There’s nothing worse than unsolicited personal advice. There you are minding your own business, just trying to be the best you that you can be, when some jackhole decides to chime in with their shitty hot take.

“Yeah dude, you really ought to go half-elf with that build.”

“Who doesn’t take power attack?”

“I don’t want to tell you your business, but the rapier is the only real option.”

Funny how such opinion-wielders never want to tell you your business, then proceed to tell you your business. Maybe I’ve got storyline reasons for not going half-elf. Maybe I’m challenging myself to build sans power attack. Maybe my short sword was the gladius gifted to me by my Roman-esque mentor before she died in the arena. Rapier doesn’t quite fit into the picture, you know?

Now let-me-be-clear: the key word in all of the above is ‘unsolicited.’ If you’ve gone to the forums or your buddies and asked for an opinion, there’s no reason to get your dander all up in a bother because of honest feedback. The only correct response there is, “Thanks for taking the time to help a gamer out.” If you want to have an ongoing dialogue, maybe you explain your thought process a little and hash out the options from there. But here’s what’s truly obnoxious: Sitting down at a table with a playing-against-type kind of PC and immediately hearing, “Why would you ever make a halfling fighter? That’s an awful choice! Human would have been much better.” If you’re that halfling, the only correct response at that point is to go in for the grundle-stab. As it turns out, your ‘awful choice’ puts you at the perfect height for a nut shot.

Have any of you guys dealt with this mess? What was your build, and what advice was forcibly plungered down your esophagus? Tell us your tales of “expert” build fixes and unsolicited advice down in the comments!

 

ARE YOU AN IMPATIENT GAMER? If so, you should check out the “Henchman” reward level over on The Handbook of Heroes Patreon. For just one buck a month, you can get each and every Handbook of Heroes comic a day earlier than the rest of your party members. That’s bragging rights right there!