D&D 5E Should D&D go away from ASIs?

[ro]

I am also toying with capping the highest possible stat at 18 (16 for some races/stats as above), but increasing the Proficiency Bonus to compensate. My thought is that this will make certain characters really good at ‘their thing’ (i.e. fighters good at Athletics, Str saves, etc; Wizards good at Arcana, etc), but lessen their chances at things they are not proficient in. Just not sure about the math yet…

The current maximum is Proficiency Bonus 6 + Maxed Stat Modifier 5 = +11. Dropping to a max 18 score, a +4 modifier, max proficiency should be 7. Most easily, this could start with proficiency +3 at level 1.

You could also start with Proficiency Bonus 1 at level 1, and increases every third level: 1st: 1; 4th: 2; 7th: 3; 10th: 4; 13th: 5; 16th: 6; 19th: 7.

The problem with changing proficiency bonus, however, is that you also have to change all the monsters, because all use proficiency by CR matching the players. It's probably better to just cap the score at 18 and leave proficiency bonus as-is. The power difference can be made up through feats or magic items.

Capping at 18 also makes the Barbarian capstone even better.

 

[DwynnsPlace]

Keep in mind that the option to swap out the stat bonus gained as characters advance through every 4th or 5th level can be changed to gaining a feat or couple of professional / skill points. Up to the player and Dm if they want to advance a character in scroll crafting or leather crafting, or blacksmithing or magic creation.

I find it interresting that DM's and Players don't utilize this aspect of the game as much as when the older versions were played. Creating magic items, potions and scrolls were time intensive and required success in skill checks and abilities / professions. These too awarded experience.

I found that awarding skill points or professional development in characters was far more rewarding than say "you get a point in strength" and a lot of fun to RP.

I always found character development should be the primary drive in playing a character, level advance would naturally fall along as the player enjoyed the growth in abilities, skills and professions.