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I know *how* you can burn out. I'm saying fluffing the fact that you used to have magic is cheating and lying if you *didn't* use to have magic. That's the whole point of the example: *burnout*.
Is it cheating when a character says "I used to be a cop" when he's starting out? I mean, technically he never was a cop; the character only really existed at the start of the game.
It all amount to the same thing: Backstory and roleplay. If you had magic, but lost it during your backstory, it's just color and direction.
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I didn't say 'no abilities worth mentioning'. On the contrary, my whole point is that you can have abilities worth mentioning without being 'optimized'. And you continue to wrongly say that more numbers means more fun to play. There is no connection (positive or negative) between better numbers and more fun.
You're missing my point. By fixing your concepts, I'm not making them hyper-optimized. But I am 'optimizing' them, so they do something well. If you can't do anything well (not optimized), then it's not fun to play. If you can do something well, you're min/maxed and optimized to some degree. There is nothing wrong with optimizing a character-- in fact, since it involves a greater player investment, min.maxed characters are often more fun to play.
Now, hyperoptimized one-trick-ponies? Those can get annoying. But that depends on the game.
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My point was never that you can't (partially) optimize any given character, but that some concepts (fun ones) are inherently suboptimal.
Name a few, then. Burnout mage is disproven, see below. Mr. No-nothing? That's not a concept, that's a stat block, give me something to work with. (Although I can see a starting character who not only hates magic and augmentation, but doesn't even realize he's an initiated adept. That would actually be more fun.)
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You must not play concepts very often then.
In fact, I never play concepts. I play *characters*. Fully fleshed-out and realized concepts, who take on a life of their own and are fun for everybody.
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Except that if you do not have the requisite, actual, background and active skills to reinforce your backstory, well, then you are not truly playing a burnout, are you? You are, in effect, cheating. You are obviously no longer playing a concept, but a collection of favorable numbers that you attempt to get to the highest point you can, backstory be damnned. If you are incapable of coming up with a concept, and then actually following through with it, why are you even asking if it is fun. If backstory, personality, and abilities do not mesh, how can the concept even work?
Who says I don't? Given that you can't take any active Awakened skills unless you have Magic, you can't start a burnout with any of those skills... but you could invest heavily in magical Knowledge skills. You could also have a ton of magical contacts (representing people who trained you magically, and take pity on you) and otherwise gear yourself up as a burnout. Making a burnout with magical Active skills *is* cheating.
See? Not only does backstory, personality, and abilities mesh, you've now got more points for abilities, making him more capable and fun to play with.