[quote="phyrixian_lawnmower"]These guidelines are a suggestion. If you want to comment or discuss, feel free to do so.
Welcome to the Character Optimization Boards, a place where Gods are punished,
combos are revealed and studied, builds are proposed, numbers are crunched and
characters are made. A place of great wisdom and knowledge for you to plunge into
and contribute to, if you are so inclined. But be warned, great skill is required of those
who wish to share and common courtesy must be upheld at all times.
There are many ways to contribute to the CO boards, whether it be starting a new
thread or posting a reply. If you have a new idea or question you'll probably have
to start a new thread.
New threads can be divided into several categories:
- Handbooks, these threads try to give a complete analysis of a class, paragon path, race or other major feature of the game that is accessible to players. example
- Builds, these can be divided into three main categories: theoretical, practical and fun. example
- Help, these threads ask for help on character creation choices. example
- Philosophical, these threads discuss the nature of optimization. example
- Whoa!, these threads present a cool combo or trick. example
- CharOp Diaries, these thread present the progression of a character and examples of play through the levels. example
- Compilation, these threads compile info. example
- Discussion, these thread discuss the merit of one option against that of another. example
- Other, anything that doesn't fit these categories but still is optimization. example
Posting Threads:
0) Is it CharOp You are on the character optimization. Be sure to check whether your
thread is about character optimization. To check this ask yourself this one question:
Does this thread contribute in any way to the optimization of characters, be it in
real or virtual scenarios? If the answer is not a wholehearted yes, feel free to check out
the other DnD forums for a more suitable location for your (there much more) valued ideas.
There just might be a forum more suited to your thread.
1) Be Polite. No one likes to help or respond to someone who's disrespectful.
2) Is it new? Check if your thread's not already somewhere on the boards. If your combo,
build, problem or handbook is already on the boards just reply to that thread if you have anynew ideas or questions. And try to make sure your question hasn't been answered before.
Be sure to check the following sources:
The Complete Collection of Character Build Links
The CharOp Wiki
3) Use proper form Strive to achieve the best possible form in spelling, grammar and presentation.
Having correct spelling and grammar decreases the chances of sending out the wrong message to people trying to respond. If people misunderstand your first post, you will probably have to clear up the misunderstanding at a later point. Correct spelling and grammar help with preventing this and keep your discussion a lot clearer and thus nicer.
Presentation increases the chances of sending out the right message to people trying to respond.
If you organize your first post in a good way, then people will be able to get the information they want or need out of it much better. This is of especially important for handbooks and any other thread offering a lot of information.
Here's a general checklist for presentation:
-Have a fitting title: while it's nice to have a funny or flavourful title, a fitting title gives potential readers or posters useful information about what they're about to read and thus whether they actually want to read it. Do this to help your fellow board members out.
-Make a skeleton: before you start on a big post, such as a handbook or a build statted out from level 1-30, make a structure in which you will present the information you want to present. Some examples of skeletons can be found in the interesting links below (guide to handbooks and 3.5 posting guidelines)
-Use the formatting options: between html code and the basic formatting options provided bythe forum posting tool there's lots of things you cando for emphasis and readability. Especially for handbooks, sblocks are a blessing.
-Preview and Edit: Take a look at what your work's going to look like before you post it. And if you missed something or want to change something, edit.
4) Be thorough. Check and doublecheck for step 2. Search the boards, the errata and the
discussion to see if your combo/trick is really possible. Explain yourself fully and make
sure your post is complete.
If you have a help request, be sure to keep in mind the following questions, when you ask for
help building your character:
- Which sources can you use?
- What Race do I want the character to be?
- What Role/class do I want the character to be?
- What level do I want the character to be?
- Which character choices do I want to pin down?/What character choices can be changed?
- What houserules are in place at my table?
- What do you want to achieve?/What do you want help with?
If you answer these questions for yourself and answer them in your help request it will help
people help you better.
5) follow through. Try to complete your work and respond to the comments in your thread.
Also try to keep your work up to date with the latest releases or try to employ someone else's
help if you can't.
Posting Replies
1) Be Polite. I can't repeat this enough: respect your fellow board members.
2) Be new. Read the Topic title. Read the entire thread or at least try to scan through
it before posting your reply. Someone else might have thought of exactly the same thing and
typed it 3 pages before you and the discussion has since then moved on.
3) Be on-topic. Try to keep in mind the topic of the thread.
Respect the posters requests if it's a help topic, do not suggest a more optimised combination
of race/class if the poster is fixed on these. Try to work within the perimiter of the request.
With kudo's to Phoenix Inferno's 3.5 posting guidelines, take 3, where this is based on partially.
Interesting links:
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