Minmaxer's Delight: Difference between revisions
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As the trope name indicates, it is a godsend to players who enjoy [[Min-Maxing]].
These types of player abuses are most easily countered with [[Rule Zero]]
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{{examples}}
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* In the [[D20 Modern]] sourcebook Cyberscape (a sourcebook about [[Cyborg|cybernetic implants]]), you get that little gem: An implant called Nasal Filter. It does [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]], filtering any airborne harmful chemicals or bacterias, giving a +6 to Fortitude saves (i.e. good extra protection) against airborne poisons and disease (including tear gas). [[But Wait! There's More!]] It's purchase DC is a mere 18 (meaning it can be purchased by any level one character) and it doesn't counts against implant limits (in the standard cybernetics rules, you can only have a limited number of implants, depending on how much constitution you have (that is to say how physically healthy you are)). Far from a gamebreaker in a game where gas masks can be readily bought from the Internet, but still an implant you have no legitimate reason not to take, just in case.
* Combat Reflexes in ''[[GURPS]]''. A poster on RPG.net claimed every player in his group took it and renamed it "Don't Suck". It [[Point Buy|costs 15]] to give +1 to dodge, parry, and block, then a pile of minor effects. Enhanced Dodge ''alone'' (+1 to dodge) costs 15 points. Puzzle that out. By [[Word of God|Word of Kromm]], it is intentionally under-priced to help lower-point characters [http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=739090&postcount=5 "not die all the time."]
** The ability to assemble advantages by modifying pre-existing ones makes inventing these an amusement for some. [http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=239055&postcount=216 M.U.N.C.H.K.I.N.] is one classic (though not actually legal) example. [[Game Master
* ''[[BESM]]'' has the same thing with Extra Actions. A single extra action essentially doubles your combat prowess (making two attacks instead of one), a second is tripling your ability, etc. Most GMs either ban the ability completely or limit it to speedster-type characters.
* Earlier versions of the merit Silver Resistance in ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]''.
** Similarly, Fair Glabro. Glabro Form is one of the five werewolf shapes, and while it typically boosts your Strength and Stamina, it leaves you looking like Lawrence Talbot under the full moon. That is, unless you take this two-point Merit that merely leaves you looking like a very hirsute bodybuilder.
*** Of course, you have to balance that against the fact that ''Werewolf'' was never heavy on the sorts of situations where looking weird would actually be a problem.
* In 4th edition ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'', the release of the Weapon Expertise and Implement feats was heralded by many screams and gnashing of teeth. Being a re-institution of the forbidden <s>Unnamed</s> (now a feat bonus under official errata) Bonus that, for just a Heroic feat, still scales into Paragon and Epic tiers. Widely remarked by CharOp superstars as making every class "have one less feat" for any character that does any attacking. What's even worse is that when you break the system in half and look at the gooey math, you can see that the +1 bonus at around the half-way point at all tiers is pretty much
** To clarify for those who haven't played it, player modifiers only automatically scale at +1 every two levels while monster modifiers scale at +1 per level meaning that you needed to come up with +15 in modifiers over 30 levels through feats, magic items, ability score increases, and tactics just to keep up. The game comes prebuilt to require this minmaxing and tells you the basics of how to do it.
** The Essentials supplement line added variant versions that also give specific secondary benefits based on the type of weapon (or magical implement) they're taken for, in order to add a little more consequence to weapon type as well as make the feat do more than just dully ratchet up your attack roll bonus.
* Though the specific rule has since been removed, the original ''[[The Legend of Zelda|Zelda d20]]'' rules included the feat "Attunement", which bonded the character with any creature with intelligence of at least 3, and provided bonuses that varied based on what creature it was. Attuning a character with a fairy provided a +1 bonus to all attack rolls (which beats out weapon focus, since the latter only applies to one kind of weapon) and a +2 bonus to Reflex saves (identical to the bonus given by the feat "Lightning Reflexes"), essentially giving the character two feats for the price of one. In addition, faeries had the ability to cast ''Cure serious wounds'' once per day as a 5th level caster. There was, however, the disadvantage that the player had to be within
** Not to mention the fact that Fairies are known to never shut up. [[Most Annoying Sound|"Hey, Listen!"]].
* In ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'', there both Elemental Blessing and Enlightenment reduce the cost of increasing your traits, making them more than pay for themselves [[Magikarp Power|in the long run.]] It's not even that long of a wait if you spend your points right.
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** And then there's the Calculator skillset, which lets you cast nearly any spell instantly, at infinite range, at 0 MP cost, essentially turning the character you give it to a [[Person of Mass Destruction]]. The Calculator has the shortcoming of its spell targeting being very different from any other class, with the result that the only way to hit the intended target(s) might also put some (or in extreme cases, all) of your own party members in the line of fire. Fortunately, that flaw can very easily be turned in an asset by spamming Holy (a strong spell that no enemy is immune to) and equipping your party members with items that absorb Holy. Once that's done, it's a ''good'' thing if your Calculator hits himself and/or an ally with his spell, because they'll be healed by it.
** ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]'' also has Concentrate, here increasing the accuracy of physical attacks by a flat 50% and status effects by 20% (20 and 50 of 100, not of base accuracy). This includes [[Instant Kill]] moves whose only weakness was a low natural accuracy.
** ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics A2|A2]]'' [[
* SP Regen in ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]''. [[Call a Hit Point a Smeerp|SP]], the SRW series equivalent of [[Mana]], is the most limited resource in the games and the hardest to replenish. In most games, you must equip a consumable item at the expense of mech parts or use very expensive support spells. SP Regen gives 10 SP per turn and many characters get very useful spells that only cost 10-15 SP.
** Ditto Attacker. Giving a 1.2x multiplier to damage dealt when above a certain morale threshold makes it mandatory for any boss-slayer and arguably just any unit in general. Attacker is meant to make up for the lack among the Original Generation cast of abilities like Mazin Power which do the same thing, but it just translates into everyone getting the skill instead of it being someone's signature trait.
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