Combat challenge:

I need an arena in which to whup your butts

I'm good enough at strategy alone that I believe that, against a typical group of characters, I can take on a CR one and a half times my own, especially at higher levels. Of course, that is if I am using a character combo I like. I power game, although entirely within the rules as I know them.

Strategy is not just about what you do in or before an individual encounter. That is tactics.

It is also about preparing yourself with training, mindset, and resources. Generals know that means power gaming, although they would not call it by that name. They would call it combing through all available options, including how to train and equip their soldiers. (The overall philosophy would probably be called a battle doctrine.)

For individual adventures, it is the same thing, but you would only be supervising yourself in that respect, not a military unit.

However, the vast majority of people do not actually have all of the character options available by poring over rulebooks for roleplaying games. Thus, there is in fact a realistic basis for limiting character options.

For example, I used to study Shotokan karate' in college. I only knew of one instructor of any style. n the Army Reserve infantry, I learned another style, that of infantryman. I did not know how to evaluate either beforehand. If other styles had been available to me and I knew enough about them, I might have chosen a different path.

Still, for me the game, as an armchair adventurer, is about being intellectually challenged in a strategic/tactical sense.