Belkar

[runeghost]

Finally, Belkar is an okay character in OOTS land which builds characters with about the optimization of WOTC's sample characters. These are people, not character sheets, so feats and skill points are chosen organically, not plotted out ahead of time for maximum efficiency. (Although I often wonder why that is in 'game mechanics are literal' style worlds. One would think there would be people whose entire job depended on advising the best build options and it would be a field of science that improved over time. But that would make it hard or impossible to tell most stories.)

I suspect The Giant's opinion of what we used to call "min-maxing" builds can be seen in this strip.

Personally, I think once you're building a character solely around tactical effectiveness, instead of "what this imaginary person would do", you're moving away from roleplaying and into a tactical combat game. (Which can still be fun, of course.)