cathedral, or because the Dark Man of
the Haute Vienne Coven spoke the Three Words?
Adamanaxiel
Jonathan Jochum <jere...@linknet.net> wrote in article
<341321F3...@linknet.net>...
: What exactly does min/maxing mean?
Where during the process of character creation and/or evolution the player
uses the Mechanics of the gaming system to his advantage to MAXimize his
abilities and MINimize his weaknesses. It is considered have a derogatory
meaning.
An example would be selecting proficiencies, specializations, character
kits, race, etc... for the sole reason that they would all compliment one
another and create a narrowly focused and but highly powerful individual.
Adamanaxiel KDM
Khisanthus
Jonathan Jochum <jere...@linknet.net> wrote in article
<341321F3...@linknet.net>...
> What exactly does min/maxing mean?
>
A min/maxer is someone who calculates everything, from character stats to
weapon selection, so that he can get the biggest advantage possible. A
typical min/maxer tries to get the highest stats and always gets the most
powerful items available. Usually, they only see the game as hitting
things until they fall over, so naturally, they want the biggest edge when
it comes to combat.
Peter David Boddy
When a person min/maxes, he/she is trying to get the most benefits, for
the least drawbacks. Say, you take a human fighter over a halfling one,
because the human can have 18/00, while the halfling one can only have 18.
Taking the human over the halfling for that reason is a form of
min/maxing. Trying to get a drow fighter/mage/theif, with no light
penalties, and all of it's inherited spell abilities, is another form of
min/maxing. It is a way of the munchkin... =).
Pete
Pete aka Spitfire
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter David Boddy
Carleton University
Email address: pdb...@chat.carleton.ca
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Tines
###
On Sun, 07 Sep 1997 16:51:47 -0500, in <341321F3...@linknet.net>
Jonathan Jochum <jere...@linknet.net> wrote.....
> What exactly does min/maxing mean?
Originally, it was a term from game theory - the optimal strategy in
a zero-sum game comes from choosing the strategy that offers you the
minimum value over the range of maximum outcomes is termed the
minimax strategy.
Its application to RPGs came intially in the form of players who
would take every possible trade-off in the game system in order to
improve the odds in favour of their character.
Over the years, the 2nd 'i' has modulated into a '/' as is the way
of the natural evolution of language. It's also been mis-applied into
near meaninglessness as a term of abuse. At least in the old days,
it acknowledged that the player involved had worked up some skull
sweat gaining his gross bonuses rather than just writing them down
on his character sheet or being given them by a friendly GM.
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The Amorphous Mass
Bruce L. Grubb (bgr...@acca.nmsu.edu) wrote:
>
>In article <341321F3...@linknet.net>, Jonathan Jochum
><jere...@linknet.net> wrote:
>
>
Er, it's found in any kind of RPG, although point-based systems can
be especially susceptible to it. I'm sure it's possible to min/max a M:tG
deck, if you are so inclined.
The /Complete Book of Elves/ is eminently min/maxable, because of
its tendency to balance game-mechanical advantages with roleplayed
disadvantages. Min/maxers just look at the plusses and minusses.
> In essence it means
>minimising the disadvantages the character has while maximixing their
>abilities and/or level.
Right. At worst, it relies on a large number of rules interpretations
favorable to the character.
--
The Amorphous Mass "Some of the greatest war were not only known
amo...@avalon.net as themselves but by that which they wielded."
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Wolgemuth Andrew G
The Amorphous Mass (amo...@arthur.avalon.net) wrote:
: The /Complete Book of Elves/ is eminently min/maxable, because of
: its tendency to balance game-mechanical advantages with roleplayed
: disadvantages. Min/maxers just look at the plusses and minusses.
See also many of the kits from the Complete Book of [Character Class] series.
I tend to call this sort of min/maxing straight out unbalanced munchkinism, because it
not only doesn't require an encyclopaedic knowledge of the rules, it outright hands you
the unbalancing bonuses on a silver platter. Since starting in RPGs, I've managed to
train myself out of "Loophole / Number-crunching" min/maxing, largely by not permitting
myself to touch a calculator during character creation (though my mental arithmetic
skills have improved as a result), but CBoE style min/maxing I find very hard to
resist. Why? Because the penalties aren't really penalties.
Consider; A plus 2 to hit with the crossbow (for example) is FUN, because it
means that your character is unique in a certain way - he's better with a crossbow than
other people. This bonus can be directly translated into a role-playing characteristic
-- the character was a member of the Company of the Red Fletch, a proud unit of elite
crossbowmen, renowned throughout the world for their pinpoint accuracy. The
counterbalancing roleplaying penalty (the character must, whenever it is demanded of
him, provide at least one hour's crossbow instruction per day, without charge, to the
militia/guard/whatever of any place he travels in his home kingdom), disruptive though
it may be to the character's goals, is ALSO fun to play. It's really a win/win
situation.
As DM, then, I tend to slash numerical bonuses that are only opposed by RP
penalties (or else add some numerical penalties) to prevent such characters from
dominating the game, but whenever such a character is made available to me, I tend to
take it.
A. Wolgemuth (Okay, go ahead, take away my non-munchkin league membership card. :-( )