D&D 5E The Problem with Constitution

[Aiden_Keller_]

Just get to Zealot 14 and he won't even care about HP anymore. Con saves will still suffer though.

Eventually it won't matter...but at level 1 in the Strahd campaign it is HILARIOUS!

 

[Aiden_Keller_]

Well, then, it will interest you to know that John Dunne’s ‘The Flea’ is about a stirge and a virginal cleric of Pelor.

Maybe won't teach that one....

 

[MostlyHarmless42]

The trick is to remember that con isnt just used in combat. Want the "con guy" to shine? Rope the party into a drinking contest, have obstacles in the environment that call for con checks (cold/hot weather, swimming long times, mold/poisons that call for con saves), or have enemies use poisons. My party's barbarian favors con over strength because she likes playing a character who is described as always drinking people under the table. She starts each combat chugging strong dwarven ale and laughs if she bombs a con save and I rule that she spends the first round puking her guts out. It even caused a fight when she rolled a 2 on the save and spooked a caterblepas.

Now, is it problematic that other classes dont have a lot of reasons to have a high con mechanically? Perhaps. Personally I still find myself shooting for a min con of 14 with almost every character. One should not underestimate its roll in short rest healing when the inevitable 1 or 2 rolls on your healing dice and you'll be glad you've a few points in con.

 

[Xeviat]

The trick is to remember that con isnt just used in combat. Want the "con guy" to shine? Rope the party into a drinking contest, have obstacles in the environment that call for con checks (cold/hot weather, swimming long times, mold/poisons that call for con saves), or have enemies use poisons. My party's barbarian favors con over strength because she likes playing a character who is described as always drinking people under the table. She starts each combat chugging strong dwarven ale and laughs if she bombs a con save and I rule that she spends the first round puking her guts out. It even caused a fight when she rolled a 2 on the save and spooked a caterblepas.

Now, is it problematic that other classes dont have a lot of reasons to have a high con mechanically? Perhaps. Personally I still find myself shooting for a min con of 14 with almost every character. One should not underestimate its roll in short rest healing when the inevitable 1 or 2 rolls on your healing dice and you'll be glad you've a few points in con.

This is just half the problem. No one maxes con first, but also no one minimizes con (from my experience). Con 14 is on like 80% of the PCs in my game.

 

[Ratskinner]

[MENTION=57494]Xeviat[/MENTION] Go play an 8 con rogue and tell me con doesn't define you character...

I'm currently playing a 6 Con rogue and yeah, it pretty much draws a big red "X" through a lot of normally considerable actions. I spend many fights just hiding and waiting for the party to survive. I took the soldier background and play it off as a wound that never quite healed right, so I play it up by Wheezing and coughing after heavy exertion. I tried to add in a touch of resentful PTSD, but the table didn't seem interested in that. So, its not horrible from an RP perspective, but from a "contributing to the group" perspective.... yeah it blows. I'm gonna see how far I can take it, but I'm a glutton for that kind of punishment.

 

[CleverNickName]

I once played a one-off game where nobody rolled up their Constitution scores until the very last step...and I do mean the very last step, after all other ability scores had been distributed, racial ability modifiers had been applied, feats (if any) had been picked out, equipment had been purchased, backstories written, and spells prepared. That box was blank for as long as possible, right up until combat was about to begin for the first time. "Now, before we roll initiative," the DM said, "let's finally roll Constitution. When I call your name, roll 4d6 and drop the lowest..."

I don't know what he was thinking, tbh. He explained it to us at the time, and it made sense.

[SBLOCK="You probably can guess what happened..."]You know what? It worked out surprisingly well. Most folks ended up with a middling score, like 11 or 12...not too bad. The monk in the group rolled quite poorly (I think it was a 6 or 7), but by that time, he was already too heavily invested in his character to raise much of a fuss about it. The player said something like "well, I guess my monk has tuberculosis or something" and just ran with it. It was just a one-off, so no big deal.

(Even so, the player ended up keeping that character for other one-off games over the months.)[/SBLOCK]Anyway. I'm not endorsing this idea, just reminiscing. It certainly made for a memorable evening.