D&D 4E STR 'to-hit' bonus departing in 4e?

[Nifft]

Because many RPG players have absolutely no real life experience with fighting of any kind.

Except on web forums.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Will]

Nifft: HA! Nice.

Huh, stats for combat:
Str: batters down, moves weapon with more control because of extra strength.
Dex: precision striking, whole-body movement to strike true.
Con: able to keep striking over and over again, performing powerful blows that would exhaust a lesser warrior
Int: knowledge of martial techniques and tricks, with a keen mind to apply the best form
Wis: observant, able to strike at openings and anticipate
Cha: able to distract and read the opponent, able to feint and confuse the enemy

So. EVERY ability score should help!

 

[pawsplay]

CON- uhhh... ok that dosn't make sense,

Try fighting at peak level in medium armor for a minute or so.

 

[Hairfoot]

Because many RPG players are scrawny geeks who daydream about beating up the muscly jocks with their ninja-like agility.

True, dat. Rarely do I laugh out loud at a post, but this is one of those times.

 

[ogre]

Well, you do all make some good arguments for keeping STR, for realism. And just so you know, as the OP, I have battled in the SCA, was an expert college fencer and had many battles in LARP games, so I'm not completely unaware of the reality of fighting. But... the assumptions are somewhat accurate, cuz I am more dextrous than strong and have always done well in battles, even with sword and board, but especially with pole arms (being tall helps I suppose).
But aside from the realism, I thought it would be nice to have both stats affect combat, so it would take more diversity to be an awesome fighter, like conan or a tiger for that matter.
But, I can live with it as is, so long as the finess feat goes away (what a waste of a feat) and there are combat abilities tied to DEX and not all lumped into STR.

 

[Gort]

You have to be careful to try and keep all the attributes equally useful, as well. Charisma was the weakest stat in 3rd ed, and a lot of characters reflected that. If you take melee prowess away from strength, it becomes almost as bad as charisma. All it would affect is carrying capacity and some skills, and since carrying capacity is often handwaved it'll just be another dump stat.

An example of dexterity being king is Shadowrun 4e, where about 75% of dice rolls your character will make are based on agility. In that game, strength means pretty much nothing, as there are no hard and fast carrying capacity rules, and that's virtually the only thing it affects.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Since 4e is striving to release some sacred cows, I'm thinking it's time to be rid of the 'STR adds a to-hit bonus' and simply allow it to only affect damage. I guess that would leave two options, either DEX would modify the attack roll or the attack roll will only be modified by skill (proficiencies etc.) or magic.

Anyone else think this change will occur?

I really hope that they do do this, because it would make D&D's attributes hugely more even in value. If they then gave the +to hit bonus back based on varied stats depending on what class/powers you selected, that'd be ideal.

 

[HP Dreadnought]

Given how much time people spend studying every little tidbit of crunch that comes out, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet. . .

But I recall in one of the playtest sessions or something, one of the guys mentioning that you needed or benefited from a high Constitution when using a warhammer.

My guess would be that what stat applies to "to-hit" rolls will vary by weapon.

In the same way that attacks are now (stat) vs. (defense). Weapons will be (stat) vs. AC. . . most of the time. Some might attack another defense type if they have wierd effects, like a sap.

Anyway, that's my prediction.

 

[HeinorNY]

But aside from the realism, I thought it would be nice to have both stats affect combat, so it would take more diversity to be an awesome fighter, like conan or a tiger for that matter.

But they both do affect combat.

But, I can live with it as is, so long as the finess feat goes away (what a waste of a feat) and there are combat abilities tied to DEX and not all lumped into STR.

Agreed.
Weapon Finisse could go away. If the weapon is "finessable" you can just use DEX instead of STR on attack rolls.

 

[mneme]

Given that even Fighters will have "at-will" powers, I'm frankly not sure how many attacks there will be in a given combat that use the "default" attribute for a weapon, but yes, I guess a weapon, like an attack power, will specify the attribute it uses and the defense (of 4) it attacks.

Based on the the attack powers we've seen, I'd guess that damage bonuses will always be the ability you're using to make the attack, but who knows; that could be wrong (it would do a lot to help MAD, though -- as would the ability to select powers/weapons that suit your choice of abilities).