ACCUMULATION, INTENSIFICATION, LEVELING UP AND MIN/MAXING: ANOTHER DND POST

 My nerd fanbase has already lit up like a Christmas tree, and I don’t blame them, because I honestly love writing about DnD stuff when I get a chance.  To really emphasize the nerd aspect here though, I’m writing this because people TYPICALLY use cars and engines to explain this stuff, and I am SO far removed from being a gearhead that, if I try to implement such a metaphor I know I’m going to screw it up, make zero sense and get corrected by some glasses pushing up the nose “ACKUALLLLY” mechanic nerd, so I’m going to beat that to the punch and go into the nerd realm that I actually understand.  I find people STILL struggle to understand and appreciate the differences between accumulation and intensification as it relates to the pursuit of getting bigger and stronger, so why not explain this with some DnD.

 

Yes, I DO own this book and it's...ok

So storytime: I have a buddy that is just a genius when it comes to DnD.  He’s a smart dude in general actually: chemistry degree, worked as a chemist, big brain.  When he plays, he can expertly craft his character to just absolutely and completely maximize benefits and minimize penalties (min/max, for those unfamiliar with the vernacular) through a combination of stat manipulation, picking the best feats that play off each other, using the right spells, etc etc.  It’s legit just beyond me.  I frustrate this guy because of how simple I am when I play: I build characters that are just fun for me, and, in turn, typically quite flawed, as I find the flaws to be the fun part of the game.  But I digress there.  The point I’m making is, this guy can take a level 1 character and make him WAY more powerful than he has any right to be…

 

…BUT it’s STILL just a level 1 character.  In our party of level 1 adventurers, his character will absolutely stand out head and shoulders and we will lean on him in times of stress…but we’re STILL all a bunch of level 1 weenies no matter how you slice it.  Fact is, a level 10 ogre barbarian with 4 intelligence will STILL eat our lunch, even with the dumbest feats, poorest skillset, and awful stats.   That monster is just too damn powerful for us at our current level.  And if his level 1 character joined a level 5 adventuring party, he’d just slow them all down.  Despite being the coolest level 1 character on the planet, he’s STILL just a level 1 character.  He needs to go get some experience to REALLY start mattering (holy sh*t, this metaphor is actually getting better on a lot of levels).

This is how you fit in with the party

 

When you level up your character, EVERYTHING gets better.  They get more hit points, their saving throws (resistance to spells) improve, they get more skills, abilities, feats, and occasionally their stats even get better.  It’s a global improvement, and quite frankly you can overcome any well built character by simply being a much higher level than it, no matter how poorly you’ve constructed your character.  Anyone that has ever played “New Game+” in Chrono Trigger recognizes just how comically easy previously challenging encounters can be once you’re massively over leveled, even if you intentionally use the worst equipment and terrible tactics.  At one point, your base power is simply so great that it genuinely doesn’t matter how good you are: you’re just too damn strong.

 

This brings us around to the discussion of accumulation and intensification.  When it comes to training, intensification is the min/maxing process, whereas accumulation is leveling up.  Both result in a stronger character, but one is about improving POTENTIAL while the other is about maximizing said potential.  When we engage in an accumulation phase of training, we’re leveling up, and as any RPGer knows, the process of leveling up is “grinding”.  Sure, occasionally you get into one really big fight and it gets you a ton of experience, but for the most part you’re just killing the same group of goblins over and over again until you’re strong enough to start fighting hobgoblins and bug bears, repeat until you’re seeking out dragons and liches just to get your fix.  And to a level 1 adventurer that might sound like a big deal, but to the dudes that fighting dragons every day, it’s just getting the work in.

 

When your lifetime PR goal is a workset

That’s an accumulation block right there: it’s not sexy, you’re not hitting 1rm PRs, nothing is social media worthy, but it’s doing what needs to get done in order to get stronger.  This is base building, this is the majority of 5/3/1, these are you 3-5x10 sets, band pull aparts, dips, chins, etc etc.  Those meat and potatoes classic staples that get you bigger and stronger.  Eventually, after you do enough accumulating, you can do some intensifying.  This is where we min/max: we slash the volume so we can up the intensity and get REAL good at handling heavy loads.  We’re maximizing our skillset here and realizing all that potential we built up from accumulation so we can go set some crazy 1 rep max and move big weights in training.  Our social media feed gets lit up, we get the trophy at the meet, praise and accolades come our way…and then on Monday, it’s back to leveling up again.

 

And while I have you here, let’s go ahead and have a rant about this: so many young trainees just want to do the min/maxing and skip the leveling up.  I get it: leveling up is boring and min/maxing is fun, but remember what I wrote about earlier: your maxed out level 1 super genius is going to get curb stomped by a level 10 ANYTHING.  Even a gelatinous cube with 1 intelligence is going to prove too hardy a foe for you.  And that level 5 adventuring party is going to laugh you out of the tavern when you ask to join their group.  Yeah: you may have figured out a way to get some +4 bonus against goblins…but you’ve never actually FOUGHT one before.  Meanwhile, the barbarian at the table might not have any game driven bonus, but he’s killed 400 of the little suckers and has developed his own tactics that prove QUITE effective.  If you’ve got the potential to hit a 100lb bench, and you min/max yourself so that you can bench 100lbs…you’re still benching 100lbs.  Meanwhile, if you’ve leveled up enough that you can bench 500lbs but you’re “only” benching 400 because you haven’t min/maxed enough, you’re STILL a 400lb bencher, with potential to get even crazier.  You are “value added” to any adventuring party. 

He has no armor, a terrible weapon, and by the looks of it about 4 intelligence...and I bet he STILL gets picked first for the kickball team

 

There’s nothing wrong with min/maxing, but a level 1 character is STILL just a level 1 character.  Go get some experience.