Or with a little longer view, at less critical stages, to approach contests with fairly weak abilities (i.e. not really try hard, as a player, to win them), in order to have things be more favorable later on.
For example, having humiliated your foes with words, and escaped their ambush, you know you are heading for a formal trial by combat with them. You've been winning, so upcoming contests should be harder for you....do you go straight to the trial-by-combat, or do you go and ask your clan for their blessing? Perhaps you know your heroes will soon be heading off for some years on a mission elsewhere, so damaged clan relationships right now don't bother you much, so you could lead with your relatively weak 'member of clan' ability rather than one of your stronger attributes, expecting that you may well lose. Or, more cunning, knowing that an ultimate confrontation will be coming, do you try to ignore your foes taunts with your 'patient 13' instead of replying to them with your 'sharp tongued 5W'?
In other words, how do you feel about players stepping outside the story to try and influence how it plays out, rather than simply having their characters try appropriately hard at each point along the way?
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