Over on [this question](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/130992/28402), there was some confusion over the restrictions in the question which turned out to be because we didn't have a shared understanding of what the term "build" meant, as we discovered [in chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/82664/discussion-on-answer-by-angus-robertson-brawler-fighting-against-undead).

My understanding of the term is that a character build, in an RPG, describes the choice of permanent character options and attributes, but does not refer to temporary or transient game features, like the gear you carry or the weapon you wield (unless you're playing in a system where that *is* a permanent character choice). However, the asker on the linked question understands a "build" to include both the character attributes and options *and* their equipment loadout.

Because of this, I didn't understand that when they specified that "switching build" was not a viable solution in their case, they meant they were ruling out the character picking up different weapons to use; I thought they were just ruling out letting the player rebuild their character in light of their gameplay experience.

**In the wider RPG community, is there a generally agreed definition of what constitutes a "build"? If so, what is that definition?**

I have a personal suspicion that the second understanding of the term, including a character's "loadout", has its basis in RPG[-esque] videogames, as that does seem to be the understanding of the term in, for instance, [League of Legends](https://www.probuilds.net/).