Matt
You bring up some good points. The first thing I'd like to make clear is that it does not have to be one or the other...it's not "roll vs. role" for many of us. I'm an avid role player, as hopefully anyone who has played at a table with me can attest. I love the story, I want to achieve some goals within the world, and I want folks to remember my character in the next version of the Campaign in 5 years.
However, the adventures aren't won on 'story' unfortunately. You can have the best Diplomatic, Suave, Troubled-Past Reluctant Hero RP going on, but at some point in the game, combat is going to break out. It's inevitable and I've yet to see a module that didn't have at least 1-2 tough fights. To succeed (and survive in many cases), characters need to be 'effective' when it comes to encounters. In the end, things come down to dice rolls and like it or not, all the great RP won't turn that near miss into a hit (Fate will but that's also a mechanic). That doesn't mean every character has to be 'optimized' or 'min-maxxed' to be 'effective'. As Josh correctly points out, a character should have 2-3 concepts to focus on, one they are great at, a few they are good at and the rest come along for the ride. Maybe the 'great' focus is healing, maybe it's assisting your allies, maybe it's casting spells with high CTN's that obliterate your foes...but in the end it's 'something'.
This doesn't mean the game is reduced to number crunching. Most players are going to choose characters and abilities that fit their concept, maybe tweak a few around based on the rules, and then fill in the gaps with other things. However, when it comes time to decide between two weapons, or two maneuvers, or two spells, a lot of times it may come down to numbers (or other mechanics). It's been pointed out many times that all Talents, Weapons, Tricks, etc. are not created equal or even 'balanced' and this is by design. That's fine, there are some strong options and some weaker options. Taking a mix of the two can still make an effective character. Taking too many weak options can really hurt your enjoyment if you continually fail at skill rolls, fail to hit, can't use the talents you've chosen for your concept and the like.
Most of the analysis that I've been doing is to help characters understand their damage potential. Again, every adventure is going to have combat. If your characters want to survive in Tier 2 and beyond where things hit harder, have higher defenses, and better abilities, there is some analysis to do. We've already shown that Threat defenses/abilities progress at a higher rate than PC's, so making the most out of what's available to a character is key. That doesn't mean characters need to sacrifice the cool 'flavor' or 'concept' choices, but for those choices that are being made as part of a character's combat focus, it's nice to know the options and how they shake out. For instance, if it really doesn't matter to your character if you use a small or large shield, knowing the mechanical differences might help you choose.
Well that's all for now, as I have some pork roast to cook  I guess in summary, again I'll repeat, paying attention to the mechanics and doing some analysis doesn't mean that you can't also play your concept how you want and enjoy the RP a lot. Kelb certainly isn't 'optimized' from any perspective, but he's a fun, interesting character to play. However, I do strive to make some good decisions when it comes to contributing in combat.
John
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