The other kind of min-maxing

[Sliver]

There's a pretty good correlation between people insisting on being the best in the group - even at the expense of the enjoyment of their friends - and bad roleplaying though. Your experiences may differ.

That has nothing to do with optimization, but people being jerks.

So when twenty posts a week ask 'what the best X I can build for my upcoming campaign', those people are only kidding. Phew: That's a relief

And still, most of the advice they get is practical optimization that won't ruin the fun of the rest of the players.

Except the PC isn't an illusionist - they became a Conjurer because that is more powerful than the Illusionist they really wanted to be.

Except why would the PC say that his conjurer learned under a boring conjuration teacher while the illusion teacher was awesome? He wouldn't write that in his background. That type of input can only be made by the DM who has no rights to do it randomly.