How to Optimize at any D&d 5E table

Happy new year everyone!

For those who want to see the Artichron build by Jinofcoolness:

Link to discord, patreon and twitter:

[carpetdragon]

The true optimisation is the friends we made along the way

[deanofett]

This is 100% the way, it's not true optimization unless everyone is having fun.

[alanschaub]

I said to my wife the other day, “This might surprise you, but many adults who play D&D are still learning basic social skills.”

She laughed. ☺️

[pentiumdeusex-machina]

Ultimate minmaxer's tip: always buy pizza for your party. That way, they'll depend on you. The Cleric will give you the first Healing Word, and you'll be right after them in Bless order. The Rogue will leave your possessions for last. The Wizard will make sure you're not in the blast radius before casting Fireball, at least most of the time. Even the DM might knock two or three off the enemies' attack rolls against you and saves against your spells, if they like the pizza enough.

[zptek]

The most important DnD optimization video on youtube. Really heart warming. Thank you Kobold and Gator, we love you. Have a great new year! Byebye!

[DungeonseCorujas]

"Builds don't matter much! It's more about knowing what to do"
This. This should be written in bold with red glowing letters in the first page of the PHB.
I've seen too much people concerned about choosing the best options and always forgetting about making a creative and/or smart use of them.
This video in its entirety is good advice and I say put it at front page as featured video, every player needs to hear this or some part of this before starting to optimize.

Also, happy new year Kobold! And i'm very glad about your 20k subs, you really deserve it!

[alanschaub]

Here are the biggest challenges I have faced while playing D&D:
• Difficulty finding a time that works for everyone
• Players not showing up for game sessions consistently
• Players not knowing the rules, their character, or not being prepared for their turn
• Players fighting over treasure
• Players trying to tell their own character story, rather than telling a group story
• DMs trying to tell their own story, rather than telling a group story
• DMs trying to kill characters, rather than trying to challenge players

[johannesstephanusroos]

BuT kObOlD, you're not a small lizard man. You're a small dragon man

[theovernight]

I'm really glad that you said "you are suboptimal if.." because many people drawn to D&D can lose sight of how important it is to be a part of the party, rather than just a solo player in an open world - adjacent to some other solo players!

So, if a player wants to be truly optimal, they need to play a build and as a character that truly fits at the table you're playing at!

Even if someone else at the table doesn't measure up to this standard, you and everyone else will still have more fun when you optimize your play as more than just a solo act.

[johnrechtoris]

"If you are fun to play with, then you are winning D&D." Well said!

[jonathanvernon]

Warlord in 4E D&D: super-optimal! You get to make attacks with the most optimized character's attacks and they get to shine in the spotlight for doing it. That was always a favorite of mine.

[herrkrabbe]

This was an important video for the health of the game. It took me years to learn all of these lessons, and i am happy players who haven't learnt them yet can find them in a video.

[supremeduckissupremetheduc]

Never had 'being a good player and pleasent person' explained in terms of optimizing, but hey! It works!

Keep up the great content, Pack!

[rallaa]

The point about optimized builds being non-optimal in the hands of someone who doesn't make use of them, is the most true statement of optimization out there.
That's why a lot of optimal stuff is moot to me. Conjure animals or animate objects to get as many little fiddly creatures to control might be the most optimal for damage and area control....But it's just too annoying to actually use imo. I'd rather animate objects on a nearby table and dresser than do the usual shenanigans of trying to animate 10 silver coins or whatever.

Or other cases like rest-casting where I'm just like "yeah, that's powerful and cool...But I'd never remember to do that stuff while I'm trying to roleplay as a poor schmuck who is stuck being a tour guide of the prime world for his archfey patron."

[TreantmonksTemple]

This is a positive video to end the year on.

[kevingriffith]

I've really appreciated this channel as a homebrewer: there's a lot of helpful math here that lets me get to "white-room balance" faster and lets me focus on mechanics without worrying so much about numbers.

[jonathanvernon]

Is that a cellphone on the table in front of kobold? SUBOPTIMAL!!
Seriously, though, this is one of your most entertaining videos with the most practical information. Thanks!!

[dbeyette]

"This was a rant. I feel like a YouTuber" I love this line! You are the best kind of YouTuber, Kobald.

[TheRobversion]

Agreed with everything said here. i also guess i'm lucky that i play with the table that generally are the same as me (mostly optimizers, prefer the combat pillar the most, likes short campaigns/one-shots). i'm happy that i found this table (as well as a couple of others that i can guest in once in a while) and it has made leaving all those other tables in the past that didn't jive with how i want to play/have fun worth it.

only thing i'd like to add is people, especially optimizers, shouldn't feel bad if they want to have fun or have to sacrifice their fun. as long as you're generally nice, friendly, willing to collaborate and make small adjustments you're doing it correctly. you shouldn't compromise why you wanted to play to begin with just to cater to everyone at the table. it just means you weren't a fit for that table and other people weren't willing to adjust to you. find a table that shares your ideals and the fun will be tenfold. and if you can't find that table IRL, there's alot of VTTs now.

[hodgepodgesyntaxia]

Thank you for talking about this. Speaking as a GM, I often run into players who are well versed in the technical aspects of the game, but not the human aspects that matter more.

I suspect that it’s a side effect of optimization YouTube channels, where content creators only talk about the mechanical aspects of the game, and I appreciate that you’re bucking the trend.

Optimization is a tool. It doesn’t inherently make games better or worse on its own, and the more players who learn that, the healthier the trpg community will be.