Firstly, what is Min/Maxing?
Minimising your weaknesses while Maximising your strengths. It certainly isn't contrary to the spirit of roleplaying that someone in a dangerous occupation should try to do precisely that. Indeed, pretty much everyone does min/max to some extent or other both when playing and in real life, and the more stressful the situation, the more they need to min/max.
Min/maxing does not involve cheating and seldom involves exploiting loopholes and badly written rules. The first is cheating and the second is rules lawyering, and while a good min/maxer is usually a competent rules lawyer (and vise versa), the two are not the same
How to Min/Max in D&D
Note: This post deals with D&D, but most of it is relevant to all forms of D20, and much of it to other RPGs
Step 1: Decide who you want to be.
Although this article is devoted to rollplaying rather than roleplaying (although the two are not mutually exclusive), this step helps your roleplaying. It also helps your rollplaying because if you just pick a few levels here and a few there on the grounds that something looks cool, you are going to end up as an inferior bard- jack of all trades, master of none and without even the synergies within the bard. You must keep a good strong theme throughout your build.
Step 2
Choose Base Class(es). Work out which class best suits the idea you have chosen and start as that. Note that if you want more than one base class, start as the one with the highest number of skill points, using hit points to break ties (due to the rules for level 1 characters). Also watch out for experience point penalties for mixing base classes of differing levels- it's usually better to be a single class here if you can.
Step 3
Allocate Stat Points. If you are a primary caster your highest stat should be your casting stat (Int for Wizards, Wis for Clerics and Druids, Cha for Sorcerers) if you are a secondary caster (Bard) or a tertiary caster (Ranger, Paladin, many prestige classes) planning on spellcasting you also need a good spellcasting stat. You also want good stats to fit with your concept (and remember that mobile or defensive fighters might want Int 13 for Expertise). Also try to allocate a high even stat to your intelligence as changes do not retroactively affect your skills.
Step 4
Look through the legal books for prestige classes that seem to fit your theme.
Step 5
Golden Rule: If you want to be a primary spellcaster, reject any that involve dropping multiple caster levels. +1 spellcaster level is probably the best ability you can get from a Prestige Class. Note: this is what balances classes like the Arcane Trickster or Mystic Theurge (who had to drop a few caster levels to enter the class)
Step 6
Know the break points. Level 1 in a class is always good for saves, giving you a +2 bonus to any "high" saves for the class. Level 4 is the usual breakpoint if you don't want to finish the prestige class as level 5 adds to none of your saves and only adds to BAB if you have full BAB progression. If you intend to get into combat a lot, you should be aiming for at least +16 BAB at level 20 and if you are sometimes going to get into melee (mostly because iterative attacks don't advance after level 20).
Step 7
Check feats for your PrCs and work out which feats fit your build.
Step 8
Make a build. Look at the abilities, HP, BAB, spellcasting, feats and saves. Make sure you don't have an incredibly weak save (as can easily happen if you multiclass amongst similar classes with the same high save(s). Make sure you don't have any sort of EXP penalty.
Step 9
If the build seems to be respectable, check it all the way up and make sure it isn't crippled at any given level (as can happen when trying to enter classes like Arcane Trickster or Mystic Theurge). If it passes step 7, 8 and 9 play it. If it doesn't, back to step 7 and either tweak the build or redo. If you can't find a build that works, possibly your concept is faulty and you need to return to step 1. note: step 9 is all too often missed out even by experienced min/maxers
Step 10
There is no step 10.
Abilities of Note
Worth Considering
Divine Grace (depending on Cha). Evasion (Improved Evasion probably isn't worth it as most people who can get it have very high reflex saves anyway). Wis to AC for a divine caster. Fast Movement for a skirmisher. DR.
Traps
The following look like good ideas, but are much weaker than they look: Improved Grapple for a Monk (a fighter will trivially outgrapple you and you need to keep your mobility). Tempest PrC. Dragon Disciple for a straight sorceror (Dragon Disciple is for warriors with a little casting ability (or for epic casters but I digress
). Bladesinger for primary casters (again, trying to be two things and failing- the bladesinger is a skirmish fighter with some magic)Note: The mark of an expert is that they both know the guidelines and when to ignore them. If you can see a good reason to ignore anything I've posted, you are almost certainly right- the purpose of this post is to give guidelines to beginners rather than be a straightjacket.
I would add (or rather, stress) what I consider the real Golden Rule of Min/Maxxing:
A character that is halfway decent at everything is weak, but a character who is masterful at only one thing and completely incompetent at everything else is strong.
The reason for this is that D&D is a game of specialists, and if you can't be the master of your one specialty (whatever that is) you will have trouble holding up your portion of the workload. Since you will deliberately put yourself in positions during the game that play to your strong features, your weaknesses will be less important. Remember, it's minimizing your weaknesses, not eliminating them. Part of the minimization comes from the way you choose to play the character and what kind of situations you avoid. Your Charisma 5 barbarian "min's" every time he lets the bard do the talking.
My other advice would be: If you are in the position of choosing a feat/class that is active or one that is passive/reactive, and you don't know which to pick, pick active. You can never win a fight through superior defenses alone. I'm not saying pay no attention to hit points, AC, and saves; far from it. I'm just saying don't fall into the trap of making a fighter with obscene AC and saves but who only inflicts 3-6 points of damage per attack. You have control over when your active abilities come into play, but your defense is only reactive.
The approach is way too linear to give you a decent character. Step one two three? Most min/max characters are made like branching trees. Start with one thing, go to another or maybe go back. One character may start with a PrC, go to skills, go to stats, go back to skills.
Most real min/maxes start with some arbitrary decision or idea, not with deciding what you want to be. You are figuring out what you will be by min/maxing.
The golden rule is hardly, “Do not drop spellcasting levels.”
So, in short, this article needs some Min/Maxing.
And Ranthanas was speaking of primary casters, not secondary casters, when he spoke of dropping caster levels. I think a good guide to this is if the class makes you drop more than three spellcasting levels total*, then you might want to think about something else. I use three levels because, at 20th level, Wizards will only have just begun getting 9th level spells, which is really their forte, and sorcerers don't get them at all!
If you don't think dropping spellcasting levels is bad and you consider yourself a min/maxxed primary spellcaster... well... I dunno, I've never seen a good spellcaster build who drops more than three levels in their class**.
Typically I suggest making a character up to 20th level if you don't think you'll ever go Epic. If you're considering hitting Epic, draw up the character to 20th level, then draw them up to 30th, and then up to whatever level you think he might get. Note that since this is epic play, you can go up to infinity (with a really good DM who has nothing to do but create CR infinity-1 creatures).
Though I agree that once you get the general gist of min/maxxing, you can switch things around. Nowadays I typically start with a character idea (Avoral paladins...) and then work out the character. This gives you a stronger roleplay base, IMO.
*Total = Loss by PrC or qualifying for a PrC.
**Except for the Cleric/Fighter (Druid/Fighter, Druid/Ranger, Cleric/Ranger, Cleric/Paladin, etc.) 4 levels of a fighter class and 16 levels of a cleric class is great; some pretty decent spells and a +16 BAB. You can't beat that. Then again, it can be argued that this is more of a combat-oriented build, thus making my point still true.
-EE
The way everyone should make their character is:
First, write a storyline for your character, which includes previous experiences, abilities and why he has got them etc.
Next step is making the character.
The last step is checking for any obvious flaws in your character compared to the storyline. His skills, ability points etc should reflected his nature, abilities etc.
-EE
A caveat to rule 4, however, is that not all DMs let the players know what PrCs are available in their world. Preferring to let them discover it "in game."
So someone following your rules, or just crafting a character in general, would be wise to ask the DM what PrCs are allowed before flipping through books and internet sites.
Be prepared to have a strong argument ready for a PrC you feel is necessary, and why the DM should allow said PrC into his world.
And who knows, he may relent and allow it.
Originally posted by Diesel
I do not agree with you.
The way everyone should make his or her character is:
First, write a storyline for your character, which includes previous experiences, abilities and why he has got them etc.
Next step is making the character.
The last step is checking for any obvious flaws in your character compared to the storyline. His skills, ability points etc should reflected his nature, abilities etc.
I've discovered these forums lately, and Diesel's post finally got me into participating. :sad: I haven't played RPGs much, but there is one thing i know : there is no such thing as a "best way" to create characters, or to play D&D. My very first character was nothing but a sheet. No past. No present. No character. As a beginner, I was too shy and knew too little to make a “real” character. And you know what? I'm having a lot of fun with my little Lamebraise. Two years have passed since his creation, and I’ve created his personality on the fly, making him mature at the same time as I have. And there's no way I could possibly love him more!
Everyone's different. Not everyone is in search of the same experiences while playing D&D. But I think it has a single purpose--making the players have a good time. Let's not argue about what character creation method we think is best; let's just have a good time, no matter how!