Some observations on (still) playing the way I've always played, and a stupid story, the sort you don't get just from optimising your character.
Stats shmatsI'm playing 2e because that's what the DM wanted, so we had some ridiculous system where we chose class and then rolled, I chose fighter and so had to roll 7d6 drop lowest for strength, 6d6 for con, 4d6 for charisma, that sort of thing.
I ended up with
Str 12, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 6, Wis 17, Cha 18
The DM suggested I swap some numbers around. I'm old school - you play what you roll. So we have Fabio, the Most Beautiful Fighter in the Cosmos.
more muscular than he really is, but
if you were having a portrait done, how would you have it drawn? He's charismatic with common sense but no academic knowledge, not that strong (the party's gnome illusionist with str 13 can beat him in an arm wrestle) but deft.
If you're really strong and tough then you're the warrior out there hewing and slaying, if you're cunning and charismatic then you're a leader. Fabio started with 4 men-at-arms, "Fabio and his Fingers, together we make fist!" Along the way 3 men-at-arms have died, one was slain early on, another was eaten by a bullette so we couldn't do anything, another was slain by trolls and Fabio paid for her to be resurrected so she became a henchman. Another man-at-arms became a henchman early on. Fabio's now level 5 and the henchman are level 3. Another 2 are still level 0, including Boche who was an original man-at-arms, he's never been knocked to 0HP and never failed a saving throw, bit of a lucky bastard but there you go. All are clad in plate mail with tower shields.
In combat if we're at range we open up with shortbows, so that's 10 attacks in the first round. On the approach of the enemy we drop bows and take up shields and form a shield wall (house rule, +1 to AC for each one on your side, so +2 in the middle and +1 on the flanks, lose your Dex bonus though - so great for men-at-arms, less great for high-Dex fighters). Each of the Fingers carries 2 holy water and 4 flasks of oil. A common tactic in dungeons is putting oil in a line in front of us, forming a shield wall across the 10ft corridor with 3 guys, the enemy approaches, they're about to enter melee and we light 'em up. If a warrior in the front rank falls, one of the 2 behind step up.
Rest of the party stands behind and supports as appropriate.
With 10 attacks in the first round, plate mail and tower shield (AC 1) and a shield wall (AC -1 for guys in the middle, AC 0 for guys on the flanks), most foes are dealt with fairly quickly, and we're not hurt too badly. It's different if we're surprised, but we try not to be surprised too often.
We came across a room with 7 sleeping trolls. Quietly rolled open flasks of oil in there. "Wake up!" Web spell. Light 'em up. Shield wall in entrance, survivors stagger out burning and screaming and are cut down. Tough fight, but result was 7 dead trolls, no dead party members.
In a game I DMed, the players came to a room with sarcophagi and mummies in them. One came out and they slew it after much trouble. The others they pinned the lids down by sitting on them, and the wizard got a rock drill to put a couple of holes in the lid, poured oil in and lit it up. What were his stats? His level? It didn't matter - this was something they could have done at first level.
Use your wits, work as a team and have a plan, and then your stats don't matter too much. People focus on stats because they think of their character as an individual, rather than as a member of a team with a plan.
Now, this stuff doesn't help you if you meet a wizard with
charm person or the like. But that's another story.
Trollhead tavernWe came to a room of trolls drinking and fighting, two were just heads nailed to walls, their mates taunting them. We slew them, took the still-alive heads and cauterised the neck stumps to stop them regenerating. The DM wasn't sure if that would work, I said if not we'd just make iron boxes with spikes inside so that the troll grows back, is stabbed to death, grows back, is stabbed, etc, eternally. Since that was horrible the DM agreed the cauterising would work.
We went into Greyhawk and talked to a tavern-keeper, it's now the Troll's Head Tavern. Young men come there and have a few drinks, then make bets. You know that game where you put your hand on the table and stab the blade between each of the fingers increasingly fast? Or even better, your mate does it to your hand? Well, they do the same but with the troll heads, trying not to get bitten. And the trolls are always angry and snarling being taunted by all and sundry.
Trollhead Tavern, down through Viscera Lane past the corner where Big Rosie always hangs out. It's not the sort of tavern you'd take a fair maiden while courting her. But the ale is cheap and every night has a brawl, and the umberhulk pie is excellent.
Now all should go well, provided nobody ever has the bright idea of taking the heads down from the wall...
You don't get this kind of tactics, silliness and fun with systems that insist on optimal character builds. Roll 'em up, take what you get, use your wits to make the best of it. Don't take it too seriously. Bring snacks.