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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 5577291" data-attributes="member: 92305">Some people tend to equate playing suboptimal (mechanically) characters with roleplaying. I think, as I said up thread, that a good roleplayer plays a character no matter the outcome of the stats. A good roleplayer can take a monster of a character and make him a memorable personality and with equal skill, take a weak (stat-wise) character and make him just as memorable. The test I mention is a good one, I think, because most players, good roleplayers or not, have no problem playing a monster-stat super-hero character. More players, though, have trouble with, or flat-out refuse to play a character that they don't consider a "hero".    I don't think optimization is a bad thing at all. Why not take what you got and make the best of it? Got a monster-stat character? Good for you. Kick some butt! Got a poor, weak, character? OK, then, do something with it. Treat it as a challenge and make him an interesting character in spite of his stat-deficiencies. The threat is about rollplaying vs. roleplaying. Great roleplayers play characters, regardless of "good" or "bad" stats. Rollplayers play stats.    I don't. Although I do think the line is blurry, and the distinction is rather gray than black & white. I've known players who are great roleplayers as long as they have characters that they consider to be superior stat-wise. Yes, these people fail my test because I don't consider them overall great roleplayers--their great play is conditional. To me, a great roleplayer is someone who can take a stick and make it the most memorable forest you've ever seen. There's a player that will be upset that his mage has a low CON score, citing that mages already have the smallest hit die and mages need every hit point that they can get.  Then, there's the player who will look at that low CON score, accept it, embrace it, and turn his mage into the scratchy voiced, health-problemed, Raistlin Majere.</blockquote>

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