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My players show signs of wanting to min/max their characters, granted this is their first time ever playing an RPG. Is there anything I cad do other than make my games not combat heavy to make them think more about their charatcers than their stats?

Can I ask why you think one should exclude the other ?


They can be as proficient as they want to be in combat, but you can also ask them to write a character description (appearance), a backstory and some character traits that may or may not be obvious when the character is first introduced?

For example, google "rpg character backstory ", it should give them plenty of ideas.


And as GO wrote, talk to them, this is a team game where the out of combat matters just as much (or more/less depending on your views) than the combat proficiency. What I cannot stand though is the idea that one should exclude the other.  

Play Fiasco or something instead? 

Having powerful characters doesn't mean they can't roleplay.  Them having powerful characters makes it easier on you as a DM.  You can throw nearly anything at them, and they'll survive for the next part of the story.

Jan 28, 2013 -- 8:17AM, Felorn wrote:

My players show signs of wanting to min/max their characters, granted this is their first time ever playing an RPG. Is there anything I cad do other than make my games not combat heavy to make them think more about their charatcers than their stats?

Stats are really there to provide a connection a medium of compromise, I suppose you could say, among the players (& DM) when it comes to thinking about what their characters can do.

Min/maxing gets you a certain kind of character - powerful in one area, stunted in others - but doesn't prevent the player from thinking about or developing the character, it just makes what the character is capable of very clear and quite extreme.

4e isn't like many other games in that what min/maxing you can do with it is pretty obvious and doesn't detract greatly from the character's viability outside whatever speciality he's optimized for.  A combat-optimized 4e character will still be quite good at some skills, for instance, and able to participate in a skill challenge, or have a non-adventuring background or interests since such things cost little or nothing in character build resources.  

Simply putting your fighter's best stat in STR and picking weapon/feat/exploit combos that are particularly effective isn't going to break your game in either a mechanical nor an RP sense.   Ritual combos aren't going to wreck your world's society or economy.  At worst, you dial up encounters a level or few to keep them challenged, and level advancement goes at a brisker pace.