I can agree that it's perfectly possible to build a character that is both mathematically powerful and interesting. I don't agree that you can build a character who can't fight their way out of a paper bag. Not once they've got a few levels in them, at least. Your average 1st level warrior town guard has less than ten hit points and an attack bonus of +3 or less. You pass that with any class by sixth level.
Oh this character couldn't, most combats consisted of him talking, something trying to kill us. any time he tried to hit it, he missed. he had a 16 dex, but, never picked up any magic weapons. if he had to get involved in combat he stayed in the back, letting the other characters fight the in the front, which doesn't work well for flanking. he had a rod of ropes as his only weapon, while a magic item, not a magic weapon. he like to use it to push people off things, or get away from combat.
all his feats went to skill focus, or one of the skill feats.
Well there is one fundamental issue with the thread. Without any kind of mathematical foundation, there does not exist a way to not only determine whether or not a particular qualifies as viable (consider a series of infitesimal adjustments away from any particular ideal of viablity and say when the character is no longer viable); there also does not exist a way to compare differing methodologies of determining viablity (I know that in theory this is impossible anyways due to the paradox of inquiry, but ignoring that).Sure there is.
Did you have fun?
Did the rest of the group have fun?
Then it was viable.
There is no obligation for a single person to ever provide any mathematical justification for their existence. I would flip it around and say that mathematical 'proofs' are themselves invalid. I've seen characters that are great on paper but in play they are frustrating to everyone else at the table or simply never live up to their potential.
I had an epic character once who got 12 attacks a round and although he was a cool character, keeping track of all those attacks was kind of annoying and slowed things down. After a while I retired him for a character who used a 2h weapon. He did just as much damage but he did it in fewer attacks. He wasn't quite as interesting but playing him was easier on everyone at the table so he was more viable.
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Just give your halfling a dozen slices on a bandolier (the silverware knife used to slice cakes is called a slice), a broad rimmed puritan hat, and let him become a blade thrower named Salmon Kane. Finally give him a personality - "You! Woman! Get back inside!", "This is Men's Business! Women have no place in this conversation!" He becomes the sort of SOB you will utterly hate. :)
There is always going to be some feat (or simple attacks per round improvements) that will boost his power as Salmon Kane - Wraith Hunter.
You guys are twisting up the meaning of the word "viable", I think. Taking up less table time does not make a character "more viable". This is the "Tomato is fruit or suspension bridge?" argument all over again.
Viable is not a dirty word. Effective is not a dirty word. LARP is not a dirty word, despite having four letters. &%~! is a dirty word, but that's neither here nor there.
Back to the topic at hand: Fun characters lacking optimization.
Our party back in the day (it was a Thursday, in case you didn't know...) got together to start a new campaign, and agreed to all play a family of Dwarves. Older Brother, was, sadly, a Raver. A dwarf gone mad with the power of magic polluting his magic-resistant blood. A sorcerer, having been trained in the grand and respectable martial traditions, whose mind had gone completely unhinged. While he did have quite a few obsessive and schizophrenic moments that made the party laugh, he also had a lot where the other players had heartbreaking expressions and made like they wanted to hug me... Mental illness is not all talking to giggling lamp-posts and chasing imaginary platypi. Started him with one level of Sorcerer, and two levels of Fighter, exotic weapon proficiency Nagaika, exotic weapon proficiency amphibian.
Yes. Amphibian. Done back in the original 3e, it was when Toads gave you bonus HP. With an 18 constitution and a 15 charisma, the toad had more hit points than most third level -characters-. With a bladed whip in one hand, and a spell-charged toad in the other, he wrought unpleasant havoc amongst our foes. He also summoned giant frogs, and collected regular frogs in his gear. I got him (Forgotten Realms) thematic spellcasting ASAP, and then his firetoads and lightningfrogs took on a whole new level of disturbing. When I didn't want to burn spells in combat, he'd just throw frogs. After four spell-charged amphibians, people learn to duck and run from the fifth...
Frogs, btw, don't do lethal damage unless frozen, and have a 10' range increment, and tend to scatter randomly in the direction of a D8 if they don't connect with their target first throw...
He wasn't terribly effective, being so incredibly unoptimized, but the family loved him, and searching for lost delves to restore the family honor made them famous... or would have, if we ever got past level six...