Dex to Hit

[Dread October]

I have a house rule that I'm sure other folks have as well.

I don't use STR as a factor in combar for anything other than DMG bonus.

Basically it's DEX to Hit and as an AC bonus.

I use it as a way to play up the high adventure angle of a moderate magic game.

I have found that my players probaly go with a Dex of 16 or better in almost all cases because it's better to be Quick than to be Smart (or Dead).

It doesn't matter tome what sort of weapon the PC uses either. I think a person with a Great Sword has to be really good with that weapon and it compares to someone with Rapier training.

Being Stronger has never really made anyone more accurate.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

I have seen this rule mentioned, but not ever in play. Almost always it is accompanied by two altered feats:

a 'Brutal Attack' feat that is the opposite of 'Weapon Finesse', allows the weilder to use thier STR mod to hit with 2-handed melee weapons.. {useful for not nerfing Hill Giants with the Dex to hit HR...}

and alter Weapon Finesse to allow Dex to Damage...

Most comments that follow that trend along the line of how much reliance this puts on Dex as *the* combat stat over all else.

"Being Stronger has never really made anyone more accurate."
Being stronger often makes opponents respond by exerting themselves more in getting out of the way... remember that D20 combat 'hit' isn't always metal hits meat...

 

[Dread October]

I have seen this rule mentioned, but not ever in play. Almost always it is accompanied by two altered feats:

a 'Brutal Attack' feat that is the opposite of 'Weapon Finesse', allows the weilder to use thier STR mod to hit with 2-handed melee weapons.. {useful for not nerfing Hill Giants with the Dex to hit HR...}

and alter Weapon Finesse to allow Dex to Damage...

Most comments that follow that trend along the line of how much reliance this puts on Dex as *the* combat stat over all else.

"Being Stronger has never really made anyone more accurate."
Being stronger often makes opponents respond by exerting themselves more in getting out of the way... remember that D20 combat 'hit' isn't always metal hits meat...

There are smart enough guys in my games that these things never became issues. No one ever argues about a reliance on one stat or another. We HAD a guy like that once but...well...no one has seen him for a while...

Generally at size large or greater I have creatures use STR, unless it's a Storm Giant Archer with a Strength bow or something...No, that has never happened.

I think I'll institute Brutal Attack right away...

 

[Knightfall]

I have a house rule that I'm sure other folks have as well.

Basically it's DEX to Hit and as an AC bonus.

I use something similar, but I limit it to one faith in my game...

"Clerics of Bast add their Dexterity modifier to their attack rolls, instead of their Strength modifier, with the following weapons: Dagger, gauntlet, kukri, punching dagger, light shield, sap, short sword, spiked gauntlet, unarmed strike, and war claws."

It's not as big a rule change as you've done for your game, but it adds something unique for the clerics of Bast.

 

[Nifft]

Dragons are going to suuuuuuuuuuuck....

The justification for Strength to attack comes in two forms:

1/ Game mechanical: Strength is kinda weak if it's only used for damage, and Dexterity is already the best attribute in the game. AC, Reflex saves, ranged attacks, many good skill checks, and initiative (!!!) which only becomes more important as you get higher level -- Dexterity is already amazing.

2/ AC is an abstraction. Strength is not just how hard you swing, it's how swiftly you can swing something quite heavy, how well you can force your foe's shield aside, and how fast you can change your weapon's momentum to take advantage of momentary gaps in your target's defenses. It's also how well you can rip through armor and deal damage -- the +8 AC from fullplate doesn't indicate that it helps you dodge attacks!

Cheers, -- N

 

[Vigilance]

Being Stronger has never really made anyone more accurate.

I think the visual is bashing through thick armor.

If armor makes you harder to hit, then Strength modifying attack rolls makes more sense.

Also, I think they wanted Strength to be stat for melee guys and Dex to be for ranged guys.

I run True 20 a lot, which uses Dexterity to modify attack rolls, and what I have found, like Nifft mentioned, is that it makes Dexterity king, too good imo.

I prefer all stats to be meaningful, and I like Strength to modify melee attacks, because then you can have characters that are good at melee but not ranged, and vice versa.

But, again, as someone who's used Dex for attack in quite a few sessions when running True 20, it doesn't seem to seriously break anything.

 

[Stalker0]

For a swashbuckling type era then yes dex will serve you far better than strength. But in classic armor big sword fighting, strength does in fact make you a better hitter.

If you ever want a good cinematic example, read George RR Martin's "A Song of Fire and Ice" series.

Strength lets you push through armor, meaning you don't need to work as hard to find a weak spot. Strength lets you tear through shields, or knock them aside. Strong blows force a man off balance.

I mean, if you want dex to be the stat for hitting and not strength nothing wrong for that in your game. But don't do it because you don't think strength to hit makes sense, in a typical dnd setting it does.

 

[erf_beto]

seems to me that Dex to Hit is a viable option for Touch Attacks, though.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

I like the idea of some weapons being finese weapons. Eg: rapier, whip, sabre.
Others are strength weapons: longsword, battle axe, warhammer.

And no need to have a feat. What ever weapon you're using determines which stat hits.

As mentioned above the rational that strength is better at penetrating armour does pose a problem for using this with basic d20. But some systems (eg. Conan) use a DR system for armour.

 

[Thanael]

Being Stronger has never really made anyone more accurate.

I disagree. You need a lot of strength to keep swinging 2 (or more) pounds of steel around accurately. Also as others mentioned it is not always about accuracy, sometimes it's about shearing through armor and bashing aside shields.