Nierite wrote:
3.5 = Min/Max is win!
Arcanis = Min/Max is suboptimal.
yes and no. I think this is mostly because people mistake Min/Max for Munchkin. Min/Max is finding the rules to minimize the downside and maximize the upside of the concept. For most people it is dealing obscene amounts of damage while minimizing the counter blow, but it could be finding the way to be the best basket weaver the game will let you be too. Munchkin is when you start dealing with people exploiting ambiguity in the rules and trying to play word games with it to basically cheat into an invincible character.
Now I will say the game makes it hard to have a dominant trick as other systems, not just D&D, allow/encourage/require. If your enjoyment of the system comes from seeing if you can deal damage that requires calculus to tally up, then this system isn't going to work for you. If you enjoy role play and moral questions then this is much more likely the system you will enjoy.
Myself I'm in the middle. I love to wring every bit of effectiveness I can out of a character within the system, but that effectiveness has to be toward the concept of the character to begin with. Case in point I'm working on builds based off of a single idea, use a spear because they are under represented in fantasy games, and from there I've begun searching for any related mechanics and pondering who this person would be. I've gone through and pondered different backgrounds, races, to cast spells or not, etc.. All of which had to face up with simple questions like why would they use a spear instead of X, is there a cultural tie or taboo with spears for them, what nations can they be from and does that make sense, etc...
So far it is shaping up nicely. I wouldn't say that the character is a one trick pony just that the start came from a simple concept and developed into a personality and that personality shaped mechanics decisions and vice versa. At any point of a "better" mechanics choice would shift the personality in a way I don't like it gets dumped because that isn't "who" I want to play and the who is more enjoyable than the what.