Mini/max - generic types - or new character concepts

[Whit]

Do people play more mini max to get the strongest Race class build stats

Do people use generic race class types

Or are you one of the few who will build off concept characters for great roll playing over the above

Examples from me without going to much in detail
1. Frawd the (dwarf) reversed name. Tall for dwarves he was a Miner who accidentally hit a magic node blowing up the mountain killing all other dwarves, so he believes. Now a Sorcerer dowsed in weave wild magic flees in horror for what he did. Shaving his head and beard he claims he’s human from another land. Chaotic neutral. He rages in fits when told he is a dwarf and goes at length to prove he isn’t.
2. Slyder Mirrage halfling warlock hell bent on unliving forever. My benefactor is a lich and I will learn to become one too.
3. Rathek Gwar 1/2 orc bard of the sword. Heavy metal singing rampaging companion to cheer on his friends in epic slaughter
4. Jundar. Halfling barbarian. Enough talk! I will bite your ears off so you won’t hear your screams when I’m done with you. Arrgggggg. I charge at the Giant.

[Bayonet300]

I try to choose builds for the role-playing experience while still trying to be as useful to my party as possible. My last character was a trigger happy half-orc totem barbarian with the GWM and orcish fury feats; not only was it a very powerful and straightforward build, but playing a hulking, proud, but otherwise jolly orc that solved most problems through brute force was really enduring!

Presently, I'm playing a human vengeance paladin with the sentinel, GWM, and PAM feats. This is a legendarily powerful build with great nova damage and versatility, but its also a ton of fun to play a "dark knight" in a game where many things are more black and white. My DM let me reskin my halberd as a great scythe and I roleplay him as an angsty demon hunter with a prejudice against tieflings and warlocks.

On the otherhand, there are some builds I know are extremely powerful that I can't see myself roleplaying. For example, hexblades out of the new expanding are now famously powerful, but I can't bring myself to play a character that may be inherently evil.

[MxKit]

Yes to both. They're definitely not mutually exclusive!

(Not so much "generic race class types" because I tend to find those boring to play, personally, but I can definitely imagine that's not mutually exclusive, either.)

I like looking at guides to see what the optimal races for various classes are. It can give me some really cool ideas to work with if I'm in need of inspiration! For example, do you know what makes a good Monk? Stout Halflings. Yeah: the little hobbits that like to sit at home in front of the fire and eat many generous meals. The cheerful little things with their wavy hair and sideburns who weigh 50 pounds soaking wet. So imagine a tiny little man with a shaved head and a startling lack of sideburns, eyes twinkling with good cheer as he chews on an unlit pipe, because he gave up smoking but sees no need to give up the pipe itself. He is friendly and good spirited and seems quite centered and surprisingly wise... but if it becomes necessary, he can draw on the energy flowing through his own body and conjure up inky blackness, disappear into it, and reappear in the shadowed alley right next to a cutthroat bandit, giving him a flurry of punches right to the legs that paralyzes him in his tracks and makes him almost unable to speak through his near-paralyzed vocal chords. This is Wellby Underbough, a 6th-level Shadow Monk, and most people wouldn't guess it of him at all.

You know what doesn't make a very good Warlock, though? Kenku. You know what I love, though? The idea of a Kenku being a Warlock, making a pact with the Great Old One and getting to actually speak (telepathically)! Or, speaking of Warlocks, a regular ol' human as a Devotion Paladin/Undying Warlock multiclass, someone who started off as a Paladin but was obsessed with their own mortality, and wound up making a deal with a dark being (a lich, a coven of hags) not necessarily for more power, but for more time—time in which to do good, and they tell themself the ends justify the means, here, but they are deep down ashamed of the deal they made while still pushing forward with it. Or a Kobold Bard, not a suitable combination at all, but going College of Satire and being a Jester just makes so much thematic sense to me! Or some sort of Mystic/Monk; I know they don't go well together at all, but they do in my heart.

So... Yeah. If I start with a concept and really love it, I won't change it just for the optimizing. If I start with an optimized or just really good race/class combo on purpose, I have to find ways to make it an interesting concept to me or I probably won't play it, but I don't find that too hard to do. Bugbears make good Paladins, so what kind of Bugbear would follow the Oath of Redemption?

[Grod_The_Giant]

Translation: "Do you do things like <negative connotation for a style I dislike>, <negative connotation for a style I dislike>, or <positive connotation for a style I like>?"

I usually build from a mechanical goal (albeit often a quirkier one), then fit a personality to match. And that's just as valid and results in just as satisfying a character as if I did it the other way around.

[bid]

Translation: "Do you do things like <negative connotation for a style I dislike>, <negative connotation for a style I dislike>, or <positive connotation for a style I like>?"

great roll playing
Nah, they're all negative stereotypes.:smallbiggrin:

Thank Lysdexia* we didn't get yet another Storwind fallacy.

* The Doggess of typos and other misspellings.

[Arcangel4774]

I usually min/max (read:optimize) within the bounds of a character concept. Sometimes the character concept is broad and can be done lots of ways, sometimes it isnt and cant.

One character i made waa to be one of those high energy, "testify", "can i get an amen", style preachers. I didnt want him to be wise, but charismatic. To get the feel right o wanted cleric and bard. Since this character was to be charismatic, bard wohld have most of the class levels after these few notes saw in a thread peiple talking about lorebard/life cleric combo as being one of the best healers.

[CantigThimble]

Doing weird things to get attention is not the same as roleplaying. In my experience, more generic race/class combinations are better for roleplaying as they let you focus on personality more and identity less. For example, if I play dragonborn or tiefling, then most of my energy is going to be spent on dealing with the wide gaps between my perspective as a human and the perspective of a very different species. It gets even more complicated when you start factoring in class as well. Meanwhile, if I play a human fighter, I can spend a lot more time working on who they are, where they come from, what their religious beliefs and political affiliations are, etc. And I find that a lot more engaging.

[ross]

Or are you one of the few

citation needed