No more dumb fighters?

[Andor]

Friends, I just realized we have seen the death of a much loved archetype. We have all see and loved the idiot fighter (or barbarian, or Paladin) at our tables. You know, the one who can't read, and who blurts out our plans to the bad guys to the annoyance of the other characters and the amusement of the players.

Sadly, he is no more. In 4e there are no stat penalties and the lowest you can start a stat is an 8. An 8 is not that bright you say? True. But there are two levels, 11th and 21st where all your stats get a bump. That means that by the epic tier every character must be at least average in all stats.

No more fighters based on Mongo. No more hideous yet brilliant mages. Fair well ineptitude, your day is done.

 

[hong]

Never fear, there will always be stupid players.

 

[ender_wiggin]

I figure any reasonable DM will allow you to take a penalty to your stats with no benefit.

Particularly narrativist oriented DMs, who favor good roleplaying over character optimization.

 

[The Hitcher]

I'm going to use randomly generated attributes. If they roll four 1's, they'll have ample opportunity to be dumb. Or weak or clumsy - whatever they prefer.

I think assigning a standard attribute array takes a lot away from the character of the game. Sure, it's good to have a balanced system, but weaknesses make the game so much more fun.

 

[Whimsical]

In my personal experience, players who want to play low INT/WIS/CHA characters are trying to find a way to be a dick during a game while getting away with it.

No thanks. I rather play with the experienced SWAT team that puts their best effort to achieve our shared goals.

 

[marune]

I
Particularly narrativist oriented DMs, who favor good roleplaying over character optimization.

Simulationist oriented DM/Players are the one who favor "good roleplaying".

Narrativism is about player's thematic choices.

 

[Rabbitbait]

Yeah, I'm all for 4d6 and remove the lowest. One low attribute makes for an interesting character.

Hopefully they get a couple of high ones to make up for it.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Friends, I just realized we have seen the death of a much loved archetype. We have all see and loved the idiot fighter (or barbarian, or Paladin) at our tables. You know, the one who can't read, and who blurts out our plans to the bad guys to the annoyance of the other characters and the amusement of the players.

Sadly, he is no more. In 4e there are no stat penalties and the lowest you can start a stat is an 8. An 8 is not that bright you say? True. But there are two levels, 11th and 21st where all your stats get a bump. That means that by the epic tier every character must be at least average in all stats.

No more fighters based on Mongo. No more hideous yet brilliant mages. Fair well ineptitude, your day is done.

Well, 8 was already the lowest stat in 3E point buy. If you're using the dice to generate your ability scores, you might get your INT 6 Fighters and Charisma 5 Wizards.

(Though I found 3E already to be death of dumb fighters. But that might just have been me and my obsession with Combat Expertise/Improved Trip or Skill Points)

 

[jackston2]

The idiot fighter was an established character type? What is this, Saturday morning cartoons?

 

[Lanefan]

In my personal experience, players who want to play low INT/WIS/CHA characters are trying to find a way to be a dick during a game while getting away with it.

No thanks. I rather play with the experienced SWAT team that puts their best effort to achieve our shared goals.

I find games like that, where the party runs like a grim well-oiled machine and only cares about the common "goal", get very dull very fast.

Give me a game where sometimes-well-meaning idiots create chaos through their ineptitude, and occasionally manage stunning victories. The "goal" might never be reached, but at least everyone has a laugh and gets some entertainment out of it.

And one low stat is all you need for a grandly amusing character. Low Int., as noted before, for the dumb Fighter. Low Wis. should be a class requirement for a chaos mage. And if you want a more serious roleplaying challenge, put the low number in a physical stat like Str. or Con.

Lane-"Wisdom 9 and proud of it!"-fan