Summary

• Powergamers can contribute effectively in combat and other scenarios, enhancing the overall gameplay experience for everyone involved.
• Optimized characters can be roleplayed effectively, debunking the notion that powergamers lack roleplaying skills.
• Dungeon Masters should not limit player freedom in character building, as it diminishes player investment and enjoyment.

A typical sentiment among Dungeons & Dragons Dungeons Masters seems to suggest that players who engage in character optimization are the very worst kind to have at your table, but I’ve found this to be the opposite with my campaigns. Some people view the game as a continuum with “powergamers” at one of the spectrum and “true roleplayers” at the other. This is obvious nonsense, but this debunked notion still creeps into the consciousness of both new DMs and veterans of the game (who should know better). If anything, I’m more excited to have an optimizer in my games.

People who absorb their DnD knowledge more from online forums than actual game experience can develop some skewed opinions. As the weird DnD house rules on Reddit prove, there are some strange games out there. One useful bit of advice to come from forum culture is the Stormwind Fallacy, which essentially states that “roll players,” people who build characters that are designed for mechanical success, can also be “roleplayers,” people who effectively roleplay characters. I’d take it a bit further, though; a player who creates well-optimized characters is more likely to be a good roleplayer than someone who doesn’t bother.

D&D Heroes Are Supposed To Be Powerful, By Design

Optimized Characters Help Mechanics The Narrative Instead Of Clashing

Someone who is excited about their character build is, at the very least, invested in the game. They want to see their high DPR Fighter dropping bodies or blow away Hard DC skill checks with their min-maxed Rogue. If the player decides to pick from the best DnD Rogue subclasses instead of the worst, more power to them (literally). I also expect them to have an interesting character that brings something to the game outside of a series of high numbers, but most of the time, these players do exactly that. Player investment is huge, and optimization can provide that.

A quality powergaming player ensures they have a concept that works both mechanically and from a role-playing standpoint. Niche builds like the "Coffee Warlock" that avoids long rests are examples of powergaming at its worst since they create awkward roleplaying (suggesting the player does not understand the narrative side of the Long Rest mechanic) and complicate pacing and planning for the Dungeon Master, whose goal is to challenge the party through attrition over the course of six to eight combat encounters per adventuring day.

Having a sub-par build does not automatically equal disinterest, of course. It could show the player is unfamiliar with the system or one who just didn’t hone the power-gaming skill set. They could come from a background of more "narrativist" tabletop RPGs, like the various Apocalypse World engine games, or the style of RPGs where players have more direct control over the narrative through fate points or similar mechanics. DnD is an entirely different animal, of course. One of the new DnD manuals has 500 monsters to kill, after all. Being useful in combat is part of the DnD experience.

If I ask the players to create "everyman" characters ill-suited for an adventurer’s life who will be forced into battle through unforeseen circumstances, sure, they can bring a Dexterity dump Ranger who took the Actor feat. That’s not the norm for most campaigns. DnD adventurers are typically a cut above the common soldier, acting as a small elite group that can accomplish what a local militia cannot. Having mechanics that back that up is consistent with the narrative, which feeds into roleplaying, (even if it means nearly every martial character in DnD uses Polearms and Hand Crossbows) paired with the right feats.

D&D DMs Don't Need To Pull Punches For Powergamers

Optimized Parties Can Handle More Dangerous Challenges Than A Suboptimal One

People may have their own anecdotal experience of encountering a powergamer who didn’t roleplay at all, but such players are astonishingly rare. Put simply, people who are really into DnD are really into DnD, which includes all the facets of the game. Someone who has played long enough to get truly skilled at character optimization probably picked up the skill of roleplaying along the way, and someone who got into the hobby for the RP probably learned how to build a decent character over time. The player with the high DPR Fighter doesn’t want a boring DnD Fighter backstory.

That basic desire to take full advantage of the game you love usually compels good players to develop as both roll-players and roleplayers. Most well-crafted campaigns contain a balance of social scenes and combat encounters. Being nothing but a drag on party resources in battle doesn’t feel good, but neither does having nothing to offer in a negotiation or an investigation. Building a fully optimized healer might win some gratitude, but it doesn’t make the character interesting, just useful. That takes roleplaying. For shy or inexperienced players, DMs may trick them into Roleplaying, but they likely also need build assistance.

When a Dungeon Master perceives that some players at the table are dissatisfied because they are consistently outshined by other characters, the proper response is to help the players of the weaker characters by offering them a chance to "respec" their build into something more effective, not by penalizing the characters that perform optimally.

Even if they just developed their roleplaying as a defense mechanism, optimizers often display those skills. It’s harder for any DM to criticize the player who does the most damage if they’re also the best roleplayer at the table. I’m continually surprised when DMs are antagonistic towards powergamers, since, ultimately, the role of the DM is to lose (convincingly) if the story is to move forward. If my campaign’s heroes have highly optimized builds with great synergy, I can plan epic, exciting encounters, yielding a more interesting story, as opposed to a party that can’t handle a rabid Owlbear.

D&D Requires Both Roleplaying Skills & System Mastery

A Pure Roleplayer Will Accept Build Advice & A Powergamer Can Be Coached To RP

I don’t need to pull punches against an optimized party, and I can freely build encounters that are Deadly per every encounter calculator ever made, and rest assured they’ll (probably) be fine. DMs who view the game as truly competing against their players are far more problematic than players who aim to win. Heroic fantasy adventure RPGs are about empowerment. DnD DMs let players feel powerful when their builds work as intended, and they slay a major foe in one Action Surge round, not when the DM gives a poorly built character a Vorpal Longsword at a low level to compensate.

Some Dungeon Masters go out of their way to limit player freedom in character building, either by forbidding optional rules like Feats or Multiclassing, or by severely limiting access to Magic Items. This does not result in a game that is any more likely to feature quality roleplaying, only one that diminishes player investment and enjoyment of their characters, which has the reverse effect.

Experienced Dungeon Masters know how to avoid diminishing player agency with "DMPCs" or Deus Ex Machina events that rob the players of the chance to win through their own resources and decision-making. Giving a poorly designed character an overpowered item to compensate amounts to the same problem, as it is unearned, and therefore unsatisfying, to the player.

Understanding what works and what doesn’t within a particular RPG system is a skill. Being able to immerse yourself in your character and engage with a story are obviously the most important traits of a good tabletop RPG player, broadly speaking. For DnD, there are other things needed, like cooperation, but also some degree of tactical judgment and system mastery is required. I’ve had players who excel at the improv and collaborative storytelling side of DnD, but simply can’t engage with its mechanics. This sort of fully RP-focused player is willing to accept help with their character builds from others.

If someone is unwilling to let others aid them with character building on the mechanics side, but complains about a perceived imbalance among the party, that player is probably not a “pure roleplayer,” but a would-be optimizer who just isn’t very good at it. Being fixated on a specific character concept that does not work with an RPG’s mechanics shows a lack of flexibility. Even selecting from the best DnD Monk subclasses won’t turn a Monk into a damage dealer on par with an optimized Fighter. Being adaptable and meeting game mechanics and character concepts halfway, is ideal for players.

D&D Gatekeeping Of All Kinds Is Inappropriate For DMs

A DM Should Not Gatekeep Away Powergamers, Or Those Who Aren't As System Savvy

To be clear, I think gatekeeping for a hobby like DnD is ethically abhorrent. I do not have a sign posted for my campaigns declaring, “you must have this degree of system mastery to get on the ride.” Plenty of great players are just interested in playing, not the “game outside the game” of character optimization. For those players, I’m happy to help them put together an effective character that still largely fits their vision. But, when a new player shows up eager to play one of DnD’s more overpowered character builds, I don’t shudder, assuming they won’t also roleplay.

Power gaming isn't always about damage, it's about providing a contribution as effectively as possible within the rules of the game, including scenarios outside of combat. A skill-oriented build with multiple Expertise Skills and the Rogue's Reliable Talent feature is just as optimized as a high DPR Fighter or a carefully built spellcaster. These make great characters to cast Polymorph on, in battles, since more of their resources went into skill mastery than combat efficacy.

There’s no way to entirely avoid the mechanics side of a "gamist" RPG like DnD as a player. Even a “roleplay first” player who lets someone else help with their build needs to understand their own mechanics to avoid slowing the game down. An optimizer likely knows the rules inside and out, which means I have less to micromanage as a DM. If their roleplay isn’t up to par, I can help guide them to improve that. It’s still one less thing for me to worry about when they understand the rules of Dungeons & Dragons well enough to powergame.