I got to reading everybody else's posts and realized that I haven't really told you all a whole lot about my style of play. Allow me to rectify that:
Am I a powergamer or a roleplayer?
This is a very touchy subject for some and even more touchy for others. If I say that I'm a powergamer I will be frowned upon by the half of the community that are avid roleplayers. If I say I am a roleplayer, then all of the powergamers will have their own opinion of me as well.
Let me be as honest as I can be within the confines of time, the inability for any of you to see my facial expressions as I type, and the restriction (or freedom) that none of you really *know* who I am.
I can honestly say the I am truly a roleplayers at heart; there is nothing better in the world than losing yourself to the moment that exists when you adopt the personality of someone entirely different than who you really are. There have been times in my PnP campaign where we have laughed, cried, fought, loved and even hated each other. I remember spending entires evenings (sometimes, not often though) where no dice were rolled; no creatures were fought; no books were opened, but story and plot lines were advanced, sometimes even *created* by my brilliant players. I have been so blessed to have the most amazing people adventure their characters in my campaign world over these last decades that it is often times difficult to say goodbye. My players have been so brilliant that they were even capable of taking the reigns from me and DMing my world to allow me to play my evil Dalmir "The Dark" as a PC for intervals at a time. This always gave me great joy as I am often restricted to using him only as a flavorful NPC. Yes, I can honestly say that I have truly roleplayed over the years to the fullest.
Yet, there is another side to me altogether, or shall I say another side to that wicked, terrible, vile necromancer Dalmir? Dalmir was always the quite type; everybody knew that he was kind of a loner. He played his cards from the beginning so that no one really ever knew what he was up to. He was the patient one; oh so very patient. He always knew what he wanted and he knew that he would one day achieve it, he must only be patient and it would come. Dalmir craved power more than anything else. Power over the undead, power over demons, power over mankind and more than anything else, the power of his art. The forbidden art - black necromancy. Over the years, the cold calculating Dalmir bided his time making small advances towards his ultimate goal. Supreme independence - he would bow down to no one in the end. Every new spell brought him that much closer. Every new skill, gave him that much more talent. Every new tome made him hunger that much more. As time passed, he mastered his art slowly but surely until one day, he parted from his companions once and for all. But his evil did not end there. Seduced even further by the power of the dark side, he took an unholy bride - one of the most feared women on Oerth. The mere mention of her name caused peasants to cower and entire theives' guilds to be on their guard. A woman so vile that her deeds were comparable to her "Dark" husband. Her name caused many a planar creature in Sigil to become infuriated at the mention of it. Salaandra was as bad as they come. Seductress, warrior, magi - she had all the charm of a succubus and all the wits and spells of a wizard. This is not why the multiverse hated her though - her fighting techniques were like no other woman in history. She fought dirty; she fought hard; she fought with ultimate skill, inhuman strength, and she only ever fought... to win.
Dalmir "The Dark" and Salaandra had a witch child Tabitha shortly after they were married. Dalmir "The Dark" has since abandoned his search for ultimate power. And why shouldn't he? He has already attained just about everything he could ever dream of - Mastery of his Dark Art; the most dreaded, beautiful woman in the multiverse as his wife; and a beautiful, talented, intelligent daughter, with emerald eyes, like her mother and blue black hair, just like her father.
But his lust for power never diminished. It has only been put on hold.
Am I a power gamer, or a roleplayer? You decide.