Does optimizing for a role matter?

[Particle_Man]

I had an idea for a human crusader 20 where the readied maneuvers would be 7 of the following 8:

Strike of Righteous Vitality, War Master's Charge, (maybe) Mountain Tombstone Strike, White Raven Hammer, Diamond Defense, Swarming Assault, (maybe) Shield Counter, & Shadow Stride.

Feats would be:

1 Martial Study (Distracting Ember), Extra Granted Maneuver
3 Martial Stance (Flame's Blessing)
6 White Raven Defense (and I would probably use White Raven weapons)
9 Matrial Study (Shadow Stride)
12 Clarion Commander
15 Martial Stance (Immortal Fortitude)
18 Martial Study (Diamond Defense)

And part of me wonders whether the character would be effective (since it wouldn't be a "lock down" crusader, or whatever other optimized role is meant for it.

And part of me doesn't care because I think it would be fun to play this character as is.

I am wondering how important it is for others to optimize for a certain role in order to have fun playing the game.

[Darkweave31]

I am wondering how important it is for others to optimize for a certain role in order to have fun playing the game.

I guess it depends on the type of player someone is. There are people that don't need to optimize at all in order to have an amazing time. Then there are people that get a thrill from coming up with superior builds. Basically there is no wrong way to play the game so long as you and your group are having fun.

[Sir Chuckles]

For these questions I like to answer with examples. Here's three: Myself, the guy I quote in my sig, and Ex-Munchkin.

I love to play toward a role. Rage Mage who shoots lightning, Hulking Hurler/War Hulk the Dodgeball champion, and all such lovely little things.
For me, optimization is not wholly necessary, due to the group I play with barely hanging onto the competency line. If I join a group with Giant players, I'd be bringing my A game just to keep up. I can have fun with or without optimization.

Spoony the Bard (Yes, STBard is a greataxe Barbarian) down there is only seen as an amazing character in my group because the dice gods love him and a circuit all the dice rolling luck in the universe to him through a a suit weaved with eleven leaf clovers worn by a redheaded leprechaun beat boxing down a rainbow riding a unicorn backwards. No amount of optimization will ever increase his enjoyment, as he is a roleplayer first, guy who ignores combat when not playing Spoony second, and rules-savvy never. The game of optimization is boring to him. The game of interaction and story telling through dead bodies is not. Whether or not his character is even competent doesn't matter.

Lastly, Ex-Munchkin is exactly that. He used to be a munchkin, but he grew up. He has fun with roleplay, but participating, or at least sounding cool, in combat is also important as part of his experience. Most recently, we were playing an epic-ish campaign. Everyone is above 21st level, but hardly epic. I was giving them all a 42 point buy, plus a free +3 tome of whatever. They like their 18s in half their stat characters. EM immediately writes a Monk 23 with 8 Str, 18 Dex, and weapon finesse. Spent the rest of his WBL on basic defensive magic items and even then had a low AC. Outside of combat, where he was utterly useless, he had fun. Inside combat, he had fun because things had a hard time hitting him and he was catching arrows. He would have had more fun, however, if he hadn't been relegated to Spotting duty when the enemy of the week was running away.

So to answer your question, fun is subjective.

[DarkSonic1337]

Ex-Munchin played a Monk :smallconfused:

[Dimers]

@OP: Depends on the people you play with. If they need the role filled and Take The Game Very Seriously and will give you angry frowns :smallmad: if you're not Doing It Right, you should probably optimize for that role, yes. If their concept of what a class should do is set-in-stone and would (metaphorically speaking) flick boogers at you :smallyuk: for trying something different, once again you should stick to that class concept. If your lack of optimization makes you dead weight :smallsigh: in a high-op game, op op optimize like you're Optimize Prime.

My experience is that many people will show surprise or confusion if you don't optimize, but that very few people will dislike your contribution as a result.

[HunterOfJello]

Crusader is decently optimized by default. It's pretty hard to break and you don't look like you're breaking it. Can someome make a crusader better at doing crusader stuff? Yeah. Are you going to be a bad crusader with that setup? Probably not.