theMycon
2011-09-07, 11:00 PM
If you wanted to introduce a friend to making an effective DnD character as quickly & painlessly as possible, how would YOU do it?
I'm looking for a single, one-off, best way to introduce someone to the concepts and basics of optimization. Ideally, one article or post. One full thread is acceptable, so long as it takes <1 hour to read.
My first instinct was Logic Ninja's Guide to Being Batman (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104002). It's a good choice. It tells you what classes are good what, how to do it, gives you options (but hands them to you on a silver platter), is doable with mostly core, and most importantly, it explains why direct damage is not the end-all be-all of DnD. It introduces them to the important of a subtle bonus. And it does it all with a sense of humor and very little crunch.
The mailman guide struck me as a particularly bad idea. It's a great character, but requires trudging through a dozen books, glosses over the basic theory of optimization, and is meant to show off, doing things that are Obviously powerful. It basically boils down to "who needs tier 1's when you can make the most ridiculously powerful tier 2 character ever who can 1-shot the world?"
What's y'alls opinion on the matter? How would you go about it?
I'm looking for a single, one-off, best way to introduce someone to the concepts and basics of optimization. Ideally, one article or post. One full thread is acceptable, so long as it takes <1 hour to read.
My first instinct was Logic Ninja's Guide to Being Batman (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104002). It's a good choice. It tells you what classes are good what, how to do it, gives you options (but hands them to you on a silver platter), is doable with mostly core, and most importantly, it explains why direct damage is not the end-all be-all of DnD. It introduces them to the important of a subtle bonus. And it does it all with a sense of humor and very little crunch.
The mailman guide struck me as a particularly bad idea. It's a great character, but requires trudging through a dozen books, glosses over the basic theory of optimization, and is meant to show off, doing things that are Obviously powerful. It basically boils down to "who needs tier 1's when you can make the most ridiculously powerful tier 2 character ever who can 1-shot the world?"
What's y'alls opinion on the matter? How would you go about it?