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When you find options that work well for both roleplaying and game mechanics at the same time, this is what I'm calling Unified Roleplay Theory (URT)I haven't had much to add after my 2 cp early in the discussion.
IMO, however, this should be the primary goal of playing or running a game. "Pure" roleplay divorced from mechanics or mechanical-only "builds"/"toons" divorced from roleplay miss the point: they are called roleplaying games for a reason; both the roleplaying and the game parts are essential.
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My players have been using teamwork tactics since Pathfinder 1st Edition. Years ago I was one of those people essentially saying, "Optimizing individual damage isn't everything," because I was saying, "Optimizing for good teamwork is more effective than optimizing for individual damage." When we switched over to Pathfinder 2nd Edition, my players did not change their playstyle because it worked in PF2, too.
When former PF1 players wondered why their old toe-to-toe combat style did not work in PF2, I tried analyzing my players' tactics and discovered a strange secret. Their teamwork was powered by roleplaying. The characters could work smoothly together as a precision-engineered combat machine because understanding each other had grown out of their players' roleplaying.
Six days ago in comment #48 SuperBidi said:
YOU ALWAYS WANT AT LEAST ONE RELIABLE DAMAGE TOOL.I'd even insist on that: Reliable and efficient. For example, I don't consider cantrips to be efficient past the first levels.
Far too often, because of circumstances, I've seen a character forced into damage dealing when it was not their primary role. And those who were not able to deal reliable and efficient damage really crippled the party. TPKs (and character deaths) don't happen when the Paladin tanks, the Bard buffs, the Fighter hacks and the Cleric heals. TPKs happen because something goes wrong. And if the Fighter can't somehow hack and the only answer of the Paladin, Bard and Cleric is "Damage is not my role." then the TPK will be on the table.
Party coordination is important and extremely efficient but when crap hits the fan it's the first thing that goes down.
In my game session 7 days ago (I hope to finish the write-up today in my playtest chronicle Virgil Tibbs, Playtest Rune Smith) the party took a heavy hit. I had added a playtest runesmith to my ongoing Strength of Thousands campaign, set at the Magaambya School of Magic. That increased our oversized caster-heavy party to 8 members.
I sent them against a 5th-level challenge from Spoken in the Song Wind while the characters were still 4th level. The encounter was Severe Threat against two rogues and a necromancer, levels 7, 6, and 4. The champion in the party had been one of the first to rush to the enemy. Most of the party was spellcasters who had kept at range. The champion up front with ranged spellcasting support had worked in previous combats, but here that strategy failed. Unfortunately, the champion had underestimated the threat and had not raised his shield. He lost 80% of his hit points in one round.
The party's teamwork did not break. Instead, the party rallied. They realized that I was not softballing this encounter (the Magaambya never knowingly sends the party against Severe Threats), so they needed maximum teamwork. The champion pulled back, Laid Hands on himself, and raised his shield. The sturdiest of the remaining party members stepped forward, but carefully stayed within 15 feet of the champion for the protection of his Champion's Reaction. The bard/druid rushed closer to cast Soothe and Heal on the champion. The ranged casters took down the necromancer immediately with concentrated fire. This was their 2nd encounter of the day, so the casters were mostly down to cantrips. The necromancer's 4th-level AC was the only AC they could reliably hit with cantrips.
Without roleplaying, the party learns one good strategy. With roleplaying, the party learns the other strengths of their fellow party members and can adapt a new strategy against enemies resistant to the familiar strategy.