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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 9174325" data-attributes="member: 71699">We hit fairly straightforward examples all the time. In original 5e I many times observed players caught upon the crux of "I'd like to make my character a member of race X but it's ability score bumps are not optimal for the class I'm committed to playing." That conflict was felt widely enough that the game designers changed the rules. It's a plain example of a "system problem" as you put it, forcing players to choose between RP or optimising. Albeit similar examples are found in many systems (especially points-based ones, in my experience, which inevitably contain some best-in-class, or more problematically worst-in-class, choices.)What it evidences, more generally, is that players do pay heed to mechanical optimisation and sometimes that really does come into conflict with choices they would make based on RP motivation. The Stormwind wording is very specific -  it amounts to "not necessarily" which I agree with. A player certainly can optimise and RP at the same time, but a given player might find themselves unable to reconcile the two when it comes to their specific characters. Beyond character creation, non-optimal choices are expected to appear in some kinds of games, and be avoided in others. In the former, characters are expected to sometimes act against their own interests. In the latter, that should never happen. Again, these present examples of "not necessarily" rather than "are never" when it comes to optimisation being at odds with RP.EDIT Also, I'm sorry to hear about your arm. I hope you recover without undue complication or delay! I'm sure to be here when you are limber enough to type a response.</blockquote>

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