Quote Originally Posted by Quertus View Post
Strongly disagree. The game is most fun when you have "Thor and the sentient potted plant" - when the group is not so hung up on game balance, and can just have fun.

Yes, balance to the table. But, IME, tables with larger balance ranges have more fun than those with tighter balance ranges.
Well, it depends on the game system how well this pans out - in FATE Core for instance you would have no problems letting both Thor and the potted plant contribute to the narrative since either of you can invoke aspects just fine. I won't say you can't have fun in a game like that, but I would claim that D&D is ill-suited to make the potted plant interesting to play.


Either way, I do agree that powergaming is a player thing, not a character thing - there are situations in which a powergamer sets out to be unbeatable and stronger than everyone else, and then at the table just isn't - which doesn't make the player less insufferable. But on the other hand, there's players who overshadow the rest of the party without meaning to.