Playing with an imperfect character

Mikkel

Inspired, if you can call it that, by a recent discussion on autorollers, and the general tendency towards min/maxing and "maxed out" character builds I see here, I started wondering how many are like me, and don't worry about that.

I also wanted to make a case for playing with the stats the game gives you, without rerolling for an hour, or using external software to achieve "perfect stats".

I've done it a few times (more and more in recent years, as I've discovered the joys of this style of play), and it's turned out to be much more enjoyable than playing with a munchkin'ed character - and incidentally, I've found that I appreciate the NPCs a lot more when they're as good as, or even better than Charname in a fight, they feel as if they actually contribute rather than act as deadweight or mules.

ajwz

Playing with and imperfect character, also known as playing with a normal character

bigdogchris

I agree 100%, and you say it much more elegantly than I ever could.

When I was a teenager and played BG for the first time I min/maxed my characters because I looked at it as a game and nothing more, why wouldn't you want the most advantage you can have? Now that I'm older I have a different appreciation for the the game and no longer care about being the best across the board. I used to also lower the difficulty to get max HP rolls and such, but no longer do that either, I take the first roll playing on Core-Rules difficulty.

As you pointed out, if you play a character that isn't strait 18's (or near that), you appreciate Minsc's strength with 2-hander, Branwens exceptional priest abilities, and Corans benefit as an archer and thief. Those characters and more have benefits that your character doesn't have - and they stick out - when you don't try to min/max or roll for hours on end to get perfect stats on the protagonist.

I also think the game is more challenging when you play a character that isn't perfect. You have to do more strategy with equipment and spells to make the most of what you have given, so there's a strategical side of it as well that can be fun.

AlexDeLarge

Considering Sarevok has almost perfect stats, and you defeat him, and are the Chosen One by prophecy etc, it makes a lot of sense that your stats should be godlike. I have a hard time believing an average Joe would be able to defeat such a vast amount of extremely powerful creatures.

Wanderon

I like this concept - since I started playing BG:EE (after stopping all BG series about the time NWN2 came out) I have focused entirely on No reload campaigns and hence have rolled my way to excellent stats for my guys & gals to help them face the challenge.

It occurs to me that it may be a long time before one of these characters actually survives to finish the game so perhaps I will start a less than stellar character for a minimal reload run that will actually be able to progress through the game beyond the first couple chapters. (I typically have several games going at once)

Thanks for the suggestion!

Mikkel

AlexDeLarge said:

Considering Sarevok has almost perfect stats, and you defeat him, and are the Chosen One by prophecy etc, it makes a lot of sense that your stats should be godlike. I have a hard time believing an average Joe would be able to defeat such a vast amount of extremely powerful creatures.

I think it's rather obvious that even with less than perfect stats, calling Charname an "average Joe" is very far off the mark.

Mechalibur

Oh, look, it's this topic again.

Yes, there are many people who play like you. And as long as you're having fun, then it doesn't matter how you roll.

Malbortus

Mikkel said:

I also wanted to make a case for playing with the stats the game gives you, without rerolling for an hour, or using external software to achieve "perfect stats".

So how often do you roll?

Personally, I can always come up with something pleasing in the first five minutes. I've never had the heart, however, to play with a "first roll" character.

Wanderon

I decided to use 5 rolls and take the best of the bunch - as it turned out they were all within a couple points of one another (perhaps because I went with an elf archer) and I ended up with 15/19/16/10/14/8 - still about 6 points below my usual "bottom" but hardly nerfed at all - I may have to work a bit harder on the next one ;-)

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Mikkel

Malbortus said:

So how often do you roll?

Personally, I can always come up with something pleasing in the first five minutes. I've never had the heart, however, to play with a "first roll" character.

I don't have any hard rules about it, but for BG:EE I decided to set a limit of 10 rerolls max. Playing with the first roll is not something I've had the courage to try yet, but it sounds... interesting.

Elendar

Boring... who wants to be mediocre?

Mikkel

Elendar said:

Boring... who wants to be mediocre?

No matter what you do in a video game, I can assure you it has no bearing on whether or not you're mediocre But thank your for your well-reasoned and open-minded approach to other people's style of play.

Twilight_Fox

I will try this soon with a 78pt char;

Str12
Dex14
Con12
Int14
Wis12
Cha14

Halfling or gnome, barbarian or berzerker.

Elendar

Mikkel said:

No matter what you do in a video game, I can assure you it has no bearing on whether or not you're mediocre But thank your for your well-reasoned and open-minded approach to other people's style of play.

Whatever tickles your pickle... if you're happy playing a boring, useless character... go for it.

Calmar

I don't min-max much beyond rolling stats for hours, but I find it much easier to play characters with non-exceptional stats in Icewind Dale where you aren't supposed to be of a divinely-infused nature.

Kurumi

Calmar said:

I don't min-max much beyond rolling stats for hours, but I find it much easier to play characters with non-exceptional stats in Icewind Dale where you aren't supposed to be of a divinely-infused nature.

This!

Space_hamster

IMO starting off normal is more challenging. It also makes finding magical loot more important and rewarding. If all your stats are already 18, what is the point in searching the lands for magical items?

A wizard with 12INT who finds the ring of wiz would be transformed!

Kurumi

Space_hamster said:

If all your stats are already 18, what is the point in searching the lands for magical items?

Of course to get even higher stats - or to mitgate evil stat-decreasing properties of some of those magical items such as the Claw of Kazgaroth.

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LordRumfish

@Space_hamster In my run-through with my (admittedly stat-heavy) swashbuckler the items that set a stat like Dex 18 or Str 19/Int 6 I give to my NPC companions, and suddenly they're as good as I am. I think the only character I played through the game with that comes close to what you've described here was my very first dwarven fighter, Reggie. I didn't understand 2nd edition rules much at that point, and I didn't notice the REROLL button. I did move his stats around within the first roll, his exceptional strength was 18/37 I believe, and I think I capped up his Constitution. Dex probably wasn't great though. Also, since he was the first character, he's the one I made all of my mistakes with (bad dialogue choices, killed Noober rather than let him talk it out, specialized with warhammers and didn't even find Bassillius until late game, etc.). I still have fond memories of that play-through since I was Forrest Gump-ing my way through the game and everything was completely new.

reedmilfam

I reroll for good stats because of bosses. I'm sure I can work through the limitations, but I want to have some fun (and reasonable chance for success) along the way. Constant re-loads is not optimal for me.