Today's Advice: Eat the Debuff
There's a certain genre of gamer who enjoys mastering a system. They know the hit probabilities of a 1st-level character against every armor class in the game, have memorized the entire monster manual, and could identify traps from the smell of their components. They tend to play a certain style of character that benefits from the mechanics of the game (plate and shield fighter/cleric, Thief who uses bows and throws daggers, magic user who sits in the middle of the marching order with the torch) and are generally succesful players. This is fine!
There's another genre of gamer, more common in more modern contexts, who loves coming to the table and playing out a Character Concept. The rules are a vehicle through which this Concept gets played out, regardless of the effectiveness of their strategy in the text of the rules. Some people among this grouptend to gravitate towards games whose rules enable these concepts, whether through explicit buffs or feats or just a referee with a sympathetic view on this type of player and an eagerness to homebrew.
I think both groups of players can benefit from eating the debuff.
Playing suboptimally is awesome for the first group. It's more challenging for the gamer who wants challenge. How does wearing leather armor only change how the fighter engages with combat? How does the melee wizard conduct themself to make it past 1st level? Is the noncombatant cleric viable? Playing in this way makes the game fresh and interesting and leads to exciting moments. I don't remember Norman Three, the bog-standard magic user I played for a session in NBateman's pickup games, largely because I was mourning the death of Norman and Norman Two, the blackbelt and thief I had played before. I do remember drop-kicking a 2HD Furbomination in Chaoclypse's Bear Witness game, largely because it's suboptimal and exciting. The hype moments you can generate are great!
For the second group, playing suboptimally is another runoff effect of playing out the Character Concept. The lithe fencer will never be a better swordsman than John Guts. How does that affect their psyche? What can they do to offset this? That sounds like cinema to me.
Play suboptimally, do the shit that's exciting. Losing is fun, but winning with one hand tied behind your back is even better!