As a player, I am min/maxer. Not that it takes away from my roleplaying. I create a character concept, then I look to maximize that. I enjoy going through the rules and finding synergies that make my character more survivable, either offensively or defensively. I also find it challenging to DM min/maxers, especially if there is only one in the group. Personally, I find that aspect equally as fun as creating an good story. I'll settle for both.
Yeah, I think my dislike for min/maxers at my table isn't so much the min/maxing, it's the player who has found an overpowered exploit and brings a character that does that 'one thing' over and over and over again, because it's better than doing any other action.
However, you are the DM :) ... if it really is an "overpowered exploit" and you are not running AL ... then you can chat with the player and see what kind of accommodation you can make.
On the other hand, efficiently doing damage (particularly burst damage) is one of the things that many classes and multiclass combination can do so they aren't (in my opinion) "exploits" (e.g. Sorlock with Agonizing blast+ quickened agonizing blast from level 11+, paladin with smites and improved divine smite at level 11+ (paladin with PAM, a spear or quarterstaff and dueling fighting style actually gets quite close to the damage from GWM/SS). Personally, I think a coffeelock with infinite spell slots is an "exploit" and I wouldn't allow it. Similarly, casting simulacrum recursively to have infinite simulacrums.
Great weapon master and Sharpshooter can greatly boost damage at high level with the -5 to hit penalty is usually offset by higher proficiency, higher stats, magic items and in the case of sharpshooter the archery fighting style. Since monster AC typically caps being replaced by hit points, these builds tend to be able to do a lot of damage at higher levels, especially when combined with some mechanism that grants advantage on attack rolls. These aren't exploits either but the characters with these abilities can far out-damage the rest of the party (e.g. Gloomstalker ranger with Xbow expert and Sharpshooter fighting in the dark so they have advantage against most targets).
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However, you are the DM :) ... if it really is an "overpowered exploit" and you are not running AL ... then you can chat with the player and see what kind of accommodation you can make.
On the other hand, efficiently doing damage (particularly burst damage) is one of the things that many classes and multiclass combination can do so they aren't (in my opinion) "exploits" (e.g. Sorlock with Agonizing blast+ quickened agonizing blast from level 11+, paladin with smites and improved divine smite at level 11+ (paladin with PAM, a spear or quarterstaff and dueling fighting style actually gets quite close to the damage from GWM/SS). Personally, I think a coffeelock with infinite spell slots is an "exploit" and I wouldn't allow it. Similarly, casting simulacrum recursively to have infinite simulacrums.
Great weapon master and Sharpshooter can greatly boost damage at high level with the -5 to hit penalty is usually offset by higher proficiency, higher stats, magic items and in the case of sharpshooter the archery fighting style. Since monster AC typically caps being replaced by hit points, these builds tend to be able to do a lot of damage at higher levels, especially when combined with some mechanism that grants advantage on attack rolls. These aren't exploits either but the characters with these abilities can far out-damage the rest of the party (e.g. Gloomstalker ranger with Xbow expert and Sharpshooter fighting in the dark so they have advantage against most targets).