Well - I thank Baal as the starter of this magnum opus as it has brought a lot of interesting debate.
However, I really disagree with the anti min-maxing argument going on.
I played D&D as a kid (started in 1984 with Basic and progressed through AD&D to 2nd ed) and then got into 3rd ed later in life and became a collector rather than player. Recent years saw me discover Pathfinder and now I find myself as a GM to a game with a GM NPC, my soon to be wife and her two children who are first time role-players at the ages of 7 and 10.
Have I been so wrong as a GM to encourage these new players to indulge in a bit of min-maxing so that the the barbarian is good at what he is designed to do, as is the Elven Wizard? Especially, as I explained the dumped stats had meaning and asked the children to think about the meaning of being not so good at something and to try and play that part of their character as much as the things they are good at? They are playing a game. They are playing a role. If they are role-playing the good and the less-good aspects of their characters accurately and with a good back-story reason, aren't they doing exactly what the system (and pretty much every system since the woodgrain) is designed to do?
