People in my games have long since learned that min/maxing their characters is a two edged sword. Sure, your half orc warrior can dump a lot of dps out there with his falchion, but if you don’t bother even carrying a ranged weapon, you can expect to find things you can’t do even more often than if you had spent a bit of effort to not suck at everything else.

If you build a character without versatility, you set yourself up for the unbeatable situation all that much more. You can be REALLY good at something, or you can reduce the amount of unbeatable situations by thinking ahead and making a character with more than a single ability. . .I you choose to highly specialize in something, all I can say is that you pretty much guarantee that you will be unable to effectively do much of anything else.

The players choose their characters, not the DM. If they can’t/won’t choose to be versatile, they bring it on them selves. I personally refuse to dumb down my games to keep the players fat and happy.

That being said though, I rarely, if ever, add things that absolutely can’t be gotten around by using your brain and/or luck. Make your characters think outside the box and they will thank you. . .or quit. Frankly, I don’t want to play with someone who isn’t willing to work at it anyway, so no big loss if they do.

@Xaotik1 I understand what you’re saying and I absolutely agree with you. Being a great game master is about challenging the players.

The trick is to both challenge the players without completely crushing their will as players. Feeling like, “I can’t do anything,” is not a good sign from players.

The players have to choose their battles wisely. At lower levels, characters should FREQUENTLY run into things they can’t fight, and find traps they can’t disarm, locks that they can’t pick, etc. That’s the whole incentive they have to gain levels in the first place. Otherwise why bother even having the level system to begin with? Tease them, taunt them, give them something to strive for. . .

I don’t care how many times you bash your fist against a 3 inch thick piece of armor plate,you will NEVER get through it that way. Use the impossible to force the to think of other ways to accomplish the same goal. Door won’t open? Passwall the wall, con the doorman, knock politely and push in once someone who CAN open it does so. Can’t climb that wall? Get a fly spell. Spider climb is nice. Hammer and a chisel takes a while, but usually works for making hand and foot holds. Force them to think and not just bash or use the simplest means to an end.

If you are worried about injuring the players feelings, fine, be a softie and always let them win. . .of course, that is about as much fun and as challenging as using a q-tip to clean your ears, but hell, no hurt feelings. Personally, I find that the players have a LOT more fun when things are challenging. Ya, a few die here and there, but thus it is with the life of an adventurer. If you consistently throw yourself into danger, you can expect to eventually feel the sting of failure.

Such rewards could be with items: You managed to avoid my impossibly huge pit trap, and notice a bag of coins wedged near the wall you sprung to. After pocketing the bag you fall into an adjacent hole.

Or you resist the ‘s sleep spell, and get a couple kills in before another one lands another sleep spell on you. (in this case the reward is bonus XP)