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Nerdarchy > Dungeons & Dragons  > D&D Power Gaming Munchkin Can Be a Fun Way to Play

D&D Power Gaming Munchkin Can Be a Fun Way to Play

From Hit Dice to Heroics: New Options for Your 5E Characters to be Awesome
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You may find this hard to believe, but Nerdarchy has been accused of being power gaming munchkin players in the past. It’s true we sometimes enjoy optimizing or coming up with ridiculous character builds for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. When we analyze D&D character classes we often do it from a min/max standpoint with the mechanics. But in all fairness the mechanics are the part of the game that aren’t subjective so that seems like a fair place to start. Even though we don’t actually play our games as power gaming munchkins at the table we do have a lot of fun building crazy D&D builds and combos. We are actually likely to play suboptimal characters or even things we’ve complained about in videos.

power gaming D&D

Whether you build a character, create one of anything in between, the possibilities are endless in D&D. [Art by Wayne Reynolds]

Power gaming munchkin is a valid D&D playstyle

Nerdarchist Ryan is famous for his Wild Magic sorcererous origins rants. I consistently talk about how gish characters are inferior D&D character builds. Both of us are playing the things we say are mechanically inferior. Know why? Because it’s fun.

I love D&D in all of it’s incarnations. From first edition all the way to fifth. The great part about this hobby is our ability to play it a lot of different ways. There is nothing wrong with being power gamer. It your group plays that way and is having fun doing it, then knock your socks off. It is a valid way to play the game and the term munchkin is bit unfair as a derogatory term. The most important part is matching up the right table of players for a D&D gaming group.

I think at heart Nerdarchy is a group of friends who like to power game and min/max in theory, but at the D&D table it isn’t where we derive the most fun from the game. We enjoy exploring aspects of the game with different characters.

Personally I love challenging myself to make characters that are vastly different the last one I created. I also love to metagame at the table – to the detriment of my characters and perhaps their party. I bring this up because metagaming is another dirty word in the gaming community. But it can be another roleplaying tool in your toolbox as a gamer.

Our latest ridiculous D&D video

We thought it would be fun to apply a little power gaming perspective and come up with a broken D&D spell combo even more than conjuring pixies to turn adventurers into a deadly pack of T-Rexes. Check out the video and let us know what you think, and if you have your own crazy combos for D&D or whatever your favorite RPG happens to be.

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david friant

My name is Dave Friant I've been gaming off and on for over 27 years. But here is the thing it's always been a part of my life I've kept secret and hidden away. I've always been ashamed of the stigma that gaming and my other nerdy and geeky pursuits summon forth. Recently I decided screw it! This is who I am the world be damned. From now on I'm gonna be a geek, nerd, or however folks want to judge me and just enjoy life. Currently one of my greatest joys is introducing my 13 yr old son to table top RPG's.

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