Build Plate Adhesion and Supports

Cura gives you three options for using filament to attach your print to the print bed: skirts, rafts, or brims. My favorite option to use is a raft, but with a 1 filament layer.

Cura also allows you to add two types of supports: Touching Build Plate or Everywhere.
supports add towers of filament that are loosely attached to your design. The Everywhere option is useful on complex shapes that have lots of overhanging parts.

Notice the goblin is almost completely surrounded by plastic supports.

Cutting away the supports (notice the bandaid)

The following trophy pictures all have "Touching Build Plate" supports. You can see towers coming up from below, but not inside the trophy handles.

Here are the pros and cons I've seen with the build plate adhesion options:

This is skirt. It doesn't provide any structural support and I so I suspect the only purpose is to allow you check that your bed is level and that the filament is flowing correctly.

This trophy has a brim. It's just a real thin layer of filament under the whole design. It peels away, but leaves a sharp edge on your design that you'll want to cut or sand off.

This trophy has a raft. It's a criss-crossing bed of filament full of air pockets. A blade separator tool fits between the print and the rift with a bit of effort, but when it pops off the raft, it does so cleanly. The biggest con with this option is that it seems to waste a lot of filament.