hmmm, no it's not meant to be a plugin issue. I guess I didn't explain it adequately. Thanks for your response, I feel like I'm not able to make this clear.
In my example I was trying to talk about placing a sample directly in the timeline as a media item. I often edit drums by placing files directly in the timeline like this guy is doing in this video:
https://youtu.be/LF4a-2lX51U
A number of DAWS feature a relative path to a sample library that is used for things such as loops and oneshot samples instead of an absolute path. In Ableton it's called the "Library", Studio One has something similar.
I move projects across different computers often.....The idea is you can save space and time by having a sample folder with a collection of samples you use all the time on all your computers. This way you don't have to copy them into every single project that uses them.
There is an added benefit because REAPER also has an integrated sampler, and an integrated convolution reverb. Both of these could benefit from a relative path to your sample collection.
Let me give another example:
I have a large sample collection that I keep on an external hard drive and bring to studios I work at, and I also have it copied to my laptop. It has tons of oneshot samples and loops, but it also has lots of Impulse responses.
If I make a reverb preset, FX chain or track template with ReaVerb that uses one of my own impulses, I can't use that preset on another computer without having to manually load the impulse response, or copy my impulse to the same location as the preset (more copying, more redundancy, more unnecessary time organizing samples). Having the ability to set a relative sample library path would fix this and make REAPER more complete as a production center IMO.