Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
Trust No One!
She wiped out the Freys all by herself. I'd think her advice should be at least listened to.
Trust No One!
I think that might be the thread I'm thinking of when thinking about the whole d6 vs d8 drama. It was definitely a thread on these forums.
Specifically, looking down on a greataxe vs. greatsword
See that's where sacrificing "optimal" for "role-playing reasons" can get out of hand.... that's what I was trying to contrast with a reasonable sacrifice (going from 1d8 to 1d6, taking a "not the best" race for a class etc).
See, I've never had a problem with this either as a player, or as a DM. It's the DM's job to balance the adventure against the party, and that includes characters of this sort. Let the players have fun, and if being a pacifist is fun, go for it. They just can't expect the rest of the party to kowtow to that concept and should expect to be horrified as their comrades cheerfully hack orcs apart.
I walk a middle path and as someone else said make a few suboptimal choices but personally not enough to being ineffectual. I think that sucks as much as cheese.
The experience I was referring to was a 3.5 (with a splash of pathfinder) game where the player *refused* to put any defense on her bard. Ok-ish dex, light armor, no con bonus, no defense spell, no defensive item. We didn't have a firm front line, and it was important for PCs to be able to stand on their own but the player just wouldn't make the effort. I will readily admit that she was a*great* buffer, but it would have been trivial for her to go from horribly vulnerable to vulnerable-ish, yet she never did. "Protect the bard!!" was fun for a battle or 4, but eventually it just became a chore.
I'm a firm believe in people playing whatever the want to play. However, we get to play our characters, too. If a character was that great of a burden, we would likely leave that character in a city at some point. If a character is tolerable, then anything goes.